February 2021

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First Reading = 1 Peter 3:18-22

18For Christ also suffered for sins  once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you  to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, 19in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, 20who in former times did not obey, when  God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the  ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water.

21And baptism, which this  prefigured, now saves you—not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as  an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of  Jesus Christ, 22who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.

Introduction

We are starting a new series looking at covenants in the Bible as we enter the season of Lent.

Now, I just dropped a whole bunch of church lingo words in one sentence. So let me unpack that.

What is Lent? Lent is a season of about 40 days before Easter where we prepare our hearts, minds, and souls for Jesus’ death on the cross and his resurrection on Easter. Advent is the season before Christmas where we prepare for Jesus’ birth. Lent is the season before Easter when we prepare for his death.

Advent is like the last trimester of a pregnancy – that baby is on the way! Get ready!

And Lent is like the last season of life when a loved one is in hospice and only receiving minimal care. The end is close. Get ready.

We often talk about giving up something for Lent, but since we’ve already given up hugs, pot lucks, and seeing people’s faces below the eyes, maybe we don’t need to give up anything else this year.

But I digress. We’re in Lent, which means we’re preparing for Jesus’ death on our behalf. So that’s one of the church lingo words defined.

What about covenant? If you’ve been in churches most of your life, you probably already knew what Lent was. But what about covenant? If I asked you to define covenant, what would you say? And are you confident that your definition reflects the rich meaning present in the Bible when it says covenant?

Covenant is a hard one for us no matter if you’ve been following Jesus for decades or you’re still unsure about him. Because covenant isn’t a word we use anymore.

It’s part contract, part promise, part solemn oath, part marriage, and part mind-blowing act of the Living God! This is a big time word in the Bible!

There’s a scene in the movie Jerry Maguire. Jerry is a sports agent, and he loses almost all of his clients. He shows up to his top client’s house to try to bring him back. And the dad, Matt Cushman, says, “You know I don’t do contracts, but what you do have is my word, and it’s stronger than oak!” That’s inspiring, right? My word is stronger than oak! That’s the kind of firmness that’s implied by covenant.

But…and this is a big but…later in the movie there’s another scene. Right before his client is going to be drafted number one overall, Jerry realizes that another agent named Bob Sugar has been trying to steal his client. And Jerry says to Matt, “You didn’t sign anything with Sugar, right? Tell me you didn’t sign! Because I’m still sort of moved by your ‘my word is stronger than oak’ thing.” And Matt says, “We signed with Sugar…an hour ago.”

So that demonstrates the problem with every human example we can find when we try to figure out what the Bible means by “covenant.” Every human who makes an oath can break it. Every human who says “my word is stronger than oak” can be swayed. Every human who signs a contract can violate the terms. Every human marriage can fall apart. We, and by we I mean humans, we are unreliable.

And that’s why Biblical covenants are different. Our text today is the first formal Biblical covenant, and it begins with God saying, “I am establishing my covenant with you.” Biblical covenants aren’t based on the unreliable commitment of humans. Biblical covenants are based on the character and commitment of God. There are sometimes terms to the covenant. There are sometimes consequences for the people who don’t live up to what God expects. But the covenants themselves are based on God’s word, not ours. Based on God’s character, not ours. Based on God’s promises, not ours.

In many respects, a Biblical covenant is like us waving a white flag of unconditional surrender. We don’t have a seat at the bargaining table. We don’t have any leverage. We don’t get to dictate any terms. God just chooses to establish a covenant with us. And luckily for us, God loves us and chooses to make these covenants as a source of blessing rather than curse.

Taking all of this in, I would define Biblical covenant is an unshakable promise that God makes to people. God chooses the terms of the promise. God chooses what he expects of us. God chooses every aspect of the covenant. A Biblical covenant is an unshakable promise that God makes to people.

So let’s put these two concepts together. We’re in Lent, preparing for the death of Jesus on our behalf. And just like a family reminding themselves of the key stories of a loved one’s life when they’re about to die, we’re preparing for Jesus’ death by reminding ourselves about some of the most important things that God said – God’s covenants.

Let’s hear about the first covenant.

Sermon Reading = Genesis 9:8-17

8Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9“As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, 10and with every living creature that is  with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth  with you, as many as came out of the ark. 11I establish my covenant with you, that  never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and  never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

12God said, “This is the sign of  the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature  that is with you, for all future generations: 13I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 15I will remember my covenant that is  between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the  waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16When the bow is in the clouds, I will  see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every  living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 17God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

I Will Not Destroy You

I vividly remember one particular evening when I was in high school. I was chatting online with one of my friends, and I was pretty depressed. I don’t remember why I was so depressed. It was probably dating relationship trouble or something else transient that I nevertheless thought was earth-shattering and permanent. But whatever the reason, I was extremely depressed and I was chatting online with my friend.

And I typed to him that if I were God, and if I knew ahead of time how humans (like me) would mess things up so badly, I never would have created us in the first place. I don’t remember what my friend replied. I think he got tired of dealing with this depressed version of me and he signed off or something.

Now, in the story of Noah, we actually get a little insight into God’s thought process. Noah’s story starts off with this observation in Genesis 6: “5 The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. 6 The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. 7 So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord…Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God.”

I actually have a hard time relating to the people in this story. On one hand we have the mass of humanity where “every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.” That’s like saying everyone on the earth was a super-villain in a Marvel movie. Only evil thoughts – all the time. That’s intense! Even on my worst day, I don’t think I went the whole day with only evil thoughts all the time. I can’t relate to that.

And on the other side we have Noah, who is righteous, blameless, and faithful. That’s like the superhero Captain America, right? Even on my best day, I don’t think I went the whole day only being righteous, faithful, and blameless. I can’t relate to that.

But that’s how our story starts. It’s like God’s looking down, and he sees a teeming mass of super-villains all over the earth. So he says, “I’m gonna wipe them out with a flood.” But, look here! It’s Captain America! So God says, “I’m gonna save Captain America Noah, his family, and a bunch of animals on a boat.”

OK, kinda weird story, but the superhero Noah wins at the end of the day. And he gets to snuggle with kittens and puppies and lambs on a boat, so that’s a heartwarming final shot in the movie to send you out with all the good feels.

If that were the whole movie, if that were the whole story here in the Bible, then the lesson would be simple – be good or God will drown you and your pets, too.

But that’s not the end of the story here in the Bible. That’s not the end of the movie. In fact, the whole super-villains versus Captain America bit, the whole catastrophic flood and animals on the boat bit, that’s all just setting the stage for the actual, important part of this story. You see, the story of the flood isn’t actually a story about a flood. It’s a story about a promise. It’s a story about a covenant. There’s a flood in the opening chapters of the story, but the story isn’t about the flood. The story’s about the promise, the oath, the covenant from the Living God that comes after the flood.

To keep it simple, the promise goes like this. God says, “I promise not to destroy you.” That’s really it. “I promise not to destroy you.” Why does that matter?

It matters because of what God doesn’t say. God doesn’t say, “I promise not to destroy the righteous, blameless people who are like Captain America Noah.” God doesn’t say, “I promise not to destroy you as long as you don’t become as bad as those people.” There isn’t a condition for this promise. God chooses not to destroy us – even if we deserve it.

And this is fascinating. Right after our text today, our Captain America, Noah, gets drunk and passes out naked. Not so blameless, now, eh? But he isn’t condemned. He isn’t destroyed. He isn’t written off. The drunken Noah story shows us that a major shift has taken place. A huge, tectonic shift has taken place.

God has chosen not to give up on us. Even when we deserve it. Especially when we deserve it. God has chosen not to give up on us. Even if you’re more like the super-villains than Captain America, God hasn’t given up on you. Not because you deserve it! Not because any of us deserve it! God’s promise is God’s choice. That’s it. God has chosen to not give up on you!

If you’re feeling as depressed as I was that day back in high school, God hasn’t given up on you!

If you’re feeling hopeless, God hasn’t given up on you!

If you’re feeling like you’ve done something unforgivable, God hasn’t given up on you!

If you’re feeling like you’re not worthy of God’s attention, God hasn’t given up on you!

If you’re feeling like you’re standing on top of a house of cards that’s about to collapse, God hasn’t given up on you!

If you’re feeling like nothing you do matters, it’s pointless, God hasn’t given up on you!

No matter how you’re feeling, no matter what you have done or not done, God has NOT given up on you!

Never-Ending Love

And this is why I believe that’s important to remember.

On that day when I was deeply depressed in high school, what eventually sustained me? My connection to Jesus, even though I couldn’t understand why God would make such failed creatures as me.

On that day in the children’s hospital emergency room when we learned our son was having dozens of seizures a day, what sustained me? My connection to Jesus, even though I couldn’t understand why God would allow children to suffer in this way.

On those days when I have made poor choices, on those days when I haven’t been upright and blameless as Noah, on those days when I would give up on me for failing again and again and again, what sustains me? My connection to Jesus, even though I wouldn’t choose to die for someone like me.

So I encourage you, I encourage me, I encourage all of us to take God up on his promise. He promises not to destroy you. He promises not to give up on you. Take him up on that.

Don’t try to hide. Bring your failures to God and receive his forgiveness and love.

Don’t try to hide. Bring that part of your life you’d rather hide and not talk about, bring that to God and receive his forgiveness and love.

Don’t try to hide. Even if you feel like you’re one of those super villains in our text today and you have to bring every part of your life to God, go ahead and receive his forgiveness and love.

The first step to prepare our hearts this Lenten season is to admit that we are not upright and blameless. That might be really obvious to everyone who knows us. That might be something hidden even from the people who know us best. But God knows.

And even knowing what God knows, he made you. He doesn’t give up on you. He loves you.

If you’re listening to this and you want to experience the kind of love and forgiveness that I’m talking about, but you don’t know where to start, send me an email, or send the church a Facebook Message and I’d be honored to walk with you through discovering that process.

One of my son’s favorite songs says that there’s one thing that remains, one thing is stronger than everything else in life, higher than every challenge, stronger than the power of the grave…

“One thing remains: Your love never fails, and never gives up, and never runs out on me.”

“On and on and on and on it goes. It overwhelms and satisfies my soul. And I never ever have to be afraid. Because your love never fails, it never gives up, and never runs out on me.”

That never-ending love comes from a promise that started with Noah and was finally fulfilled in Jesus.

So I encourage you to take even that part of your life that no one knows about and bring it to God in prayer. Accept his forgiveness. Experience his love that never fails, never gives up, and never runs out on you. Amen.

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First Reading = James 5:13-20

  13Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise. 14Are any among you sick? They should call  for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing  them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. 16Therefore confess your sins to one  another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer  of the righteous is powerful and effective. 17Elijah was a human being like us, and he  prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six  months it did not rain on the earth. 18Then he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain and the earth yielded its harvest. 19My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and is brought back by another, 20you should know that whoever brings back  a sinner from wandering will save the sinner’s soul from death and will  cover a multitude of sins.

Introduction

This is the final week in our series about having serious faith. The New Testament book of James has encouraged and challenged us to put our faith into daily practice and daily action. Last week we heard about Christ-like conflict, which means being flexible, giving the details to God, and approaching conflict with grace and humility – not to mention 1-on-1 instead of behind people’s backs.

Just a reminder – we’re starting Lent this week with a drive-through Ash Wednesday from 4:30-5:30pm in our parking lot. We’ll be up close, so we’ll be wearing masks and we ask that you do, too.

But this week we are closing out with James’ parting words to this church community. It’s kind of hard to keep up with James here, because he covers a huge range. He talks to the wealthy. He talks to the suffering. He talks to the joyful. He talks to the mourning. Let’s see if we can find the commonality.

Sermon Reading = James 5:1-12

5Come now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you. 2Your riches have rotted, and your clothes are moth-eaten. 3Your gold and silver have rusted, and  their rust will be evidence against you, and it will eat your flesh like  fire. You have laid up treasure for the last days. 4Listen! The wages of the laborers who  mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries  of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. 5You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. 6You have condemned and murdered the righteous one, who does not resist you. 7Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the  coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the  earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late  rains. 8You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. 9Beloved, do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged. See, the Judge is standing at the doors! 10As an example of suffering and patience, beloved, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11Indeed we call blessed those who showed  endurance. You have heard of the endurance of Job, and you have seen the  purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

12Above all, my beloved, do not  swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your  “Yes” be yes and your “No” be no, so that you may not fall under  condemnation.

Corrosive

One of the most memorable movies I have ever seen is Alien, directed by Ridley Scott. For those who haven’t had their dreams haunted by that movie yet, let me spread the wealth. In the science fiction movie, a space-faring crew stumbles upon a lair of alien eggs. As Kane, one of the crew, leans in to investigate, one of the eggs hatches and a spider-like creature attaches itself to his face. Uplifting, right?

Back in the infirmary, they try without success to remove the strange entity. They decide to try to cut it off, but instead of blood the creature emits a strange yellow substance that eats through the floor. They’re on a space ship, so they’re a bit worried as the blood continues eating through deck after deck. If it pierces the hull, they’ll be exposed to the vacuum of space. So the scene tracks the crew as they rush down, deck-by-deck, watching the acidic blood eat through solid metal. It eventually stops, but they realize they can’t kill the alien because its blood is molecular acid and would destroy their ship.

If you want to be further disturbed, just go watch the rest of the movie. Just don’t blame me if you can’t sleep after that. You’ve been warned!

I share this joyous little vignette with you to illustrate that a little bit of acid can go a long, long way. If you want to store strong acids, you have to choose your container very carefully. Some are best with glass. Others need Polymethylpentene or Polyethylene. Others are good with teflon-coated containers. But if the acid happens to off-gas, you have to take extra precaution. And don’t forget about the special caps or you’ll walk into your lab one morning with a hole in your floor! Because a little bit of acid goes a long way!

If you get corrosion on the inside of your car, for instance, it has to be cleaned very carefully to avoid damaging the rest of the engine. A little bit of acid, and a little bit of corrosion, goes a long way.

Corrosion on the inside is not a small problem. It’s a big deal. And it requires careful consideration and concentrated effort to correct.

Here’s what James says about corrosion in our text today. “Come now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you. 2Your riches have rotted, and your clothes are moth-eaten. 3Your gold and silver have rusted, and  their rust will be evidence against you, and it will eat your flesh like  fire.”

He starts off with some of the wealthy people in the community, but as I said before he doesn’t stop there. He goes on a wide-ranging tour through quite a number of different life situations. And we arrive at what I believe is the commonality – the underlying theme of this final chapter of James. I believe James is confronting a series of acidic, corrosive attitudes that rot us from within.

Arrogance

The first is, according to James, most prevalent among the wealthy of the community. And that corrosive attitude is arrogance. He says in our text today, “You have laid up treasure for the last days.” What’s that mean?

Well, remember that the early Christians thought Jesus would return within their lifetimes. We sit here 2000 years later and know that they were off by a couple of orders of magnitude – at least! But they thought Jesus was coming back really soon.

So let’s run this logic forward, shall we? Let’s say you thought Jesus was returning sometime in the next 20 years. You don’t know when. It could be tomorrow or it could be a couple of decades hence. But sometime in the next 20 years. If that were the case. If you believed Jesus was returning that soon. If you believed Jesus was coming back that soon to make all things new and inaugurate a new heaven and a new earth! Would you need a bunch of cash stored up for that event?

I don’t think cash is going to still be a thing when Jesus returns, so why were they, according to James, laying “up treasure for the last days?” It makes no sense! When Jesus comes again, you don’t need a bunker or a bank vault for that!

So James highlights the corrosive attitude of arrogance. They believe that if they have enough wealth stored up, they won’t really need Jesus to rescue them. They’ll be all set! They’ll be good! Because of their own efforts. “Go save someone else, Jesus, because I planned ahead!” That’s arrogance.

And that’s a corrosive attitude because it makes a giant, fundamental, incorrect assumption. That attitude assumes that our main problem as humans is a lack of power. It assumes that, if we get enough money or enough resources or enough influence or enough power, we don’t need to be saved by Jesus. But here’s a pro tip. If you have all the money in the world, and if you’re the most powerful person in the world, you will still have problems.

Jesus didn’t come for us because we lacked the finances we needed to save ourselves. No. He came because our souls continually wander from God and only he could bridge the gap. And all the money in the world and all the power in the world won’t fix that. Only Jesus can fix that.

If we think that we can prepare and acquire and build our portfolios in such a way that we don’t need to rely on God? That’s a corrosive attitude of arrogance, according to James. That will eat through your inner soul just like the molecular acid blood of the disturbing alien in Ridley Scott’s film.

Fear

But James is just getting warmed up. He has another corrosive attitude to reveal. And that corrosive attitude is fear. But not just any fear. We’re not talking about scary movie fear. We’re not talking fear of snakes or fear of heights. We’re not talking about fear of taking a chance.

No, James has a very specific manifestation of fear in mind for us today. He says some have committed fraud. James says some have taken advantage of their laborers. James says some have built their lives on the suffering of others. He says some have done anything and everything – whatever it takes! – to ensure their own security.

So the corrosive fear James highlights in our text today is a deep-seated insecurity that leads you to say, “I’ll do anything to make sure that doesn’t happen!” Whenever you find yourself saying, “I would do anything…” you might be barking up the tree of this kind of fear and insecurity.

Some people say, “I’ll do anything to protect or provide for my family.” Well…really? How far does that go? Would you harm someone else’s family to protect yours?

Some people say, “I’ll do anything to protect my reputation.” Well…really? How far does that go? Would you lie to protect your reputation for honesty? Researchers have found that kids who are told they’re smart are then more likely to cheat to preserve the impression that they are, in fact, smart!

This example I’m going to share is a bit out there. But I have this three strikes rule with the Holy Spirit. If I think something’s crazy, I allow myself to ask the Holy Spirit for confirmation. If I feel confirmed by the Holy Spirit in the crazy idea three times, I just do it. This story is one of those three strikes conversations I had with the Holy Spirit. I don’t know why the Spirit wants me to share this particular example, but after three strikes I’m going to do it.

In my previous church, I got to know a man who had been an intelligence officer in the US military. He thought, “I’ll do anything to protect my country” when we went to war in Iraq. If you remember back to the beginning of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, it was a fearful time in our country. 9/11 had shaken many to their core. And so, in that fearful time, many thought that the ends justified the means. Anything that protected our good, faithful, blessed country was worth it.

So this man found himself in charge of interrogations in an Iraqi prison, trying to extract actionable intelligence. He was given new orders. New techniques. New rules. He followed those orders, because the ends justified the means. But when I got to know him a few years later, his soul had been corroded by what he, looking back, called torture.

And it also ate at him that the end itself wasn’t worth it! He said it provided worse intelligence than their normal methods. I have no way of evaluating that particular statement, but it’s what he told me.

I don’t know what he did specifically. What I do know is that he had been corroded from the inside out because he thought what he had done was wrong. In his own analysis, he had placed his commitment to seemingly good things above the concepts of right and wrong. And it corroded his soul.

James doesn’t pull any punches in our text today. He says that some of the people in the community cheated their workers out of pay so they could provide for themselves and their families. James says some people in the community allowed others to suffer so they could continue in their own lives of luxury. James says some in the community condemned the innocent and murdered the righteous to protect and preserve themselves.

Those are all examples of the corrosive attitude of fear. I’m afraid to lose my life style, so I’ll do whatever it takes. I’m afraid to lose people’s respect, so I’ll cut a few corners when no one’s watching. I’m afraid that my family will have less tomorrow than they have today, so I’ll do whatever I have to do.

Family is good! The Bible talks a lot about the value of families! But when our fear for our families overtakes our commitment to right and wrong in the name of Jesus, then we’re corroding our souls. People have done terrible things in the service of good things all throughout history.

But James isn’t talking about big historical events here. He’s talking about the real lives of real people in the church. He’s talking to us! He’s talking to you and me! Where have we taken a few liberties out of fear? Where have we cut a few corners out of fear? Where have we fudged a little out of fear? Where have we placed something – even something really good like family – above our commitment to right and wrong as revealed by Jesus?

A faith that has “turn the other cheek” cannot be turned into “the ends justify the means.” Those can’t co-exist. When we place something above our commitment to Jesus – even if it’s good! – fear of losing it corrodes our soul like the molecular acid blood of that disturbing alien from Ridley Scott’s movie.

Bitterness

The final corrosive attitude I’ll talk about today is bitterness. James says, “Beloved, do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged.” James also reminds us of the prophets who are “an example of suffering and patience,” and the “endurance of Job.” Even in suffering, even in pain, even in rejection, these are examples of people who did no succumb to bitterness in their hearts.

My wife and I have been using stainless steel bottles for our coffee. They’re vacuum sealed so they keep the coffee hot for a few hours instead of a few minutes like a normal mug. A couple of months ago, my wife started complaining about a weird, bitter taste in her mouth throughout the day.

After several days of this, an idea hit her. And so she asked me to taste her coffee. So I gingerly took a sip…and…blech! It was awful! Her coffee was picking up this awful, bitter, metallic taste from her stainless steel cup somehow. Since I only had a sip, it went away quickly. But since my wife had multiple cups of this over multiple days, it left a literal bitter taste in her mouth for FIVE DAYS!

Persistent bitterness from her coffee cup ruined the taste of her food for five days. Emotional bitterness is similar. If you have a little flash of bitterness and get over it quickly, that’s like me taking a little sip of that bitter brew. It was bad, but it went away quickly.

But if you drink in big gulps of emotional bitterness, it can flavor everything else in your life for days. Now remember, that coffee was legitimately bad! She wasn’t making that up! The situations that evoke emotional bitterness in your heart can be very real! They can be legitimately bad! But drinking deeply from bitterness as a result of those bad things will make other things in your life taste bitter as well.

Emotional bitterness corrodes our ability to experience good things in our lives. And so bitterness corrodes our soul like the molecular acid blood of that disturbing alien from Ridley Scott’s movie.

Faithful Attitudes

So we have three big corrosive attitudes in our closing text from James. Arrogance, in this context, is the corrosive attitude that thinks it can prepare and acquire and accumulate enough so that you don’t need Jesus to save you.

Fear, in this context, is the corrosive attitude that says the end justifies the means. I would do anything to preserve and protect my…fill in that blank. When your loyalty to something surpasses your loyalty to Jesus, when you’re so afraid to lose something you’ll do anything, that’s corrosive fear.

And bitterness, or persistent grumbling as James says, is the corrosive attitude that becomes obsessed with emotional negativeness in relationships. And that can corrode your ability to experience positive emotions throughout your life.

Well, what are the inverse, positive, useful attitudes?

Instead of arrogant accumulation, James recommends patience, gratefulness, and generosity.

Instead of fear that compromises your sense of right and wrong in Christ, James recommends strengthening your heart and trusting Jesus even if you do lose what you fear to lose.

Instead of bitterness that makes life taste sour, James recommends endurance through suffering because Christ gives us strength.

Which corrosive attitudes do you need to cut off at the source? And which faithful attitudes do you need to cultivate more?

Our circumstances influence our attitudes, for sure. But James encourages us to choose attitudes that are faithful to Jesus no matter our circumstances. That would take some serious faith. Amen.

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First Reading = James 4:13-27

  13Come now, you who say, “Today or  tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there,  doing business and making money.” 14Yet you do not even know what tomorrow  will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a  little while and then vanishes. 15Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.” 16As it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. 17Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sin.

Introduction

We are still in our series looking at the New Testament book of James which challenges us to have a serious faith. Last week we heard that our words – even our internal monologues – can create life or death.

Next week is our last in this series, and then we’ll be in Lent preparing for Easter. We’re going to have a drive-through Ash Wednesday on February 17 from 4:30-5:30pm. Carol and I will offer a blessing and place the ashes on your forehead or hand from your car. Since we’ll be up close, we’ll have masks and we ask that you do, too.

But this week we’re still in James. In fact, we’re getting to one of the main reasons that James wrote this letter. The church receiving this letter originally was riddled with internal conflicts. James tells us in our text today that the root of the problem was pretty simple: “You want something and do not have it…you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts.” Different factions in the church wanted things their way. Different individuals within the church wanted things their way. Some wanted to just live however they wanted during the week and get a little spiritual pick-me-up on Sunday. And those factions and individuals were responding to the conflict with personal attacks. James metaphorically calls their actions “murder” toward each other.

In the face of this internal nuclear warfare among the supposed saints, James offers these words.

Sermon Reading = James 4:1-12

4Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you? 2You want something and do not have it; so  you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you  engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not  ask. 3You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures. 4Adulterers! Do you not know that  friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes  to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5Or do you suppose that it is for nothing  that the scripture says, “God yearns jealously for the spirit that he  has made to dwell in us”? 6But he gives all the more grace; therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” 7Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9Lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into dejection. 10Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

11Do not speak evil against one  another, brothers and sisters. Whoever speaks evil against another or  judges another, 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. 12There is one lawgiver and judge who is able to save and to destroy. So who, then, are you to judge your neighbor?

House Guest

I want you to imagine with me. We’re going to travel forward in time to when we can have people over to our houses again. For some, that’s easy to imagine. For others, you’re probably getting twitchy even picturing that right now. Go with me to that place and time.

In this imaginary scenario, you get to pick one house guest. Let me share with you their profiles, and you tell me which one you’re going to invite over in this magical future time.

House Guest A is proud of his five-finger discounts (that’s shoplifting by the way). He loves coming over for dinner and then crashing at your house for weeks at a time. Others have said about him, “He’s so hard to get rid of, he’s like a tick!” Another person said about him, “Keep your valuables locked away when he comes over!” Got it? That’s House Guest A.

House Guest B is your second choice. He is known for doing all the dishes for you before going home. People have left reviews that say, “He spoke the most insightful words to me!” And another said, “After this visit, I felt more at peace than at any other time in my life.” Got it? That’s House Guest B.

Which house guest are you going to invite over? Do you want the lying thief? Or do you want the insightful dish-doer?

James says in our text today, “’God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.” In the context of the conflict highlighted in this chapter, I would summarize it like this: whenever we handle conflict with hostility in our hearts, we invite the devil, House Guest A, into our hearts. When we approach conflict with humility and grace in our hearts, we invite God, House Guest B, into our hearts.

Which house guest do you want to invite into your heart? Hostility paves the way for the devil. Grace and humility pave the way for God. Which path are you going to pave?

I tried to track down the source of this quote, but I couldn’t find who said it. But it stuck with me whenever I heard it the first time. So someone said, “The sword we thrust in anger always pierces our own heart first.” Let me repeat that: “The sword we thrust in anger always pierces our own heart first.”

Now, I know some of you are thinking, “But Jesus was angry when he overturned the tables of the money changers in the Temple!” Yes! That is correct! Sometimes righteous anger is needed to correct incredible wrongs.

But let’s do a little math. How many times was Jesus faced with a conflict? Dozens? Hundreds? The religious leaders were constantly testing him. He didn’t skewer them with his words. He calmly embarrassed them quite often, but he didn’t shout them down. His own followers frequently misunderstood Jesus. But he didn’t berate them for their small minds and smaller hearts. Surely if there was a time to be angry and fight would be at his arrest and eventual crucifixion. But he stopped his followers from fighting. He healed the one person in the mob who was injured. And “like a lamb who before its shearers is silent, he did not open his mouth.”

Out of dozens – maybe hundreds – of conflicts in the Bible, Jesus had that one obvious moment of visible righteous anger. And that one example wasn’t about fixing the political situation in Israel. And they were occupied by a foreign power! The political situation wasn’t good! That one example of righteous anger wasn’t about taxes – and people were killing each other about their taxes. That one example of Jesus’ righteous anger was about people manipulating faithful people for their own gain as they came up to the Temple to worship the Living God.

So yes, Jesus did have a display of righteous anger. He had ONE! I would have lost my cool way, way, way sooner than he did. We tend to feel justified by our anger drastically earlier than we should. So to play it safe, since we are almost always wrong about our own anger being justified, since the sword we thrust in anger pierces our own heart first, I would err on the side of caution. Approach conflict with grace and humility rather than anger. With grace and humility you’re astronomically more likely to be paving the path for Jesus in your heart rather than paving the path for the devil into your heart.

So in our conflicts, James encourages and challenges us to think about which house guest we’re inviting over. Are we paving the way for the devil with our anger and malice? Or are we paving the way for Jesus with grace and humility?

Don’t Sweat the Details

And I think James hints at one important way we can choose grace and humility. To get to that tool, in honor of Super Bowl Sunday, let’s consider two quarterbacks. I’m apparently in a multiple choice mood today. Just be glad I didn’t give you an essay test!

One quarterback threw for 339 yards, completed 61% of his passes, had 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. That’s a good stat line!

The other quarterback was worse in almost every way. He threw for less yards, completed less of his passes, and threw 3 interceptions! That’s not a great stat line!

The first quarterback was Drew Lock, quarterback of the Denver Broncos, in a losing effort against the Las Vegas Raiders in the final week of the season.

The second quarterback was Tom Brady, quarterback of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, in a winning effort in the NFC championship game last week against the Green Bay Packers.

If I just gave you the stats, you’d rather take the good stat line. But if I gave you the choice between the Broncos season and the Buccaneers appearance in the Super Bowl today, you’re going to the take the Buccaneers, right?

But I believe we often complain to God because our stat lines aren’t good. I believe we often blame God because the details of our lives aren’t what we would prefer. I believe we often are angry because we don’t get things the way we want them when we want them. And I believe that’s like looking at the quarterback stat line instead of looking at whether your team won. That, according to James, was one of the problems in our text today, too.

So that’s the problem. What’s the tool? What’s the fix? James says, “submit yourselves, therefore, to God.” Give the details to God. Let God handle the implementation. God’s stat line is almost never what we would choose if we had a magic wand or a genie in a bottle. God’s path is almost never the path we would choose before going on the journey. But choosing our way, choosing our stat line, choosing our path means we take Drew Lock’s losing effort instead of Tom Brady’s Super Bowl appearance. God’s ways are rarely what we would choose on our own, but they are better.

So let God handle the details. Let God handle the implementation. Because our attachment and craving and demand for things to go just the way we want them? That leads us away from God. That’s our will instead of God’s. That’s our way instead of God’s high way.

Last week my younger son was very tired in the afternoon. And we had to do things a little differently than he preferred. So what does a tired five-year-old do when he doesn’t get his way? He becomes grumpy. That, by the way, is not limited to five-year-olds.

So I asked him to choose a different attitude and be flexible, because we still had good things in store for him. And he told me, “Well my attitude is my choice and you can’t tell me what to choose!”

He thought he had me! I tried not to laugh, because that was some serious sass! But I told him, “You’re right. I can’t make you choose your attitude. But I can tell you what the consequences will be for your choice of a grumpy attitude. And trust me, it’s not going to be as fun.” He had to think about that for a few minutes.

When we choose to be flexible to God’s way instead of our preferences, we get to enjoy God’s surprises. When we choose to be angry and combative when we don’t get our way, we lose out on what different blessing God has in store for us.

So the first tool, the first fix, is to choose to be flexible instead of attached to our preferred plan. It takes a measure of humility to say, “God knows better than I do,” and it’s not always fun, but that kind of humility and flexibility opens our hearts to God’s different blessing.

Christ-Like Conflict

When I counsel couples prior to their weddings, I tell them about a strange paradox of conflict. When we’re worked up, we want to state our case as forcefully as we can. If we won’t take no for an answer, we tend to frame it as a demand. Now, I usually make it trivial and funny, like, “You WILL pick up your socks and put them in the hamper EVERY TIME!!!”

But the paradox is that we are less likely to get our spouse to do what we want if we frame it as a demand. Because demanding things kicks off a natural resistance in people. Sometimes I want to say no to a demand simply because it was framed as a demand!

If you frame it as a request for help, however, you’re actually more likely to arrive at or near the result you want. Because most humans naturally want to help when asked nicely. You’re going with human nature instead of against it. For example, you could instead say, “My mind feels cluttered when our bedroom is cluttered. Could you please put your socks in the hamper before you go to bed at night? I would really appreciate it.”

Asking for help, nicely, goes with human nature instead of against it.

Another way to improve your approach to conflict is by catching someone doing something close to correct instead of always highlighting where they’ve failed. If you constantly tell your spouse, “You didn’t put your socks away! Again! That’s the third time this week! You know I hate that!” then that generates extra conflict.

If you instead notice when they do put their socks away and thank them, that generates extra peace and what gets rewarded gets repeated. James says in our text today, “Do not speak evil against one another.” The more we point out the negative, the more we cultivate the negative in our relationships. The more we point out the positive, the more we cultivate the positive in our relationships.

Another tool in our spiritual toolbox is prayer. And we can pray in different ways. James says, “You do not have, because you do not ask.” Have you prayed for a change in a conflict? Or have you just assumed it’s impossible to change?

And we can pray, James says, for God’s grace. James says, “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.” So pray for God to give you his eyes. Pray for God to give you his heart. Pray for God to give you his grace. I know it’s more fun to pray for divine retribution on your enemies, but have you tried praying for God’s grace and heart and eyes? That paves the path for Jesus into your heart.

I also want to remind everyone about a key principle of conflict that Jesus covered. I won’t dwell on it since it’s not in our text today, but remember what Jesus said in Matthew 18. “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.”

Handle conflict in-person. Handle conflict one-on-one. Handle conflict directly. That’s not usually how we do things, right? No, we tend to handle conflict indirectly. We tend to handle conflict by talking to our friends instead of the other person. In the church, I know many complain to a different person, hoping they’ll send it along to the one we’re mad at. That’s not how Jesus told us to handle conflict. Handle it directly, one-on-one, first. That almost always results in less problems and more resolution. I told someone last week that the only thing in the universe that can travel faster than the speed of light is a rumor.

Summary

Sisters and brothers, conflict is one area where most of us, most of the time, are not very Christ-like by default. And this has been a problem since the very first churches. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have the book of James in the Bible.

But approaching conflict from anger and hostility paves a path into our hearts for the devil. Approaching conflict from a place of grace and humility paves a path into our hearts for Jesus.

If you want to ooch a little closer to Christ-like conflict, there are several tools we talked about today. You can choose to be flexible with the details instead of getting fixated on your preferred implementation. You can ask for help instead of making demands. You can notice when someone does something approximately right instead of always catching them doing it wrong. And you can pray. You can pray for resolution of the conflict. You can pray for God’s grace in your heart. You can pray for the other people in the conflict. And remember to follow Jesus’ command and handle conflict directly, one-on-one.

Pick one. Give it a try. You’ll be paving the path into your heart for Jesus. Amen.