Antioch Covenant Church

Faith In Action

James 2:14-26

“Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.” vs. 18b

For the Team 

A Giant fan, a Padre fan, and a Dodger fan are climbing a mountain and arguing about who lives their team more. The Padre fan insists that he is the most loyal.  “This is for San Diego” he yells and jumps off the side of the mountain. Not to be outdone, the Giant fan is next to profess his love for the team. He yells, “This is for San Francisco!” And pushes the Dodger fan off the mountain. HAH! Sorry if I offended any Dodger fans out there.

When you are sold out for something and it really gets into the core of who you are, your actions support that. In this case, the Dodger fan found out the hard way. On a more serious note, we can say we believe in God and in Jesus Christ, but do our actions really show it? What would it look like to really live like a Christian, especially today when being a Christian is looked down on by many people because they feel we are too right wing, too fundamentalist, and to intolerant. I suggest to you that we are living in a time when we need to have a faith that is real and that people can see through our actions and lifestyle.  Today we will be looking at James 2:14-26. If you are able, please stand as we read God’s Word.

Read Passage – James 2:14-26

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? ¹⁵Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. ¹⁶If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? ¹⁷In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. ¹⁸But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. ¹⁹You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

²⁰You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? ²¹Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? ²²You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. ²³And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. ²⁴You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.

²⁵In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? ²⁶As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

Biblical Contradiction? 

I grew up in a pretty strict community of Christian people who I admired and who taught me many good Christian values. I loved them a lot and I feel I had a good foundation for my faith. One thing they often said was: you are only saved by faith; it was faith, faith, faith. One of the main passages for that came from is Romans 3:28:

“For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.”

Rom. 3:28

That made a lot of sense to me. You can’t earn your salvation was another thing they would often say.  I tried to live that out but I found myself in a struggle. I found myself doubting at times and then when I felt my faith wasn’t strong enough or when I struggled with my faith I would question if I was really going to go to heaven when I died.

But another thing happened too. I realized the only way I could be a good Christian was to do good things and I bordered on moralism. In other words, I always wanted to do good things and be the “good Christian” boy because I knew that would please God and he couldn’t send me to hell if I was a good boy, right? So I set out to pray every day, read my Bible, help people whenever I could, etc. Now I was bordering on actually trying to earn my way to heaven.

One thing that happened as I started reading The Bible more and was it seemed like there were passages that contradicted each other. I was taught you could only be saved by faith and that made sense but there were passages like the one we are reading today.  Doesn’t it seem that there was some Biblical Contradiction? Read verse 17 again:

“In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” vs. 17

Isn’t that saying the opposite of what Paul said? Paul says faith alone and then James starts talking about actions. Did he not read or hear Paul? Is he saying you can earn your faith?

More than Talk

James even pushes it a bit more when he says things like  our faith is more than just talk in verse 14:

“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them?” vs. 14

It’s an interesting thing to think about. Can I claim to follow God, can I declare Jesus is my Savior and not have it affect my daily life? Well guess what, there is a group that claims to believe in God but it doesn’t affect how they live. Yea! James tells us about them in verse 19:

“You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.” vs. 19

Ex.  I managed a recreational softball team that played in the city leagues.  It was a lot of fun. I managed it but asked the players to pay the fees. We took the total fee and divided it up and each guy was supposed to kick in their share. I had one guy who would play every season and always promised to pay.  Every season he agreed to be there, never missed a game, and always had an excuse about why he didn’t have the money but he would get it to me. He said he wanted to be part of the team and played every game and promised me the money every week but it never seemed to happen. I didn’t want him to tell me he’d get me the money, I wanted to see the money. He could say it but it wasn’t real until he did it. BTW, it wasn’t \until he showed up and I wouldn’t play him that all the sudden he came up with the money.

Here is what James is trying to get us to understand. You can say you’ve given your life to God; you can call yourself a Christian, but you can’t really have a changed life without showing it.

The Balance of Faith and Action
What I learned about Paul and James and their apparent contradiction can be summed up in this; the Christian life is one that has a balance of faith and action. Let me put a little bug in your ear as we approach this: It is possible to be religious and not be living for God.  Note: that was the Pharisee’s in Jesus time. James helps give us a couple of ways to evaluate this for ourselves and to check our lives so we aren’t out of balance, or even worse so that we aren’t like the demons who say they believe in God but choose to follow Satan. Ouch!

1. Real Faith Changes Your Heart

The first evaluation comes from within; it our heart. Here’s how I interpret what he is trying to get across; Real Faith Changes Your Heart.  In verse 16 James says:

“If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?” vs. 16

What’s he saying here? He is saying that mere words are just fake because your heart isn’t really changed. Our words have no substance if they are not from our heart. Remember, even the demons claim that they know God is God. Jesus said in Matthew 15:18:

“But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them.” Matthew 15:18 

Jesus is touching on the same concept here. Our words reflect the deeper part of who we are and that is found in our heart. We are broken people. We cannot save ourselves and our heart is a reflection of that. We use our words to confess our sin and through the work of Jesus on the cross, we are cleansed. But…that is not a permanent state. We sin and our heart is once again stained with sin. So when we speak, we can say things that are untrue but it’s our that is a reflection that our heart is in constant need of Christ renewal.  To rectify this, we need renewal. We need revival.

Abraham

In the passage, James gives us an example of person who goes through this process; it’s Abraham. When Abraham was a younger man, he struggled trusting God and it showed in his words. In Genesis 18 God promised Abraham that he would be a father and that he would be the father of many nations. In Genesis 20 Abraham and Sarah are traveling and they come to a place where this guy, Abimelek is king.  Abraham is fearful that they will kill him so he tells Sarah to lie about her identity and say she is his sister so they won’t kill him and abduct Sarah. She does and God has to speak to Abimelek in a dream and let him know that Sarah is Abraham’s wife. Abimelek them has to return Sarah to Abraham.  Now why did Abraham and Sarah lie? Because they didn’t believe in their hearts that God was going to come through and that came out in their words.

Now jump ahead a number of years.  Sarah has had a son, Isaac, and God calls Abraham to take his son and go up on a mountain and sacrifice him. If you read Genesis 21, you see that when God speaks and calls Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, he does not respond with words. Why? Because Abraham’s heart is now changed. In hi heart, he trusts God. But when Isaac asks Abraham where the lamb for the sacrifice is, Abraham’s words reflect his trust in God and he tells his son “God will provide the lamb for the sacrifice.” See his change of heart. Trust has taken the place of doubt. In his heart, Abraham now fully convinced, in his heart, that God will work and provide. His heart trusts God and that is reflected in his words to Isaac so that James says in verse 21:

“Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?” vs. 21

Real faith in God will change our hearts.

2. Real Faith Changes Your Actions

We trust, and that trust leads to a second way our faith is checked to  make sure we are in balance, real faith changes your actions. Probably the most famous verse from James comes in verse 18:

“Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.” vs. 18

So here is where Paul and James are not in contradiction with each other but are complementing each other. When Paul talks about that it is only faith that saves us, he is talking about the redemptive work of Jesus on the cross and that you cannot earn your way to heaven but it is faith in what Jesus did and accepting that free gift. James is now talking about what that faith looks like after you have accepted the gift of salvation. James is saying that our faith changes the way we act. The best example of this is Jesus who live out faith through his actions. John reveals this to us in 1 John 2:6 where he says:

“Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.” 1 John 2:6

I find it easier to do something if I have an example of what I am supposed to do. It seems we all work that way.

Ex. Planter box. I have been thinking about building planter boxes for us to have a vegetable garden. A few weeks ago we were at Home Depot and there were these planter boxes made of  this certain kind of cement blocks and 2” x 12” boards. Claudia saw it first and showed it to me and you know my words? Yea, “I can do that.” Why? Because I saw an example of it.  So this week we bought the blocks and yesterday I started building our planter boxes in the backyard.

Rahab

Again, James gives us an example of someone who lived out this concept for us and it comes in verse 25:

“In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction?” vs. 25

Now think about this for a second.  If you wanted a good example of faith and you go into a town of people, who you going to look for? A Godly, righteous, moral person who appears faithful.  But who does God choose? Remember, the Israelites are going in to conquer this land that God is giving to them. God sends some spies in and they end up at this house of a woman named Rahab. Let me explain who she is:

*A woman – Men didn’t usually talk to women. Most woman were thought of as property and something to be owned.

*An enemy – She was part of the people they were coming in to take over and to annihilate. She was the enemy.

*An Outcast – She was a prostitute. She was the kind of woman a man would use but would never be accepted in society.

That is who God choose. Why? Her faith.  God looked beyond the outward and looked at her faith and knew that this was a person he could count on to act out the things he asked.

Living Faith

The bottom line is that James challenges us to be people who not only claim to believe God and trust Jesus as Savior, but to live it out too. He ends this passage by saying in verse 26:

“As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.” vs. 26

James is stating that without a spirit, a body is just a corpse. It has no life. Notice he is talking about faith not having no faith.  His analogy is that faith without deeds is just like a lifeless body; dead. Now the good news about his is that Jesus died for you and I so that we can have the Holy Spirit. His Spirit lives in our hearts and that gets to come out in our actions. We see the beauty of what Jesus did for us, he died so that we would have new life, life in a relationship with the Almighty God. When you see that beauty of Jesus, that giving of himself for you, you want to live a good life out of appreciation and gratitude. You are so grateful that he did that for you, that you in turn want to give a little part of that to others so that they can see how much he did that for them too.

How We Treat People

James 2:1-13

“…believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism.” vs. 1b

Kindness 

On Tuesday night, April 12th, a man was driving an SUV recklessly. The Antioch, CA city council meeting had let out minutes before and council woman Lori Ogorchock was on her way home.  The SUV struck her car and continued on who about 10:01 p.m. on A Street near the Highway 4 on ramp. The crash crumpled the SUV and trapped the 35-year-old Antioch man in the twisted wreckage.

Both Mayor Wade Harper and Councilwoman Ogorchock immediately jumped into the mode of helping the victims.  I kept calling his name,” Harper said, adding that the man was conscious. “I made sure he heard his name. I wanted him to know he was going to be OK, to keep him alert.” The SUV’s engine was smoking, so Harper yelled for someone to fetch a fire extinguisher from the minimart at the Chevron gas station nearby and began talking to the driver. Harper remained at the scene until emergency responders were able to extricate the man, a process that he said took at least 30 minutes. The two people inside the truck also were taken to the hospital, but their injuries were considered minor, Antioch police Lt. Don LaDue said in a statement.

I want to give kudos to both Mayor wade and Councilwoman Ogorchock. Both showed a great deal of integrity and I would say restraint as well. If that were me that were hit, I might be out there getting angry or upset.

Today we are going to look at how we treat people and what the Bible says about how we should treat people. If you are able, please stand as we read God’s Word from James 2:1-13.

Read Passage – James 2:1-13 

My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. 2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. 3 If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong? 8 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. 9 But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. 11 For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,”[b] also said, “You shall not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker. 12 Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, 13 because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

Polluted by the World

In order for us to get a clear picture of what James is trying to convey to us we must backup to verse 27 of chapter 1.  He says in verse 27:

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this:…to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” James 1:27

In the OT the Israelites had to concern themselves with being ceremonially unclean so they would not be hindered from worshipping God.  James uses the word polluted here. The first definition of polluted in the dictionary is:

Polluted:  To make ceremonially or morally impure

What James is getting at is that if we let the world be our influence if we let the world be our guide and dictate our actions, then we have become polluted or made impure.

The main point that James makes in the beginning of chapter 2 is the need for us to treat people well. Unfortunately, in the world, there are many areas in which people are not treated well. It could be based on gender, ethnicity, social status, job, etc.

Ex. Women still make considerably less money in performing the same job. Many of the CEO and higher position jobs in our country are dominated by white males, very few people with little wealth can run for a political position. Of course there are many more examples.

There is another word for this: favoritism.

Do I Show Favoritism?

One area that is of concern is wealth. James warning here is not to treat people differently based on wealth. Most of us may think of ourselves as better than we are at treating people fairly but I think it would be best for us today to ask ourselves an important question:

Do I show favoritism?

Most of us may answer with a quick “no!” But take a moment to challenge yourself here. If most of us are honest with ourselves, we probably have to admit that we can do a better job of treating people fairly and equally. In verses 1 through 13, James challenges his audience in this area of treating people based on wealth.

Ways We Divide 

A natural thing for us to do as human beings is to divide ourselves and we usually do this by labeling people. If we can put a label on someone, we tend to assert some control and to keep an upper hand. The challenge is really to avoid division and focus on God’s ways of treating people, not the world’s ways of treating people. So how does that work, it comes out in 2 ways.

1. How We Treat the Rich

The first way is how we treat the rich. In your outline you have a fill-in. The first is that we treat them with “Special Attention.”

Special A__________

James points out in verse 2a:

“Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes…” vs. 2a

There is something subtle going on here. Though you see this outwardly, you are making the decision inwardly. See, when someone walks in, unless you know them, unless you know their situation, you are making a judgment based on what you see, the outward nice clothes and jewelry, but you are assessing them in your mind. You are assuming they are important, and rich, based on what you see and you are deciding in your mind to treat well because of your thoughts about them. Ask yourself; “How do I feel when I see someone in nice clothes and expensive jewelry or in a nice car, or in a big house, etc. When you decide to treat them better than others because of that, you are playing favorites and showing bias.

Ex. Scene from Pretty Woman where Julia Roberts character goes into a store and is not helped because she is dressed like a hooker. BTW, didn’t we all loves when she went back after buying a ton of others things and rubbed it in the saleswoman’s face?

A second way we treat the rich is with “Special Treatment.”

Special T__________

James points this out in verse 3a:

“If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” vs. 3a

So here we move from the inward to the outward.  It has now moved from our thoughts to our actions. We are visibly showing them, and others, that they are important enough to be treated differently and with a greater status and honor. Here’s the thing with that, we are telling them that they are more important and we are telling others that they are not.

Ex. Gift bags given to the stars at the Oscars. The 2016 gift bags had some impressive things in them: $12,500 vacation package, an Italian train trip valued at $11,500, $800 in custom candy, and the list goes on.

Ex. I saw this in the corporate world where stock were made available to the upper management, and to those that have.

2. How We Treat the Poor

James also touches on a second way we divide and it is how we treat the poor. These are really startling points and it does make us consider if we may act in these ways. First, the way we treat the poor is that “We’re Repelled.”

We’re R___________

Notice how James states it in verse 2b:

“Suppose…a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in…“ vs. 2b

It’s almost comical the way he states it; “filthy clothes.” He could have said this same thing a number of ways but he chose a way that shows the disdain that tends to dominate our thinking. Many of us have a dislike for dirt; for things that are not kept clean or in a neat way, even more so when it comes to the poor.  We really become uncomfortable with them. We are repelled by the dirt, the smell, the filthiness.

Now how does this play itself out in us? In the same way we gave special attention to the rich, we now avoid or give no attention to the poor. Think about it, we choose to walk around them we choose to walk on the other side of the street, to use another door, to go around if at all possible. We even ignore them if we can.

Ex. Homeless woman who told me I dropped my smile.

The second way we treat the poor is that “We Exploit” them.

We E____________

James points out in verse 3b:

“…but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,”  vs. 3b

Notice the actions here, it’s more than just not giving attention or not helping, it’s putting them in a position of humility and establishing dominance. When he says “stand there” he is implying “over there,” out of the way, in a place that cannot be seen.  He also says to “sit on the floor by my feet,” in a degrading or humiliating position. A place where there is definitely an established dominance and hierarchy.

Ex. Sept. 2013 the state of Nevada shown they were shipping homeless people with mental illness to S.F. on buses

Selective Obedience 

James also puts in a few verses that may seem out of place at first but they really are supposed to be here and they are important to understand in the passage. They come in verse 10-11, verse 10 says:

“For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” vs.10

Here’s what James wants us to remember; that our obedience to God’s Words is not selective. We should not be in the habit of picking which laws of God’s we want to follow and which ones we do not want to follow. God’s Word is not a smorgasbord of things we can choose to do or not to do. So what are God’s laws about how we treat people? Let’s start with 1 John 4:11:

“Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” 1 John 4:11

Here are a few things that God calls us to be:

• We are to be people who love – 1 John 4:1
• We are to be people of peace – Mark 9:50
• We are to take care of the widows and orphans – James 1:27
• We are to be gentle, kind, patient, and people of peace – Gal. 5:22

Can Anybody Really Do This? 

Now you may be looking at this and going; “Can anybody really do this?” Part of the reason that James addresses that we should not be selective is because he follows that thought up with verse 12-13:

“Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.” vss. 12-13

The reason we are called to follow God’s law and not be polluted by the world, God’s law gives freedom. If you follow the world’s ways you will never be able to keep up. You will always be struggling. God’s ways bring freedom but you might be asking, “Yes, but I fail. How can I possibly follow God’s ways when I fail?” It’s simple, you don’t have to worry about failing because we all fail and we all have God’s forgiveness. I believe it comes down to what Jesus did for us. John 3:16:

“For God so loved the world that he gave is only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

Jesus is the living example of how to treat people.  He didn’t die for the rich, for the important, for the successful. No, he died for all. Jesus could do what James is talking about and we are called to be as much like Jesus as possible. He does what we can’t. And, he invigorates us to follow God’s ways and not the world’s because that’s what he did.

Ex. Jesus and the lepers

Tested Faith
James 1:2-18
“Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.” vs. 12

The Bandit
There’s a folk story of a bandit named Jose Rivera, who became notorious in several little towns in Texas for robbing their banks and businesses. The people of these towns got tired of the constant robbing, so they hired a Texas Ranger to track him down in Mexico and retrieve their money and valuables. The ranger arrives at a desolate rundown shack of a cantina. At the counter he sees a young man enjoying his beer and at another tables, he sees a man with his hands over his stomach, hat over his eyes, and fast asleep and snoring. The ranger approaches the young man at the bar and says he is on a mission to bring Jose Rivera back to the Texas, dead or alive. “Can you help me find him?” he asked. The young man smiled, pointed to the other man whose asleep, and said, “That is Jose Rivera.”
The ranger approaches the sleeping bandit and tapping him on the shoulder he says, “Are you Jose Rivera?” The man mumbled back, “No speak English.” So the ranger turns to the young man and asks for some help translating.
It was difficult at first but they finally develop this rhythm of first the ranger speaking, then the young man translating, Jose responding to young man and then the young man telling the ranger what Jose had said. It got to the point where the ranger finally warned Jose Rivera and that he had two choices; the first was to let him know where all the loot he had stolen was hidden, in which case he could walk away a free man. The second choice was that if he would not reveal where the money was stashed, he would be shot dead instantly.
Jose Rivera pulls himself together and said to the young man, “Tell him to go out of the bar, turn to the right, go about a mile, and he will see a well. Near the well he will see a very tall tree. Beside the trunk of that tree is a large concrete slab. He will need help in removing it. Under the slab is a pit in the ground. If he carefully uncovers it he will find all the jewelry and most of the money I have taken.” The young man turned to the ranger, opened his mouth…swallowed… paused—and then said, “Jose Rivera says…’Go ahead and shoot!’”
We can be tempted to do something wrong often in life. What are we supposed to do and how are we to act? How are we to handle temptation? Let’s read about this in James 1:1-18 Please stand if you are able as we read God’s Word.

Read Passage – James 1:1-18
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings. 2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do. 9 Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. 10 But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower. 11 For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich will fade away even while they go about their business. 12 Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. 13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. 16 Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. 17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

Testing and Temptations
Today we begin a study from the book of James. Some people avoid James because they see it as a book about actions and some interpret that as an attempt to earn our salvation by works. That can be a bit short sighted. Faith in Jesus saves us but that our actions have a lot to do with how others see us and that the way we conduct our life and the faith we profess. Our passage brings up something that can be a struggle for some people, testing and tempting. This comes from verse 13:

“When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone…” vs.13

Some people see God as a big punisher. A God who sits up there and dangles evil in front of us hoping we do something wrong so he can thump us on the head or punish us for doing the wrong thing. They look at God as mean and someone who takes pleasure in our pain. How do you see him? Is he your loving Father or some evil ruler or even someone who takes pleasure in others pain?

Our passage brings up two things we need to distinguish between; testing and tempting, especially in the face of the difficulties we face.
1) Tempt – Tempt is to entice someone to do wrong. It usually includes the allure of some type of pleasure, fulfillment or gain
Ex. You are tempted to cheat on taxes to get more money, to gain something
2) Test – To produce a reaction with the intent of identifying or developing character, skill, or knowledge.
Ex. You study hard in school, takes tests, etc. to learn a skill or to gain knowledge to help you in life

Why is this so important? James makes it clear that God does not tempt us. Understanding this gives us a guide to discern when struggles and difficulties come if are they meant to lead us to do wrong, which tells us they are not from God, or if they are meant to hone our skills, our faith, our character, then we know that it could be God testing us. God is not tempting us to do evil, he is protecting us.
Ex. A loving father would not let his child run into the street while playing because it is dangerous. We look at it as an infringement on our rights. The father is trying to protect the child and do what’s best for them.

The Deception of Satan
That is important because James tells us in verse 16:

“Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters.” vs. 16

Satan is a liar, he will attempt to deceive us into believing that God is trying to tempt us when, in fact, he is behind the temptation. We can also be deceived into believing that the good things in life are from Satan so James makes it clear in verse 17 that all good gifts are from God. God will never tempt you, God will never deceive you, God only wants to understand that good gifts are from him, and Satan wants to take credit for those. I Peter tells us Satan is like a lion prowling around looking for someone to devour, to buy into his lies.

So we need to be discerning when it comes to the circumstances of our lives. When we understand what God is trying to do for us, build our character, make us stronger and healthier, and that Satan is trying to deceive us, we can move forward with greater clarity and strength.

Four Choices for Hard Times
James addresses four choices we have to make during the hard times of life. So I am going to give you 8 words in 4 examples that you face in life when it comes to hard times.

1. Joy vs. Happiness
The first choice, realizing that we all face struggles and difficulties, is what are you looking for, joy or happiness? He says in verse 2:

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds…” vs. 2

Anybody going through some tough issue this week and you said to yourself; “I am so joyful right now?” Probably not likely. I am using the NIV and it uses the word consider. Some of you may be using a version that uses the word count. Whichever is good but understand that this an accounting term. It means to take stock of. Consider carefully. Investigate fully. Line up all the numbers them add them all up. This is where it is so important to discern the truth. God calls us to be joyful. That is truth. God does not call us to be happy.

Happiness – a temporary pleasure.
Ex. I am happy when I eat ice cream. (I am not as happy later when I have to work it off at the gym or when my diabetic numbers are out of whack.

Joy – deeper delight; A deeper state of well-being; longer contentment.
Ex. Marriage-I love my wife but I am not always happy. We can be in a disagreement or sees things differently and that’s okay. I might not be happy at the moment, but I am joyful that I am married to her and I don’t want that to change.

I found this saying about joy: Joy is the byproduct of obedience. -Author Unknown So, what James is saying is make the hard choice about wanting the long term joy and sometimes that means giving up the temporary happiness. Not always, but sometimes it is necessary. Paul wrote in Romans 15:13:

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13

Notice it says as you trust him. Circle that. Your choice here is to choose God and his ways. It might not feel good at the time, might not give you happiness, but in the long run you find his joy.

2. Perseverance vs. Quitting
The choice we have James confronts us with in verse 3:

“…because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” vs. 3

James really helps us here in our decision making because he tells us in the middle of this verse that “the testing of you faith.” Circle that. You will be tested. But that is good. Testing builds perseverance. I will be honest, sometimes it’s easier to quit. But if we want long term results, it comes through testing. Think about it, we don’t get stronger or build character by being stagnant or stationary. Perseverance, endurance and strength come in testing and working and challenges. But perseverance is hard.

Now there are some things that are worth quitting. Things that hurt us like smoking, over eating, lying, etc. But there are things we need to push through to really find the benefit and perseverance we need.
Ex. Hiking – in Tahoe and wanting to give up. If you quit too soon you miss the beauty and incredible views from the top. (Show picture)
Paul writes in Gal. 6:9:

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Gal. 6:9

Notice again this is a trust issue. Do you trust God? His timing? It says in the verse “at the proper time.” We want our time but we need to trust God’s timing and his plan.

3. Maturity vs. Immaturity
The third choice comes in verse 4 where we are called to maturity vs. immaturity:

“Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” vs. 4

This is really the test of building our character. It’s long-term. The best way to grasp this is to think about the mature person compared to the immature person.
Immature – selfish, yell, get angry, have fits, unforgiving and basically hard to be around.
Compare that to the mature person.

Mature – thinks of more than themselves, doesn’t need to yell or scream, may get angry but is angry and still in control, forgiving because they realize their own shortcomings, usually enjoyable to e around.
No one wants to be around a grown up acting like a child. Paul encourages us in Colossians 3:14-15 to:

“I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things.” Col. 3:14-5

Press on, that is the idea of working through it and toughing it out. But notice something else, circle “which God has called me.” God calls us to maturity. You were never meant to remain a child. Paul likens this in Hebrews and 1 Corinthians as eating meat compared to drinking milk. Milk is necessary for infants but adults, mature people, need solid food, something with substance.

4. Wisdom vs. Foolishness
Finally, the 4th choice is to choose wisdom or to choose foolishness, verse 5:

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

I think most of us want wisdom, we want to be wise, and we want to be knowledgeable. I would even say that we have something in us that wants to have the answers and to be wise about life. But James touches on something we often forget and he calls us to put it first, it’s in the middle of the verse, “you should ask God.” Bear with me on this but this is what we are being challenged to:

Foolishness – trusting yourself and relying on your wisdom
Wisdom – asking God for insight and trusting and relying on him.

We don’t have to know it all. We don’t have to have all the answers. Solomon, a wise man in his own right, wrote in Proverbs 8:11:

“…for wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her.” Proverbs 8:11

We do have knowledge, we do have people with lots of intelligence and knowledge, but the ultimate wisdom and knowledge comes from God.

Receiving the Crown of Life
James says that it all comes down to this, what we find in verse 12:

“Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.” vs. 12

The result is that having “stood the test,” we receive the crown of life. This is where we realize that we cannot do it on our own. No matter how good we are, how hard we try, and how much we accomplish, we still cannot do it on our own. But…Jesus could and Jesus did. He can do what we could not. We are called to be more like him and though we can never make it on our own, we don’t have to because he did it for us. Christ accomplishes what we couldn’t. So when we trust him, through his power and strength, through his example and his sacrifice, we receive the crown of life. His work gives us the strength to make the hard choices.

Prayer in the Garden

Matthew 26:36-46

“Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane…” vs. 36

Hit Hard and Fast

Deborah Greene was picking up her groceries at a Whole Foods in Georgia, USA, in April last year when she got a tearful phone call from her brother, breaking the news. Her father, Lowell Herman, age 72, took his own life just two months before he would have celebrated his 50th wedding anniversary. Writing on her blog, Reflecting Out Loud, she said she broke down in tears and fell to the floor – but instead of ignoring her or walking away, others in the store came over to her and comforted her, called her husband and made sure she got home safely.

This is her blog post in full:

“Dear Strangers,

I remember you. Ten months ago, when my cell phone rang with news of my father’s suicide, you were walking into Whole Foods, prepared to go about your food shop, just as I had done only minutes before.

But I had already abandoned my cart full of groceries and I stood in the entryway of the store. My brother was on the other end of the line. He was telling me my father was dead, that he had taken his own life early that morning and through his own sobs, I remember my brother kept saying, “I’m sorry Deborah, I’m so sorry.”

I can’t imagine how it must have felt for him to make that call.

And as we hung up the phone, I started to cry and scream, as my whole body trembled. This just couldn’t be true. It couldn’t be happening. Only moments before I was filling my cart with groceries, going about my errands on a normal Monday morning. Only moments before my life felt intact.

Overwhelmed with emotions, I fell to the floor, my knees buckling under the weight of what I had just learned. And you kind strangers, you were there.

You could have kept on walking, ignoring my cries, but you didn’t. You could have simply stopped and stared at my primal display of pain, but you didn’t.

No, instead you surrounded me as I yelled through my sobs: “My father killed himself. He killed himself. He’s dead.” And the question that has plagued me since that moment came to my lips in a scream, “Why?” I must have asked it over and over and over again.

I remember in that haze of emotions, one of you asked for my phone and asked who you should call. What was my password? You needed my husband’s name as you searched through my contacts. I remember that I could hear your words as you tried to reach my husband for me, leaving an urgent message for him to call me. I recall hearing you discuss among yourselves who would drive me home in my car and who would follow that person to bring them back to the store.

You didn’t even know one another, but it didn’t seem to matter. You encountered me, a stranger, in the worst moment of my life and you coalesced around me with common purpose, to help. I remember one of you asking if you could pray for me and for my father. I must have said yes, and I recall now that Christian prayer being offered up to Jesus for my Jewish father and me, and it still both brings tears to my eyes and makes me smile.

In my fog, I told you that I had a friend, Pam, who worked at Whole Foods and one of you went in search of her and thankfully, she was there that morning and you brought her to me. I remember the relief I felt at seeing her face, familiar and warm. She took me to the back, comforting and caring for me so lovingly until my husband could get to me.

And I even recall as I sat with her, one of you sent back a gift card to Whole Foods; though you didn’t know me, you wanted to offer a little something to let me know that you would be thinking of me and holding me and my family in your thoughts and prayers. That gift card helped to feed my family, when the idea of cooking was so far beyond my emotional reach.

I never saw you after that. But I know this to be true, if it were not for all of you, I might have simply gotten in the car and tried to drive myself home. I wasn’t thinking straight, if I was thinking at all.

If it were not for you, I don’t know what I would’ve done in those first raw moments of overwhelming shock, anguish and grief. But I thank God every day that I didn’t have to find out.

Your kindness, your compassion, your willingness to help a stranger in need have stayed with me until this day. And no matter how many times my mind takes me back to that horrible life-altering moment, it is not all darkness. Because you reached out to help, you offered a ray of light in the bleakest moment I’ve ever endured.

You may not remember it. You may not remember me. But I will never, ever forget you. And though you may never know it, I give thanks for your presence and humanity, each and every day.”

(Last updated Fri 11 Mar 2016)

In a time where we see the world going crazy over the dumbest of thing, where many people seem to be concerned only about themselves, there is s till a ray of hope. But this is real life, right? Things are going along and BAM! you get hit with something you never expected, couldn’t imagine, and it just throws you for a loop. So, let’s see how Jesus handled hardship. If you are able, please stand as we read God’s Word from Matthew 26:36-46.

Read Passage – Matthew 26:36-46

³⁶ Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” ³⁷ He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. ³⁸ Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” ³⁹ Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” ⁴⁰ Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. ⁴¹ “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” ⁴² He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.” ⁴³ When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. ⁴⁴ So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing. ⁴⁵ Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. ⁴⁶ Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”

Oil Press

We are continuing our study of the last week of Jesus life and the events that led up to his death and resurrection. Last week we saw the gift of communion as Jesus met in the upper room with the disciples. Today we see Jesus in another place, verse 36:

“Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane…” vs. 36

Anybody know what Gethsemane means? It is derived from the Aramaic language and it means:

Gethsemane = OIL PRESS

I just discovered this and I find it fascinating. The place where Jesus goes to pray and to pour himself out before God, to seek God’s will and where he is feeling the pressure of what is about to happen to him is called “oil press.” It’s interesting if you try to look up Gethsemane and Jesus prayer at this place. People try to make it more palatable, less stressful. Here, I’ll show you a few pictures of how people have portrayed it. (Show pictures) if you remember in the text it says Jesus fell face down. It says he is in deep sorrow. None of these pictures really portray that and that is why I choose the background picture I did today, it does a little better job of showing the deep sorrow and the posture that Jesus took while he was praying.

The reason I think this is significant is in these times, an oil press was a large stone in a large stone vat that crushed the olives and extracted the olive oil. That first crush is where we get our virgin olive oil. They would crush those same olives a second time and that is where we get the extra virgin olive oil. If you did it a third time, it was extra extra virgin olive oil.

The point is this; this c rushing the olives was a strenuous process for the olives. Now we see Jesus in a strenuous time of his life. He is facing the biggest challenge of his life.

Gradual Awareness

What we are seeing as we work through this last week of Jesus life is a gradual awareness that what Jesus came to earth to do is now at hand. He is preparing his disciples to see this as well. He is trying to make them gradually aware that he is fulfilling his purpose for coming to earth and it’s a bit different than they understand it. Notice when he is in the upper room he tells them about the bertrayal that will soon take place, Matt. 26:21:

“And while they were eating, he said, ‘Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.’” Matt. 26:21

Then he narrows it to one of the closest men to Jesus will betray him:

“Then Jesus told them, “’This very night you will all fall away on account of me…’” Matt. 26:31

Then he takes the 11 with him to get away, Luke 22:39:

“Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him.” Luke 22:39

Next they see Jesus begin to express his emotions, verse 37:

“…and he began to be sorrowful and troubled.” vs. 37b

Then they see him in deep sorrow and overwhelmed, verse 38:

“Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.” vs. 38

What happens next is we see the character of Jesus come out as he deals with this overwhelming sorrow. I think it is important to remember that his sorrow is not about dying and death. That would be a natural assumption. I believe his sorrow is more that he is going to experience something that is something he has never felt and never wanting to know; being forsaken by God. He is part of the Trinity, the triune God of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. There has always been a natural flow of these three working together and the unity that bring as one God and now that will be broken. Now Jesus will take on the sins of all mankind and feel the sorrow that comes from having God forsaking you. It was what we were supposed to feel but Jesus is doing that on our behalf.

Jesus Set the Example of What to Do

What do you do in those times of deep sorrow? How do you handle that overwhelming sorrow and forsaking? When we realize that Jesus feels all that we feel and went through all that we go through, we see three traits of his character that we can put into our lives as well.

• He Included His Close Friends

First, Jesus included his close friends. Jesus and his disciples went tot the garden to pray. He goes a little further and takes his three closet companions with him; vs 37:

“He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him…” vs. 37

One of the things that happen when we go through struggles and difficulties is we feel very alone. Our tendency is to make that true by separating ourselves from those closest to us. In separating ourselves we make sure that the feeling we have of being alone comes true. We are kind of self-predicting and making something happen that is not meant to happen. We actually create our own pity party and we do exactly what God does not want us to do; depend on ourselves. We get to that point where we say things like:

I can handle this

I can make this happen

I can take care of myself.

This is the time for me to take care of me

Here is where Jesus teaches us; we were not meant to go through things alone. He takes his closest friends when he could have said, “I just need to be alone with God.” We not only need others, we rob others of the gift of friendship of being there for us.

Ex. Something good happens and you want to call your friends. What about when something bad happens. Many times we are saying: Why didn’t you call me? Why didn’t you tell me?

• He Went to God

The second character trait we see is that when he is down, when he is struggling he turns to God. Notice the intimacy and struggle of Jesus in verse 39:

“Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.’” vs. 39

Jesus takes a posture of humility and trust. First notice the intimacy that is expressed in Jesus addressing God by saying “My Father.” Remember I said we tend to pull away in times f struggle. Not Jesus. He moves to intimacy and remembering that close relationship he has with God the Father. He not only recognizes it he depends on it.

And…notice that we only get a short version of a much longer time of intercession with God. The passage tells us he went a stones throw from the three, and then prays. While he is praying, they fall asleep. I am guessing they didn’t fall asleep in just one sentence. But we get the important part of the prayer. His plea to God.

Note that Jesus started his ministry by being tempted by Satan to abandon his true calling of being the Messiah. He is now being tempted again, and it is the greatest temptation he ever faced, to abandon his purpose of being the Messiah and the sacrifice that needed to be made for our sin. The text tells us about this in verse 41:

“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” vs. 41

The disciples are facing the same temptation he is, to turn away from the plan. But Jesus is confident in God’s sovereign plan and perfect will so he prays that his will not be followed, but that God’s will be completed. Jesus is not altered by the unique events that are about to happen.

• He Went to God Again and Again

And the third character trait we see in Jesus in the garden is he doesn’t just pray once and it’s done. No, he went to God again, and again. Three times he prays the same thing; verse 42:

“He went away a second time and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.’” vs. 42

The second prayer is slightly different but the message is the same. Sometimes we deceive ourselves into thinking we pray about something once and that’s all that is needed. Yet, our minds never stop thinking about our struggles. It’s interesting we continually think about our struggles but think we can pray once and takes care of it.

Ex. Our weekly prayer list. The health issues with loved ones that we keep on the list for continual prayer.

But notice twice is not enough for Jesus. He goes to God a third time. This shows his deep struggle with this and the need to keep talking to talk about it. Verse 44:

“So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time…” vs. 44

Sometimes we can pray once and then we still are not settled about it. But going to God again and again shows our willingness to let God be the judge, let God be in control, and let God work his plan and that we are dependent on him. Paul tells us in 1 Thess. 5:17

“…pray continually…” 1 Thess. 5:16-18

Aren’t you glad that Paul didn’t say just pray once? No, Paul is really telling us that our lives are to be in continual communication with God. The real truth is that God wants us to be in constant communication with him. It’s good to pray the same thing over and over again if that is what is on your mind.

Result: God Gave Him the Strength

The end of this passage shows us the result of going to God again and again with our struggles and difficulties; he gives us his strength.

“Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!” vss. 45-46

Jesus is now prepared to face those that are going to mock, ridicule, persecute and kill him. We learn obedience in suffering It’s talking with God that gives him strength to move forward.

About 15 years ago I took the challenge to memorize some of the Psalms. One was Psalm 46. I love this Psalm and the first verse I repeat often. It says:

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” Psalm 46:1

Through Jesus character we see this verse implemented in our lives. Jesus let God be his refuge and strength in his time of trouble. Through Jesus example we can do the same.

The Gift of Communion

Matthew 26:17-30

“Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples…”

A New Invention
On a hot August day, three brothers, Hyman, Maxwell and Norman Cohen entered the Dearborn, Michigan, offices of Henry Ford, the car maker. “Mr. Ford,” Norman Cohen, the eldest of the three said, “We have a remarkable invention that will revolutionize the automobile industry.” Ford looked skeptical, but when they threatened to offer it to his competitors, he listened with interest. Please, they said, “We would like to demonstrate it to you in person.”

After a little convincing, they brought Mr. Ford outside and asked him to get into the black automobile parked in front of the building. Hyman Cohen, the middle brother, opened the door of the car. “Please step inside, Mr. Ford.” “What!!!” shouted the tycoon, “Are you crazy? It must be two hundred degrees in that car!!” “It is,” smiled the youngest brother, Max, “but please sit down, Mr. Ford, and push the white button.” Intrigued, Ford pushed the button. All of a sudden a whoosh of freezing air started blowing from vents all around the car, and within seconds the automobile was not only comfortable, it was quite cool.

“This is amazing !” exclaimed Ford. “How much do you want for the patent?”
Norman said, “The price is one million dollars.” Then he paused. “And there is something else. We want the name ’Cohen Brothers Air-Conditioning’ must be stamped right next to the Ford logo!” Ford replied “The money is no problem, but there is no way I will have your name next to my logo on my cars!”

They haggled back and forth for a while and finally they settled. Five million dollars, but the Cohens’ last name would be left off. However, the first names of the Cohen brothers would be forever emblazoned upon the console of every Ford air conditioning system. And that is why even today, whenever you enter a Ford vehicle, you will see those three names clearly printed on the air conditioning control panel:  NORM, HI and MAX. J

A little fun humor as we embark preparing for Easter and this season.   For the last 2,000 years Christians take the time to reflect on the meaning of Christ’s death in these weeks just before Easter. Some churches recognize this by celebrating lent.

Read Passage – Matthew 26:17-30

¹⁷ On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?” ¹⁸ He replied, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.’” ¹⁹ So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover. ²⁰ When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve. ²¹ And while they were eating, he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.” ²² They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, “Surely you don’t mean me, Lord?” ²³ Jesus replied, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. ²⁴ The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.” ²⁵ Then Judas, the one who would betray him, said, “Surely you don’t mean me, Rabbi?” Jesus answered, “You have said so.” ²⁶ While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” ²⁷ Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. ²⁸ This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. ²⁹ I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” ³⁰ When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

Feast of Unleavened Bread

Growing up when I did, I remember how everyone seemed to have basic Christian beliefs, even if they didn’t believe them, and it was common to ask where someone might go to church. In fact, everyone kind of understood what sin was.

Point: I think that is why people could go door to door or stand on a street corner and people would actually talk about sin.

Not so today. Not only do people today tend not to believe in sin. It’s not uncommon for people to say something like, “What is sin?”

Ex. Claudia and I have some good friends who we love and respect but they don’t believe in sin. I am purposely not sharing their name or belief system but I wanted to give you an example of how people think today. They go around the world teaching these values. They believe (in a nutshell):

• Everyone comes into the world with a bright and pure heart.
• Every person was once thought of a cute, cuddly precious, and even miraculous.
• At some point in our growth we were all hurt.
• Because of that hurt we begin to protect ourselves so we build walls and barriers to do that
• Some of these walls and barriers are the self-destructive behaviors we practice like drugs, abuse, disorders, negativity, violence and even suicide
• Regardless of our hurts and barriers, we are all intrinsically good

The passage that we are looking at today has much of that same flavor. Sure the Israelites believed in sin but the Romans didn’t care about the Jewish religions or traditions. So when Matthew begins this passage he talks about things the Israelites would understand because his book was meant to be heard by the Jews. He mentions something that the Israelite people would all know very well; the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This was a celebration that happened for 7 days prior to the Passover. This feast was the remembrance of Jewish people fleeing Egypt. In their quick exit they didn’t have time to wait for the bread to rise, the effects of the yeast, so they had to eat unleavened bread, bread without yeast. In Deut. 16:3the Jews are commanded to eat the “bread of affliction” or unleavened bread for 7 days. Yeast, also called leaven, eventually came to be a symbol that represented sin because it fermented the dough and it naturally led to the decay of the bread. . So one of the traditions that the Israelites practiced was to clean their houses to make sure there is no yeast, not a drop, anywhere during this time.

The Passover

Then came the Passover. Passover is the celebration of the final plague that God used to free the Jews from the Egyptians. In that final plague, there is a whole meal the Jews were to take part of and it meant slaughtering a lamb and spreading the blood on the doorposts and frames so that when the plague came at night, God’s hand would “pass over” that house with the blood and the firstborn would be spared.

So why is all this important? Good question. Because this is all meant to lead to Jesus Christ. Even the Jewish people were of the time this passage was written were waiting and hoping for the Messiah. Prior to this time Jewish people need to make atonement for their sin. Jesus comes to live among us and lead us to God and to die on the cross to atone for our sin. It says in Phil. 2:8:

“And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!” Phil. 2:8

You see, sin is real and in order for us to be restored into a full relationship with God that sin needs to be atoned for. Jesus Christ pays the price once and for all. His sacrifice covers sin forever. Now where that leads us to is communion; the remembrance of what Jesus Christ did for us through his death and subsequent resurrection. He paid the price once and for all.

God’s Gift of Communion to Us: Look…

And here is what we discover; communion is a gift. It is God’s gift to us to never forget what Jesus Christ did for us. And that gift has some really important understanding that comes with it. It calls us to look at certain things.

• Back and Forward

First, we are called to look back and to look forward, much in the same the Israelites were looking back but always looking forward too. The disciples ask in verse 17b:

“Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?” vs. 17b

It pointed the Israelites back to the Passover and God’s redemptive work free the Israelites from the Egyptians after 400 years of captivity and slavery. God wants us to know history, that’s why we have His Word. History is important. Hopefully we learn from history. For us, communion points us back to the death of Christ and his redemptive work on the cross.

The Israelites were also called to look forward to the appearing of their Messiah. So we too are called to look for the return of Christ. Looking forward points us to the time when we will celebrate again in the heavenly realms with Christ himself. Jesus talks about that in verse 29 when he tells the disciples:

“I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” vs. 29

We look back with thankfulness and we look forward with anticipation.
Ex. I think we do this in a practical sense as well. We remember those we love and care about but look forward to spending eternity with them. I think it is natural for us to look both back and forward.

• Inward

Another direction communion points us is inward. Communion is s time of self-examination and confession. 1 Cor. 11:28 tells us:

“Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup.” 1 Cor. 11:28 

This is a time of inward reflection and purification. The way that is done is by taking a hard look at yourself and being honest with yourself. We have to get real and honest with ourselves and humble ourselves before God. This is hard stuff and not very fun. Looking inward drives us back to the cross and the realization that there is a price to be paid for our sin. That’s hard to admit and confess. But…through it comes of the gift of forgiveness. We are assured that God forgive every sin (vs. 28) and that nothing, not even sin, can separate us from the love of God (Rom. 8:39).

• Up

Next, communion directs us to look up. Looking up is the idea of seeing God and seeing things the way he sees things. I would even challenge you on this that the call is to have a bigger vision; a bigger vision of life, of material things, and of trying to discover God’s bigger plan. Col. 3:1-2 says:

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” Col. 3:1-2

Circle “set your mind on things above.” The clue here is that we tend to put a lot of value and importance on earthly, temporary things. Those things are gifts to us from God but should never have greater importance than eternity. When we set our minds on earthly things we get self-centered, a narrow focus, and frustrated because the earthly things can never completely satisfy. But…when we set our minds on things above we find hope and encouragement.

Ex. Struggle with dad’s health and death

• Around

Communion is also meant to cause us to look around. Communion was never meant to be practiced alone. Think about this; this sacrament goes all the way back to the time of Moses. The first Passover was celebrated with family and the mandate from the Old Testament is to celebrate it with family. Christ also set the example for us as we see in verse 21:

“When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve.” vs. 21

Jesus celebrated communion with the 12 disciples, those closest to him on this earth. We are called to celebrate communion with those we worship with because we will be together for eternity. In fact, look around for a moment, you are going to spend eternity with those around you…and so many more.

Ex. Introducing someone in the congregation to those who have gone before us

1 Corinthians 10:17 says:

“Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf.”

1 Cor. 10:17

We are one, just as the there is only one loaf in the communion.

Ex. The old way of taking the loaf and passing it and pulling a piece off. Had to stop for sanitary reasons.

• Out

And finally, communion causes us to look out. By out what I mean is that it is an expression to those outside of the church that we believe in Jesus Christ, the son of the living God, and that salvation is a free gift that comes from the sacrifice that Jesus made for us. Paul states in 1 Corinthians 11:26:

“For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” 1 Cor. 11:26

But this message is two-fold. Notice that Paul uses the word proclaim. First we are proclaiming to the world what we believe. But, secondly, we are proclaiming that all are welcome to come. We want everyone to know the gift that comes through Jesus Christ and to live in the love, peace, joy, and strength that God provides.

Eternity with the Lamb

As we take communion, we are proclaiming now but we will also be proclaiming in eternity the good news of Jesus. Rev. shows us a glimpse of heaven and those there proclaiming:

“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” Rev. 5:12

We have this incredible gift of salvation that comes through only one person; Jesus Christ. So let us proclaim Christ’s death and resurrection this morning.

Living Vertically

Psalm 1

“For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous…”

The Breakout

In November 1975, 75 convicts started digging a secret tunnel designed to bring them up at the other side of the wall of Saltillo Prison in northern Mexico. They dug for months and covered each other while they worked. They figured out how to get the tools they needed, how rid of the dirt, and scheduled they digging in such a way that they wouldn’t get caught. On April 18, 1976, they were successful in breaking through. Here’s the problem; they tunneled up into the nearby courtroom in which many of them had been sentenced. The surprised judges returned all 75 to jail to finish their sentences with time added for the attempted breakout.

Great plans but…didn’t you have to ask yourself: Didn’t anybody check to see where they were going? Doesn’t anybody out of 75 know how to plan and make this thing happen the right way? What do you think? Here’s where I think it takes us: We do the same thing. I do things and think It’s going to be great and I mess it up, head the wrong direction, end up in the wrong place, etc.

If you are able, please stand as we read God’s Word from Psalm 1:

Read Passage – Psalm 1

Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, ² but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. ³ That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers. ⁴ Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. ⁵ Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. ⁶ For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.

Functional or Intentional

We have been on a journey to Emotionally Healthy Spirituality and discovering what it takes to be in emotional health and how that drives us to a deeper relationship with God. One of the struggles that comes in Christianity is how to take our relationship with God to a deeper level. In fact, it could be said that many Christians are not intentional about their relationship with God but they are more functional. Let me explain and challenge you on this.

Functional is the idea of being useful but it isn’t necessarily moving forward.

                                Functional: Useful

Useful is that you are functioning but not necessarily thriving. Functioning is going through the motions, the same routines, the same schedules, filling our lives with a lot of things that keep us busy but don’t necessarily do much for us.

It’s the idea that we get up each day, go through our morning routine of coffee, breakfast, commute and then get through the day at work and come home and take care of a few things and though we got through the day, we might not necessarily feel that much was accomplished. We even get that way with our relationship with God. For example, I read my bible, said prays before each meal, maybe tried to memorize a verse, etc.

The challenge for us might be to be more intentional about our life. Intentional is the idea of having a conscious plan and having a direction.

                                Intentional: Direction

Intentional takes it to a deeper level. It’s the idea of having a plan and working toward something and doing things that help you achieve that plan. It’s having direction in life and having direction when it comes to my relationship with God. It’s taking active steps to purposely grow in your walk with God and seeing his plan unfold before you and know that you are in His will.

I think we get intentional living when it comes to our careers, our family, and a few other things. Many of us have a plan and a course set out for us to achieve certain things in our careers and we work with everything we have to achieve that. The same is true for our family but that is a bit more of a challenge at times. But here is the challenge: Are we progressing in our relationship with God or are we just getting by, just going through the motions without any real direction or goal? That’s a hard question.

The Need for Revival

One of the things that brought this to mind was some reading I was doing and the author put this idea out there: We all need revival. I know my eyebrows raised when I read that. Sure some do but everyone? When I think of revival I think of a church movement or maybe even something that “those” people need. Whoever “those” people are. But the author challenged me and I want to challenge you with it as well because he convicted me.

Revival – an intensification of the normal operations of the Spirit. This includes conviction of sin, renewal, assurance of grace, and growing closer in our relationship with God.

When I read that, I realized I needed revival; everyday! I don’t want to be a Christian going through the motions, functioning but not having direction when it comes to my life with God. I would even go so far as to say that we all need revival, every day! Sin is constantly robbing me of my intimacy with God and the only way to get it back is revival. Confessing my sin, realizing how much I am loved by God, and his assurance of his joy, peace, and grace in my life and my true heart’s desire to walk more closely with God.

Living Intentionally for God: Consider…

Through Psalm 1 we see what it is to live intentionally for God. In fact, David touches on 4 things for us to consider about how we live our life and how it helps us deepen our relationship with God.

1. Who You Hang Around

The first consideration comes in the first verse where he challenges us to consider “who we hang around.” He says in verse 1:

“Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers…” vs. 1

The challenge is to consider who we hang around with because we tend to be like those we hang around. We tend to mimic those we hang around and do the things they do, say the things they say and act the way they act. This actually comes pretty naturally to us.

Ex. My brother, grew up together, same family, same everything, now that he lives in Texas, he says things like “y’all” and “howdy”.

We have to ask ourselves what we look for in those we hang out with? We have to acknowledge how easily we are led astray and that our tendencies are to imitate and mimic. Paul says in 1 Cor. 15:33:

“Do not be misled: ‘Bad company corrupts good character.’” 1 Cor. 15:33

Now let me be really clear here, this isn’t saying we should not associate with non-Christians. We need to go to the character of people and their heart. There are many non-Christians who have good character and are good people and we can benefit greatly from their friendship. This is telling us to look for people with good character, good hearts, and people who build up and encourage, people who challenge us in a good way, and people who have our best interest in mind. Solomon wrote in Prov. 27:17:
“As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” Prov. 27:17

We need people who can sharpen us and sometimes that means they challenge us and push us but always with our best interest in mind. We need people who challenge our beliefs and thoughts and are willing to walk and work with us.

Ex. Draymond Green Golden State Warrior Forward – Since his early childhood had a love affair with Michigan State University and basketball. His goal to play for them. In his freshman year of high school he was influenced by friends to cheat on a Science. Caught. Mom kept him out of basketball that summer. Coaches, parents, everyone tried to talk her out of it. She wouldn’t budge. Green kept waiting for her to cave in and she didn’t. He got the point. Green grew up that summer, grew up into a man who would be more than another player on a lengthy all-time roster at Michigan State. “I never got less than a 3.2 [GPA] after that,” he said. “That summer, it really made me look at things. If it wasn’t for that, if my mom didn’t do what she did, I wouldn’t be here. I wouldn’t be playing at Michigan State because I wouldn’t have had the grades.”

2. What You Think About

The second consideration is to consider what we think about, what we are basing our beliefs and philosophies of life on. Verse 2 says:

“…but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.” vs. 2

You might want to circle “Delight in the law of the Lord.” There ae a lot of teachings out there and a lot of good things that we can learn. But I will caution you with this: What does the Bible says? God gave us his word to be our guide and to help us through this life. We need to be wise and discerning when it comes to how we live our life and we need to put thought into our actions and beliefs. Now God has given us a brain as well and there are a lot of things that we have decision making on.

Ex. Food, clothes, sometimes jobs, relationships etc.

But God gave us his word as a guide and a rule for living. He wants to live a life that is filled with his joy and peace and love. A good example of what to thinka bout and consider comes in Phil. 4:8:

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” Phil. 4:8

I think the problem is we haven’t committed to living by God’s way because we aren’t taking the time to think about them.

-You can’t know God’s ways if you’re not reading His Word

-You can’t know God’s ways if you’re not talking to him (prayer)

-You can’t know God’s ways if you are being led astray by false teaching

3. Where You Get Fed

The third consideration is where you get fed. David uses imagery for us to grasp this point. He says in verse 3:

“That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season…” vs. 3

One of the things I love about God’s Word is that it gives us some word pictures that I know help me “get it.” So think about this for a second. Where do you see the most growth in nature? Yes, near water. Why? Because water brings the nutrients and sustenance that we need to get through life.

Ex. The lawns at the church during the drought

The things that grow in Black Diamond Mines and Park – Notice things grow near the ponds, the water areas, etc. the places where the roots can get down and deep and find the water necessary to grow and thrive.

Paul states in Col. 2:6-7:

“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him,  rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.” Col. 2:6-7

Circle the word “rooted.” Roots get down in the ground and they pull the nutrients into the plant and send them to the right place so that the plant becomes strong and healthy.

What we put into ourselves, what we feed ourselves, has a lot to do with our health. We have to think about his in our physical diet. Some us have to be careful how much salt we take in, how much sugar, how much fat, etc. If we want our body to be strong we need certain vitamins and foods that help build us up.

Ex. Athletes in training.

Some things to consider about your spiritual nutrition:

-What you read (books, etc.)

-What you watch (TV, Movies, etc.)

-What you listen to (music, lectures, sermons, etc.)

-What you view on the internet

4. How Dedicated You Are

And finally, the fourth thing to consider is how dedicated you really are to being a fully devoted follower of God and truly wanting to live in a way that reflects your commitment to him and your love for him. If we are not dedicated we are told what will happen to us, verse 4:

“Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.” vs.4

Again I think there is a great word picture here. He talks about the chaff from grain plants. The chaff is the hard outside casing that protects the seed and when the seed is ready for harvest you can throw it up in the air and the chaff blows away while the good seed falls to the ground and is ready for use. Interestingly enough if you look up chaff in the dictionary one of the definitions is refuse or waste.

The real issue is the connectedness to the plant. The chaff isn’t really that connected. It’s just there until it’s blown away. We have to be sold out to being dedicated to developing a deeper and more intimate relationship with God. Another picture the Bible gives us of this is the vine and the branches. Jesus calls us to be a branch that is connected to the vine. A branch cannot grow, thrive and bear fruit unless it is connected to the vine. Jesus talks about this concept in John 15:4 where he says:

“Remain in me, as I also remain in you.” John 15:4

Remain means to stay, keep on being connected.

Follow Jesus’ Example

To wrap this up, getting to Emotional Healthy Spirituality takes being intentional about how you live life and a commitment to living in a deeper relationship with God.

So we choose carefully who we hang around with by surrounding ourselves with people that encourage us, build us up and challenge us to be better. We consider what we think about by being committed to God’s ways by knowing his word and using it as a rule for our life, by purposefully choosing the things we put into our lives so that we are growing and nurtured by being properly fed, and by staying connected to God and walking deeper with him.

It takes focus, it takes commitment, and its takes intention.

Healthy Conflict

Ephesians 4:31-5:2

“Be kind and compassionate to one another…” vs. 31

You’re Absolutely Right

Two men who lived in a small village got into a terrible dispute that they could not resolve. So they decided to talk to the town sage.

The first man went to the sage’s home and told his version of what happened. When he finished, the sage said, “You’re absolutely right.”

The next night, the second man called on the sage and told his side of the story. The sage responded, “You’re absolutely right.”

Afterward, the sage’s wife scolded her husband. “Those men told you two different stories and you told them they were absolutely right. That’s impossible—they can’t both be absolutely right.”

The sage turned to his wife and said, “You’re absolutely right.”

David Moore in Vital Speeches of the Day

Believe it or not, this is a way that many people deal with conflict, or avoid it. I think many of us would avoid conflict if at all possible and yet, we all have conflict in our lives. Some of us deal with conflict a lot and it’s not always a pleasant thing to go through. We have been studying being Spiritually Emotionally Healthy. Part of that is learning to deal with conflict and working through the difficult part of life. If you are able, please stand as we read a passage of Scripture that helps us understand what God tells us about his subject from Ephesians 4:31-5:2:

Read Passage – Ephesians 4:31-5:2

³¹ Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. ³² Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. 5¹ Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children ² and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Life Is Easy If…

There is an old saying that says “The church would be a great place if it wasn’t for all the people.” I want to tweak that just a bit and put it this way; “Life would be easy if it wasn’t for all the people.”

Life has ups and downs and good times and difficult times. My ideal life says there is no difficult times only good times. Many of us probably feel that way. A great example of this kind of thinking is our ideals when it comes to love. Peter Scazzero says (Emotionally Healthy Spirituality p. 7)

Love in practice is a harsh and dreadful thing compared to love in dreams – Peter Scazzero

I think there is a part of each of us that wishes there is a world where we could all get along, where there is no conflict, no difficulty, and no stress. John Lennon in his song Imagine has a line that says, “Imagine all the people living in peace.” That would be a great thing wouldn’t it? But reality tells us that it’s not just that way.

Conflict Resolution Skills

But the news is not all bad. One of the things I love about the Evangelical Covenant Church is that we believe the Bible contains helpful instruction on how to live. In the passage we read today, we find skills to help us move through, resolve, and move forward in life and relationships. So here are 4 skills the Bible gives us to help resolve differences, conflicts, and difficulties in our relationships with one another. This is not an exhaustive list but I will tell you, it’s a helpful and beneficial list.

1. Notice How You Are Speaking

The first skill is to notice how you are speaking. It really means that we have more self-awareness when it comes to what we say and how we say it. James touches on this 1:19 when he says:

“Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry…” James 1:19

He touches on something that comes naturally to most of us, that our emotions come out and they tend to be negative. That’s the anger part. Have you ever thought about how you respond when conflicts arise? A lot of times we express ourselves and then we say something like; “I can’t believe I said that. We tend to be negative, name call, judge, point the finger at others, swear, talk louder, be a bit more aggressive, (ok a lot more aggressive), and yes, angry.

James says the solution to this is to listen more, slow our speech down and to think about what we say.

Ex. Someone in a store who is angry and causes a scene; loud, uncomfortable, etc.

The second thing we do is speak with our body; it’s called body language. We think many times we are hiding it but our body speaks volumes for us. Some people become aggressive, violent, etc. while others mope, withdraw, and become quiet.

Ex. I take on the later. I am quiet. I know, me, quiet! Ha! I also become very reflective, almost down.

Paul, in Ephesians 4:15 tells us that we should speck but to do it in a specific way:

“Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.” Ephesians 4:15

Notice the change in how we respond or speak and what is involved. First our speech should take on the character of love. That’s speaking to others the way we would like to be spoken to. And there is maturity involved too. When people don’t respond with love and maturity we say they are acting like a child.

Let me just say this: This is hard and it takes a lot of work. Don’t fool yourself and say you can’t do it but realize that you will fail, maybe many times, but it can get better.

2. Listen with Respect

The 2^nd skill is to listen with respect. You might be asking, what does that mean? It means to listen with your heart, with compassion, with an openness to resolution and a willing heart to really hear the other person. One of Christ’s most common lines in his ministry was:

“If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear.” Mark 4:23

Now of course we all have ears but many times we aren’t using them because we are too busy coming up with our defense, thinking about our side, and trying to jump in and give our point of view. But real listening again takes work and the willingness to realize you are talking with someone who is hurt, probably feeling as bad as you are, and because they are loved by God just as you are, deserve to be treated with respect. 1 Peter 2:17 says:

“Show proper respect to everyone…” 1 Peter 2:17

The tougher aspect of this is to understand how to treat others with respect. Here are a few tips:

• Put your own agenda on hold. You will have your chance to express your view but be quiet, still, attentive, and listen without thinking about defending you and your positon.
• Don’t interrupt. Let the other person complete their thoughts.
• God back to point #1 and think about what you are going to say and how you say it before you respond. Maybe even qualify it with, “I don’t want to hurt you so if I say this wrong, please know it’s not intended that way.”
• Ask them if they are done or is there more that needs to be heard.

3. Be Aware of Your Assumptions

The 3^rd skill is to be aware of your assumptions. Now realize that we all make assumptions. To assume is to think you know the truth about something when in actually you might or you might not. Assumptions are not reality until you check them out to see if they are true and then they are not assumptions anymore but then you know the truth. Assumptions come up because we think we know the other persons intent or because we want to believe that we are right and they are wrong. The Pharisee’s were great at this. They always assumed the other people weren’t as good or as holy or as godly as they were and that they had good intentions but others did not. Jesus confronts them on this in Luke 16:15 and says:

“He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts.” Luke 16:15

They assumed a lot about others and Jesus is pointing out that they were usually wrong and that they were hiding their real self. Assumptions cause us to live in a false reality. The key to being aware of your assumptions is to find out the truth and live in reality. Jesus said in John 8:32:

“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32

To move passed assumptions you have to get to the truth. How? Here are a few steps to this:

• Reflect on your assumptions. (acknowledge you have them)
• Ask the other person if they will allow you check out the assumption
• Say, “I think you think…” and them ask them if that is correct.
• Give them a chance to respond.

Ex. Claudia and I on our walk.

4. Be Aware of Your Expectations

The 4^th skill is to be aware as well but this time it is to be aware of your expectations. What I mean by this is that many times we expect people to know what we want and what we are looking for before we say it. Many times our expectations are unrealistic, unspoken, and not agreed upon and because of this, usually un-met as well. Again Jesus addressed this with the Pharisee’s because they put a lot of expectations on people. In Luke 11:46 he calls them out on this and says:

“Jesus replied, “And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.” Luke 11:46

I think the Pharisee’s knew they put these expectations on people. Sometimes we don’t realize that we are putting expectations on people but if we work at being aware of this we can begin to understand that we all to do this. The other thing with expectations is that we are usually concerned about how others are acting and what we want them to do. Part of getting passed this is to realize that we are only accountable for what we do and how we act. Paul says in Romans 14:12:

“So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.” Romans 14:12

As we are aware of our expectations they only become valid if they are mutually agreed upon. In order for this to happen we have to:

• Be aware of them
• Make them realistic
• Speak them
• Come to agreement

When realized, spoken and agreed upon, you move forward in your relationship and resolve conflict.

Follow Christ’s Example of Love

So where does this leave us? It takes us back to Jesus. He set the example. He gave us the pattern to follow. He showed us the way. I love the way this passage ends. It encourages us to follow Jesus, chapter 5 verses 1-2:

“Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love…” Eph. 5:1-2

Christ didn’t just do this long ago. No, he is still doing it today.

Romans 8 talks about God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. In verse 26 it talks about how the Spirit is at work in us.

“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.” Rom. 8:26

So get this, the Spirit that lives in us, is listening to our needs, our hurts, our pain, and our joy. In the same way, Jesus is interceding for us too. Romans 8:34:

“Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.” Rom. 8:34

So God is listening to all our heart, all our pain, and all our difficulty through the Son and Holy Spirit and then is working out his plan in our life. He is responding to our hurt and filling us with his peace, his joy, and his love.

Broken, But Not In Pieces

Job 17

“My spirit is broken, my days are cut short, the grave awaits me.” vs. 1

Chippie the Parakeet

Chippie was a happy little bird, content to sit on his perch, swinging and singing to his little heart’s content.  One day Chippie’s owner started to clean out his cage. She took the attachment off the end of the vacuum hose and stuck the hose in the cage to clean the bottom. Just then the phone rang. She turned to pick it up and had barely said hello when “ssswwooopp!” Chippie got sucked up the hose! As you can imagine, the lady gasped, dropped the phone, and turned off the vacuum. She ripped open the bag just to find Chippie lying in the dust. He was alive, but totally in a daze.

The owner did the only thing she could think of: She picked him up and ran to the bathroom sink and turned on the water full blast. She stuck him under the water and then started to wash the dirt off him really fast, being oblivious to the fact that Chippie was nearly drowning.  Then realizing poor little Chippie was soaked and shivering, she did what any good bird owner would do; she reached for the hair dryer and blasted the little guy with hot air. Poor Chippie never knew what hit him.

A couple of days later, the person who had originally called made another call to check up on the bird. She asked how the bird was doing. The owner said, “Well, instead of singing like he used to, he just sits there and stares off into space.”

Most of us can identify with little Chippie, can’t we? Things seemed to be going okay in our lives, and then out of nowhere, we are hit hard with something very hard to cope with. And from that point on, we are no longer the same as we were.

Most of us have gone through a tough day, a bad week, a hard month or maybe even a really rotten year. What can we do? What can we learn? Can we change it? Today we are going to read about a guy that went through a really rough patch…and he did nothing wrong; his name is Job. We read some of his words in the book of Job chapter 17. If you are able, please stand as we read God’s Word.

Read Passage – Job 17

¹ My spirit is broken, my days are cut short, the grave awaits me. ² Surely mockers surround me; my eyes must dwell on their hostility. ³ “Give me, O God, the pledge you demand. Who else will put up security for me? ⁴ You have closed their minds to understanding; therefore you will not let them triumph. ⁵ If anyone denounces their friends for reward, the eyes of their children will fail. ⁶ “God has made me a byword to everyone, a man in whose face people spit. ⁷ My eyes have grown dim with grief; my whole frame is but a shadow. ⁸ The upright are appalled at this; the innocent are aroused against the ungodly. ⁹ Nevertheless, the righteous will hold to their ways, and those with clean hands will grow stronger. ¹⁰ “But come on, all of you, try again! I will not find a wise man among you. ¹¹ My days have passed, my plans are shattered. Yet the desires of my heart ¹² turn night into day; in the face of the darkness light is near. ¹³ If the only home I hope for is the grave, if I spread out my bed in the realm of darkness, ¹⁴ if I say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother’ or ‘My sister,’ ¹⁵ where then is my hope—who can see any hope for me? ¹⁶ Will it go down to the gates of death? Will we descend together into the dust?”

The Problem of Pain

I don’t know if Chippie ever recovered fully and got back to being the bird he was. The problem with pain, difficulty, and bad periods of life is that we rarely get to prepare for them, we don’t know until we are in them that we are in them, and it’s a bit weird but many times they come after a period of good times.

I went through a period like this when I was 16-17. It wasn’t the only time I have gone through something like this but this one did hit me hard. I had just come out of a great period of time. I was the sophomore class president, I had been dating the same girl for about 14 to 16 months, I was starting goalie on the JV Water polo team, and things seemed great and the future seemed bright. But it hit. I lost my election to become the school vice president, moved up to varsity in Water polo but wasn’t playing very much, I had been regulated to the bench, shortly after that my girlfriend broke up with me for a college guy, I was cut from the basketball team so they could make room for a younger guy, and the real difficulty was my great grandmother, both my grandmothers on either side of my family, one of my grandfathers, 2 uncles, and an aunt all died within this 16-18 month period. I remember literally running out of my Junior Psych class crying when they showed this movie about grandparents. Ran all the way home. It was scary when the phone rang because it was like; O.K. who died? And…I did something I said I was never going to do. I started going to parties and drinking. Ever been through a tough period like that? I wish I could tell you it was the only time I have been through something like that but that just isn’t the case.

What Brokenness Feels Like

We have been talking the last few weeks about emotional and spiritual health. The Bible talks about times that we go through like this. In fact, in Job 17 it starts by naming these periods. Look again at verse 1:

“My spirit is broken…” vs.1

This is something Job went through…brokenness. Brokenness is a tough period of life. It’s more than just a bad day or a tough week. It’s a long period of distress, difficulty and sadness. It’s has a raw feeling to it. I think Job 17 helps us understand what brokenness feels like.

Aloneness vs. 3 ”Who else will put up security for me?”

Insignificance vs. 6 “God has made me a byword to everyone…”

Mockery vs. 6 ”…a man in whose face people spit.”

Weakness vs. 7 “…my whole frame is but a shadow.”

Grief vs. 7 ”My eyes have grown dim with grief…”

Dying vs. 11 ”My days have passed, my plans are shattered.”

Darkness vs. 12-13 ”…in the face of the darkness light is near. ¹³ If the only home I hope for is the grave, if I spread out my bed in the realm of darkness…”

Hopelessness vs. 15 ”…where then is my hope—who can see any hope for me?”

Sometimes the Bible can really nail the difficulties in life and how we feel when we go through them. One of the challenges I put out to us this year is to move into a deeper relationship with God. Sometimes it in the difficulties, in the brokenness, that we search for God and for the purpose in life.

Putting the Pieces Back Together

I entitled todays sermon “Broken, but not in pieces.” You may be in a time of brokenness or might have gone through a time of brokenness. I am here to tell you there is hope. I am here to tell you that God loves you, has a purpose for you, and that though you might be going through a time of struggle, God wants to work in your life and wants to be in deeper relationship with you. From Job’s story, we learn what it looks like to put the pieces back together. I am here to tell you that if you desire to move into a deeper relationship with God that he will move into a deeper relationship with you. We learn a few things from Job too.

• Repent

The first thing, and it’s a tough thing to see in those tough times, is that you need to repent. Anyone know what the idea of repentance is? It is literally “to turn.” In a much deeper way, it is admitting your part, and get this, even when you didn’t do anything wrong. Now remember Job didn’t do anything wrong yet in 42:6 we read these words;

“Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.” Job 42:6

Now many have given the illustration of turning 180 degrees and walking the other way (Walk it out). I have used that illustration. Today, take it a step further. Repent is also admitting your part. Job listen to his friends, who were no help at all to him. But even though they were wrong, Job still put a lot of stock in his goodness. At the end of the book when he is confronted by God , he realizes this and repents. He realizes that he was still counting on his works and good nature to carry him through and here, in his brokenness, in chapter 42, after being confronted by God…he repents. See if you take repent meaning “to turn,” we are literally turning from ourselves and turning to God. It’s the realization that we aren’t any better than anyone else. It’s the sense that even at our best, we are still sinful in God’s sight and we need him, his grace, and his forgiveness. Even though Job was in the right he still considered himself “better” in a sense; better than them. Admitting our part says we are all in need of God and his love, his peace, his forgiveness. We are all in the same boat. Jesus’ message was just that simple, Matt. 4:17:

“From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” Matt. 4:17
Repenting is looking at ourselves with a candidness, honesty and soberness that, even at our best, we are deeply flawed and in need of God’s grace and mercy. No matter how good I am, I turn from myself and turn to God.

• Remain

The second step is to remain. Remain is another way of saying that we wait on God. In our story of Job, he sits. He remains. He waits on the Lord. Here is the thing about waiting, waiting takes time. It sounds so obvious but we struggle to wait. We want answers. We want solutions. We want something to do to make it better and something to make us feel better. Everything that Satan did to Job was so fast. I one fell swoop he takes away his children. In another his cows and donkeys, in another his sheep and still another his camels. This happens in rapid succession. Then his health is attacked and he is covered in boils and he sits in pain. Now the waiting begins. See what we want is the solution and “fix” to come as fast or faster than the struggle. But…remaining by its very definition takes time. We have a hard time waiting, even on God. David says this in Psalm 27:4:

“I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” Psalm 27:14

Notice how many times in this verse he says remain or wait; three times. Waiting on the Lord is trusting his plan and his timing. Sometimes that is a lot longer than the struggle and difficulty that we have gone through.

Ex. Many of you know the story of Abraham. In Genesis 15 god makes a covenant with Abram. He says he will be the father of many nations and changes his name to Abraham. He was 75 years old when God tells him this. Sarah is 64. I don’t know about you but at that point I am not thinking about having kids. God promises Abraham and Sarah. By Genesis 16, 11 years have passed. That right there is a long wait. Abraham is now 84 and Sarah 75. Nothing has happened. At Sarah’s request Abraham sleeps with her maidservant, Hagar. See, they got tired of waiting. Hagar has a child but that wasn’t God’s promise, they took it into their own hands. God still used her son Ishmael and made him the father of many people. By Genesis 21 Abraham is 99 and Sarah is 90. Now Sarah gets pregnant. So get this, they had to wait 24 years to see the covenant fulfilled. Now that is some serious waiting.

One of the themes of the Bible is that we need to wait on God. Psalm 130:5:

“I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope.” Psalm 130:5

David touches the great promise that comes from waiting on the Lord…hope!

• Release

And the third step to emotional spiritual health through brokenness is release. We live in a world of “happiness” or temporary joy. We make our decisions based on happiness. When we do that, we find temporary relief from struggle but we usually do not find the long lasting joy. Happiness tends to be a momentary change from the pain.

Ex. We buy something to bring us some sense of happiness, i.e. clothing, gadgets, cars, houses, phones, even food. We even tend to go overboard with these things and then we find the struggle later when we get the bills and have to pay for our temporary happiness. This leads to a counterfeit self.

God, instead, wants us to have freedom. That freedom comes in releasing ourselves, our issues, our struggles, and our pain to God. This is an issue of trust. Trust that God has a plan for us and his plan is good and best for us. Psalm 51:22:

“Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.” Psalm 55:22

David says this in Psalm 51 as he is recovering from a dark and broken period of his life after his sin of adultery, murder, and lying. Peter reiterates it in 1Peter 5:7:

“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7

Let me follow this up with a question:

Where do you find your identity?

Is it in your things? Like these? (show picture) Is it in your job? Your family? Your good works? Your kids? Etc. Releasing says your give it all to God and you find your identity in him.

Ex. I told you about that period in my life when I was 16-17. When I gotten broken enough one Saturday I jumped in my car and drove to Santa Cruz. By myself. I walked on the beach for a couple of hours. I had prayed the prayer and received Christ in my heart when I was 6. Now I prayed and released my life to God. I was ready to find my identity in him.

New Life On the Other Side – Restoration

The story doesn’t end there. When we have gone through all this and repented, remained, and release, something incredible comes; restoration. In the case of Job, chapter 42 tells us that he had 10 more children, and all his cattle and flocks and herds were restored, double. But all that takes time. But like Job, restoration comes. Like David, restoration comes. David said in Psalm 51:12

“Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.”

Psalm 51:12

The Bible is full of restoration stories. In fact, that is why Jesus came, to restore us. We were worth dying for to be restored. God’s purpose is to have a loving relationship with him. We enjoy what we have because God created all this for our enjoyment and his creation is good. We appreciate all he has given us because he is gracious and generous but we are not defined by those things. We find our identity and worth in our relationship with God Almighty because we are children of the king!

Exodus 20:4-6

“You shall not bow down to them or worship them;

for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God…” vs. 5

Who’s Your Daddy?

Let me start by taking a quick poll. Most of you know I have two daughters. Most of you know them and have watched them grow up. So, my question is; Who looks like who?

How many of you think my oldest looks like me? My wife?

How many of you think my youngest looks like me? My Wife?

I know the answer to those questions even differ in my own families. Family traits are interesting things.

Let’s have some fun with this; I am going to show you a picture of parent and you have to tell me their famous child.

-Fred Trump/Donald Trump

-Dell Curry/Stephan Curry

-Hugh Rodham/Hilary Clinton

-Tom Liu/Lucy Liu

-Mark Zuckerberg/Max Zuckerberg

Our family has a lot to do with who we are in many ways; physical looks, our emotional make up, our personalities, etc. The things we do and the ways we raise our children have a lot to do with that too. We are on a study of deepening our relationship with God and that entails us being emotionally healthy. Today we are going to look at what the Bible has to say about our family and history and what we need to do to move forward in life. If you are able, please stand as we read God’s Word from Exodus 20:4-6. It’s one of the 10 commandments.

Read Passage – Exodus 20:4-6

“You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. ⁵You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,⁶but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Joe’s Family Values

Today we are going to look at the life of a guy most of us are familiar with and whose story is found in the book of Genesis; Joseph. Joseph had a pretty historic lineage. His dad was Jacob, his grandfather was Isaac, and his great grandfather was Abraham. Most of us would love to claim that kind of a heritage. Wow! But, consider for just a moment what his heritage was filled with:

–Patterns of lying – Abraham lied twice about Sarah, Isaac and Rebehah’s marriage was characterized by lies, Jacob’s name means deceiver, and Jacob’s children (10 sons) lied to him about Joseph’s death

–Favoritism – Abraham favored Ishmael, Isaac favored Esau, and Jacob favored Joseph and then later Benjamin

–Division – Issac and Ishmael were cut off from one another; Jacob and Esau had to split for years because of Jacob’s deception; Joseph was separated from his brothers for many, many years.

–Poor relationships – Abraham had a child out of wedlock (at his wife’s urging), Isaac was married to a woman he truly didn’t love (Rebecca); Jacob had two wives and two concubines

What looks like a great legacy was filled with a lot of issues that would tear apart families and would cause some people issues for a long time. In fact, if you look at the passage we read today, verse 5b seems to elude to just what we see in this family line:

“…for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me…” vs. 5b

Many of us may look at our families and think that we have dysfunction, difficulty, and that we too may be in a downward cycle of family legacy.

What Can I Do?

You might even ask this; What can I do? One thing you can do is not stop reading this passage at verse 5, and many people do. In fact, this passage is often quoted to me and it sounds something like this: “Well you know, the sins of the parents are carried on to the third and fourth generation!” It is true, the passage says that but so many people stop there and don’t claim the next verse:

“…but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.” vs. 6

My challenge to you today is that we must get emotionally healthy to be spiritually healthy and that means we have some tough work ahead. “The great news of Christianity is that your biological family of origin does not determine your future.” P.103 (Peter Scazzero Emotionally Healthy Spirituality) You might be in this pattern where you feel you or your parents or grandparents are perpetuating sins or dysfunction that is carrying on for generations. That leaves us with little hope and little to look forward to. My challenge is to stop the pattern, create a new pattern, and look back in order to move forward.

Breaking The Pattern and Moving Forward

Let’s discover what breaking the pattern and moving forward looks like. There is a definite break in the pattern between verses 5 and 6 so I believe that gives us hope and helps us look at establishing a healthy pattern that verse 6 says can extend to thousands of generations. I will be honest, that’s what I want for my family.

1. Take an Painful Inventory of Your Family’s Past 

In the story of Joseph there is a contrast in the way the people live their lives. First, look at the brothers. They did some really bad things. They wanted to kill their brother but ended up selling him to get a few bucks. They lied to their dad about it. They lived with guilt. And…they must have been looking over their shoulder often thinking their deeds would come back to haunt them Look at what happens when they go to Egypt in a famine to buy food. They are accused of being spies and their response in verse 21 is:

“Surely we are being punished because of our brother. Gen. 42:21

You can probably assume this isn’t the only time they have said or thought this. They were living with guilt and they were stuck in a pattern of negativity.

Now let’s look at Joseph. Remember he was sold into slavery. He worked for years as a slave. It took a long time to work his way up. It seems quick because there are a lot of gaps but this was a hard tough road and it took time. I am sure, especially in the beginning, he struggled and hurt because of what had been done to him and it probably took a long time to get over. That’s the thing, we have to look back and take the painful inventory. We can’t sweep it under the rug and pretend it didn’t happen. We can tend to do that; minimize and rationalize the past. But in order to move forward, we have to look at it, name it, and claim it. Pain can be a motivator and for many it can be a negative motivator. But if take an inventory and truly recognize what is in our past and name it, we can begin the healing process and move forward. Now, believe it or not, Joseph named it and dealt with it. How do I know, believe it or not the Bible shows he did. Look at genesis 41:51-52:

“Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh and said, “It is because God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household.”  The second son he named Ephraim and said, “It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.” Gen. 41:51-52

Manasseh – God makes me forget

Ephraim – God has caused me to be fruitful

Joseph probably struggled for years with the anguish that his own brothers sold him into slavery. But…the key comes in that God caused him to forget. He turned it over to God. Because he did, look at his second son, God brought healing and then Joseph could recognize God’s good gifts in his life.

What do you need to name from your past and turn over to God? What can God help you forget so that you can begin to move forward again?

Action Step: Find a confidant, a person you can trust, that you can confide in and that will help you move forward with God’s plan for your life. Must be a trusted person.

2. Know God Is Bigger Than Your Circumstances

The second pattern to break is to stop minimizing God’s work in your life; know that God is bigger than your circumstances. There is a tendency in today’s world to rationalize the things that happen to us and not to deal with pain. Pain is real and pain hurts. Evil is real and sometimes we even rationalize evil. A common philosophy today is to say “Everything happens for a reason.” I am here to tell you that is a lie and that is just rationalizing pain and evil. Sometimes evil people do evil things and to claim that there is a reason for it can lead us to a place of saying that God wanted it to happen.

Now hear me very clearly on this: God does not cause evil to happen. And hear me even clearer on this: God can use the circumstances of your life for good. He can work with any situation and bring something good out of evil. Joseph dealt with evil. His brothers sold him into slavery. Do you remember why? He was proud and arrogant. He flaunted that his brothers would one day bow down to him, that he was going to be something great and he was favored by his dad. It must have been devastating to have your brothers sell you and to be torn away from your family. But…God used these evil acts to accomplish something much bigger. First, he broke Joseph’s pride. Notice Joseph is never #1 again. He is second in Potipher’s house. He is second in command in Egypt. In many ways, he is reminded daily that there is always someone more important and more powerful. And God used these terrible circumstances to save Joseph, his brothers, his father, and the nation of Israel. So Joseph claims in Genesis 45:8:

“So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God.” Genesis 45:8

Important; Notice he doesn’t say God had you sell me into slavery. NO! He recognizes that God used the slavery to send him to the place he is now. He sees the bigger picture. We often get caught off guard and focus on the circumstance itself. God can take the pain and struggles and you can trust that he is bigger than those things and can good to overcome evil. God has a plan and his plan will always trump whatever evil and pain try to take away from us. David claimed in Psalm 33:1:

“But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.” Psalm 33:1

We can give our circumstances too much weight. Now here is the thing, when you are going through struggles, pain, and difficulties, don’t minimize them but take the time to change your perspective on them. Once you’ve processed the grief, the pain, the struggle, ask yourself what God is teaching you through this. It’s important to bring him into the circumstance and then allow him to work through it. We become overwhelmed with circumstances but God is bigger than the circumstance. In Joseph’s case, he could have become bitter and vengeful through all those years of slavery. But…when God is brought in, the perspective changes and we begin to see his bigger plan and his bigger purpose for our life.

3. Rewrite Your Life Story With God’s Help

When you do that, you can move to the third step which is to rewrite your life story with God’s help. Notice how Joseph’s story is rewritten, Genesis 50:20:

“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” Gen. 50:20

Here is the thing, our family history often give us negative perspective and messages that we live by.

Ex. My life was a mistake, I am worthless, I should never trust anyone, life is too painful, I am a loser, etc.

Because of our past and family history some people feel they can never trust a man again, God again, they can never be happy, or that marriage and monogamy is unattainable, that happiness and peace are just words and that real life is just pie in the sky thinking. That is a lie that is letting the circumstances dictate your future.

Solution: Live in God’s promises; his peace, love, presence, etc.

Rewrite your story by drawing closer to him when the tendency is to pull away. How can you accomplish this? Romans 12:2

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Romans 12:2

When we chose to rewrite our story with God’s help, it is giving your life meaning and hope. It is the reality of who you are in the bigger picture, not who you are in the moment of pain, evil and disillusionment.

What you are not: a loser, a mistake, worthless, unimportant, not worth it

Who you really are: a child of the king, a loved person, someone worth dying for

A New Family Pattern Established

Here is the bottom line, your family gave you a lot of gifts and for someone f us your family has given you a lot of hurts too. But ,“The great news of Christianity is that your biological family of origin does not determine your future.” P.103 (Peter Scazzero Emotionally Healthy Spirituality)

When you accept Jesus Christ as your personal savior, when you bring him into your heart and make him Lord of your life, you have a new family and you establish a new pattern. The pattern we read about in verse 6:

“…but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.” vs. 6

Your family patterned is a new because you are no longer on your own, you are no longer responsible for making it happen yourself, you are part of a new family. You are in the family of God. Ephesians 1:5:

“In lovehe predestined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ…” Eph. 1:5 (NASB)

When you live in light of what Jesus Christ did for you on the cross, that you are worth dying for, you rewrite your future.

You do that by:

1. Taking a painful look at your past and name what is there
2. Feel deeply what you are going through and then know that God is bigger than your circumstance and choose to bring him into those circumstances
3. Rewrite your story with God’s help by living as a child of the king.

Getting To Know Yourself

Romans 7:14-25

“For in my inner being I delight in God’s law…” vs. 22

Joltin’ Joe

This year I have proposed that the theme for our church be Getting Deeper With God. Our first two weeks focused on Knowing God and hearing his voice in our lives. For the next seven weeks we are going to look at growing in a deeper relationship with God by focusing on being emotionally healthy. Much of this material I have gleaned from the book Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by Peter Scazzero. His premise is that it is impossible to be spiritually mature while remaining emotionally immature. I think that if we are going to grow into a deeper relationship with God that it is imperative that we look at, access, and move to a place of emotional health.

This is taking a new direction for us as we head into 2016. It’s like making a New Year’s Resolution. It’s amazing to go to the gym after New Year’s and see all the new people. People make all kinds of resolutions, eating, dieting, exercise, paying off bills, etc. I asked you to make the commitment with me to growing in a deeper relationship with God. I don’t want to be someone who makes a commitment and/or resolution and then give up a few days or weeks later. No, I am committed to doing the hard work and to sticking to that commitment and I am excited to grow close to God.

Let me start today with a quick story of one of my boyhood idols. I never saw him play but the legend about him I heard over and over again. He was the center fielder for the New York Yankees, he holds the longer consecutive game hitting streak, he was a three time MVP and was an all-star in each of his 13 seasons. The New York Yankees won 9 championships in his 13 years. His name: Joe Dimaggio and he had two nicknames; Joltin’ Joe and The Yankee Clipper. Another piece of notoriety is that he married one of Hollywood’s most gorgeous actresses, Marilyn Monroe.

After his death, a devastating biography of his life was published,. It related in vivid detail how Joe’s “image management,” right up til his death, was all a mask. It hid an egocentric, competitive, greedy, selfish man driven by power and money. The book describes his commitment to showing nothing but a shining face of his own devising and if you went against him, it was met with silence, exclusion, and rage. I thought he was cool, a baseball player, an icon, and that he had it all. The book says otherwise. I would have never know that.

Today, we are going to look at what it means to be the real you. Not the image that people may have of you, but the real you. We discover a lot from Paul on this in Romans 7. If you are able please stand as we read Romans 7:14-25.

Read Passage – Romans 7:14-25

 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. ¹⁵ I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. ¹⁶ And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. ¹⁷ As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.¹⁸ For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. ²¹ So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. ²² For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; ²³ but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. ²⁴ What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature^[d] a slave to the law of sin.

Denial

I was taught, as most of us were, to suppress my feelings. Growing up I hear things like; boys don’t cry, suck it up and be a man, never let them see your weakness, etc. Not too long ago it was more of the norm in our society to put on a rough exterior and to always put on a good face, especially when you were in public. I am going to approach a subject that may feel uncomfortable for many of you. I am going to be honest, it is difficult for me; emotions and emotional health. I was taught well and I struggle to identify my feeling and to let them show. Some of you (I can see) are squirming right now while others of you may be saying, “It’s about time they talk about this in church.” Here is truth, we all have feelings, even if you don’t feel them, aren’t aware of them, or if you suppress them.

God Feels

Part of this idea comes in that we were created in God’s image. I am going to let you in on something that maybe no one has ever told you; God has feelings. It’s true. God has a wide array of feeling and being that we were created in God’s image, we have feelings too.   Let me show you just a few of the feeling God has and the Scripture that back them up.

Goodness        Genesis 1:25 And God saw that it was good )He delighted, was pleased).

Grief               Genesis 6:6 The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.

Jealous           Exodus 20:5 I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God

Anger              Jeremiah 30:24 The fierce anger of the Lord will not turn back

Love                Jeremiah 31:3 I have loved you with an everlasting love;

C­­­­­­­ompassion    Hosea 11:8 My heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused.

Sorrow            Matthew 26:37-38 and he began to be sorrowful and troubled.

Distress          Mark 3:5 He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts,

Joy                  Luke 10:21 At that time Jesus, full of joy

Now these are a few but there are definitely more. Again, my point here is that we were created in God’s image. God has feelings and he created us with feelings and emotions. Interestingly enough, note that God shares with us his feelings and he is not shy in expressing those feelings. For us to truly move toward emotional health we need to be aware of and acknowledge our feelings and emotions.

Your False Self

We have difficulty with being the real you because we tend to put our worth in the wrong things. In fact, if we aren’t careful, we fall into the trap of being a “false you.” In fact, Satan wants you to fall into these traps. These become our blind spots. How do we know this? Because he tried to tempt Jesus into falling into them and we are going to use the temptation of Jesus in Matthew 4 to guide us on this.

• I Am What I Do

The first trap is that, “I am what I do.” In Matthew 4:3 Satan says to Jesus:

“The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Matt. 4:3

Our culture asks us the same thing; What have you done? What contributions have you made? Many of us put our worth in what we have accomplished whether it be in good deeds, our jobs, our family, in school, in church, in relationships, etc. When we haven’t done something considered “successful,” we are told to work harder, longer, and with more energy and tenacity.

• I Am What I Have

The second trap is that “I am what I have.” Again, Satan tempts Jesus with this in verses 8-9:

“Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Matt. 4:8-9

Our culture tends to measure success in terms of what we have and own. Who has the best or biggest house? Who has the most up to date gadgets? Ex. People stand in line for the latest iphone, the latest deal at Best Buy, etc. Who has the most attractive husband/wife/boyfriend/girlfriend? Who has the mot toys? Who has the most awards, the most degrees, attended the best school, etc.

Spiritually: Who has the biggest church or the most ministries?

When you fall in to this you are constantly comparing, evaluating, and judging. You have fallen into that you are what you have.

• I Am What Others Think of Me

The third trap is: “I am what others think of me.” Another temptation fro Jesus came in verse 6:

“If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.” Matt. 4:6

Many of us can be others driven. Satan tempts Jesus to throw himself down. In other words, if you are important enough to others, to God, his angels will save you. Most of us place a higher premium on what others think that we realize. What will people think if they find out I am a…janitor? Teacher? Pastor? Christian? Where my kids go to school? Where I shop? etc . We tend to go through life telling people all the goods things about what is happening in our life and very rarely share the struggles of mundane.

Developing The Real You

This paints a pretty bleak picture, doesn’t it? Yes, because we all fall into one of these traps at some point or another. In fact, if leads us to a place of disatisfiaction and confusion. Even Paul faced this. He says in verse 15:

“I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” vs. 15

Satan is trying to steal the real you or make you doubt the real you. He tried to sway Jesus, he will try to sway you too! So how do you find out who your really are? Is there a way to find the right balance in life and a way to be emotionally healthy? YES! Here are 3 Biblical ways you can not only discover the real you but move to a place of emotional health.

1. Look at God

First, don’t let others or even yourself determine who you are or your value. Look at God and allow him to fill you with value, love, and peace. Think for just a moment about how magnificent, incredible, and awesome God is. In some ways we can never understand how big and deep and vast God is yet, he has chosen to make himself known to us. This incredible God pursues us and wants to pour his love and peace into us! We are valued by this big enormous being, God Almighty. One of the things that Jesus came to do was tell us how much God loves each of us and that we matter; to God. In one of Jesus’ first major discourse, the Sermon On The Mount, he tells us not to worry because God cares for us. He says in Matt. 6:26:

“Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” Matt. 6:26

One of the things we have to choose is who to listen to. Spend time with God, in his Word, and hear how much you are loved.

Ex. Recent song we sing, Good, Good Father:

You’re a good, good father
It’s who you are, it’s who you are, it’s who you are
And I’m loved by you
It’s who I am, it’s who I am, it’s who I am

The false you says you are what you do, the real you says I am love because that’s who I am.

2. Life Together

The second thing to remember is that you were created to have life together, you were never intended to go through everything alone. God recognized when he first created man and he said in Genesis 2:!8:

“The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” Genesis 2:18

This is a difficult point for us because when we go through difficulties, struggles and pain we tend to withdraw. But the Bible is full of examples of our need for life together:

God Himself – Father, Son and Holy Spirit

Nation of Israel – 12 tribes as one

Jesus – 12 disciples

Then sends them out in two’s

Peter and Paul – Sent to build the church

I’m sure you could come up with many more. Here’s the thing, we were designed for interaction and comradery. Even introverts need some people in their lives. Our issue is that we end up hurting each other and breaking trust. The church has been a terrible example of breaking trust and confidence. You can’t do it alone. You weren’t designed that way.

Challenge: Find someone you can trust and confide in. Be someone that others can trust and confide in.

The false you says you can do it alone, the real you says I was designed for community and for relationship. The ultimate relationship is with God.

3. Live Differently

And third, to get to emotional health we need to love differently.

“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32

I will warn you on this one, to live differently will feel awkward at first; maybe even feel wrong. But living differently says that I am open to my emotions and that I need to acknowledge them, even the negative ones. We easily embrace the good ones. It’s easy to express love, joy, happiness, compassion, etc. the difficulty comes in opening ourselves up to the negative ones.

Ex. Often people will tell me: Ron, don’t be angry. Little clue here, I do get angry and when I suppress it, I am a bear to be around. I never get to the point of renewal until I acknowledge my anger and deal with it.

Moving toward emotional health says I acknowledge those tough things, I work with them and deal with them in healthy ways. Why does the bible tell us to “Be angry but do not sin?” (Eph. 4:26) Because we deal with anger in the wrong way. We use it as an excuse to do the wrong thing, treat others poorly, and to exact revenge. Living differently says I deal with my anger and talk it out and come to reconciliation with the one I am angry with.

Living differently says I will be who God designed me to be. The false self says “I am what others think of me” and the real self says I will be all that God has created me to be and no less.

Set-Free

Finally, to live in these ways, we acknowledge, as Paul did, that our real self comes because of the work of Jesus Christ and his deliverance. We would be buried in sin and unhealthy ways but he came and died for us and paid the price that we might have freedom. This can all be confusing until we choose to live in the deliverance that Jesus brings. Paul acknowledges that in verse 25:

“Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” vs. 25

Jesus didn’t die for us to live in bondage but to be free, to be me! Getting to know yourself so that you might grow closer to and know God in a deeper way is the adventure of a lifetime.

Augustine prayed: “Grant, Lord, that I may know myself that I might know thee.”

Note: Parts of this sermon are developed from Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by Peter Scazzero