P3 Reaching out to make a difference - James 1:27

James 1:17-18 ¹⁷ Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. ¹⁸ In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.

Introduction:
The church that God has blessed me to pastor and to be a part of is a church that reaches out to people. However whenever I look at this passage of James 1:17-27, I discover that there are specific ways in which we or any church can be more effective in being a church that reaches to make a difference. Today's post, like yesterday's, is all about encouraging every church and every born-again child of God to be the type of church or disciple that reaches to make a difference. Five specific ways of reaching are mentioned here in James 1:17-27.  We have explored four thus far, namely....


1. Reaching out with the Gospel 1:17-18
2. Reaching up in prayer 1:19-21a
3. Reaching for the Bible
1:21b-25

4. Reaching towards holiness 1:26

Today we finish up this study on reaching out to make a difference. So how can a church or an individual follower of Jesus Christ reach out to make a difference? Notice...

Churches must reach the hurting 1:27
James 1:27 states: "Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world." Once again James is using standards of measurement to discern the genuineness of one's profession of faith. The standard here has to do with how well we respond as Christians to two particular groups that are often "out-of-sight, out-of-mind", orphans and widows. The word translated "orphan" is only found twice in our New Testaments, here in James 1:27 and Jesus' words to his disciples in John 14:18 "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." This word speaks of those who lost their parents due to death or those who were abandoned. The closely related idea of being "fatherless" is found some 40 times in the Bible, with reference being made quite often to how God extends a specialized form of the goodness of His benevolent grace towards such little ones. If we ignore orphans or treat them badly, we are in effect opposing God.

The other group, widows, speaks of those who have lost their husbands (and by logical extension husbands who lost their wives). Passages such as Acts 6 and 1 Timothy 5 speak of the early church's efforts to care for widows. Luke's writings (Gospel of Luke and Acts) presents roughly half of the total occurrences of widows in the New Testament, with every verse presenting them in a positive light as examples of piety, faithfulness and love for the Lord.

These findings demonstrate to me the importance for every church to have some type of visitation to either the homes or long-term care facilities to encourage widows. Too often today we see churches so concerned about advancing their names among the notables of a given community that those who are less visible are neglected. Little do churches and pastors realize how much those dear widows pray on behalf of their churches. To ignore those dear people is to oppose God's hand of favor. Indeed if Christians and churches are going to reach to make a difference, we must reach out to the hurting - spoken of here in James as orphans and widows.

Closing remarks
These past couple of days we have been concerned with how we as disciples of Jesus Jesus Christ individually and churches corporately can reach to make a difference in our communities. James 1:17-27 reveals five such ways:

1. Churches must reach out with the Gospel. 1:17-18

2. Churches must reach up in prayer. 1:19-21a

3. Churches must reach for their Bibles. 1:21b-25

4. Churches must reach towards holiness. 1:26

5. Churches must reach out to the hurting. 1:27

When we do these things, the power and presence of the Lord Jesus Christ through the Person and work of the Holy Spirit will reside upon, within and through our lives to make a difference in our community and our world.

P2 Reaching to make a difference - Reach towards holiness James 1:26-27

James 1:17-18 ¹⁷ Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. ¹⁸ In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.

Introduction:
The church that God has blessed me to pastor and to be a part of is a church that reaches out to people. However whenever I look at this passage of James 1:17-27, I discover that there are specific ways in which we or any church can be more effective in being a church that reaches to make a difference. Today's post, like yesterday's, is all about encouraging every church and every born-again child of God to be the type of church or disciple that reaches to make a difference. Five specific ways of reaching are mentioned here in James 1:17-27.  We explored the first three yesterday, namely....


1. Reaching out with the Gospel 1:17-18
2. Reaching up in prayer 1:19-21a
3. Reaching for the Bible
1:21b-25

Today we continue this study on reaching out to make a difference. How can a church or an individual follower of Jesus Christ reach out to make a difference? Notice...

Churches must reach towards holiness 1:26

James 1:26 states: "If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless." The tongue in James' epistle is discussed quite a bit as being an major indicator of one's inner spiritual condition. Towards the end of James 1:27 we see these words: "and to keep oneself unstained by the world." The world in this context refers to the system of unbelief opposed to the Lord Jesus Christ and His Word. (compare 1 John 2:15-17). The tongue transmits the contents of the heart through the speech, whereas the world brings it's agenda to us through our senses (1 John 2:15-17).


In the scriptures we see several references to a person's speech indicating the contents of their heart. Psalm 140:3 describes the mouth of the wicked as having the poison of a serpent. According to Proverbs 6:17-19, a "lying tongue" is one of the seven things God hates. Romans 3:13-14 includes this description of unbelieving man: “Their throat is an open grave, With their tongues they keep deceiving,” “The poison of asps is under their lips”; 14 “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness”. Jesus warns us of the accountability we have for our words before God in Matthew 12:36-37 "But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. 37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (also see Luke 6:45)  Truly then we can discern how much we are concerned about holiness by how well we control the tongue.


Holiness is not so much concerned with longer dresses and shorter hair as it is an attitude of the heart set on making one's life an act of worship to a Holy God. According to James, how one expresses one's holiness is measured by what rolls off the tongue. On the one hand people cannot tame the tongue by natural power nor the flesh. (James 3:8) Yet James tells us here in James 1:26 that the ability to hold one's tongue is a measurement of one's inner spiritual vitality - which indicates that only when we are under the Spirit's control and direction can control of the tongue be achieved. (Ephesians 5:18)


Whenever we exercise how we express our words in our individual life, that in-and-of itself demonstrates how much we are under the control of the Holy Spirit. 


In as much as holiness concerns the inward condition of the heart, it also has to do with how much we have set ourselves apart from the world. Without resorting to crass legalism, holiness ought to be discerned by asking the simple question: can anyone tell by looking upon my life that I am a disciple of Jesus Christ? This is why James includes this instruction in 1:27 of "keeping oneself unstained from the world." We are after all called by the Heavenly Father to "come out and be separate" - i.e. holy (2 Corinthians 6:16-18). Holiness is just as much about knowing "who we are" as "knowing who we are not". Avoiding worldliness and controlling the tongue deals with the respective outside and inside areas of practical holiness.

Imagine if you will an entire church body exhibiting this same type of concern. Clearly a church that is given to reaching for holiness in its speech, its actions and its attitudes will be effective in reaching forth to make a difference. Sadly our fellowships are more often characterized by cynicism and back-biting than edification and building up of one another - as we ought to be. (Hebrews 3:12-13; Hebrews 10:24-25) The church so often tries to be like the world in reaching the world that it ceases being effective in the world. We are called by Jesus to be salt that slows the advances of evil and sheds light in a culture of darkness. (Matthew 5:13-16; Philippians 2:14-16).

Let us be those who reach towards holiness. More tomorrow.....

 

P1 Reaching to make a difference - James 1:17-25

James 1:17-18 ¹⁷ Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. ¹⁸ In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.

Introduction:

The church that God has blessed me to pastor and to be a part of is a church that reaches out to people. However whenever I look at this passage of James 1:17-27, I discover that there are specific ways in which we or any church can be more effective in being a church that reaches to make a difference. Today's post is all about encouraging every church and every born-again child of God to reach out to make a difference. Five specific ways of "reaching" are mentioned here in James 1:17-27.  We will list them and then briefly expound on each of them:

1. Reaching out with the Gospel 1:17-18
2. Reaching up in prayer 1:19-21a
3. Reaching for the Bible
1:21b-25
4. Reaching towards holiness 1:26
5. Reaching the hurting 1:27


So how can churches and disciples of Jesus reach to make a difference? Notice first of all....


Churches reach out with the Gospel. James 1:17-18
The Book of James is the earliest New Testament we have and contains the earliest instructions to the church following Jesus' ascension. The Gospel in James' letter centers around the miracle that is regeneration. Regeneration, in the words of the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 is: "a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit through conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds in repentance towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ." The Gospel message is the vehicle through which the Holy Spirit works to bring the gifts of faith (Ephesians 2:8-9) and repentance (2 Timothy 2:25-26). In-as- much as the local church is composed of Christ's royal ambassadors telling sinners to "believe, repent and be reconciled to God", the Gospel's results cannot occur without the Spirit working through us. God desires to make a difference in the lives of people and has so ordained the preaching and teaching of the Gospel. (1 Corinthians 1:21) This effort of reaching out with the Gospel is the primary task of the church and the chief reason why Jesus has to occupy until His return. (Matthew 28:18-20) So churches that reach in making a difference reach out with the Gospel, but notice secondly....


Churches must reach up in prayer. James 1:19-21a
The wording of James 1:19-21a reminds me of two other passages of scripture that exhort believer's to pray.  The first is Paul's admonition in 1 Timothy 2:8 "Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension." A heart full of bitterness will never be able to be a heart full of prayer. This is why we see the second passage of Ephesians 4:30-32 "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. ³¹ Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. ³² Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you." Whenever we see James writing his words, implied in the instruction is the need to reach up to God in prayer. Notice what he says in James 1:21 "in humility receive the Word implanted...". How else do you humbly receive what God has, except through prayer? As Peter reminds us in 1 Peter 2:4-5 "And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." Or even more so consider Jude's instructions on the need to reach up to God in prayer in Jude 1:20 "But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit." So any Christian or church that is going to reach out to make a difference needs to reach out with the Gospel and reach up in prayer. Lets consider one more way of reaching for today, namely.....


Churches much reach for the Bible. James 1:21b-25
Clearly the bulk of James' instructions centers around the Christian's individual life and the church's corporate life being transformed by the scriptures. Notice the following statements in 1:21b-25:


1:21b - "in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls."


1:22a - "But prove yourselves doers of the word...."


1:23 - "For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror."


1:25 - "But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does."

Why does James so emphasize this point of reaching for the Bible? Because the same Words that convert in James 1:17-18 are the same words that cleanse the soul of the saint in 1:19-25. James cites or alludes to nearly 90 passages from the Old Testament and the words of Jesus in his short letter of five chapters. James' instructions are so saturated with scripture that not a verse scarcely goes by where he is not alluding to an Old Testament statement or a word of Jesus. This ought to tell us something as disciples of Jesus and churches living in the 21st century - we need to be Bible saturated. Unless we are Bible saturated people, we cannot saturate our culture with Jesus Christ. Churches that reach to make a difference reach out with the Gospel, reach up to God in prayer and reach for their Bibles.

More tomorrow....

P4 The Importance of the Trinity - The Holy Spirit & Life Applications

2 Corinthians 13:14 “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.”


Review from yesterday
As we saw yesterday, the term "Trinity" is doctrinal shorthand in bringing together the Bible’s revelation of God. We have thus far looked at the first major truth comprising the doctrine of the Trinity: namely that God is One God (Monotheism) Who is the Father. We have also considered the second major truth that functions alongside the truth of Monotheism in the Biblical revelation of God: namely the Deity of Jesus Christ.


The Baptist Faith and Message 2000, the doctrinal statement of the Southern Baptist Convention, defines the Trinity: “The eternal Triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.”
 
As we already mentioned, three major truths comprise this very important Biblical teaching of God as Trinity. I will list them for the reader's convenience and then we will consider the third and final truth in today's post: The Personality of the Holy Spirit.
 
1. God is One God (Monotheism)
2. The Deity of Jesus Christ
3. The Personality of the Holy Spirit


The Personality of the Holy Spirit
Jesus tells us about the Holy Spirit in John 16:13 - “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come."   Notice how often Jesus uses the personal pronoun "He" in reference to the Holy Spirit.  Clearly the Spirit of God is not an "it", nor a "force", but a genuine Personality.  We first meet the Holy Spirit back in Genesis 1:2, wherein we see Him hovering over the face of the deep at creation.  We discover that the Bible describes the Holy Spirit as being God (Acts 5:3-4) who has the ability to communicate (John 16:13). 

The Personality of the Holy Spirit is the third plank of the doctrine of the Trinity.  Just like Jesus Christ, He too shares in Divine nature.  In fact, when Jesus states in John 14:16 that "another comforter" will be sent after He ascends into heaven, that term "another" means "of the same kind".  Thus The Holy Spirit is God, just as Jesus Christ is God, just as the Father is God.  God is "One what" and "Three Whos" - One God, who is identified as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 

Summing up what we said
As we saw today the doctrine of the Trinity is undoubtedly the Biblical teaching about the nature and identity of God. The term "Trinity" is doctrinal shorthand for bringing together three fundamental ideas that the Bible teaches about the nature of God.  First, Monotheism or the idea that there is only One God. This One God is identified early in the scripture as the Father to His people Who is All-powerful, knowing, everywhere present and their Redeemer. Second, when we came especially to the New Testament, we saw the immediate identification of Jesus The Son as being fully Divine, sharing in the same Divine nature as the Father. Jesus the Son would come to earth through the virgin birth to share in our human nature, die on the cross, be raised again and ascend back to heaven wherefrom He will return to earth in His second coming. Then finally, we looked at the third truth of the Personality of the Holy Spirit and how He is equal to the Son and the Father with regards to His Divine Nature. The Holy Spirit convicts men of sin and strengthens believers in this current age.  

Applications for your life
Now how does knowing this about the God of Divine revelation help you out in everyday life? For one thing, God is by nature The Relational God. There is no doubt that He created marriage, the family and the church to be each a reflection of something that is true about Himself, namely a unity with a diversity of persons flourishing in love and trust. Without the Triune understanding of God, we would have no basis for the most fundamental aspects of marriage, family and the church – namely unity of love among diversity of persons.

Secondly, to say God is the God of love demands Him to Be The Trinity. How? One writer has noted that in the context of love you need three essential ingredients: A lover, one receiving love and love itself. With God we see the Father Who loves, The Son receiving the Love and the Spirit being the Personification of the love between the Father and the Son.  Without the Trinity, we would have no basis for understanding the nature of love itself.


Then finally, the plan of salvation itself entails the activity of the Trinity. Passages such as Ephesians 1:1-14 and others reveal that the Father planned salvation for His people Whom He knew about beforehand in the Son in eternity, the Son then came to purchase such salvation that is sufficient to save the entire world but will only be applied to all who believe. The Spirit agreed to apply salvation to all whom He would convict and who in turn would believe.

These are but a sample of the many applications for understanding why the Biblical doctrine of the Trinity is important to the Christian life. In short, without God we have nothing.

P3 The Importance of the Trinity - The Deity of the Son

2 Corinthians 13:14 “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.”


Review from yesterday
As we have seen from the past couple of posts, the term "Trinity" is doctrinal shorthand in bringing together the Bible’s revelation of God. Think of the term as being composed of two words: "Tri" meaning "three" and "unity" meaning one. We looked at the first major truth comprising the doctrine of the Trinity: namely that God is One God (Monotheism) Who is the Father. The Baptist Faith and Message 2000, the doctrinal statement of the Southern Baptist Convention, defines the Trinity: “The eternal Triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.”

As we already mentioned, three major truths comprise this very important Biblical teaching of God as Trinity. I will list them for the reader's convenience and then we will consider the second major truth in today's post: The Deity of the Son.

1. God is One God (Monotheism)
2. The Deity of Jesus Christ
3. The Personality of the Holy Spirit

The Deity of Jesus Christ

As we already mentioned, God is one in His being, a belief that is referred to as “mono-theism”. And now as we probe the text of scripture, we discover that in terms of His identity, God is not only revealed in the Person of the Father, but also in the Second Person – the Son. Old Testament passages such as Psalm 2:7 reveal the Eternal Pre-existence of the Person of the Son sharing in conversation with the Person of the Father. By referring to the Person of “The Son”, scripture is stating that whatever characteristics and qualities the Father has, the Son has in equal measure. When Jesus came to this world through the virgin birth, He revealed Himself to be God in human flesh. John 1:14 clearly states: “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” When Jesus walked on this earth, He lived as a man Who ever remained fully God. During His ministry Jesus made this statement in John 10:30 “I and the Father are one.” After three and a half years of doing miracles, preaching sermons and developing relationships with people, Jesus would be arrested and then die on the cross as a man. Though fully man, Jesus as the Person of the Son demonstrated His willingness and Love as the fully Divine Redeemer. When He raised from the dead, the belief of Jesus being fully God in human flesh became fully solidified in the hearts and minds of His followers.  Thomas’ response to Jesus in one of His post-resurrection appearances proves this in John 20:28:  “My Lord and My God”.  

Later on Paul in 1 Corinthians 8:6 tells us - "yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him."  As you explore the New Testament, Jesus Christ is asserted many times in the New Testament as being God. In John 8:58 for example He uses the Divine Personal name from the Old Testament to identify Himself to his opponents: “before Abraham was, I AM.”  Not only is He the Creator, as revealed in this verse, but He is also the Savior of the world sent by the Father as spoken of in 1 John 4:14. 

Inasmuch as the New Testament continued to assert the first truth of God being one God, the reality of Christ’s full Deity was clearly revealed in the New Testament. Both truths led the combined witness of the New Testament to communicate the shared unity between the Father and the Son. Such a profound revelation would provide the cornerstone for getting the early followers of Jesus Christ to correctly interpret God’s Triune nature.

With the Oneness of God, or Monotheism still in place, as well as the uncontested Deity of Jesus Christ soundly affirmed in the New Testament, one more essential truth is needed to complete the Biblical doctrine of the Trinity, which will look at tomorrow…

P2 The Importance of the Trinity - One God Who is The Father

2 Corinthians 13:14 “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.”

Review from yesterday
As we saw yesterday, the term "Trinity" is doctrinal shorthand for bringing together the Bible’s revelation of God. The Baptist Faith and Message 2000, the doctrinal statement of the Southern Baptist Convention, defines the Trinity: “The eternal Triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.”
 
Three major truths comprise this very important Biblical teaching of God as Trinity:
 
1. God is One God (Monotheism)
2. The Deity of Jesus Christ
3. The Personality of the Holy Spirit


Today's post will feature the first of these truths.
 
1. God is one God
Deuteronomy 6:4 states - “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!"  Isaiah 43:10 tells us - "“You are My witnesses,” declares the LORD, “And My servant whom I have chosen, So that you may know and believe Me And understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, And there will be none after Me." 


These two scriptures communicate the first fundamental assertion of the biblical view of God - that there is only One God. This belief in “One God” is what people call “Monotheism” (Mono = from the Greek word "mono" meaning "One" and theism = from the Greek word "theos" meaning "God").  Contrary to what some may think, the doctrine of the Trinity does not teach three Gods, but rather that The One God of the Bible is Three “Who’s”: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God is One in terms of being and Three with regards to His identity. To say God is Personal literally is to say that God not only relates within as The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit, but that the Father, through the efforts achieved by the Son, desires by His Spirit to have a relationship with you and me through saving faith.
 
From the very beginning of Genesis we come to understand that though God is singular in regards to His being, yet there is something plural about His identity. As early as Genesis 1:26 we see this statement: “let us make man in our image….” As you explore the revelation of God in the Old Testament, you discover that the First Divine Person Whom we are able to establish the identity of God is the Father. For example we read in Deuteronomy 32:6 “Do you thus repay the Lord, O foolish and unwise people? Is not He your Father who has bought you? He has made you and established you.” The revelation of God in the Old Testament progressively unfolds seeds of thought that later become fully mature oaks in the New Testament. Nearly ten times is Yahweh or God in the Old Testament identified in the Person known as “The Father”. Yahweh God is the Father Who called forth into being His people Israel from stock of an aged Abraham and barren Sarah. Other passages such as Psalm 139 described God in His being as all powerful, all knowing and everywhere present.  The Deity of the Father is so well attested that there is virtually no dispute over either the Deity of the Father nor the strong case made by the Bible for there only being One God. Contrary to critics, the doctrine of the Trinity begins with and presupposes Monotheism, the belief in One God, Who is revealed in the Person of The Father.


More tomorrow.... 

Sat 7/19P1 The Importance of the Trinity

2 Corinthians 13:14 “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.”



Introduction:
So what kind of God is God
revealed to be in the Bible? Who is He? In today's post I want to consider a doctrine that is so fundamental to the Biblical understanding of God’s identity. What is this truth of which I speak? The Biblical doctrine of the Trinity. The Doctrine of the Trinity has been attacked over the centuries as being illogical and of no real consequence to the everyday concerns of the Christian life.  However today’s post will aim to show the importance of the doctrine of the Trinity.

 

So what does the Bible have to teach us about the doctrine of the Trinity? 

 

Immediately some people will note: "If the doctrine of the Trinity is as core to the Christian faith as you claim, then why is the word "Trinity" not found in the Bible?"  True, the word "Trinity" itself is not found in the Bible, but neither is the word "Bible". The term "Bible" comes from a Greek word "biblos" meaning book and is doctrinal shorthand for designating the 66 books of the Old and New Testament as "The Book" - i.e "Bible". 

 

Thus too, the term "Trinity" is doctrinal shorthand in bringing together the Bible’s revelation of God. The Baptist Faith and Message 2000, the doctrinal statement of the Southern Baptist Convention, defines the Trinity: “The eternal Triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.”

 

Three major truths comprise this very important Biblical teaching of God as Trinity. For now we will simply list them and begin looking at them more in detail tomorrow:

 

1. God is One God (Monotheism)



2. The Deity of Jesus Christ



3. The Personality of the Holy Spirit


More tomorrow....