Skip to content The Christian's Field Guide to Trials - James, Part 4 Sep 29 · 42 min ...more
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Empowering multimedia ministry for bold Christian living: Weekend Messages, Deep End Podcast, Deep Dive Bible Study. Tim Hatch, Lead Pastor, Waters Church, 26 years of pastoral ministry, book author.
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0:00 You are listening to Waters Church podcast. Waters Church is a multisite, multigeneration community of faith on the East Coast of America. Now for a message from our pastor.0:13 If you're not there yet, get to James chapter 2 and back up 2 verses. That's where we're starting, and I wanna talk to you with your notes out. Take your notes out in person. Notes look like this. If you're online,0:24 waters church dot guide on your smart device will look like that. Click on today's message. I wanna talk to you on the 4 tests of true religion. James chapter 2, but0:36 the last 2 verses of chapter 1. And I think that there is no more toxic term when it comes to faith in this world, in our context, than the term religion.0:48 A lot of people will say, don't want to be part of religion. I don't want to be religious. I can't stand religious people. Or they'll say, I don't trust organized, what? Religion. And it has this, you1:00 know, negative connotation, this idea of religion. I understand why. Many times the church is guilty of being condescending, judgmental,1:10 uncaring, or even hateful. Sometimes we have very little grace for other people. Sometimes we judge people before getting to know1:22 people. You know, the the hardest person to judge is someone that you've gotten to know. Amen, somebody. And sometimes the church is guilty of not knowing people, not caring for people, but making assessments on the1:34 external realities. And and that's what brings us to our text today in James chapter 1 verse 26. And if you've got your bibles open, this is why I say it's not on the screen just yet. It will be later. But in the last 21:45 verses of James chapter 1, he challenges us with this topic of religion. He says, if anyone is religious and they can't control their speech, their religion is what?1:57 Worthless. And so James would be right there with the critics of the modern church. He'd be right there with the people who say, you know, you religious people, you gather in your churches and you gather in your nice2:09 clothing your nice atmospheres, but when it come when the rubber hits the road and you're out there, you act just like the world. It's real it's it's a worthless movement. And then he says, and here's true religion, true2:19 pure undefiled religion. So he mentions religion 3 times. Now the word for religion in this text from the Greek word is, and it's actually a term that means,2:31 refers to a corporate practice of the faith, not an individual practice. So he is talking about the movement of the corporate church. How many need to understand2:43 that? And I just said it about the same song we just sang, too much of Christianity is me oriented, and it needs to move out of me and into we. That Jesus didn't come2:55 to save a person, He came to save a people. The movement of Jesus is not an individual. And let me say it like this more plainly, our church is3:07 not about me. The church is not about any 1 person. The church is about the people that Jesus is saving, Raising up in every culture, in every nation, from every3:19 tongue and tribe to touch people with the love of God. Listen, outside of our walls. What good is it if we gather in this room and we have a good time? But it makes no difference to the person3:31 that we're neighbors with, that we work with. Jesus said, let them see your good works so that they might praise your father which is in heaven. That we've gotta be the church not in here, but the church3:43 out there. And it's not about the building. The building is not saved, friend. The building's not going to heaven. People are going to heaven. The church is not a building. The church is a people, and so we've3:55 got to practice what James asks us to practice. He sounds just like his big brother Jesus in this text. We've got to practice true religion that lives for other people. And so if you think4:07 about the context of James chapter 1 where it's really an individualized text, it's about your trials. If anyone is going through a trial, you need wisdom, ask God, God will give. And then he turns to4:18 temptation. When you're tempted, don't say God is tempting me. You know, you've got to work this out with the word of God, and you got to receive transformation through the implanted word. And so chapter 1 is a lot about4:27 individual growth, individual development, individual wrestling with the Lord, with the word, with with the trials and troubles and temptations of your life. But listen to me very carefully. At some point, Christians, at4:38 some point, child of God, you've gotta make a switch where you're not obsessed about what you're struggling with, and you start to look beyond yourself,4:51 and you start to get in tune with the needs and the hurts of others. This is where religion counts in the marketplace of a5:02 world gone crazy. And we step in, and we say, I'm not here to judge. I'm here to change. I'm here to help. Find a5:14 need and meet it. Find a hurt and heal it. Amen, somebody? Amen. So what does true religion look like? 4 points and then we're done. Write it down. Number5:25 1, true religion serves those whom God serves. True religion serves. Are you looking to serve, or are you looking to be served? Have you come to5:37 church with the mindset of, well, I hope they sing the right songs, and I hope pastor Tim tells me some funny stories and makes me laugh and feel good about myself, and I hope I'm not5:49 sitting next to someone that's obnoxious and loud and likes to amen the pastor too much. I've heard some complaints. You'll never hear that6:01 complaint from me, amen people. Come on. Come on. Come on somebody. Whoo. I like it. I like a I like a living church. I don't know about you. There's a lot of dead churches we can send you to, but I like a living6:13 church. But do you come looking for what church can do for you, or do you come looking to be the church for others? Everybody remember when you had that6:24 Christmas? That Christmas was the Christmas where there was no present under the tree for you. Santa didn't come for you. Why? Because you were6:36 34 stinking years old, and it's time to grow up. That's why. And and and and and so you you no longer did Santa come for you, now you were Santa. Amen? You know what I'm saying? Well,6:48 every every Christian has to get to the point where they stop looking for someone to gift them, and they start looking to gift others. Stop looking for people to serve you. Start looking to serve others. Who should7:00 we serve? Here's simply put, the ones God serves. So James writes this, and he sounds like Jesus. He's in fact, a lot of commentators say this about the book of James. The book of James sounds the most like Jesus, and7:11 that's appropriate because James was the first pastor of the Jerusalem church. He was also Jesus' younger brother, half brother. And so he lived with this guy, walked with this guy, grew up with this guy, and and and and7:21 eventually followed this guy. So he sounds just like Jesus. And here's what he says in verse 26. If you're religious, you don't bother your tongue. You're deceiving your heart. Now we will tell. We will deal with the7:30 tongue in an upcoming message, and then there's plenty to say. So I'm just gonna shelve that topic for right now. We'll we'll we'll put that on the back burner for a moment, and we'll get back to what we're talking about7:40 today. Verse 27, religion that is pure and undefiled before God is this, that you visit orphans and widows, the people who can't help themselves, that you help hurricane victims, that you7:52 help homeless people that can't help themselves. Now we have to be distinguishing as a church today because our government is extremely wealthy, and sometimes our8:03 government enables poverty. And sometimes the policies of the government, find a really friendly voting block by promising them free stuff. So we we've got to be very discerning8:15 about how we use our resources to help people. This is why you have a local church with elders that work with the pastor. They're all pastors, really, but they're elders who oversee the finances and how we how8:27 we distribute what God gives us. And and you need to understand that Water Church is led by several men that work with me to make discerning decisions about where your money goes outside of this building,8:39 outside of this facility, outside of the ministry needs of this church. And so we give to an organization called the Providence Rescue Mission right here down in Providence, Rhode Island, 1 of the8:50 least Christian cities of our country, but every day is doing ministry on the streets with addicts and homeless people and housing them and feeding them and then preaching the gospel. In fact, we go and we preach9:02 the gospel to these men, and many of our leaders of our church have gone and preached the gospel and seen men saved by the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and it's a wonderful thing that we do. We give missions9:13 money to organizations in Peru, in Guatemala. We give to El Salvador missions organizations as a church. We give to an organization called Mana Ministries in India, and we're reaching the9:25 poor and the disenfranchised in that enormous country. And so we are always doing this with discernment on how can we serve those that God serves. And when James says the widows and the orphans in9:37 their affliction, he's talking about the people that can't help themselves, and he sounds just like the father. He sounds just like God. Psalm 68 verse 5 says, he's the father of the fatherless. He's the protector of9:48 widows. Psalm 1 46 verse 9 says, the Lord watches over the stranger. He upholds the widow and the fatherless, but the way of the wicked, he brings to ruin. Here's here's how you know9:59 you're serving like Jesus. Write this down so I know you'll leave with this thought. I'm serving like Jesus when I expect nothing in return. There's not a quid pro quo attached to my10:11 giving. It's freely I have received, therefore, freely I must, what? Give. God, you have provided for me. For example, you've got more than a10:23 few outfits to wear. Can I tell you you're wealthy? And if you got a car that sits at sits at your house or is in a parking lot right now, you're wealthy by the world's standards.10:36 If you can afford food in a restaurant that's maybe just a bit better than McDonald's, amen, you're wealthy. You're like in the top 1 percent of the world's wealth. A10:48 middle class American is in the top 1 percent of the world's wealth. The problem is that our culture and our and advertisements are always convincing us that we're missing out because somebody has it better than us.10:57 Somebody does always have it better than us, but listen, a lot of people have it worse than us. Are we looking at those people? Are we noticing those people? Because here's what James says, and he doesn't miss words,11:08 does he? If we don't, our religion is worthless. What good is it if we gather in this room and celebrate Jesus, and it makes no difference to those who are in the highways and the byways and the11:20 marketplace and the workplace of our lives. I remember when we decided to tithe as a church. I remember it was February 2013. And, I believe that11:31 every Christian and every church should learn this principle. God has called you to be a a river of his blessing, not a reservoir of his blessing. That it doesn't just come to you,11:43 it comes through you. You receive blessing, but then you give it. And you're you're not expecting payback for that because God will just pour back more into you the more that you are freely11:55 giving of your resources. And I remember when our church decided, we don't got to tithe as a church. What that means is whether or not you tithe, whatever you give, whatever you bring to God in this house, we take 112:06 tenth of that and we send it outside of this house. We send it outside of our church to organizations that need help to reach the orphans, the widows, the people who the the the groups that I just mentioned in in the12:16 opening remarks. And I remember that our budget or our annual or monthly income at that time was 75000 dollars a month. We were much smaller. We were 1 location. It was more than 10 years ago,12:28 and we just stepped out of faith, and we said we're gonna do this, and we're gonna see what the Lord does with it, because we wanted to be a river, not a reservoir. In 1 year, our income as a church more than doubled,12:40 and we had to add multiple services because people came to our church. Here's here's what I'm trying to tell you though, is that it's not give to get, it's that give because God will always give more. It's be a river of12:51 blessing because God can always pour back into your life. Some of you have never experienced this because you're always thinking about what you're going through, what you need, where you need, you know, help, or I need13:01 somebody to lift me up. I need somebody to help me, encourage me, bless me, feed me, clothe me. And just like, at some point, have that Christmas where you shift gears and you start thinking, how can God use me to bless13:11 and help somebody beyond me? And I think that's when God starts to open the spigot of heaven's blessing over your life, and he starts to pour and pour and pour. And our church has grown13:22 substantially since then from 1 location to 7 locations and hopefully 10 locations in a few more years. Amen, somebody? Amen. Because God always pours out those who can give what he's13:34 given them. He's looking at you. He's looking at me. This is what true religion looks like when we serve those whom God serves. Number 2, true religion sees people as God13:46 sees them. True religion sees people. Now, James is gonna go on a little bit of a a diatribe here about a particular sin that many of us aren't even13:58 aware we're committing. And I mean this. This is true. Here's what he says in verse 1. He says, my brothers chapter 2 verse 1. My brothers, show no14:09 what? Can you just circle that word? Partiality. It's a big deal for James. Show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And then the14:21 qualifier, the Lord of what? Glory. Remember that Jesus is the Lord of glory, and that he was in glory with the father before he became a man.14:34 He surrendered his glory 2000 years ago. He was with the father in eternal harmony and eternal glory with all the riches of heaven. The Bible says in Philippians chapter 2, he laid it aside. He set14:46 aside his prerogatives as God. He became an infant born to a poor couple in Nazareth in the first century and and surrendered all that for you and for me. He became poor so that14:58 we might become rich, Paul says. So he's the Lord of glory. If we're gonna walk the way Jesus walked, we've got to surrender glory seeking for the sake of15:09 serving people. And it starts with showing no partiality. The word partiality. Here's what that means. Write this down. Partiality is judgment based on appearance. In fact, the Greek word for15:21 partiality here means, to receive the face, to receive the face, which means that you look at someone's face and you instantly make a decision about how you're gonna treat them based on their appearance.15:33 That's partiality. Our world struggles with this in many different ways. Racism being probably number 1. We just make an assessment of somebody based on the color of their skin. It's a hideous15:44 sin before God. It's an affront. It's an assault to the character and nature of our father in heaven. And and so he's like, look, you've got to get beyond this idea that15:56 externalities are how you're going to judge people. You're going to look at people the way God looks at them. You're not going to make these assessments. And I and I was thinking about many years ago, I I came16:08 up with a sermon series that I've never preached. And the sermon series was gonna be called the sins the church is okay with. And I have never preached this16:20 sermon series, and I I don't think I ever will because it's so negative sounding. Right? I don't wanna preach about the sins. I wanna I don't wanna preach about the savior. But number 1 was gonna be the sin of16:29 partiality, what James mentions here. That we're we we we we avoid, you know, the big ones, The the head the front page sins like adultery, you know, and murder, and, you16:41 know, drugs. But but what about what about partiality? Oh, that one's that one's not that bad. Oh, yeah. It is. Oh, yeah. It is. And James hammers it here. He says, show no. 0. None.16:52 Partiality. Don't judge people based on appearances. Then he gives us a hypothetical, which was probably happening in the first century. In verse 2, he says, for if a man wearing a gold ring comes into your assembly and17:02 find clothes and you pay attention to him, And you say, sit over here. Take the good seat. And then the poor man comes in and said, no. You sit over here by my feet. This is evil in the sight of God. Verse 4, he says,17:14 have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with what? Say it with Evil thoughts. Think about this. This is an evil way to think he's this is a strong word. James doesn't17:25 mince words. I told you in week 1. James is blunt force truth. This is this is hard speaking, hard truth because it's that important. When we make a distinction about somebody based on on their17:37 outward appearance, we're acting in partial ways, and we're filling our thoughts with evil. And he says there's a guy that comes in. He's got rings on his finger. The funny thing about this text is that in the ancient17:49 world, in the Roman times, the first century, the way that you made yourself appear rich was not by driving a car that was fancy. They didn't have cars back then. It was about your bling. It was about your rings. It was18:01 about what you had on your hands. So men would wear several rings. They'd load up their hands with rings. In fact, the ring business was so hot in those days for rich people that they had ring rental businesses. Yeah.18:13 Yeah. You would rent a ring and and put it on your hand and just, like, impress everybody with all this rented stuff. And then if you had purple clothing, that was a very expensive dye in the ancient world, very rare.18:25 So purple clothing, fine clothes, and most people wore the same clothes every day in the ancient world. That's why I say if you're living with more than 4 pairs of clothing, man, you're you're blessed. You're blessed.18:34 And so these people would come, they would have their bling, and they would have their garments, and and and and if you came in and say, oh, look at this person, very important, very rich. Come. Sit in the good place.18:44 The come. Wanna pay 10 attention to you. This is a sin before God. And and and and make no mistake. It's not it's not in treating the rich person well that's the sin. It's in18:56 treating the poor person less well. That's the sin. We should treat everybody as if they are rich before God. Because the most important, the most precious commodity on the19:08 earth is humans, is people. Think about it. What's going to heaven? Not your car, not your house, not your stuff. People.19:20 People are the only thing that are going to heaven. That's the true precious riches of God. So we've got to treat everybody for what they are. Image19:31 bearers of our father for whom Jesus Christ died and shed his blood and whom God wants to bring into his family. I don't know who you19:43 are. I don't know what you did last night or last week. I don't know what side of the tracks you come from, and I don't know what your story is. But I'm here to tell you that God loves you, his image is on you, that19:54 Jesus died for you and wants to save you. And we wanna be the church that treats everybody the same. Here's the problem with partiality. I wanna give you 4 problems, as sub points in your notes. Letter a,20:06 partiality treats others as a commodity. Partiality looks at you and says, what can you do for me? And our church has had a history20:18 with some important people coming. It it has. I mean, look, I'll you'll know what I'm talking about by saying we're 5 minutes away from Gillette Stadium. And a lot of those guys are Christians, and they20:30 come to our church. And I've seen it over the years. I've seen people like, look at that. That person comes to church. My word. I didn't know that they actually loved the Lord. And they come to20:42 wow. And then people wanna, like, you know, saddle up to them, saddle up to them. Just like, hey hey hey hey hey, look at me. Take a picture. Like, that's that's ridiculous. That's how the world acts. You know what they20:51 are? They're people who need Jesus. That's all they are. We don't wanna treat them with any less respect or any more respect simply because of of who they are in the culture. Because, honestly, when you treat people21:03 of worldly importance as more important than others, it's not about them. It's about you. We live in a in a in a world where we practice this21:15 economy of attention. Has anybody noticed this? If I can leverage your popularity for my popularity, it will do something for me. This is21:26 called the economy of attention. It's an anathema to God. God doesn't care about that. Pay attention to the people nobody else pays attention to. Love the people that are left out or left21:38 behind. Show concern. This is the best way. You wanna be the best employee at your job for Jesus? Love the person everybody else makes fun of. Go and21:49 introduce yourself to the girl everybody gossips about. Share your lunch with the person who forgot theirs. Do something for the person that everyone kind of ignores because they don't look the22:01 right way or act the right way or come from the right field, that's when the church becomes different than the world. That's when our lights start to shine. Got22:13 like, arguing with the person who wants to debate you about evolution every day. Stop it. You're getting nowhere. And he loves the argument, and all he wants to do22:25 is argue and get you flustered so that you eventually swear, and then he can say, see, see. Ignore that person and show material love to22:37 the people nobody else pays attention to. Oh. Like, what if we actually did the things that Jesus was about? That's what would happen. So partiality shows people, oh, you're you're my commodity.22:49 That's what he's talking about here. Letter b, partiality assesses somebody based on incomplete information. When you see people on the outside, you have incomplete information.23:01 And there are 3 things that you know nothing about concerning every person that you meet. There are 3 things you don't know about every person that you meet. Number 1, you don't know their heart. You might be able to23:13 assess their clothing and their car, but you can't assess their spiritual condition. You can't assess where God is with this person, and every journey23:25 to Jesus is different. The way you came to Jesus is different than somebody else. Have grace. You don't know their heart. 1 of the greatest lines in the old testament comes23:37 from the moment where Samuel, the prophet, is called to find a replacement for for Saul, the king that has failed God. And so he says, want you to go down to Jesse's house of Bethlehem because23:49 1 of his sons is gonna be replacing Saul as king. And so Samuel goes with the offering, and he offers a sacrifice. And and he says, Jesse, I'm here to appoint 1 of your sons as king, and Jesse's just thrilled. So he23:59 prays his oldest son before Samuel, a tall man, a distinguished man, the look of a mighty warrior. And the Lord speaks to just, Samuel. And he says, 1 of the greatest lines in the Old Testament. He says,24:11 do not verse 7 of first Samuel 16, do not look on his what? On his appearance or on the height of his stature because I've rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees.24:23 Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the Heart. Heart. You don't know the heart of the person that you are seeing. God does. Here's the second thing that we24:35 don't know about the person that we've just met or we assess on a physical basis. We don't know their potential. Never overlook somebody because God can use24:47 them. This is the story of the bible, friend. The story of the bible is God shows up in the least likely places. He showed up24:59 to a man named Abram, a fatherless man. A man with no children said, I'm gonna make you a father of nations. Unlikely hero. He showed up to a guy named Moses. Moses who25:11 had a rap sheet. He was a murderer. He was a murderer. He was a killer. And he ran. When he got caught, he ran. He was a fugitive of justice. 40 years later, he's got a gray beard and nothing going on and God says, I'm25:23 gonna use you to tear down the institution of slavery in Egypt and set my people free. God uses the unlikely people. God uses David, the shepherd boy out with the field with the sheep and not even25:35 brought before Samuel. Samuel had to ask for another son. And Jesse said, well, I still got the youngest, but I didn't even think he was worthy of the calling. That's who God uses. And you'd have no idea the person that25:46 you assess from external point of view could be the next David, the next Moses, the next Ruth, the next Mary. They could change the25:58 world. That's why 1 of the things I tell our team at our churches every every time we gather almost, I say, every Sunday is somebody's first Sunday. That's the most powerful thing about preaching the gospel to26:10 people every weekend is to say, I have no idea what God is gonna do with the seed of the word that goes into their hearts. Yeah. You know, I don't wanna embarrass him, but pastor Shane is here on the front front row, so26:21 I'm gonna embarrass him even though I don't want to. But he's right in the front row. And he was my first pastoral hire in this church that became the you know, beyond me. And I remember when when I when I hired him, and26:31 I told I told a bunch of religious people who are in the church at that worthless religious people. I said, I'm gonna bring Shane Parsons on staff. And a couple of them said, oh, really? I don't think that he could do26:41 it? He doesn't look like the right kind of guy. He doesn't seem like he's not that spiritual. I said, I know. But he's got a heart for God. He's got a heart for serving. He's got a heart for doing. I'm gonna do it. And26:50 you know the people that question yeah. Yeah. Give him a hand. Yeah. Amen. Give them a hand at all locations because you've all seen them. In fact, sometimes I think some of you like him more than me,27:03 and I'm totally fine with that. I really am. And I and I remember the the 1 couple that had the hardest time with hiring him. Couple years later, left our church, went to another27:15 church, left that church, went to another church, and the latest I heard, they're not even in any church at all. But at the time, they were like super spiritual religious people looking down their nose at the person that27:25 they thought was unfit. You never know what God can do with someone. You never know. I wonder here who you overlooked certain people. Can I can27:37 I talk to, you know, the young people who, you know, you refuse to to date? I don't know what's wrong with you. Date date. Find somebody. Try them out. Give them a chance. I know he's ugly. You could work on him.27:49 Come on, somebody. Does he have a job? Has he moved out of his parents' house? Who cares about looks? You you could whip him into shape. Come on.28:03 She she might not be the you know, your particular taste or choice. The scripture says that beauty is fading. Charm is deceptive. But a woman who fears the Lord is to28:14 be praised. Don't judge by the outward. Look. Look. God or a really skilled plastic surgeon can do something about the outward.28:31 Don't worry about that stuff. Okay. The third thing that we don't know about people is we don't know their story. We don't know their heart, we don't know their potential, and we don't know their story.28:43 Tragically, in the words of 1 mister Robin Williams, he said, everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind always. Unfortunately, he was fighting a28:55 battle we knew nothing about. Letter c, partiality, assumes the outside reflects the inside, and that's just not true. Just because they look29:07 religious and put together doesn't mean that they are. Just because they look disheveled and unkept doesn't mean that the Lord's not working on their hearts and changing29:19 them. James talks about the man with the gold ring, and you pay again, you pay attention to the people who look impressive. Well, guard that because that's partiality. Imagine a guy comes to our29:30 church, and he's not from the nice area. He's from that town. What town are you talking about? You know what I'm talking about. You don't29:42 have to say a name. We all know that there is a that town for every town. And then we get to know him a little bit better, and we realize that he's never gone to college. He barely basically just got through high school.29:54 He's not really educated. We find out what he's doing for a living. He's not the owner of a business, and he's not a CEO, and he's not in the white collar industry. He's a blue collar worker. He's a he's a grease monkey30:04 maybe. He's just a day laborer. And and then you find out even more information. You say, well, he doesn't even have a house? He doesn't have a our part he has got no place of his own. Where does he where does he live?30:13 Sometimes he bunks up with friends. He sleeps on a friend's couch. Sometimes he's sleeping under the stars. And speaking of friends, we find out that his friends are some of the most unimensionables in the society.30:25 They're the fellow construction workers, day laborers, smelly men, smelly people. And a couple of them, his female friends are from the red light district, street workers.30:37 What would you say about that man if he came to our church? Ladies and gentlemen, who did I just describe? Jesus. Jesus was from Nazareth, that town. They said30:49 nothing good comes from Nazareth. Jesus never went to college or higher institutions of learning. Jesus was a day laborer. Jesus didn't have a house. He said the son of man has no place to lay his head. Jesus'31:01 friends were fishermen and tax collectors, IRS agents who are coming and hanging out with Jesus. Prostitutes and loose women loved Jesus. Here's the thing that that should blow you away about Jesus.31:13 Jesus was perfect, holy, righteous son of God, and the least righteous, holy, perfect people loved being around him. Why? Because he31:24 reflected the heart of God. I'm not gonna judge you by what I see on the outside. I'm gonna make something change on the inside.31:36 Partiality doesn't make an instant decision on someone by what you see. This is why Jesus says in John 7 24, he says, don't judge by appearances, but judge with a right judgment. What's the judgment?31:48 Well, I believe that the holy spirit can lead you to somebody by a nudge. Some of you have never asked God to do this. It could really rock your31:59 world. Ask him for a nudge. What do I mean by that? I mean, ask him to speak to you about somebody that you need to pay attention to. And when it happens,32:11 listen and do something about it. I don't know what it could be. It could be, hey, I don't know, if you're going through anything, but can I pray with you? Or it could be, again, buying the munch or32:23 serving them in some material way or whatever. But asking, who could get who would who would have their life changed if we were less about32:35 judge and more about nudge? Let the holy spirit lead you. Letter d, partiality makes me a judge instead of a minister. I'm here to serve.32:47 I'm here to care about people that the world leaves behind. And it's not about my looks or their looks, it's about what God is doing in the holy spirit. And and this is so important because32:59 it's it's what James says. When when you start playing this game of the who's who, and who do I want to be friends with, and who do I want to be close to, what does he say in verse 4? You've made distinctions. You've33:09 become judges with evil thoughts. Back to big point number 3, true true religion. Let's write this down. True religion values those whom God values. It values those whom God values.33:21 Here's what he says in verse 5, listen my brothers, has not God chosen, underline chosen, has not God chosen the who? The poor of this world to be rich in faith. Jesus said, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs33:33 is the kingdom of heaven. In Luke chapter 6, he says, blessed are the poor. And history proves this. History proves that the poor, more often than not, are far more receptive to the gospel than the33:45 rich. Do you know what's wrong with America? We've got too much. Whenever I see the news headlines, the Time Magazine article, or the, you know, talking head on33:56 CNN or MSNBC, it says, Christianity is dying in America. It's like, well, of course it is. We're so rich, we we don't have a need of God. You know where it's thriving? It's thriving in sub Saharan34:08 Africa. It's thriving in South America. You you want to see the gospel working, like, overtime? Go down and join our brother Jeff Malkowski34:20 down in Peru and walk on the tops of the mountains where they throw a spontaneous Sunday school in the middle of nowhere, and the kids come running. They come running to hear about34:31 Jesus, and they all give their life to Jesus, and they're just so hungry for the word of God because because they don't have iPads. They don't have iPhones. They don't all the things that we can get distracted by. Jesus34:43 said riches will strangle out the word of God in your life. It's hard for a rich man to come into the kingdom of God, but the people who are poor, the people who know they need God, the Bible says the doors of heaven are34:52 wide open to them. So so so, yeah, God values the people who have not. Not to say that no rich person could come. There's a lot of rich people that came to Jesus.35:04 Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea. Even I believe James and John were rich. They had a business of they had a fleet of ships in their fishing business. It's not it's not that rich people can't believe, it's just that rich35:14 people may believe while poor people must believe. Must believe. Those are the people that God pays attention to. And by the way, those are you. I think about what Paul says to the Corinthians in first Corinthians35:25 chapter 1. He said, listen. This is who you were. He says not many of you were wise according to worldly standards. Not many of you had master's degrees or doctorates or bachelor's degrees. Not many of you were powerful35:37 or of noble birth. You didn't come from, you know, that line of people. Not many of you were important by the world standards, but God. Somebody say, but God. I love this. But God chose the foolish people in the world to35:48 shame the wise, the weak people to shame the strong. God shows what is lowly and despised in the world. Even the things that are not, to bring to not the things that are, that no human being might boast in the presence35:56 of the Lord. So it's not about where you come from, it's about what God can do in you. It's about God's power at work in the people who know they don't got power in themselves. Number36:08 4, true religion lives for God's approval, not the world's. See, true religion doesn't give a rip about what the world thinks about people. It stops playing the who's who game. And it starts36:20 realizing that if I don't pay attention to people that nobody else is paying attention to, I'm acting just like this world, and I'm living according to their standards, and I don't care about that anymore. James verse,36:30 verse 8 of James chapter 2, if you really fulfill the royal law, underline royal law. What's the royal law? You love your neighbor as yourself. Why is that called the royal law? Here's why. Because Jesus said, if you36:41 keep this 1, you've kept them all. The royal law is the law that rules all the other laws. You love someone genuinely, you won't kill them. You won't steal from them.36:53 You won't despise them, hate them, and say foul things about them. You won't cuss them out and curse them and do all. If you love someone, you'll serve them. You love someone, you'll give to them. So he says, if you37:04 really keep this, you're doing well. But verse 9, he circles back. If you practice partiality, you sin. You're a transgressor. And some some people in the audience, I think James said, yeah, some people are not gonna37:15 take this very seriously because we're so attracted to looks and importance. And so he he reinforces here with a little exposition on how the37:26 law works. Look what he says in verse 10. He says, for whoever keeps the law but fails in, what, 1 point has become guilty37:38 of all of it. Now he here's what James is not doing. He's not saying that all sin is equal. He's not saying that murder is the same as lying or something like that.37:50 But but what he is saying is that all sin makes you equally condemned under the law. A lot a lot of people first, goes on, he says, you know, you don't38:02 commit adultery, but you're murder. You're still a transgressor because the same God who gave you the law about adultery gave you the law about murder. So a lot of people, and I think this is especially true with38:11 Americans. Here's here's your approach to the law. You're you're playing bowling with the law. You're playing bowling. Anybody remember that sport before we got iPhones? Anybody remember? We used to go bowling. That'sShow more
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