Faith in Action

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on Sunday morning, the 26th of November, 2023, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  A recording of our service should be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch1992/streams.]

Family, it’s amazing to realize that Thanksgiving is now past and Christmas is just around the corner.  In fact, next Sunday is the beginning of the Advent season, when we prepare for the coming of our Lord.

But I don’t want us to lose sight of the letter that the Apostle James wrote to the early church, especially since we skipped it last week.  And I also plan to set the letter aside again until after the first of the year.  So I’d like to jump back in for just a spell and finish up chapter 2.

Now, just to refresh our memory…  James is one of Jesus’ earthly brothers, so he would have been very familiar with our Lord.  They probably played and wrestled together as boys, and I’d bet they had many conversations as they grew and matured into men.  So James would have enjoyed a different insight into Jesus than the rest of the disciples, a perspective shared by only one other disciple: Jude, another brother.

So far, James has told us to resist the ways of the world, for the devil will try to destroy our faith.  He encouraged us to live out the word of the Gospel message in our daily lives.  Then he echoed the warning Jesus gave, that we would definitely experience trials in this life, but by living the word, and not reacting as the world does, we can show others the power of faith.  And in the first part of the second chapter, he gave us a little lecture on showing favoritism when dealing with other people.

This morning James is going to challenge us to put our faith into action.  Please listen and follow along to verses 14 through 26 of the 2nd chapter of James’ letter, and I’ll be reading from the Living Bible version of our Holy Bible this morning…

14 Dear brothers, what’s the use of saying that you have faith and are Christians if you aren’t proving it by helping others? Will that kind of faith save anyone? 15 If you have a friend who is in need of food and clothing, 16 and you say to him, “Well, good-bye and God bless you; stay warm and eat hearty,” and then don’t give him clothes or food, what good does that do?

17 So you see, it isn’t enough just to have faith. You must also do good to prove that you have it. Faith that doesn’t show itself by good works is no faith at all — it is dead and useless.

18 But someone may well argue, “You say the way to God is by faith alone, plus nothing; well, I say that good works are important too, for without good works you can’t prove whether you have faith or not; but anyone can see that I have faith by the way I act.”

19 Are there still some among you who hold that “only believing” is enough? Believing in one God? Well, remember that the demons believe this too — so strongly that they tremble in terror! 20 Fool! When will you ever learn that “believing” is useless without doing what God wants you to? Faith that does not result in good deeds is not real faith.

21 Don’t you remember that even our father Abraham was declared good because of what he did when he was willing to obey God, even if it meant offering his son Isaac to die on the altar? 22 You see, he was trusting God so much that he was willing to do whatever God told him to; his faith was made complete by what he did — by his actions, his good deeds. 23 And so it happened just as the Scriptures say, that Abraham trusted God, and the Lord declared him good in God’s sight, and he was even called “the friend of God.” 24 So you see, a man is saved by what he does, as well as by what he believes.

25 Rahab, the prostitute, is another example of this. She was saved because of what she did when she hid those messengers and sent them safely away by a different road. 26 Just as the body is dead when there is no spirit in it, so faith is dead if it is not the kind that results in good deeds.

--James 2:14-26 (TLB)

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, once again we thank You for assuring that we would have Your word to read and study, even thousands of years after it was recorded by the men and women You inspired.  Thank You for these letters from those who walked with Your Son and knew Him best, and especially the ones His brothers wrote and sent out to the early church.  We today can still take guidance, instruction, encouragement, and warning from them, and for this we thank You.  But sometimes, Father, we just get too caught up in the struggles of life to take the time to open our Bibles and seek to know You better through Your word.  Please forgive us these times, Father.  We do thank You for all You bless us with, including Your word.  Please help us find the time to be with You more.  And please help us better grasp and understand what we read.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better understand what You tell us this day.  Please protect us from those who serve Satan and carry out his evil deeds.  And Father, please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and one purpose in our love, worship, and service, and healthy and safe in the days ahead.  This we pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

Indira Gandhi was quoted in the April 1990 issue of Bits and Pieces magazine saying, “My grandfather once told me that there are two kinds of people: those who do the work and those who take the credit.  He told me to try to be in the first group; there was less competition there.”

We've all seen instances of some folks taking credit for the work of others.  Or of some doing just token work for a photo op or for good public relations.  I think those are the more disgusting, serving in the soup kitchen food line just long enough to get their picture in the news before pulling off their apron and gloves and leaving.

This is not what James had in mind when He called us to service.  Nor is it what Jesus meant when He told us to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, and clothe the naked.

True service is not concerned with personal recognition, and indeed shuns it.  True service is all about giving, about sacrifice, about putting others above self.  True service is putting our faith into action and showing the love of Jesus to a world so desperately in need of love.  Let’s be sure to follow Gandhi’s advice and be in the group that does the work and not the one that just takes the credit.

James poses some tough questions in our scripture passage this morning.  What’s the use, he asks, of saying we have faith and calling ourselves Christians if we don’t do anything to prove it?  What distinguishes us from anyone else out there?  What about us would allow someone to tell the difference between us and a non-believer?

Someone may answer, “they will know we are Christians by our love”, but how can they see our love if we’re not showing it in some way?  We can say we love others, but what does that prove?  James asks what good is it to see someone who is hungry and needs better clothing and simply say, “stay warm and eat well”, but not help them in their need?  What good does that do?  What good does it do to say we love others without doing anything to show them our love?

And then James slams home his point:  It isn’t enough to just have faith; we must also do good works to prove that we do have faith.  Otherwise our faith is dead.

Yes, it is true that the prophet Habakkuk tells us – and the Apostle Paul reminds us – that the just live by faith.  And Jesus Himself told us that if we only believe in Him, we will have everlasting life and be with Him for all eternity.  Well, James reminds us that even the devil and his demons believe in Jesus and know He is the Son of God, but they’re not going to heaven because of what they do, how they act.

By our faith we have the Spirit of God abiding within us, and the fruits of the Spirit are evident in our actions and deeds.  What we do shows who we are, what we’re made of, far better than a million words ever could.

And speaking of the Apostle Paul, in much of his writings and his speeches he tells us that salvation comes only by God's mercy and grace and through Jesus the Christ.  But he also tells us what God intended us to do with our faith.  Please listen to what Paul wrote to the Ephesian church family in verses 8 through 10 of the 2nd chapter of that letter…

8 Because of His kindness, you have been saved through trusting Christ. And even trusting is not of yourselves; it too is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good we have done, so none of us can take any credit for it. 10 It is God Himself who has made us what we are and given us new lives from Christ Jesus; and long ages ago He planned that we should spend these lives in helping others.

--Ephesians 2:8-10 (TLB)

There you go.  We are saved by God’s goodness and grace through our faith in Christ Jesus – by our belief in Him and trusting in Him.  But this faith is not something we can take credit for, because it too is a gift from God.

And here’s the kicker.  God has given us new lives with the intent that we spend these lives in service to others, helping others.  This was God’s plan for us from the beginning, that we should spend our lives on this earth helping others.  And this is what James is getting at when he admonishes us to put our faith into action.

Our faith is the key to our salvation, but our works are the proof of our faith.  Our works are the outer sign of our inner faith, just as our baptism is the outer sign of our inner belief.

Jesus told us to believe in Him so we will not perish.  He invites us to believe and follow Him.  Doesn’t the act of following Jesus imply that we do as Jesus did when He walked among us?  And what did Jesus do?  He helped people.  He cured them of diseases and infirmities.  He taught them the truth of God and His kingdom, trying to see that everyone might be saved, even those who hated Him.  Jesus did good works and He encourages and calls us to do good works, too.

Listen to what He told us in His Sermon on the Mount as recorded by the Apostle Matthew in the 5th chapter of his Gospel account, verses 14 through 16…

14 “You are the world’s light — a city on a hill, glowing in the night for all to see. 15-16 Don’t hide your light! Let it shine for all; let your good deeds glow for all to see, so that they will praise your heavenly Father.”

--Matthew 5:14-16 (TLB)

I bet you never thought of that as a call to service.  The Apostle John said that in Jesus was life, and the life was the light of men; the light that shines in the darkness, and the darkness can not overcome it.  Jesus has passed that light on to us, into us, when we accepted Him as our Lord and God sent His Holy Spirit to live within us.  And He calls us to let that light shine for all to see, so that they too might praise our heavenly Father.  Let the light shine in the glowing of our good deeds.

Now please understand that not all good works require physical labor.  As we age or suffer some debilitating illness or injury, we may no longer be capable of much physical activity.  In fact, we may be at the point of needing help ourselves rather than providing help to others.  But that doesn’t mean we have to stop doing good.

Not being able to get out and around much anymore shouldn’t stop us from letting our light shine.  We can make phone calls, or send emails or texts or greeting cards.  We can smile at folks we pass, wave at them.  And if we get the chance, we can tell them about Jesus and what He means to us.  If nothing else, we can pray for others, giving their needs to God.

God gave us faith – it’s a wonderful gift.  But like many gifts, we put it to its best advantage by using it.  So let’s put our faith in action.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord, the Son of God, who set the example for us.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for giving us the faith to believe in Jesus as Your Son, Your Christ sent to redeem us of our sin.  Without Him and His great sacrifice, we would be lost and doomed to eternal death.  Thank You for Your loving mercy and grace.  Thank You for salvation through Jesus and our use of the faith You give us.  And thank You for all the opportunities You give us to put our faith into action by reaching our and helping others.  Too often, though, Father, we don’t take advantage of those opportunities.  Too many times we are afraid of what others might think of us, or we worry that we might get it wrong and make matters worse, or we think we’re just not able to get out and do much of anything to serve You.  Forgive us those times, please Father.  Please show us all the many ways we can prove our faith no matter what condition we ourselves are in.  And please help us to not be afraid to share our Lord Jesus with others so that they too may be saved by Your mercy and His sacrifice.  

And Father, please shield us from Satan as he attacks our faith and tries to pull us away from You.  Help us be better servants, glorifying You in all we do so that the world can see You in us, through our deeds, in how we live.  And help us remain strong, faithful, and true to You in all things, no matter what the world throws at us or holds out before us.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more obedient to Your commands, and seeking Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, throughout Your short ministry on earth, You carried out the will of God in serving others.  You healed the people of their illnesses and infirmities.  You rid them of demons and evil spirits.  You saved them from eternal pain and suffering.  And in Your last act of faith, You took all our sins upon Yourself and carried them to the grave.  Thank You, Lord, for putting Your faith and Your love into action.  By our faith, we accepted You as our Lord, and as such, we should not hesitate to do Your bidding,   Please help us, dear Lord -- help us be more like You in our daily interactions with others.  Help us recognize their needs and help take care of them.  Help us see what we can do, even if we are no longer physically able to lend a helping hand.  And especially please help us reach out to the non-believing world, sharing the Gospel message with the lost, showing them Your love through our love.

And Jesus, please shield our minds and our hearts from Satan’s lies and the world’s empty promises.  Guide us around all the devil’s traps and snares.  Help us see though his temptations.  Please help us be faithful and true to You, putting all our trust in You, all our hope in You.  Heal the hurts that separate and divide us one from another.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this life might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.

Oh, Give Thanks to the Lord

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on Sunday morning, the 19th of November, 2023, the Sunday before Thanksgiving Day at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  A recording of our service should be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch1992/streams.]

Family, this coming Thursday we’ll be celebrating Thanksgiving.  It seems like this year has flown by.  It’s already Thanksgiving and Christmas is just around the corner.

This is a joyous time of year, as we prepare for the celebration of our Lord’s birth in mortal form.  And it is indeed a time to be thankful, as Jesus coming to us is God’s love and mercy in action.  For only through Jesus, by the great mercy of our Father God, can we be redeemed of our sin and granted everlasting life in heaven.

Our celebration of Thanksgiving Day as a holiday is a relatively recent event.  What we consider the first Thanksgiving was in 1621 after the Pilgrims had survived - with the help of the natives - a very difficult winter in the new world.

George Washington set the very first official day for the nation to give thanks in 1789, and then in 1863 Abraham Lincoln proclaimed another day of national thanksgiving.  This day for giving thanks was annually proclaimed by every president afterwards, and it usually was set for the last Thursday in November.

But in 1939, it so happened that November had five Thursdays in it, with the fifth being on the 30th of the month.  Then president Franklin Roosevelt feared the late date would cut the holiday shopping season short, putting a damper on economic recovery, so he issued a proclamation moving it to the second to last Thursday.

Well, this created a lot of fuss and confusion, with some states accepting this new date while others stuck with the last Thursday.  So Congress finally got involved and in 1941 made it the law of the land that Thanksgiving Day would be the fourth Thursday in November from then on.

That’s the history of Thanksgiving Day in America, but people have been celebrating Thanksgiving for thousands of years.  And it wasn’t for just one day a year.  Throughout history, mankind has experienced certain circumstances where survival or success could only be attributed to the work of some higher power.  Those who believe in God recognize His hand at work in our lives, and give Him thanks.

During the reign of King David, the Ark of the Covenant was brought to Jerusalem and a great celebration was held to honor the event.  Please listen and follow along as I read from the New King James Version of our Holy Bible, some selected verses from the 16th chapter of the Book of the Chronicles of the Jewish people from the days of Adam to captivity in Babylon…

8 Oh, give thanks to the Lord!

Call upon His name;

Make known His deeds among the peoples!

9 Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him;

Talk of all His wondrous works!

10 Glory in His holy name;

Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the Lord!

11 Seek the Lord and His strength;

Seek His face evermore!

12 Remember His marvelous works which He has done,

His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth.

23 Sing to the Lord, all the earth;

Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.

24 Declare His glory among the nations,

His wonders among all peoples.

25 For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised;

He is also to be feared above all gods.

26 For all the gods of the peoples are idols,

But the Lord made the heavens.

27 Honor and majesty are before Him;

Strength and gladness are in His place.

29 Give to the Lord the glory due His name;

Bring an offering, and come before Him.

Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness!

31 Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad;

And let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.”

32 Let the sea roar, and all its fullness;

Let the field rejoice, and all that is in it.

33 Then the trees of the woods shall rejoice before the Lord,

For He is coming to judge the earth.

34 Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!

For His mercy endures forever.

--1 Chronicles 16:8-12, 23-27, 29, 31-34 (NKJV)

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, thank You for bestowing Your loving mercy upon us!  We see Your hand at work in our lives.  We see Your handiwork in the world all around us.  And we thank You.  But sometimes we take all Your many gifts for granted, especially the smaller blessings that go unnoticed or ignored.  Sometimes we just don’t stop long enough to say thank You, let alone show our appreciation in our service to others.  Please forgive us these times, Father.  Know that we do thank You for all that You give us, for all Your love and kindness.  Please help us find tangible, meaningful ways to show our appreciation.  Please continue to bless us so we can be a blessing to others.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better understand what You tell us this day.  Please protect us from those who serve Satan and carry out his evil deeds.  And Father, please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and one purpose in our love, worship, and service, and healthy and safe in the days ahead.  This we pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

In 1789, our first president, George Washington, presented this first national Thanksgiving proclamation:

"Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the Providence for Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful to His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; And whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me 'to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public Thanksgiving and Prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness!'  Now therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday the twenty-sixth day of November next, to be devoted by the people of the States, to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be: That we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country..."

George Washington and others of our Founding Fathers realized that the colonies could have never won their independence from English rule had it not been for the intervention of God.  There is no way a hastily thrown together regular army and a bunch of farmers and store clerks formed into militias could ever defeat the mightiest military force on earth at the time.  Yet they did, and the American people won the right to govern themselves.  So Washington declared a day that year for all the people of this new nation to stop, unite, and render unto God their sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection.

But if you read closely, you can see that the President had more than saying “thank You” in mind.  He declared for that specific day to be devoted by the people to the service of God.  “Now therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday the twenty-sixth day of November next, to be devoted by the people of the States, to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be.”

Saying “thank You, God” is fine, and really, it’s the very least we can do.  Showing our appreciation is much better.  And what better way to show it than by serving God.  This is what Washington must have had in mind.  Sadly, we seem to have lost sight of this ideal.

There are many ways to serve God.  Jesus showed us how in His own life, and left us with the mission of spreading the Gospel message and making more disciples.  He also told us that we can serve by feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, visiting the institutionalized and imprisoned.  But even long before this we are shown ways we can honor our heavenly Father and give Him our thanks.

As we see in our scripture reading, the author of the Books of the Chronicles - most likely Ezra – tells us that we can thank God by simply calling on His name and singing to Him.  What parent doesn’t enjoy it when their child sings to them?

The author goes on to say we should tell everyone about all the good things God has done for us, all His wondrous works, and declare His glory among the nations and His wonders among all people.  Give to God all the glory due His name, and worship Him, honor Him, rejoice in Him.  None of that is all that hard to do, and any of it can be done on any given day, not just once a year.

It’s really great when we can spend the day, or at least some part of the day, with family and good friends.  It’s such a special time when we can sit down with them and enjoy a meal together, chatting over warm memories, sharing our love for one another.  But Thanksgiving Day should be more than a turkey dinner and football games on TV.

We should pause and take a quick inventory of our lives, looking at those times when God worked His wonders for us - as individuals, as a family, as a nation, as a people.  We should stop long enough to recognize and acknowledge God’s divine intervention, not only in our greatest times of need, but also in our daily walks through this life.  And family, we should do this every day, not just on the fourth Thursday in November.

Giving thanks is easy.  Hear the proclamation of King David from his 100th Psalm, his Psalm of Thanksgiving…

1 Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all the earth!

2 Serve the Lord with gladness;

Come before His presence with singing.

3 Know that the Lord, He is God;

It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;

We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,

And into His courts with praise.

Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

5 For the Lord is good;

His mercy is everlasting,

And His truth endures to all generations.

--Psalm 100 (NKJV)

Make a joyful shout to the Lord.  Some versions say make a joyful noise, and in David’s days their “shouts” included musical instruments and clapping and dancing.

And there’s that word “serve” again.  Serve the Lord.  And not just out of some sense of duty or responsibility, but with gladness.  Serve the Lord because we want to, because we’re happy to serve Him.  And family, when we serve God for the right reason, when we serve Him by helping others without any thought of reward or even recognition, when we bless others with our time and our resources, we find that we are blessed in returned.  We are rewarded both in this life, by the simple joy it brings us, and in the next, where our true rewards are being stored up.

So let us enjoy this upcoming Thanksgiving Day.  If you are so inclined, the local Salvation Army is seeking donations to help make this a good Thanksgiving Day for the less fortunate in our county.  Or maybe you know someone who will be alone this coming Thursday, someone you could invite over to share a nice meal with you.

There are so many ways we can show our appreciation to God for all He has done for us.  Choose one, even if it’s just to make a joyful noise.  But let’s not stop with just one day of thanks.  Let’s make it a habit to give and show God our thanks.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord, the Son of God, who showed us how to thank our Father.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for Your hand at work in our lives.  Thank You for Your help in our times of need.  Thank You for the beauty of this garden You have given us to live in.  Thank You for salvation through Your Son Jesus.  And thank You for all the opportunities You give us to show our appreciation.  Too often, though, Father, we don’t take the time to truly offer You our thanks in tangible ways.  Worse yet, too many times we don’t even recognize when You have blessed us.  Forgive us those times, please Father, when we just don’t see Your blessing.  Forgive us when fail to share Your blessings with others.  Please help us be more grateful.  Help us make Your wondrous works known to all the people we meet.  Help us not be embarrassed to make a joyful noise unto You as a sign of our thanks and our love.  And please help us to not be afraid to share our Lord Jesus with others so that they too may be saved by Your mercy and His sacrifice.  And Father, please shield us from Satan as he attacks our faith and tries to pull us away from You.  Help us be better servants, glorifying You in all we do so that the world can see You in us, through our deeds, in how we live.  And help us remain strong, faithful, and true to You in all things, no matter what the world throws at us or holds out before us.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more obedient to Your commands, and seeking Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, You lived Your life on earth as a constant sign of gratitude to God.  You thanked Him for everything, and You showed Your appreciation in Your service to mankind.  Thank You, Lord, for the greatest service to us of the sacrifice You made on our behalf.  Please help us, dear Lord -- help us be more like You in our daily interactions with others.  Help us thank our Father God by serving others in their need.  And especially please help us reach out to the non-believing world, sharing the Gospel message with the lost, showing them Your love through our love.

And Jesus, please shield our minds and our hearts from Satan’s lies and the world’s empty promises.  Guide us around all the devil’s traps and snares.  Help us see though his temptations.  Please help us be faithful and true to You, putting all our trust in You, all our hope in You.  Heal the hurts that separate and divide us one from another.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this life might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.

Love All People

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on Sunday morning, the 12th of November, 2023, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  A recording of our service should be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch1992/streams.]

Family, today we’ll delve a little deeper into the letter that the Apostle James wrote to the early church.  Now we need to remember that James was a half-brother of Jesus, so he would have known our Lord well, having grown up together.  And I mentioned earlier that James was mostly concerned with the practical aspects of Christian conduct and behavior.  In this letter, he gives us good, solid, practical instructions on how our faith should guide our everyday lives.

In the first chapter, he told us to resist the ways of the world, for the devil will try to destroy our faith.  He also encouraged us to live out the word of the Gospel message in our daily lives.  And he echoed the warning Jesus gave us that we would definitely experience trials, but by living the word, and not reacting as the world does, we can show others the power of faith.

Today we’re going to listen as James gives us a little lecture on our showing favoritism when dealing with other folk.  And again he will remind us of what Jesus - and our Father God - already told us.

Please listen and follow along to the first 13 verses of the 2nd chapter of the letter written by James to the early church, and I’ll be reading this from the Easy-to-Read Version of our Holy Bible (later on I’ll be reading from the New King James Version)…

1 My dear brothers and sisters, you are believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. So don’t treat some people better than others. 2 Suppose someone comes into your meeting wearing very nice clothes and a gold ring. At the same time a poor person comes in wearing old, dirty clothes. 3 You show special attention to the person wearing nice clothes. You say, “Sit here in this good seat.” But you say to the poor person, “Stand there!” or “Sit on the floor by our feet!” 4 Doesn’t this show that you think some people are more important than others? You set yourselves up as judges — judges who make bad decisions.

5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters. God chose the poor people in the world to be rich in faith. He chose them to receive the kingdom God promised to those who love Him. 6 But you show no respect to those who are poor. And you know that the rich are the ones who always try to control your lives. And they are the ones who take you to court. 7 And the rich are the ones who insult the wonderful name of Christ, the name by which you are known.

8 One law rules over all other laws. This royal law is found in the Scriptures: “Love your neighbor the same as you love yourself.” If you obey this law, you are doing right. 9 But if you are treating one person as more important than another, you are sinning. You are guilty of breaking God’s law.

10 You might follow all of God’s law. But if you fail to obey only one command, you are guilty of breaking all the commands in that law. 11 God said, “Don’t commit adultery.” The same God also said, “Don’t kill.” So if you don’t commit adultery, but you kill someone, you are guilty of breaking all of God’s law.

12 You will be judged by the law that makes people free. You should remember this in everything you say and do. 13 Yes, you must show mercy to others. If you do not show mercy, then God will not show mercy to you when He judges you. But the one who shows mercy can stand without fear before the Judge.

--James 2:1-13 (ERV)

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, like any little children, sometimes we need to be scolded a bit when we do wrong.  Our Lord’s apostle James just lectured us about how we are too often judgmental in our dealings with others.  You told us not to judge, Jesus told us not to judge, yet we do just that far too frequently, discriminating against some while favoring others.  Please forgive us these times, Father.  Thank You for not showing favoritism on Your part, or we would all be doomed.  And thank You for inspiring James to write this letter to instruct us in how we should act in our daily lives.  Sadly, we don’t always spend as much time in our bibles as we should, gaining new insights and being reminded of things we’ve already been told.  Please help us see the worth of Your word not only in our future life, but in this life as well.  Please open our hearts and our minds to Your message.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better understand what You tell us this day.  Please protect us from those who serve Satan and carry out his evil deeds.  And Father, please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and one purpose in our love, worship, and service, and healthy and safe in the days ahead.  This we pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

This is a little long, but very sweet, and I've actually shortened it just a bit.  It comes from author Dave Simmons in his book, Dad, The Family Coach:

Not long ago, I took my eight year old daughter Helen and five year old son Brandon to the local mall to do a little shopping.  As we drove up, we spotted an eighteen-wheeler parked in the mall lot with a big sign on it that said, "Petting Zoo."  The kids jumped up in a rush and asked, "Daddy, Daddy!  Can we go?  Please.  Please!  Can we go?"

"Sure," I said, flipping them both a quarter before walking into Sears.  They bolted away, and I felt free to take my time looking for a scroll saw.  A petting zoo consists of a portable fence erected inside the mall with about six inches of sawdust and a hundred little furry baby animals of all kinds.  Kids pay their money and stay in the enclosure enraptured with the squirmy little critters while their moms and dads shop.

A few minutes later, I turned around and saw Helen walking along behind me.  I was shocked to see she preferred the hardware department to the petting zoo.  Recognizing my error, I bent down and asked her what was wrong.

She looked up at me with those giant limpid brown eyes and said sadly, "Well, Daddy, it cost fifty cents.  So, I gave Brandon my quarter."  Then she said the most beautiful thing I ever heard.  She repeated the family motto: "Love is Action!"

She had given Brandon her quarter, and no one loves cuddly furry creatures more than Helen.  She had watched my wife and I both do and say "Love is Action!" for years around the house and the ranch.  She had heard and seen "Love is Action!," and now she had incorporated it into her little lifestyle.  It had become part of her.

What do you think I did?  Well, not what you might think.  As soon as I finished my errands, I took Helen to the petting zoo.  We stood by the fence and watched Brandon go crazy petting and feeding the animals.  Helen stood with her hands and chin resting on the fence and just watched Brandon.  I had fifty cents burning a hole in my pocket; I never offered it to Helen, and she never asked for it.

Because she knew the whole family motto. It's not "Love is Action."  It's "Love is SACRIFICIAL Action!"  Love always pays a price.  Love always costs something.  Love is expensive.  When you love, benefits accrue to another's account.  Love is for you, not for me.  Love gives; it doesn't grab.  Helen gave her quarter to Brandon and wanted to follow through with her lesson.  She knew she had to taste the sacrifice.  She wanted to experience that total family motto: Love is sacrificial action.

Let me repeat that:  Love is sacrificial action.  It has a cost.  It gives, rather than takes.  Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice to show God’s love.  He paid a tremendous price, just to give us atonement of our sins.  Unconditional love, sacrificial action.

In his letter to the Romans, the Apostle Paul pleads with us that we make of ourselves a living sacrifice to God in our service.  We don’t have to give up our mortal life, as Jesus did.  We just need to take action and give freely of ourselves, of our talents, of our resources, of our time.

It’s not a sacrifice if it doesn’t cost something, if it doesn’t hurt a little.  The rewards later will far outweigh any pain now.

This morning’s section of James’ letter is all about love.  OK, so he doesn’t really mention “love” until about two-thirds of the way through when he reminds us that we are to love our neighbor the same as we love ourselves.  But the rest of it shouts “love”, too, for if we truly do love others in this way, we won’t discriminate against them, no more than we discriminate against ourselves.

James quotes God’s commandment in this, but he also emphasizes what his brother commanded earlier.  Hear the words Jesus spoke as recorded by the Apostle John in verses 34 and 35 of the 13th chapter of his Gospel account…

34 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

--John 13:34-35 (NKJV)

This is a command from God and again from Jesus, to love one another.  This is part of the God’s law.  If we don’t obey this one part, we are guilty of breaking it all.  And family, too many times we fail to obey this part.

Now if we just look casually at our scripture reading, we can see that James talks about loving others, but there is no mention of sacrifice to be found.  Well, yes, in a way, there is.  James is asking us to sacrifice - to give up - that part of human nature where we are prone to judge others.

It just seems to be in our nature, our inner being, to judge people, whether individually or in groups.  We stereotype, we discriminate, we treat some better than others.  We judge them based on financial status, social standing, notoriety, where they’re from, what opinions they hold, what political party they associate with, how they talk, how they look, the color of their skin.  And we do it without even thinking about it.

So, again, James is simply reminding us of what God has already told us not to do.  Don’t judge others.  Someday, and maybe soon, we will be judged by God who will use the same measure against us that we used against those folks we were supposed to love.  James warns us to remember this in everything that we say and do.

Let’s turn to Jesus again, when He cautions us not to judge others during His Sermon on the Mount, as recorded by the Apostle Matthew in verses 1 and 2 of chapter 7 of his Gospel account…

1 “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.”

--Matthew 7:1-2 (NKJV)

Discriminating is judging.  Showing favoritism is judging.  Treating one person better than another, for any reason, is judging.  Thinking some other person is more or less important than another is judging.  I’m guilty of this, and I bet you are, too.  It’s easy to do, and hard to stop ourselves.  But that’s why James tells us to think about it, to remember this in everything we say and do.

Rather than being judgmental, we should be just.  Instead of showing partiality, we should show mercy.  The prophet Micah expresses this quite clearly in chapter 6 verse 8 of the book bearing his name…

8 He has shown you, O man, what is good;

And what does the Lord require of you

But to do justly,

To love mercy,

And to walk humbly with your God?

--Micah 6:8 (NKJV)

To do justly and love mercy.  This is what our Lords requires of us.  Not showing favoritism, but instead showing mercy.

Loving others would be easy if we all looked the same and acted the same and thought the same way.  But that’s not how God made us.  We are each a beautiful creation, wondrously made, graciously loved by our Creator.  And He commands us to love each other, just as we love ourselves.

He loves us even when we sin against Him, and commands that we love others even when they sin against us.  So let’s not just love other Christians, or only those who look like us or think like us or act like us or share common interests.  Let’s love ALL people.  And let’s love them all the same.

In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord, the Son of God, who showed us how to live and how to love.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for the apostolic letters in our bible, written by those who knew Your Son best, including His earthly brothers.  Thank You for the instruction and guidance they provide, and for their words of encouragement that help us get through each day.  Too often, Father, we fail to follow these instructions, we fail to heed their warnings.  Too many times we judge other people, letting prejudice and hatred guide our actions and words, overshadowing any love we may have for them.  Forgive us those times, please Father, when we disobey You in this way.  Please help us be more loving, giving of ourselves, putting our love into sacrificial action.  Help us love all people, not just those who love us or who might benefit us in some way.  And please help us to not be afraid to share our Lord Jesus with others so that they too may be saved by Your mercy and His sacrifice.  And Father, please shield us from Satan as he attacks our faith and tries to pull us away from You.  Help us be better servants, glorifying You in all we do so that the world can see You in us, through our deeds, in how we live.  And help us remain strong, faithful, and true to You in all things, no matter what the world throws at us or holds out before us.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more obedient to Your commands, and seeking Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, You echoed our heavenly Father when You commanded us to love others and not to judge them.  You even warned us that we would be judged in the same way and by the same measuring stick that we use to judge others.  Thank You, Lord, for Your warning, but sadly we too often fail to heed it.  Please help us, dear Lord -- help us be more obedient.  And especially please help us reach out to the non-believing world, sharing the Gospel message with the lost, showing them Your love through our love.

And Jesus, please shield our minds and our hearts from Satan’s lies and the world’s empty promises.  Guide us around all the devil’s traps and snares.  Help us see though his temptations.  Please help us be faithful and true to You, putting all our trust in You, all our hope in You.  Heal the hurts that separate and divide us one from another.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this life might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.

Live the Word

  

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on Sunday morning, the 5th of November, 2023, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  A recording of our service should be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch1992/streams.]

Two weeks ago, before our 5th Sunday sing-along, we began looking at the letter that the Apostle James, a brother of Jesus, wrote to the early church.  At that time, I said that James was primarily concerned with the practical aspects of Christian conduct.  In this letter he provides concrete, ethical instructions on how faith works in everyday life, with less focus on theology and more on practicality.

In the opening, he told us to resist the ways of the world, resist feeling sorry for ourselves when troubles befall us, resist the lure and desire for financial wealth, and resist the devil, as he tempts us to do evil and tries to destroy our faith.  Today we’re going to continue with James’ advice as he gives us good, solid guidance on living as our Lord would have us live.  Please listen and follow along to verses 16 through 27 of the 1st chapter of the letter written by James to the early church, and I’ll be reading from the New English Translation of our Holy Bible this morning…

16 Do not be led astray, my dear brothers and sisters. 17 All generous giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or the slightest hint of change. 18 By His sovereign plan He gave us birth through the message of truth, that we would be a kind of firstfruits of all He created.

19 Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters! Let every person be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger. 20 For human anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness. 21 So put away all filth and evil excess and humbly welcome the message implanted within you, which is able to save your souls. 22 But be sure you live out the message and do not merely listen to it and so deceive yourselves. 23 For if someone merely listens to the message and does not live it out, he is like someone who gazes at his own face in a mirror. 24 For he gazes at himself and then goes out and immediately forgets what sort of person he was. 25 But the one who peers into the perfect law of liberty and fixes his attention there, and does not become a forgetful listener but one who lives it out — he will be blessed in what he does. 26 If someone thinks he is religious yet does not bridle his tongue, and so deceives his heart, his religion is futile. 27 Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their adversity and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

--James 1:16-27 (NET)

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, we are blessed to have this letter from one of Your Son’s earthly brothers to study and learn from.  It provide us with good, practical guidance on how we should act as followers of Christ Jesus, how we should live as He wants us to live.  And it encourages us to remain steadfast in our service.  Thank You, Father, for seeing to it that this letter would still be available to us today.  Sadly, Father, we don’t always spend as much time in our bibles as we should, learning more about and gaining insight into Jesus from those who walked with Him and knew Him best.  Too often the demands of life press in on us and consume all our waking hours.  Please help us see the wealth of good information contained in Your word.  Please open our hearts and our minds to Your message.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better understand what You tell us this day.  Please protect us from those who serve Satan and carry out his evil deeds.  And Father, please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and one purpose in our love, worship, and service, and healthy and safe in the days ahead.  This we pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

Here's an interesting little story that Clayton Bell wrote for a 1986 issue of Preaching magazine:

A number of years ago Norman Cousins wrote an editorial in Saturday Review in which he reported a conversation he had on a trip in India.  He was talking with a Hindu priest named Satis Prasad.  The man said he wanted to come to our country to work as a missionary among the Americans.  Cousins assumed that he meant that he wanted to convert Americans to the Hindu religion, but when asked, Satis Prasad said, "Oh no, I would like to convert them to the Christian religion.  Christianity cannot survive in the abstract.  It needs not membership, but believers.  The people of your country may claim they believe in Christianity, but from what I read at this distance, Christianity is more a custom than anything else.  I would ask that either you accept the teachings of Jesu in your everyday life and in your affairs as a nation, or stop invoking His name as sanction for everything you do.  I want to help save Christianity for the Christian."

Let that sink in for a minute: “I want to help save Christianity for the Christian.”  We don’t know exactly when this conversation took place, other than “a number of years” before 1986, nor could I determine if Mr. Prasad ever came to America.  But his assessment of American Christianity in the ‘80s was spot on, I’d say.  Unfortunately, the only thing that’s changed is that it might be in even worse shape now.

There are a couple of solid points in this, but I think the most telling in our culture today is that Christianity is not a social club.  We need believers, not members.  It’s not a custom to be practiced, or even honored as such.  It’s a way to live.

You may have heard me say it before, but we must not let anything, not even religion, get in the way of our worshiping and serving our Lord Christ Jesus.  If we continue to call ourselves Christians, we must fully accept and follow the teachings of Jesus in our everyday lives and affairs.

And family, this is the sermon James is preaching.  The message he speaks of, that was implanted in us, is the Gospel, the Good News of salvation through Jesus the Christ.  This is the Word, the Truth.  God gave us birth through this message of truth.  It isn't enough to hear the word, to listen to the word - we must live the word!

So here is James, a brother of Jesus, telling us to live out the word, to live as Jesus lived.  But what does Jesus Himself have to say?  Hear the words of our Lord as recorded by the Apostle Matthew in verse 21 of the 7th chapter of his Gospel account…

21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the kingdom of heaven — only the one who does the will of My Father in heaven.”

--Matthew 7:21 (NET)

Calling Jesus “Lord” isn’t what secures our salvation.  Simply recognizing Him as the Christ, the Son of God, doesn’t cut it – the devil and his demons know exactly who Jesus is.  We must do the will of God.

That’s an action word there: “do”.  We must get up and get out and do the will of God.  And how do we know the will of God?  It’s contained within His word.  We must put His word into practice.

Again hear the words Jesus spoke, this time as recorded by the Apostle Luke in the 6th chapter of his Gospel account, verses 46 through 49…

46 “Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and don’t do what I tell you?

47 “Everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words and puts them into practice — I will show you what he is like: 48 He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep, and laid the foundation on bedrock.  When a flood came, the river burst against that house but could not shake it, because it had been well built.  49 But the person who hears and does not put my words into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation.  When the river burst against that house, it collapsed immediately, and was utterly destroyed!”

--Luke 6:46-49 (NET)

It can’t get any clearer than that.  “Why do you call me “Lord” but then don’t do what I tell you to do?!?”  If we truly accept Jesus as our Lord and Master, then we will obey His every word without question, without hesitation, without fail.

Is what Jesus tells us to do all that difficult to carry out?  Well, yes and no.  What He tells us is clear: love one another.  What He commands is simple: go and make disciples.  He even tells us how to go about it, by telling others everything that He has told us, teaching them all He taught, sharing with them the love He shared with us.

But for most of us, this is difficult.  We’re shy when it comes to spreading the word.  We’re timid, afraid of what others will think of us, worried about how they might react.  As for loving one another, some people just aren’t all that loveable.  So too often we fail to do what Jesus tells us to do.  We may sing, “On Christ the solid rock I stand”, but family, I worry that too many “Christians” today are standing in quicksand.

Family, God’s message today is fairly simple.  Don’t just listen to His word, don’t just read it – live it.  This is what Jesus did.  He did what His Father in heaven willed.  He not only lived God’s word, He breathed life into it.

This is the example He set for us to follow.  As did our Lord, let us live the word.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord, the Son of God, who showed us how to live.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for the apostolic letters in our bible, written by those who knew Your Son best, including His earthly brothers.  Thank You for the solid guidance they provide and for their words of encouragement that strengthen us in our day-to-day lives.  Too often, Father, we are too timid to carry out the command Jesus gave us.  Too many times we let prejudice and hatred overcome any love we may have for a person.  Forgive us those times, please Father, when we falter and fail in our service.  Please help us understand the importance of doing Your will, just as Jesus did.  Help us live out Your word.  And please help us to not be afraid to share our Lord Jesus with others, sharing Your love, so that they too may be saved by Your mercy and His sacrifice.  And Father, please shield us from Satan as he attacks our faith and tries to pull us away from You.  Help us be better servants, glorifying You in all we do so that the world can see You in us, through our deeds, in how we live.  And help us remain strong, faithful, and true to You in all things, no matter what the world throws at us or holds out before us.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more obedient to Your commands, and seeking Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, You warned us that we must put Your words into practice, to do what our heavenly Father wills us to do.  When we do what You tell us, we build our future on the firmest foundation of all.  Thank You, Lord, for showing us how we should live by how You lived.  We pray, Lord, that we will not only spend more time in God’s word, but that You will help us live it out as we move forward in this life.  Please, Jesus, help us reach out to the non-believing world, sharing the Gospel message with the lost.  Help us show them Your love by showing our love.

And Jesus, please shield our minds and our hearts from the world’s lies and empty promises.  Guide us around all the devil’s traps and snares.  Help us see though his temptations.  Please help us be faithful and true to You, putting all our trust in You, all our hope in You.  Heal the hurts that separate and divide us one from another.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this life might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.