Grace for Adulterers

Resurrection Wisdom in a Perishing World – Part 7
God’s Abundant Grace for Spiritual Adulterers
(James 4:1-10, Preaching: Pastor Nathan Snyder, April 27, 2014)

[4:1] 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.  [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.

Why do we quarrel and fight with one another?  James says the reason is the sinful passions in our hearts.  We don’t have what we want and so we resent and envy and slander and fight with one another.  The reason we don’t have is because we don’t ask God.  And when we ask, we don’t receive because we are asking with the wrong motives, in order to spend his gifts on our own passions.  We are like an adulterous wife who takes her husband’s gifts and uses them to run after another man.  Our heart is drawn after something other than God.  We want to be friends with the world, meaning the sinful world of greed, lust, and covetousness.  By doing so we make ourselves enemies of God.  You can either have God as your god or something else can be your god.  But to try to have God while still living as if he is not enough for you is adultery.  So the root cause of our quarrels with one another is a spiritual problem in our relationship with God.

God made us for himself.  He alone can satisfy our deepest longings.  God yearns over our souls like a jealous husband, and he is not happy when we belittle him.  Yet he gives greater grace.  He opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.  Indeed, if we will humble ourselves before the Lord, he will lift us up.  James gives specific directions on how to humble ourselves before the Lord.  He says: Submit to God.  This refers to obedience.  What has God commanded you to do?  Do it!  Resist the devil.  When he tempts you with the bogus promises of false gods, fight back.  Don’t just say a few prayers, vaguely call to mind some Scripture, and then give in because the temptation is too much.  Fight back with every means God has given us, and keep fighting until the devil goes away.  God promises Satan will eventually flee.  Draw near to God.  Draw near in prayer, in the Scriptures, in fellowship with other believers, in worship.  God promises he will in turn draw near to you.  He will more and more satisfy your heart with his goodness, which in turn will lead you to greater love and peace toward others.  Cleanse your hands and hearts.  Devote your actions and your affections to God.  Repent of your double-mindedness that calls upon God and at the same time clings to idols.  Weep over your sin.  Not just over its consequences.  Not just because you would like to think better of yourself.  Rather weep because God has done nothing but good to you and you have committed adultery against him who deserves nothing less than your utter devotion and trust.  If we will thus humble ourselves before God, he will exalt us and fill us with his own joy.

Put the Word to Work:  When you find envy or resentment in your heart toward others, trace it back to your failure to trust and delight fully in God.  Then humble yourself before him, expecting him to lift you up.

Your joy, my thirst; Your life, my peace.

Easter Message

Come, everyone who thirsts!

(Isaiah 55:1-13, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, April 20, 2014)

[55:1] “Come, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.The Bible ends with an invitation similar to that which Isaiah gave to the world many centuries before the resurrection of Jesus Christ. See Revelation 22:17. God is not keeping you out of His kingdom. His church has been sending out messengers for many centuries calling people to come to Him. He has free gifts for you—wine that stands for His Son's blood, the milk of the Word for your soul, and fresh springs of water from on high. But none of that will be attractive to people who are not thirsty. Do you long for a life beyond conflict and depression? Do you want to know a love that will never let you go—a true affection that you would never want to run away from?

[2] Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
[3] Incline your ear, and come to me;
hear, that your soul may live;
and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
my steadfast, sure love for David.
[4] Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples,
a leader and commander for the peoples.
[5] Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know,
and a nation that did not know you shall run to you,
because of the LORD your God, and of the Holy One of Israel,
for he has glorified you.You need to feel a hunger in your soul for something better. Otherwise you will spend all that you have on food that perishes and you will still be unsatisfied. But how could Isaiah's hearers in the eighth century before the birth of Christ eat this good food? They could take in the Word of God, believe, and come to the Lord. This is still true today. This is the way for the thirsty to drink and find more life. That life comes through the covenant love of God for a new David. He has risen from the dead as a witness, a leader, and a commander for all the people groups of the earth.

[6] “Seek the LORD while he may be found;
call upon him while he is near;
[7] let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.What should you do if you are here today and you are thirsty for a fuller life? Do what millions before you have done with great success. Seek God. Call upon His Name in worship. Turn away from sin. Turn toward Jesus. In Him you will find full compassion and abundant pardon.

[8] For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.
[9] For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.

The success of the Lord's gift to you is not based on your coming up with a way that you can have peace with God. This is the Lord's eternal plan. He approves of His own mercy. It is better and higher than anything of your invention. It is still the best even if the world decides it is old.

[10] “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
[11] so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.Right now, you need to receive His Word. Take in His plan. Drink and eat His gift. He is giving this same gift that He offers to you today to many people all over the earth! He will not be stopped. His Word is so powerful and it has met you here right now. He is a Suitor who will not be put off any more. God wants you.

[12] “For you shall go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
shall break forth into singing,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
[13] Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;
instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;
and it shall make a name for the LORD,
an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”What does He have in His hand? Eternal life. He has a life with the greatest joy and peace even in the journey. He has a land where everything sings and where the trees of the field clap their hands. He has a country where useless brambles have been replaced with stately and majestic boughs—a place with a Name upon it that will never fade. The dying world only has death.

All history has been speedily moving toward a grand conclusion since the resurrection of Jesus. The Man who accomplished our salvation with His death on the cross has now appeared for us as the first citizen of a new world. Those who trust in Him have become His beloved family. They have a solid hope that will never be taken away from them. Even if they suffer now for a brief time, they know that the coming land of resurrection glory is theirs forever.

Don't be on the wrong side of history. History is moving toward Jesus. Don't miss the way of the future. The life to come is a life of holy service in the King of the Resurrection. Live in the present to your fullest potential. Follow the Man who is presently the King over the entire kingdom of God. His resurrection from the dead is a sign that shall not be cut off.

Put the Word to Work: Do not reject a caricature of Christianity. The true faith that has inspired millions is about a new world that is worthy of your every endeavor.

Your joy, my thirst.

Your life, my peace.

Catching wisdom from above...

Resurrection Wisdom in a Perishing World – Part 6

Who is wise and understanding among you?

(James 3:13-18, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, April 13, 2014)

[13] Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.

Not everything that looks spiritual is wise. We need guides in the church that are able to help us to distinguish between the demonic and the godly. James directs our attention to the fruits of true wisdom. Real godliness does not demand attention. Men and women who possess genuine Christian understanding quietly display their faith with good conduct.

[14] But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. [15] This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. [16] For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.

“How can a young man keep his way pure?” The psalmist answers, “By guarding it according to Your Word.” It turns out that the purity that the Lord speaks of in Psalm 119 is a great challenge for both young and old. Where is this jealousy coming from among Christian leaders? Why the urge to boast? Haven't we already decided that we would only boast in the cross? And is there any good reason for Christian teachers to be false to the truth? We are a part of “the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.” (1 Timothy 3:15) When we have arrogance and deceit, our spirituality is “unspiritual, demonic.” This will lead to “disorder and every vile practice.” This so-called “wisdom” characterizes the enemies of the cross.

[17] But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. [18] And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

There is another way. The Lord Jesus sends forth true wisdom to the church from His throne on high. How can we tell the “wisdom from above” when we see it? James gives us seven signs of the wisdom of Jesus. Wisdom from above is:

1. Dedicated to the moral purity in the church as a matter of first importance,
2. Committed to pursuing purity in as peaceful a way as possible,
3. Mild, not just by personality, but because of faith in the Lord's promises,
4. Teachable and humble in the face of honest and fair reasoning,
5. Ready to give mercy and kindness to others because of the gospel,
6. Fair with everyone, and finally,
7. Sincere, not a fake mask like that used in ancient drama.
   This kind of true wisdom from Jesus will yield a harvest of righteousness among those who know the peace of God. We can live out this wisdom with the confidence of those who know about the fruitfulness of God. God is reconciling people to Himself through the blood of His Son. We have no need to panic in pursuit of purity. The Lord will use us as He gives His wisdom from above to us.

Put the Word to Work: Who is wise and understanding among you? Spend time with Jesus and with those who follow Him. Religion is catchy either way. We need the wisdom from above.

Fill out Your church with wisdom from above.

The Need for Humble and Holy Teachers in the Lord's Church

Resurrection Wisdom in a Perishing World – Part 5

Fresh Water from Above

(James 3:1-12, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, April 6, 2014)

[3:1] Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. [2] For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. [3] If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. [4] Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. [5] So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.

James instructs the various churches receiving his letter that not many Christians should be teaching within the church. This is not about school teachers as we have in our day. He is referring to those who would be set aside by the Lord and His church to devote themselves to the ministry of the Word and prayer—pastors, elders, and other authorized church teachers.

The reason James gives for this surprising instruction is not inability to speak, but the spiritual danger that comes from so much talking and the trouble we can get into with the Lord for the things that we say. He says that “we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.” The problems teachers face are at least two-fold. 1. We may say things that are not true. 2. We may not live in accord with the truth that we teach others. Teachers are called to control their tongues.

How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! [6] And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. [7] For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, [8] but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. [9] With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. [10] From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. [11] Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? [12] Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.

After giving some memorable images of powerful good that comes from control of that little tongue (horse and bridle, ship and rudder), James gives an illustration of the great trouble that can come from lack of control of the teacher's tongue in the church (forest fire started by a small flame). He says an undisciplined teacher's tongue is “set on fire by hell.”

Self-control in speech is a fiction. “No human can tame the tongue.” We need a power greater than our own discipline. We need fresh water from heaven's river to flow through the Lord's ambassadors to all who would hear His Word in the church.

This requires a consistency of speech that can only come from an honest and renewed heart. If we bless the Lord and then curse people, something is deeply wrong. Christ can fill us with gratitude and praise appropriate for those who worship Him. Mixed messages won't bring life.

Put the Word to Work: Cultivate gratitude and praise in your inner being every day. Begin your day with a refreshing draft from a pure spring. Then your speech will be sweeter and safer.

Teach us Your Word from lips of faithful men.