Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves.
Do what it says.
James 1:22
Equipped-Part Three
Sunday services March 6th
Introduction: Today we are taking on one of the more difficult pieces of our equipment. This passage is heavy duty and heaven sent. We cannot move forward in our faith until we come up against the brick walls of frustration and bitterness that the enemy will use to steal your joy. I am talking about the great stumbling blocks that we sometimes place in our paths. I am talking about being good soil, being a weapon in the hands of God, doing the will of God with a heart that is valiant and steadfast!
That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2 And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A Sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, 6 but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 He who has ears, let him hear.”
Matthew 13:1-9
This passage describes seeds that are spread among the path and how some grow and some don’t and how some grow for a season and some don’t grow for very long.
I don’t want to grow and than whither
I don’t want to grow and then get choked out by thorns
I want to grow and produce and see the will of God sung and celebrated over my life. I don’t want my will I want his will. Beware this request requires our piece of equipment today!
T/S: Humility
Traps
What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
James 4:1-7
Exp: First a quick download of who and what the book of James is, this book is probably the very first book written in the New Testament, it is almost certainly written by James the brother of Jesus! (Half Brother) This member of his family was not among the original 12 disciples and in fact maybe opposed Jesus until one pivotal event! The Resurrection!
James then went all out for Jesus and even became the leader of the church in Jerusalem!
This book is written to a Jewish audience, who at the time would have been the majority of christians, it was only under the ministry of the Apostle Paul, (Who was a colleague) that massive gentile audiences began coming to Christ!
James is called the proverbs of the New Testament and gives real and practical advice to believers both new and old.
Right off of the bat he points in loud recognition of the enemies intent, the enemy desires to stir up our flesh and cause us to have conflict with one another. The enemy longs to stir up division in the church. He wants to bring division and death into our assembly, at ROLC we have been very unified, but we must be aware of this scheme and not allow the enemy to be at work among us.
The other trap he points out is Worldliness
Friendship with the world is enmity with God!
These two traps go hand in hand with each other.
Ill: I have seen these two traps destroy so many people. Many of my friends who were Christian are defeated by these two traps
Division and Worldliness
Traps
Fish Trap: This trap is clever, you can enter it from the small end and you can get the bait no problem. It's when you try to retreat that you have a problem. Groups of fish fall into this one because fish gather together and feel safer.
Snare: This trap seems totally safe until it isn’t, it works on the principle of deception and bait. It seems harmless until it isn’t. This one has to be the most humiliating one for the captured, you are strung up and dangling and stuck.
Spring trap: This one bites! You may be able to get out of the other traps relatively safe, this one is going to leave a scar or at the very least it gonna hurt!
App: Church these traps are all around you! The Enemy wishes to ensnare you, and unless you are listening to God, and aware you will be caught, its only a matter of time! This is also why being in church is important, we are in this journey together and if you go it alone you will have no help when the snare grabs you!
How many of you have fallen into one or more of these traps?
The group thought fish trap? The world follows this one the most, politics, and religion, things that are not God, can act like this trap and leave you stuck. This trap is hard to recognize because like a fish you may still be in the water, but nevertheless you are still trapped.
The vice snare. This is the hidden one, this is the sin that creeps into your life and you think it will remain hidden. This one is humiliating to get rid of, snares are going to come your way, you need help. The body of Christ should be dedicated to helping people avoid or escape snares. Pornography, greed, temper, and many more. These are embarrassing, don’t let your pride keep you dangling.
The Spring trap: This one bites! It hurts and it’s to be avoided at all costs, this is the one that usually leaves lasting scars. Consequences and outcomes that cannot quickly be amended! Be aware you might be playing with a vice and it turns into a spring, Sin is tricky like that, nobody wakes up a murderer, or an adulterer. It slowly gets tighter and tighter until you are painfully trapped. You will not escape without help!
We are not prey!
6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
James 4:6-7
Resist!
2. Draw Near to God
8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.11 Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?
James 4:8-12
Exp: Some cheerful advice from brother James! However how apt. Pride destroys the church, I don’t think that James is trying to be depressing, I think he is trying to remind his audience about the reality on the ground. This sombre tone is often taken as a vanity and pride in our modern cynical age, however take seriously the words here, Humble yourself!
Speak no evil against the brethren. We are called to examine the fruit of each other and called to encourage each other, and even to sharpen and correct each other, but we must also remember that we are not truly in each others shoes.
Ill: Division in the church, really starts when we get our eyes off of God and put our eyes on each other. We are all failures and none of us are perfect. This is not an excuse or even a cop out, however we must be grounded in reality.
Speaking with my friend about fallen ministers. Help is out there, people don’t want to abandon you in your darkest time, they want to help.
Pride is dangerous, Spiritual pride is the sin of the Devil!
App: Fortunately there is a cure that is both wonderful and deadly, beautiful and yet terrible in righteousness. The advice of James is right there. Draw near to God as he draws near to you!
Pride melts in the presence of God! You cannot possibly think you are too spiritual or too perfect when you are placed beside the wonder and beauty of God! Jesus desires us to draw near, we are called to come beside God!
There is pain in humility! There is brokenness when things must fall off of our lives, but there is joy that cannot be described!
T/S: Judgement belongs only to God, please recall this in your dealings and in our unity here at ROLC.
3. Equip yourself in humility for the long haul
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
James 4:13-17
Exp: This is James giving us an example of what it means to be truly humble and truly focused on eternal things! He points to the temporality of all of this! You aren’t guaranteed tomorrow or even tonight.
What does the Lord will?
Like not in the abstract. Today! What does he require of you today?
Ill: I probably will never serve in combat, not am I likely to compete as a great athlete. (Despite my incredible physique) So many times we seek and enjoy watching others seek eternal glory for their achievements!
We watch the heroes for Iwo Jima in movies and in books, or we cheer great athletes for the rings and trophies! These can and should be good examples of serious triumph and joy!
App: What good is glory! What good is money! What good are trophies! Acclaim? Notoriety? Even patriotism and honor, when kept from God? They are worthless glory. This now comes full circle to our calling.
God desires you!
Your worship
Your friendship
4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”?
James 4:4-5
Jesus invests and is invested in people! He feels this way about each and everyone of you and your family and your enemies!
Be humbled before God.
Do you want to be great before God!? Be humbled, draw near to him His heart beats for the nations, for the world. Define yourself like this.
I love the description of a woman of God in Proverbs 31, it reminds me of this passage.
25 She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future. 26 When she speaks, her words are wise, and she gives instructions with kindness. 27 She carefully watches everything in her household and suffers nothing from laziness. 28 Her children stand and bless her. Her husband praises her: 29 “There are many virtuous and capable women in the world, but you surpass them all!” 30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last; but a woman who fears the LORD will be greatly praised. 31 Reward her for all she has done. Let her deeds publicly declare her praise.
Proverbs 31:25-31
I also love this excerpt from the book “Great Divorce" of C.S Lewis. He sees this beautiful woman, and thinks that he is seeing Eve herself and instead here is the reply.
But I have forgotten. And only partly do I remember the unbearable beauty of her face.
“Is it?...is it?” I whispered to my guide.
“Not at all,” said he. “It's someone ye'll never have heard of. Her name on earth was Sarah Smith and she lived at Golders Green.”
“She seems to be...well, a person of particular importance?”
“Aye. She is one of the great ones. Ye have heard that fame in this country and fame on Earth are two quite different things.”
“And who are these gigantic people...look! They're like emeralds...who are dancing and throwing flowers before here?”
“Haven't ye read your Milton? A thousand liveried angels lackey her.”
“And who are all these young men and women on each side?”
“They are her sons and daughters.”
“She must have had a very large family, Sir.”
“Every young man or boy that met her became her son – even if it was only the boy that brought the meat to her back door. Every girl that met her was her daughter.”
“Isn't that a bit hard on their own parents?”
“No. There are those that steal other people's children. But her motherhood was of a different kind. Those on whom it fell went back to their natural parents loving them more. Few men looked on her without becoming, in a certain fashion, her lovers. But it was the kind of love that made them not less true, but truer, to their own wives.”
“And how...but hullo! What are all these animals? A cat-two cats-dozens of cats. And all those dogs...why, I can't count them. And the birds. And the horses.”
“They are her beasts.”
“Did she keep a sort of zoo? I mean, this is a bit too much.”
“Every beast and bird that came near her had its place in her love. In her they became themselves. And now the abundance of life she has in Christ from the Father flows over into them.”
I looked at my Teacher in amazement.
“Yes,” he said. “It is like when you throw a stone into a pool, and the concentric waves spread out further and further. Who knows where it will end? Redeemed humanity is still young, it has hardly come to its full strength. But already there is joy enough int the little finger of a great saint such as yonder lady to waken all the dead things of the universe into life.”
The Great Divorce
C.S Lewis
