Living Water Church

Three times in the first chapter of James, James warns against falling into the trap of deception.  In James 1:16, it almost seems as if he is pleading with the new believers, “Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.”  I think James gives this strong admonition because he realizes how vulnerable each person is to being deceived.  In fact, James himself, lived in deception.  He denied the Lordship of Jesus the entire time Jesus walked on earth.  It was the resurrection that opened James’ eyes to the truth.

In its very simplest form, deception is believing a lie; it is believing something to be true, which is in fact false.  By definition, if you are deceived, you have no conscious awareness of the deception.  Come on, have you ever met anyone who admitted to being deceived?

We must protect ourselves from deception.  James clearly illustrates how to go about this.  We must know the Word of God.  It is absolute truth.  But James warns that knowing the Word is not enough.  He states, “But prove yourselves doers of the word and not merely hearers, who deceive themselves.”  James 1:22  If you have a lot of head knowledge about God’s word, and yet you don’t apply it to your life, you are your own worst enemy.  You are leading yourself astray.  You are deceiving yourself.  Lord, teach of to be obedient, doers of Your word.

Anger:–noun

1.  a strong feeling of displeasure and belligerence aroused by a wrong

2.  wrath, ire

3.  hostility

We live in an angry world.  Just this week, I heard the TV news anchors reporting that so many people voted for change in our government because they were angry.  Anger is a powerful motivator.  It is something that all of us feel and struggle with.  But how we deal with anger really determines the course of our life.

The Scripture says, “Be angry…” Ephesians 4:26a. (That’s not a command that most of us put on our refrigerator.  It just doesn’t sound right, does it?)  As I see it, the Bible acknowledges that we will be angry.  But the command doesn’t stop there.  It says, “Be angry, but do not sin.”  If we could figure out how to consistently obey this command, it would save us a lot of trouble.  Wouldn’t you agree?

In this life, we must learn to control our anger or it will control us.  James warns us to be slow to anger.  Lord, will you teach us to walk in self-control when it comes to anger?  Teach us to harness this strong human emotion so that we live righteous lives that please You.

By Max Lucado, He Chose the Nails:

“We can come before God’s throne where there is grace.  There we receive mercy…to help when we need it.”  Hebrews 4:16

Why did Jesus live on earth as long as He did?  Couldn’t His life have been much shorter?  Why not step into our world just long enough to die for our sins and then leave?  Why not a sinless year or week?  Why did He have to live a life?  To take on our sins is one thing, but to take on our sunburns, our sore throats?  To experience death, yes – but to put up with life?  To put up with long roads, long days, and short tempers?  Why did He do it?

Because He wants you to trust Him…

He has been where you are and can relate to how you feel.  And if His life on earth doesn’t convince you, His death on the cross should.  He understands what you are going through.  Our Lord does not patronize us or scoff at our needs.  He responds “generously to all without find fault.”  James 1:4

There’s a line in the hymn, Great is Thy Faithfulness, that declares that God provides “strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.”  Consider that promise.

In the last month our church has experienced great anguish and sorrow.  We have had to face serious sickness, crying out for God’s healing touch on Alisha.  We have walked through the valley of the shadow of death.  We had two funerals in 7 days.  Our emotions are still raw from the loss and the grief.  In the midst of all of this, I have turned to God for strength.  I have once again come to the conclusion that my hope is in God alone.  There is nothing else, no one else, that can provide me stability and hope in face of great difficulty.

When I preached the sermon about trials 3 weeks ago, I had no idea what our church was getting ready to face.   But God did.  And even though we have walked through incredibly difficult times, I have known the presence of the Lord in the midst of it all.  He is real.  He is faithful.  He will never leave or abandon us.  Our hope is in Him.  He provides strength for today; strength to face the trials, the disappointments, the hurts, the decisions.  He provides hope, even in the face of loss and hurt.  There is hope for tomorrow.   God’s promise is that “weeping may last through the night, but joy comes in the morning.”  Ps. 31:5  Cling to God’s promises.  He is the source of life.

Sometimes life hurts.  Our church family has experienced yet another tragedy this week.  I’m sort of at a loss for words as to what to say, which is not good when you are responsible for writing the pastor’s blog for the website.

I don’t pretend to understand why God would take home two precious people in our congregation within a week of each other.  If I could figure that out, truthfully, I could figure out God.  All I know is that God is God and I am not.  And since He is God, I will choose to trust Him.  He knows what He is doing; He has a master plan; He is in control.  When I can trust nothing else, I can trust Him.  Like Job of old, I will declare, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.”  Job 13:15

We will miss Richard.  We will miss Yvonne.  We are grieving.  God understands grief and He is patient with us as we work through the emotions of shock, anger, despair, sadness…  I would encourage you not to try to figure out what God is doing or saying during this time.  It’s just a time to grieve.  It’s time to trust.  Sometimes, you just have to hang on, hang on to God and trust that He knows what He is doing.  Let’s decide together that we are going to put our hope in Him.  He is trustworthy.

Death is hard.  There is something about losing a loved one that tears at the very fabric of our souls.  This week, our friend and brother, and Diana’s husband, Richard Setness went home to be with the Lord.  The shock and the grief can feel unbearable.

In last week’s sermon, I taught about the difference between our perspective of trials and God’s.  God’s perspective is that there is a purpose in everything.  This is true in death as well.  Consider God’s perspective of death.  Psalm 116:15 states, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His Godly ones.” God views death as something to be highly valued.  It’s precious.  Though separated from us, Richard is not separated from God.  In fact, at this very moment, he is in the presence of the Lord.

So does God grieve death?  From my understanding of the Scriptures, my answer would be a resounding, yes!  When Lazarus died, Jesus wept.  When John the Baptist was killed, Jesus went away by Himself to grieve.  God grieves with us.  What matters to us, matters to Him; and, He hurts with us.  But at the same time, God’s perspective is that death is not the end, but rather the beginning of an eternity with Jesus.  Richard knows no pain, no tears, no sickness.  And in that, we too can call death precious.

Life can be monotonous, so very ordinary.  I get up everyday, spend time with the Lord, make four breakfasts and four sack lunches.  Just as I complete one stack of dishes, another one piles up.  Each week I return to the grocery store, go to soccer games and track meets, help with homework and wash mounds of clothes – the same clothes I washed the week before. And then, bang, crisis hits.

Nothing like a crisis rips through the fabric of monotony.  Without warning and certainly without permission, some event can come along and affect every nook and cranny of our lives.  That fast the security of monotony is gone.

James 1:2 says, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.”  Interesting that James doesn’t say, if a trial comes your way, but rather, when.  God allows trials to invade our monotony.  Some trials are rather trivial in the grand scheme of life.  Others shake the very bedrock of our foundation.

God uses problems in our lives to develop spiritual maturity within us.  If life were always easy, we would never need to trust Him; we would never learn to pray.  The Psalmist wrote, “If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.”  Ps. 119:92.  In times of trials, cling to the Word of God.  Eat it, breathe it, live it. Hold on to God and do not let go.

At LWC, we are  beginning a study of the book of James.  If I were to pick one verse from the book that, in my opinion, summarizes the entire letter, it would be James 1:22.  “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude (deceive) themselves.”  NIV states it this way, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves.  Do what is says.”

James makes it clear that if we are to be vital, maturing Christians, we must obey what the word of God says to do.  And if we listen only, we fall into deception.  Deception is a deadly poison.  When you are deceived, you honestly think you are doing right, when actually, you are not.  Unfortunately, it is very easy to fall into deception.  People can trick us, sin can entice us, desires can lead us astray.

But in the book of James, God takes this a step further.  James writes that we can actually deceive ourselves.  How can that be?  Simple really.  If we just listen to God’s commands and choose to ignore them, then we lead ourselves down the pathway of deception.  And by definition, we don’t even know it.  As we study James, choose to be a doer of the Word.  Holy Spirit would you bring conviction into areas of our lives where we are deceived.  Shine Your light of truth and  expose areas where we are ‘hearers’ only.

Sometimes life gets tough.  Finances are tight, relationships are strained, work is demanding, God seems distant…  Whatever the cause, life’s road can seem long and steep.  It’s easy to focus on the negative and become completely overwhelmed with the troubles.

In a few weeks, we are going to begin to study the book of James at LWC.  James wrote, “When troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.”  James 1:2 NLT.  I’m sorry, but, “Are you kidding??”  God is asking us to be joyful about troubles.  Is that even humanly possible?

And the answer is… no, it is not humanly possible.  But, it is Divinely possible.   With God, all things are possible.

God is not calling us to have a happy, emotionally joyful response to trials.  Rather, He wants us to view troubles as a means for moral and spiritual growth.  So we do not rejoice in the trials themselves but in their possible results.  He calls us to look at life’s troubles, from His perspective, and not just our own limited one.  And in His perspective, He is working all things together for good.  We can trust Him.  He is faithful.  He hasn’t forgotten us.  And we can have joy, even when life spirals out of control, because He is in control of all things.

Blame.  Isn’t it easy to play the blame game?  In our culture there seems to be a rise in the desire to cast blame on others.  In today’s corporate financial crisis, companies like Enron, Leiman Brothers, and WorldCom seem to want to put the blame for their financial meltdown on others.

One of my goals as a parent is to train my boys to take personal responsibility for their actions.  Admitting mistakes is never easy (it requires humility).  There is something within each of us that wants to defend “self” and cover our tracks so that we can cast off blame.  The root of this is of course pride.

Humility admits mistakes, takes ownership of failures, and works to learn to make better choices.  I have found that I have learned a whole lot more from my mistakes than my successes.  It is when I fail, own up to my actions, that I see true growth occur in my heart.  It is when I fail, that I find myself draw near to Jesus and cry out to him for forgiveness and acceptance.  God never called us to be perfect.  He called to be complete.  And it is in Jesus alone, walking with Him, loving Him, and knowing Him, where that completeness lies.  Yes, we want to live a life worthy of the calling of God on our lives.  But saints are the sinners who fall down and get up quickly.