Notes from the Sermon

Back to the corner church and back to James. 

James 4:1-3 -- Do you know where your fights and arguments come from? They come from the selfish desires that war within you. You want things, but you do not have them. So you are ready to kill and are jealous of other people, but you still cannot get what you want. So you argue and fight. You do not get what you want, because you do not ask God. Or when you ask, you do not receive because the reason you ask is wrong. You want things so you can use them for your own pleasures. 

We actually cover James 3:18 through James 4:12, but these verses jumped out. 

Would we actually like to have more peace - every day of our life - if we could? No one asks for more chaos. 

The way to get peace on the outside is to have peace on the inside. Jesus gave His disciples one gift before He was crucified. He gave them Peace. 

How do I get Peace? I have to give up my desires to get God's best. 

Like last night's sermon, this is all about who's in control. Often our prayers boil down to, "Please God please me." Peace inside comes when we move from that to, "Your Will be done."

I have to give up my control to get God's Grace. We need to wait on God. Going around God to get what you want is cheating on God. 

When we battle with God over control of our life we lose. I need to give up my climbing to get God's lift. But sometimes it's only when we exhaust ourselves that we are able to let go and let God. 

When we snuggle up to God those around us want to snuggle up too. 

I need to give up my judgment to get God's Peace. Judgment is a very short road that gets traveled at a very high speed and always end in a wreck. When we judge, we set ourselves up to be judged. Judgment is like a boomerang.  It will hit us in the face. 

Notes from the Sermon

This week I'm visiting a new/old church. I went here for a while over a decade ago when it was Bible Fellowship Church. Now it's called Encounter. 

The title of the sermon is When Your Dreams Can't Come True and it's based on 1 Samuel 21 and 2 Samuel 15. 

The end of the year is all about transitions. The speaker had a dream of starting a new church, but it didn't happen. 

When your dreams can't come true, you can take control (an illusion) or surrender to the One who's really in control. 

We obviously need to do the second. 

Remember how God was faithful in the past and take heart - God will be faithful now and in the future. Trust God. 

No one's life is better off when they take control. We hurt ourselves and we hurt others. 

When life feels like it's spinning out of control it's a reminder of who is really in control. 

Just because the lights go out on your dreams, it doesn't mean the lights go out on your faith. 

We may not understand but if we surrender to God all will be well. We may not feel it, but it is so. Don't let your emotions drive your faith. 

David and Jesus prayed the same prayer of surrender to God in the Garden of Gethsemane. 

Surrender is a process. It's not giving up but it is giving up control. 

Notes from the Sermon

The Wise Still Seek Him

Today's sermon is about the Magi (Matthew 2:1-12). 

It's Christmas Sunday - a day to focus on the birth of Christ. 

The Magi traveled for several months (between 500 to 1000 miles). They were highly motivated. 

God travels from Heaven to meet everyone who is far from Him. God will do anything to wake us up and let us know we are Loved by Him. 

God comes to shine His Light for anyone who will pay attention. In this case - it was three Gentiles - astrologers - magicians - occultists. 

He shows us what He knows we will pay attention to. What draws us? What wakes us up? 

Sometimes we ask God to tone it down. But God wants us to seek Him. 

God is often not what we expect. If Jesus comes, will we miss Him? 

We often let others go farther up and farther in with Jesus. 

When we allow ourselves to get close to Jesus, there's no response but to worship. 

When God is revealed, amazing things happen. 

I know what God gave to me. What am I giving to God?

Let God make a difference. Let God give us a new natural - a new life - a new purpose. That is the most amazing Gift of Christmas. 

Notes from the Sermon

My brothers and sisters, if people say they have faith, but do nothing, their faith is worth nothing. Can faith like that save them? A brother or sister in Christ might need clothes or food. If you say to that person, “God be with you! I hope you stay warm and get plenty to eat,” but you do not give what that person needs, your words are worth nothing. In the same way, faith by itself—that does nothing—is dead. Someone might say, “You have faith, but I have deeds.” Show me your faith without doing anything, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe there is one God. Good! But the demons believe that, too, and they tremble with fear (James 2:14-19). 

This is one of my favorite passages in the Bible. 

Do not lose sight of the Joy of Christmas in the busy rush of the season. This Joy is born from the knowledge that God loves us, God is with us, and God is for us. 

On to James. Why do we measure things in life? To see how we're doing. We measure our success on a diet with a scale. Works is how we measure how Christ works in us. We look not at what we want, intend, or think; but, what we actually do. What we actually do reveals what we really believe. 

Who do we trust, who do we believe, and how does that affect what we actually do? How do we know if we're a Christian? By our works, by our love. 

"The things we get in life can make us a living. The things we give in life can make us a life. Never look down on someone unless you're helping them up" (OCK TV).

There's no conflict between Ephesians 2:8-9 and this passage from James. The result of being a follower of Christ is our love and our works and our willingness to help others. If Christ is in us, then we cannot help but love. 

Christ changes us so that we are able to love as God Loves. God made us to do good works and Christ in us enables us to do that. We are made for more than simply being saved - we are made to spread that salvation (that Love) to others. 

Paul is speaking about the priority of faith; James is speaking about the proof of faith. 

We are saved by faith alone; however, a faith that saves us will never leave us alone. I can't work for my salvation, however my salvation must work in me. 

Salvation makes us new. It changes who we are and how we live. Jesus gives us a new normal - moves us beyond the foibles of our nature. Does Christ living in me make a difference in how I live today? 

Parable of the Silver Medalist

 Luke 12:13-21New International Version (NIV)
The Parable of the Rich Fool

13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”

14 Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” 15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”

16 And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’

18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’

20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

21 “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

A couple of years back I came across articles about how bronze medalists are happier than silver medalists among Olympic winners. Because I am an academic, here's a link to one of those articles - Why Bronze Medalists are Happier than Silver Winners - in which you'll learn, in a nutshell, that silver winners are grumpy because they almost won the gold and so focus on their loss whereas bronze medalists are happy because they almost didn't win a medal at all and so focus on their win.

What does this have to do with rich fools and...well...me? In earnings, I am a silver medalist and that has made me a rich fool. After years of starving artistry, lay ministry, and graduate school - time where I was well acquainted with social services and knew my way around Food Stamps - I hit middle class status. Being middle class and a single mother worked to form a perfect storm of anxiety - I had to save - I had to save for retirement (that's what middle class people did), I had to save for my daughter's college (middle class kids went to college), I had to have enough to be able to say - like the rich fool, "You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry."

Then, the other day I was innocently listening to NPR and a speaker mentioned casually that you need to squirrel away at least a million dollars to retire these days. Google "a million dollars to retire" and you'll find out that it wasn't one speaker's dementia kicking in - that's the figure, although some hits on that Google search even ask the million dollar question, "Is a million dollars enough?"

Now, I've been good trying to save for college and for retirement - so good it made me crazy anxious - but that statement took me back to my late teens and my first semester in college. I had to take P.E. classes - part of the whole Gen Ed package - and the first day we were asked to jog around the field. Huffing, puffing, and sure I was going to die, I made it. I was so proud of myself. I could do this - this class would be a breeze! But no. The very next class we were asked to up it to four laps (a cool mile rather than a cool million). There was ABSOLUTELY NO WAY I'd be able to do that - I walked one lap, never jogged again in that class, and took my C like a champ. The idea that I'd need a million bucks to happily retire (and I assume they weren't talking retiring to a castle on the coast of France with weekends in the Riviera either) - hit me like the request that I run four laps. It ain't never going to happen.

At that moment, I left my rich foolishness behind. I will follow Jesus' advice and live for today and let tomorrow take care of itself (Matthew 6:25-34), which coincidentally, is also the advice from one of my favorite songs by the Grassroots:

Enjoy!

Notes from the Sermon

Today's sermon is bases on James 2:1-13:

My dear brothers and sisters, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, never think some people are more important than others. Suppose someone comes into your church meeting wearing nice clothes and a gold ring. At the same time a poor person comes in wearing old, dirty clothes. You show special attention to the one wearing nice clothes and say, “Please, sit here in this good seat.” But you say to the poor person, “Stand over there,” or, “Sit on the floor by my feet.” What are you doing? You are making some people more important than others, and with evil thoughts you are deciding that one person is better. Listen, my dear brothers and sisters! God chose the poor in the world to be rich with faith and to receive the kingdom God promised to those who love him. But you show no respect to the poor. The rich are always trying to control your lives. They are the ones who take you to court. And they are the ones who speak against Jesus, who owns you. This royal law is found in the Scriptures: “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” If you obey this law, you are doing right. But if you treat one person as being more important than another, you are sinning. You are guilty of breaking God’s law. A person who follows all of God’s law but fails to obey even one command is guilty of breaking all the commands in that law. The same God who said, “You must not be guilty of adultery,” also said, “You must not murder anyone.” So if you do not take part in adultery but you murder someone, you are guilty of breaking all of God’s law. In everything you say and do, remember that you will be judged by the law that makes people free. So you must show mercy to others, or God will not show mercy to you when he judges you. But the person who shows mercy can stand without fear at the judgment. 

The theme is a simple one - love all people. 

Some translations of this section of scripture say, "Don't show favoritism." The trouble with favoritism is that some people suffer while others benefit.

Favoritism is often based on appearance (i.e. prejudice and stereotypes rule). It sets up a system of inequality. 

In the beginning the Church became the only place where there was no favoritism. James wrote 45 years later - favoritism, all too normal, was creeping back in. Honoring equality is something we have to work hard to do. 

God doesn't show favoritism. He loves us all equally. When we disrespect that love by showing favoritism, we disrespect God and devalue God's Love. 

Live by the highest of standards - live by the standard of Love. The whole core of God's message is Love. All you need is Love. 

A key part of love is respect. A key part of respect is listening. It's caring. 

James says break any aspect of God's Law, we break it all. That means that when we come to being sinners we are all on level ground. We are all sinners and have no ground for thinking we or anyone else is better than anyone else. We run into trouble because we all have a sin severity scale. God doesn't work that way. 

We are all broken and we are all loved. 

We need to focus on what we're giving, not on what we're getting. When we focus on the second, favoritism creeps in. 

Give mercy, receive mercy. Replace judgment and favoritism with mercy and grace. Be a mercy first responder.