MPC, 29th December 2002.James 1 - "Dream These"
Phil Campbell MPC, 29th December 2002.
I wonder as our thoughts turn from Christmas to the new year, what it is you want most out of the future. The future for you. For your loved ones. For your kids. I wonder what it is you're hoping for in 2003. What you're praying for. For the year… and years… to come.
I wonder what it is that you'd count as joy. That you'd count as evidence of God's blessing. On you and your family.
I saw on the news the other night that an American guy by the name of Jack Whittaker Junior in West Virginia has just won the biggest lottery prize in US history. He had the choice. $170.5 million cash payout. Or $315 million spread over 30 years. And they're US dollars.
And the irony is, Jack Whittaker Jn is a millionaire already.
Wish it was you? The news presenter at the end of the story said, I'd be happy if I had one percent of that. Just a bit more money maybe. Just that promotion at work. Just that big win at golf. Just that slightly bigger house. What would you count as joy for 2003?
Here's one you may not have thought of. It's from the lips of James; the same James we met in the book of Acts. Head of the Jerusalem Church. Brother of the Lord Jesus.
And he says this in verse 2. "Count it all joy, my brothers… whenever you face trials of many kinds." Count it all joy when things are tough. Celebrate when you're up against trials, when you're facing problems, when your faith is being stretched to the limit. James says, "When it's like that… celebrate."
Because James is working on a very simple principle. You can see it in verse 3 and verse 4. It's the same principle athletes work on. It's how it works at the gym. You know, you can go along week after week like I do and make hardly any progress at all. Because you're just going through the same routine over and over again. And not stretching your limits. No pain - no gain.
If you don't lift heavier, if you don't run longer, if you don't jump higher… then you're not making progress. And James says here, it's exactly the same with your faith. If it doesn't get stretched, it doesn't get strong.
Here's how it works. Consider it joy whenever you face trials, says James. Because - verse 3 - because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
And go down to verse 12; exactly the same thing. "Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he's stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him."
Testing leads to perseverance. And perseverance leads to maturity. And in the end, the lasting prize. The crown that's waiting for you at the finishing line.
Well, it's easy to say, isn't it? Easy to say when you hit hard times rejoice about it. Count it joy. But when you're poor, when you don't know where your next meal's coming from, and you're watching Jack Whittaker waving round his huge cheque for $370 million dollars, it's hard. It's hard seeing things from God's point of view. When you're faith's being stretched to the breaking point by all the things going wrong in your life, you just want to throw in the towel. Keeping going is tough.
But James says this. And maybe it's a great offense if you're the self made type. The Queen said in her speech on Christmas Day, when things are tough, I always tell myself to look at the long view. Get things in perspective. And I think she's been reading James. Because look what he says in verse 9.
It's a reversal. He says, "The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position. But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position. because he will pass away like a wildflower. For the sun rises with scorching heat, and withers the plant; it's blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way the rich man will fade away even while he goes about his business." James says, If you're rich, say I'm nothing. And say it like you mean it. Because that's how it is.
Which flies in the face of the arrogance of wealth that's easy to see in the finance news, isn't it? The confidence that seems to come with money.
James says, life is just a flash in the pan. Here today and gone tomorrow. No matter how much you've got. And so the old motto's got it wrong. He who dies with the most toys doesn't win at all. He just dies. Like anyone else.
James says imagine the rich guy running round on his business trips. Making constant calls on the mobile phone. Doing deals. Too busy to stop. You can actually see him fading away as he flashes past. It's futile. 'Cause none of it's going to last.
And yet you'll fill your life chasing money and houses and cars and financial security. If you're poor you want to be rich. And if you're rich, you want to be richer.
James says back in verse 5, if you lack wisdom, ask God for it. And he'll give it. And wisdom means seeing things how they are. And not being trapped by the mirage that says We're permanent. And the world's permanent. And it's all going to go on and on. Because it's not.
So in verse 12, James comes back and he says it again.
You want to know who's really blessed? The one who keeps going under trial. The one who perseveres. We're talking those rugged four wheel drives you see in the ads. Unstoppable. No matter what the odds.
And the one who's really blessed is like that. Because when you've stood the test, when you've endured to the end, there's a prize that lasts. Persevere in your trials, and you'll get the crown of life. See the contrast? The rich man chases wealth, and in the end gets nothing. But the suffering Christian who endures, gets a crown that lasts for ever.
Because testing produces perseverance. Perseverance is what makes maturity. And the end result is eternal life.
But it doesn't always work that way does it. And I'm sure you've known people who when the hard times hit, give up the race. A family tragedy. A business failure. In the end, they've really only been Christian because they think it's somehow going to bring good fortune. They think it means they've got God on a string. And when things don't work out, they're gone.
James says, trials can lead to maturity. And life. Or on the other hand, to sin. And death. He spells it out in verses 14 to 15. James says it's not God's fault we get tested. It's not God who tempts us to pack it in. It's our human nature.
Read from verse 14. He says "but each one is tempted when by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death."
Desire is the mother. Sin is the daughter. And death's the grand-daughter. And it all flows from exactly the same testing, exactly the same temptation to give up on God, exactly the same trials that lead to life.
Funny thing, though. Because instead of going on to say, make up your mind, choose life. He says something entirely different. He goes on to talk about what God's chosen.
Read from verse 18. God's choice. "He has chosen to give us new birth through the word of truth, that we may be a kind of first-fruits of all he created."
Which is a huge blessing. How could you overlook it? God has chosen to give you a new start. Forgiven, accepted, part of the family. Which if you don't grasp the value of, is too easy to give away. James says, Don't be deceived. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the Heavenly Lights… who doesn't change. And he's the one who's given you the gift of life. So don't undervalue it.
Did you see the news story about the black sapphire a couple of weeks ago? It's as big as an egg. And as far as I can recall the story, it was found in North Queensland somewhere back in the 1930s when somebody kicked their toe on it. They took it home, it lay around there for a while. Until an American prospector bought it for the equivalent of a couple of hundred dollars. It's actually, I think they said, the biggest uncut sapphire in the world. Worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Virtually given away. Because the original owners didn't understand it's true value.
Testing times are tempting times, aren't they? And giving up can seem attractive. Take the long view. Which means you'll be able to take pride in your humble circumstances. Or find humility in your wealth. And consider it joy that in the hard times, your faith has the chance to grow stonger. More mature.
Now, we started off with the question this morning, what are you hoping for for 2003? What would you count as real blessing for the year to come? And we've seen that James surprisingly says hard times are a blessing. That you should have joy in your trials. Because they're an opportunity to persevere.
Well, here's another one. Which maybe hasn't made it onto your list either.
And that is, you'll be blessed if you listen and do. He's talking about listening to God's word. And putting it into practise. And you'll see it in verse 25.
Because it's easy to be a theoretical Christian, isn't it? I was reading the other day that people who do philosophy degrees at uni end up frustrated. Because generally, they don't see any real world value in it. They just sit around thinking. And then thinking about thinking. And never doing.
Whatever you do, don't confuse Christianity with a philosophy. And don't confuse it with the sort of religion where you go through the motions of this ritual and that ritual once a week and sit there and listen to the guy up the front maybe talking about the Bible. Listen to James. Because there's a blessing he talks about here… and it's in verse 25 to 27.
We'll pick it up in verse 25, though, because there's a brilliant little word picture. As you read James, you'll see he's a master of illustrations. Like this one. Do not merely listen to the word, verse 22, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but doesn't do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror… and after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.
I've got a constant problem with shaving cream. Always end up with a bit on my ear. Which is embarrassing if you go out like that. I just forget to check in the mirror.
How much more silly would it look if I did check in the mirror. And I did see it there. And then walked away and straightaway forgot.
That's the issue. What's the point of reading the bible, of hearing the bible taught week by week… then walking away and forgetting it? Instead of doing it.
Because being Christian isn't just a philosophy. Or a ritual religion where you do things on a Sunday and it's done.
And so the blessing comes this way. Verse 25. The one who looks intently into the mirror that's God's word, who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, the one who looks intently into the scriptures and continues to do this, not forgetting what he's heard but doing it… he will be blessed in all he does.
The blessing that comes from putting your faith into action.
James is going to go on in chapter 2 to talk about how actions speak louder than words. And he's right, isn't he. And the sort of religion God's interested in, the sort of Christians God delights in, you can see in verse 26 and 27. In very practical things. Like controlling your tongue. And caring for widows and orphans in their distress. Religion like that… says James… is what God the Father accepts as pure and faultless. Listening. And doing. hearing. And then caring. Understanding. And then acting on it.
And if you do that, says James, you'll be blessed in what you do.
Now again… where's that fit on your list of ambitions for 2003? Your list of most desired blessings? That you'd be a person who doesn't just turn up at church and warm a seat and hear the bible being taught and say "that was very nice." But you actually go out there and do what you've heard?
God's blessings come from unexpected places, don't they? And don't always look the way you'd expect. I was speaking to a friend the other day who's in the middle of a hard time… I said, I'm just working on James 1. James says you need to persevere. And my friend said, but I don't feel like persevering. Which is exactly what hard times feel like, isn't it? I mean, if it's all just a walk in the park, it's not perseverance at all. But James says blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he's persevered he'll receive the crown of life; and James says blessed is the one who doesn't just hear the word… but does it as well.
Two blessings for 2003. That you'll be able to persevere when the hard times come. That you'll be able to do God's word… and not just listen to it. Add them to your new year wish list.
And to help you with that, over the next few weeks you'll hear about the 2003 3x3 challenge. This year it's been get up and grow. In the next few weeks, we're going to encourage you to choose three practical ways to love one another for the year. Three practical ways to grow as a Christian. To help you persevere to maturity. And three practical ways to reach out. So that together we're working at doing God's word. And not just looking in the mirror week by week. And then walking away.