The Church of Eleven22 - Week 1: Trials

Episode Date: June 11, 2023

God uses the trials in our life like a hammer and chisel to take away everything in us that doesn’t look like Jesus.  

Church, one of the things we're going to do in this series is we're going to spend some time praying together each week because the book of James begins with a call to prayer for wisdom and ends with a call to prayer for healing and sickness. And so we're just going to take a minute or so and we're going to pray. And so I'm going to kind of lead us in prayer. So if you want to join me, why don't you bow your head and let's pray together. Father, the heavens declare. your glory.

There is no one like you. You are beyond any compare. So God, we worship you right now. Father, the truth is that when we come face to face with your glory and your perfection, we realize that's not us. God, we try to act like it, but deep down inside, we know we're not God of our own lives.

And so, Lord, we confess to you. all the ways that we try to rule and reign in our own days. Father, thank you for Jesus. Thank you for his life, his death, his resurrection, that forgives us of all sin. God, thank you that we can be adopted into your family, counted as one of your children. And Lord, we come to you today because we've been looking at this abundant life thing

for months and months and months together. And we're asking that your spirit would show us what that looks like in our everyday ordinary lives. Not just for our sake, but for the sake of our families, our community, our jobs, our schools. Most of all, that it would be an act of worship to you. And so would your spirit come and lead us and speak to us in this time? And we prayed in Jesus' name. Amen. So I'm doing something a little bit new this summer. Some I've never done before, which is going to shock you.

I'm joining a gym. Why don't you guys have to laugh? We can tell you've never done that before. I run, I swim, I do all this kind of things, but I've never joined one of those gyms where they do like the class thing. I'm not doing CrossFit because I'm 48-year-old man and I would just die. But I'm joining one of these other ones. So I looked around at a bunch of them and I found one that's across the street from our house.

I can ride my bike over there. It's super convenient. And their big thing is that they do workouts that actually work in your daily life. Like functional things, which I get, right? There's like the dumbbell thing or the big sack that's weighted, which is like I've got to pick up the cooler. That works in my life. Your sodas are in it and things like that. Or the other night the fire alarm started chirping, which why does it only chirp in the middle of the night?

never two in the afternoon does it but i i grabbed one of the stools at the kitchen and then i like stepped up on it i went oh the box thing okay i see how that works but then there's some that they do that i just don't get like hanging from a bar what in the world does that have to do when will i ever if you ever see me hanging for a minute anywhere just call 911 and rescue me there's no situation in which I should be hanging. But listen, I mean, I want, all joking aside, we want war exercise and all that to function our daily life, but even more,

don't you want faith to not just be this thing, it would be good enough if it played out in eternity, but don't you want a faith that plays out in functions and works in your everyday life? Don't you want to see it? Don't you want a faith that actually works. So that's what we're going to talk about for this summer as we study the book of James. Because what we're going to see is a faith that works in our day-to-day, everyday life.

We're going to see what the abundant life looks like in our everyday life. And look at some of the topics that James is going to cover. Trials, temptations, decision, money, listening, the power of our tongues. anger, favoritism, judgmentalism, arguments, planning, suffering, sickness, praying, confessing, sharing your faith. Like, does it get any more practical and helpful than that? Because I know none of us have ever been scrolling on social media and never felt anything judgmental, have we?

No. You've never been in an argument before, have you? Never. Never tried to make some plans and not know what to do. So James is gonna lead us there. So let's dive in. James, chapter one, verse one, it starts James. So let's just stop there for a second.

I know it's gonna take a minute. But the book of James is called James, because it's written by a guy named James, sort of. It's the first book in the New Jersey. Testament. It's the first book that's written. It's written about mid-40s, so about 10 or 15 years after Jesus's life. So it dates it as the earliest letter, earliest document in the New Testament. It also reads like a commentary on Jesus's teaching. So when you read James and you will get this sort of running very practical down to earth, cut to the chase commentary on Jesus. In fact, most of what James

talks about comes directly from Jesus's teaching. Most of it's from the sermon on the Mount. So if you've ever heard Jesus kind of tell these parables like seed on the ground and you're like, what in the world does this have to do with me? James just kind of takes the cookies and puts them on the bottom shelf for us. The other thing about the book of James is it reads a lot like the Old Testament book of Proverbs. It's got all these kind of very helpful sayings. They seem a little disconnected, they're not really, and you can kind of memorize them pretty easy. James is also one of the most misunderstood or maligned books in the New Testament. Because what a lot of people will try to do is they'll try to pit James as a guy that says

faith is by works, you've got to earn it, and then the rest of the New Testament is all about grace. But the thing is, James can't be pitted against the rest of the New Testament. He's saying exactly the same thing the rest of the New Testament is saying, which is, we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus alone, which is what the entire New Testament says. And he is saying a genuine faith that's birthed out of grace plays itself out in our everyday lives, that faith is shown to be genuine through the things that we do in our everyday life. And that's exactly what the rest of the New Testament teaches. And the book of James is really a gift from God.

Like how good is God that he would give us an entire book that's devoted to saying, here's how all of these amazing, huge, lofty things get played out in your everyday ordinary life? How good is God that he would do that for us? So James, now who is James? Now, who is James? James, James is not one of the 12 apostles.

James is not the brother of John that wrote a bunch of New Testament books, son of Zebedee, fishermen from Copernum, that's not this James. James is not one of the other Jameses that's an apostle, James son of Alpheus. James isn't one of the dads of one of the apostles, Jude. So James is not one of the 12.

James is actually one of four half brothers of Jesus and then a bunch of other sisters in there too. James, in fact, his name isn't even James. You're like, what? It's not James. If you go back and look at the original language, James' name is actually a translation of the name Jacob. So if we were going to call him, right, and it kind of happens.

There's conspiracy theories about King James wanted his name in the Bible. I don't think that's true. But through translations, we end up in English with the name James. If you read it in most every other language, it's the name Jacob. But if we called him Jacob for the next couple months, everybody would be like, who are you talking about? So we're going to call him James. James probably knew Jesus better than almost anybody.

Because he grew up with him. Think about it. They had a house a little bit bigger than this carpet. They didn't have all their separate bedrooms. they would have grown up, they would have slept. All the kids probably would have slept in the same room, laying on the floor together. James would have come running in to Mary and gone,

hey, Mom, Jesus, whatever, and Mary would look at him and go, nope. No, he didn't. He's growing in wisdom and stature and faith. But he ran away on vacation. No, we left him. I mean, could you imagine growing up? James growing up, James didn't believe. that Jesus was who he said he was.

In fact, all the way through Jesus' ministry, James didn't believe Jesus was who he said he was. Because if you think about that, what would it take for you to believe that your brother was the son of God? You know what it took for James? The resurrection of Jesus. It wasn't until Jesus was raised from the dead

that James went, oh, okay, you are who you say you are. I believe, which makes James one of the greatest apologetics for who Jesus is. One of the greatest reasons to believe that Jesus is who he says he is. The other thing about James is that James was the leader of the Jerusalem church. The Jerusalem church in the early days was kind of the hub of Christianity. And he got called things like a pillar of the faith, influential. He got counted among the apostles and the elders. In fact, he got called. In fact, If you go and read in Acts chapter 15, Paul has gone out. He's done this kind of missionary journey.

He's planting churches. And then he comes back and he reports. He's been doing work among non-Jewish people. And he's reporting about all that God has done. But he said, I keep running into this whole thing about the Jewish laws. And they have this whole debate. And then James stands up and he says, it is my opinion that we should not make it difficult. for the Gentiles that are turning to God.

And you and I are benefiting from that today. Most of us in this room are Gentiles. And you and I are benefiting from James standing up and saying, you don't have to follow all of the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament in order to be a follower of Jesus. He's one of the most influential people in our faith. And James was martyred in about 62. 65 AD. He dies for his faith. Now listen, as James starts this letter, James could have name dropped

all of that stuff. He could have, as he's writing, to get everybody to read his book. He could have walked in, written down, and he could have gone, okay, here's who I am. I'm Jesus' brother. I'm head of the church. I've done this. I've done that. I've seen things you'll never know about. I've heard things you'll never hear about. But he doesn't do any of that. He doesn't He doesn't lay his own resume out. Look what he says. He says, James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. He roots and grounds his identity in who Jesus is, first of all.

Because he says Jesus is God. He's Lord. He's master, king. And he's Christ. He's Savior. Messiah. All of the promises of God are all wrapped up. So who I am is determined by who Jesus is as God, as Lord, as Christ, as Savior.

And then he says, and who I am is wrapped up in this little word servant. It's not me. It's not all about me. My identity is being under Jesus. It's being under God. I'm not trying to play God and Lord and master and king of my own life. Jesus is that for me. So the question is, where do we find our identity?

Really? I mean, I know it's church and the answer's Jesus after I just told you. But if you're really honest, where do you go looking to define who you are? Is it in parenting? Is it in a title? Is it in some number on your bank account? Is it something you've accomplished? Is it something terrible that has happened in your life?

Listen, basing our identity on anything other than the eternal Jesus, it's at best fleeting and temporary. It's at worst going to fail you and send your life into a tailspin. Think about it. As a parent, you do everything you can to raise these little grimaces. We're not trying to raise kids, we're trying to raise adults, which means hopefully they grow up and go away. But then they do, and if you've sunk your identity into being a parent, what happens when you don't have that anymore? Or what happens if your identity's wrapped up in your job?

Even if your job is incredible. Like, I love that I get to do this. but what happens if your job changes and you don't have that anymore? Or what happens if something happens to the company that you work for and it goes under? Or what happens if you do an amazing job and you have an incredible 40-year run and then you retire? I can't tell you how many people I've seen in that situation where their life is just spinning out of control because they have defined themselves by something that is at best temporary. And at worst, at worst, it will fail you and leave you.

Because we are not our own God. We don't define ourselves. This whole movement about determining your sexuality, which has been going on for 60 years now. The issue with it deep down, at the issue of this whole thing is, I get to say who I am at the core of who I am. And at best, it'll change and at worst. Think about it. What is it done other than confusion and division and anger and depression as we look around? But what could be more sure? What could be more stable? What could be more

peaceful, what could be more life-giving than to anchor your identity down into the fact that Jesus is God, that He's Lord, Master, King, Christ, Savior, Messiah, all of the promises of God. What could be more peaceful in stabilizing in your own life? What could be more of a witness to a world around us? What could be more honoring? Think about it. What could be more worshipful to God than for us to stop and say,

God, I'm not going to determine who I am. You determine who I am. You're in charge of my life. What could bring a bigger smile to the face of God? So where do you find your identity? And have you been looking in other places? And if you're really honest,

hadn't it let you down? And what would it look like for you to transfer that over to the eternal Jesus? So he says, James, a servant of God, and of the Lord Jesus Christ, you're going to have to listen way faster. To the 12 tribes in the dispersion. Greetings. Now that 12 tribes is sort of an Old Testament reference to the 12 tribes of Israel. He's not writing to the 12 tribes of Israel. That's sort of shorthand for, hey, all the people of God.

That's how the Old Testament would refer to the people of God, the 12 tribes. And so he's saying, hey, people of God who are in the dispersion, what happened was the people of God in Israel kept getting conquered over and over and over and over again. And there were two of them, the Assyrians and the Babylonians, that were masters at this. They went in, they conquered him, and they didn't just conquer and rule them. What they did was they would take some of the people and they would just scatter them out all over the known world. It was a way of kind of consolidating their power and then dispersing them out. But what happened was these people of God then became sort of a minority-believing group, and they were living in a culture that didn't believe like they believed.

So James is writing to this group of people. Predominantly people that had lived in Jerusalem, and then when Acts chapter 8 comes along, there's a guy named Stephen, and he gets stoned to death. And at that moment, a persecution breaks out in Jerusalem, and all the Christians scatter out. And so all of a sudden, the people of God are dispersed outside of this little sinner. And so James says, hey, people of God, dispersed among people that don't live like you and believe like you. Does that sound familiar? That's you and that's me.

We are people of God. If you are a follower of Jesus, you are a person of God. and you are scattered out living among people where what you believe is a really small minority. I know in the South it can feel like we're like everybody else, but I'm telling you it's not, and you felt it, haven't you? You feel like you're swimming upstream a little bit, and maybe more and more and more you feel like you're swimming upstream culturally.

And it's not just that you're a minority, it's not just that you might be different, it's that now more and more your faith is coming up, is considered dangerous. So what does it look like for you and I as followers of Jesus, as people of God, who have sunk our identity down into who Jesus is and we're living scattered among people that don't believe like us? What does it look like for us to live our faith out in very practical ways?

So if we have time this morning, we're going to get to three of these ways. One of them has to do with tribes. or suffering. The second one James writes out has to do with, what do you do when you don't know what to do? You lack wisdom, and then the third one has to do with money. So it's a real light morning, isn't it? Suffering, I don't know what to do, and money.

So we'll see how far we get in all this. So verse two, he says, count, like consider, reckon it, don't just feel it, but count it, think about it. it. We live in a world that is feeling obsessed and feeling driven. And scripture tells us the heart is deceitful above all else. Follow your heart is terrible advice. Amen? All right. You should have. I know. It's okay. Count it all. Not just the good stuff. Not just when it's up into the right. Count it all joy. Look, he doesn't say happiness.

He doesn't say, feel all the good feels when things are going really, really well. He says, count everything joy. Because happiness is dependent on our circumstances. Joy is a categorically different thing. It's an assurance deep down in your soul that God still sits on his throne and everything is all right. And so he says, count it all that way. My brothers, win, not if, when. you meet trials of various kinds.

I don't know about you, but I can look back and I can go, there's some trials, there were some sufferings, and I can see where God was at work in that, and I can count some joy in that, right? That's different than when it's coming head on at you, isn't it? It's a whole different situation when you've got a trial, when you've got suffering, running, you're seeing the light of the freight train coming at you, and you're going, okay, I can count that

all joy. Most of us don't do that. Most of us turn and run. We go, oh, and we just try to hightail it away from all of that, don't we? So why? Well, he says count you and you meet trials of various kinds. That word trial, it's a complex word, because sometimes it just means like good old-fashioned plain suffering, and sometimes it means temptation from Satan. And I think it's a complex word because trials are just complex. Like where they come from is complicated, isn't it? Sometimes we go through trials because of our own foolishness. Right?

It isn't that I sinned. I just made a dumb decision. I just made a stupid choice. and now I'm suffering for it. Sometimes we go through trials because I actually sinned. It didn't just a mistake I made. I actually, it said don't do it and I did it. Don't lie, I lied.

Don't steal, I steal. And now I'm running up against that and I'm suffering for it. Sometimes we suffer, not because we sinned, but because somebody else sinned. Like you sinned against me and now I'm paying for it. Right? he or she said they would forever and then they didn't and now you're suffering sometimes we suffer because we're just getting attacked by the enemy he's lying and deceiving and tempting us away and

we're suffering from that and sometimes we're suffering because a good sovereign gracious god said I'm going to give you something hard to walk through right now. But the thing I'm going to do in you will be worth you walking through that hard thing. So why? Why count all of this a joy? She says in verse 3, 4, there's the reason. Four, you know, like it's certain.

You know it. You know that the testing of your faith, God does not tempt you. Scripture says God is not tempted. God never tempts you. Tempting is the job of Satan. It is to pull you away from faith. But the job of a test, God will test us.

And the job of a test is not to trick us. The job of a test is for us to be able to demonstrate our faith. Think about a really good teacher that you've had. They don't give you a test in order to trick you. they give you a test as an opportunity to show what you know and to show where you're weak so you can grow in it. So God gives us those tests. So for you know that the testing of your faith

produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect. That word perfect, it just means whole. And complete, lacking. in nothing. Now, if you fast forward 15, 20 years, Paul is writing the book of Romans.

Remember James has already written this letter in the mid-40s. You get it a little bit later, Paul starts writing Romans, and in Romans chapter 5, see if this doesn't sound familiar. Paul writes this, we rejoice in our sufferings,

our trials, knowing that suffering produces endurance. Does that sound like steadfast? and endurance produces character and character produces hope and hope does not put us to shame. Do you see when I said James and the rest of the New Testament don't contradict one another? They complement each other. You just hear Paul echoing James. So what does steadfastness look like in the middle of trials?

like if your trial is produced by your own foolishness, you know what that steadfastness looks like? It looks like learning from the school of hard knocks and then not doing it again. Sometimes, let's say your trial comes from your own sin. Do you know what steadfastness looks like? It looks like getting down on your knees and confessing your sin to God

and repenting of your sin. Repending just means getting up, turn around, and go in a different direction. Do you know what steadfastness looks like when you're suffering, you're in a trial because somebody else sinned against you? It looks like forgiveness. And it looks like not letting them derail you from the thing God has for you. Do you what steadfastness looks like when the enemy comes after you?

It looks like resisting him with the word of God by the power of the spirit of God. It says, when you resist the devil, he will flee from you. Do you know what steadfastness looks like when you run up against a trial that has been handed to you by God? I just walked through this for a couple of years with cancer. Here's what it is.

God, whatever it is in me that doesn't look like Jesus that takes this to produce Christ's likeness in me, don't waste it. Let's do it. do whatever you need to do in me to make me look more like Jesus. That's what steadfastness looks like in those situations. So how do you count at all joy and remain steadfast?

You fix your eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and the perfector of your faith. St. Grinthians 10-5 says you take every thought captive to Christ. you grab it and you drag it back to the gospel. And then you remind yourself of the gospel. You remind yourself of Philippians too that for the joy set before him, Christ endured the cross, the greatest trial, the greatest suffering.

You remember that we rejoice in the Lord. We don't rejoice in our circumstances. We rejoice in our Savior. You remember Romans 828, all things, Every single thing works together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purposes. There is not a single thing if you are a follower of Jesus that God is not using to shape and mold you to be more like Jesus. That's how you remain steadfast. You remain steadfast by remembering that there's a day coming, Revelation says, there's a day coming when there'll be no more crying, no more pain, no more tears, no more sorrows.

All the bad things, C.S. Lewis said, are coming undone. And you fix your eyes on that, and you remember, I may not get it now the way I want it, but there's a day coming when I'm going to get the abundant life more abundantly than I ever hope, dream, or imagine. You remember that God is love. His character and his nature that never changes is love. That's how you remain steadfast. and you will walk into and receive the promise.

Did you hear that promise? You will be perfect and complete and lacking in nothing. We don't believe in perfectionism here. We believe in progressive sanctification. You will grow over time. But there will be a day when all the growth will stop and you will be resurrected and made whole like Jesus. And you remain steadfast and you will get that.

So he goes on to the second trial and he says, okay, so what do you do when your identity is set in Jesus and then you're dispersed to live in this culture that doesn't believe like you? What do you do when you don't know what to do? Because he says, if any of you lacks wisdom, anybody ever lack wisdom, raise your hand. The rest of you are liars. and you lacked enough wisdom to lie in church, which is so prideful. You can laugh, but I mean, that's just, that's what it is. We all lack wisdom.

Every single one of us. None of us has it all the time, and none of us has it perfectly ever. Wisdom is not just street smarts, okay? wisdom is not just, I've lived longer and so I know better. Because you've met some dumb old heads, haven't you? Wisdom is not just knowing more information. You've met that person, haven't you?

They know all the Bible things, and yet somehow they can't figure out how to put one foot in front of the other. Here's what wisdom is. Colossians 2, verse 3. it says in Christ is hidden all the treasures of wisdom. Jesus created wisdom. All things were created through him, which means wisdom was created by Jesus.

That in Jesus, in the person of Jesus Christ, is all the treasures of God's wisdom resides in him. He has it all inside of himself. Every other source, this is what this means, Every other source of wisdom is at best a counterfeit. It's like a knockoff Rolex from the streets in New York. It might work for a second. It's going to fail.

First Corinthians 130 says this. Jesus became to us the wisdom of God. That Jesus didn't just create wisdom. And Jesus just isn't a repository for wisdom that we pull out of him. Like he's a genie, we treat him the right way, and he gives us wisdom. wisdom? What this is saying is that Jesus is wisdom, which means this. Wisdom is not so much a what as it is a who. Jesus is the wisdom of God. So if you want a real simple, here's my definition of wisdom. Wisdom is Christ in me being lived out in my everyday life. Christ is the wisdom of God

in me lived out in my everyday life. And so you could take the word wisdom out of this book, out of the book of Proverbs, and you could just insert Jesus's name. And if Jesus is wisdom, it means that every single one of us, in and of ourselves on our own, do not have necessary wisdom for life.

We're not Jesus. We don't have Jesus. We're not born into Jesus. to receive Jesus is a gift that God has to give us, which means we all lack it. So what do you do? What do you do when you don't know what to do? What do you do when you're sitting in that meeting on Tuesday

and they're talking about markets and ups and downs and future and all this sort of thing? And they're asking you to predict trends and you don't know what to do. What do you do? What do you do when you're sitting with your child and they're telling you things that you never thought you would hear from them? What do you do? What do you do in the middle of a discussion with your spouse?

And you're like, how did we get here? I don't know. I mean, everything was so great. How did we end up here? I don't even know what to say. And if I say anything, it's probably going to be wrong. What do you do? Here's what you do.

James says, let him ask God. Let him, it's like this gracious invitation from God. Let him ask. This is a little bit nerdy, but that verb ask is a present active verb, meaning let him ask and keep on asking. Ask and ask and ask and ask and ask and ask and don't stop asking. Keep going after it. Why? Because God who gives generously. God loves to give his wisdom. He's pleased to give Jesus.

If you ask him for Jesus, who is wisdom, that is a prayer that God will answer 100% of the time. He loves giving it. Who gives generously to all young, old, good, bad, smart, dumb, to all without reproach. meaning he doesn't ever hold it back. He just simply gives it. You ask here, have him. Have Jesus in your life played out. And he will, that's a promise, be given him. So when you don't know what to do, what do you do?

You go to God and you just say, God, I need Jesus in me played out in this situation. That's what wisdom is. So you find yourself in a meeting. you don't know what to do. What do you do? God? All right, I have no idea what to do. But what I need is Jesus, who is wisdom in me,

played out in this meeting right now. When you're sitting across from your kid and they're telling you things you never thought you'd hear and you don't know what to say and you don't know what the next step is, what you say is, Jesus, your wisdom, I need you in my life played out in this situation. And you're in the middle of that argument

You say, God, I don't have the words. I can't make it right. But you can. You're perfect. You're all powerful. So God, would you come, give me Jesus, and let Jesus be worked out in the middle of this discussion? That's what you do. You just simply go and ask.

And I know you're like, okay, so give me the three steps to praying and asking. asking for wisdom. Here's step number one, ask. Step number two, ask. Step number three, ask. You know what step number four is? Rinse and repeat. That's it.

It's not magical. That's why I love what James just simply goes, hey, if you lack wisdom, what do you do? Just ask. Let them ask. I don't know what to say. Just ask. Here's the good news.

The good news is Paul says in Romans that he has put the spirit of God in you if you are a Christian. And one of the benefits of the Spirit of God is that the Spirit intercedes for you with groans too deep for words. Which means when you don't know what to say, you just go,

that's the Spirit. And God perfectly understands that ask. So don't get bent out of shape about the words. He just says, you lack wisdom, just ask. Because he's your dad. He loves you. He's your heavenly father. And he's done everything necessary for you to have Jesus, the wisdom.

Jesus came. He lived among us. He lived the life we should have lived. He encounters everything, full humanity. And then he takes on himself every trial, every sin, and he dies on the cross to that thing. and when he dies on the cross, he's then resurrected, meaning he conquers and he rules and he reigns over every single situation. And then he ascends, and right now he's seated at the right hand of the Father.

Ruling and reigning for you and for me. And so when you don't know what to do, you go and ask, that's who you're asking. That's what you're getting. the incarnate suffering, dying, resurrected, ascended, ruling, reigning, and returning Jesus. That's what you get. He says, but don't, but let him ask in faith. With no doubting. Uh-oh.

For the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that's driven and tossed by the wind. For the person, for that person must not suppose. that he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. Now listen, doubts and genuine questions are two totally different things. You can have genuine questions without doubt.

Doubting is this, I don't really believe that you are who you say you are, God, and you do what you say you can do. questions are, God, I fully believe it. I just don't get it. Right? I believe, help my unbelief. I think Thomas gets a bad rap.

Call him doubting Thomas. I just think he's like, I've never seen resurrection before. I don't get it. How does this work? Can I touch it? Jesus is like, sure, come on. There's a difference between doubting and having genuine questions. because you can not have any answers and come to God in faith.

And you can have all the answers and never go to God in faith. And he says it's like a person standing on a boat getting tossed around. I remember when I was a teenager, high school or college, I was working at the beach, I was lifeguarding, and it was the end of one day. And I was getting ready to leave. I had my backpack on. I had my shirt, my board shorts, flip-flops, shoes, I think,

had sunglasses, hat, the whole deal. And I'm walking, and there was a pool next to the beach where I was lifeguard. And my friend, Jody, was lifeguard. And I was talking to him, and I had one foot on the pool deck and one foot in the pool gutter. And I was just kind of shuffling, talking to Jody. This girl shows up out of it, and it catches the corner of my eye. And I go, oh, and I took my eyes off of Jody, and I looked at her, and the next thing I know, I'm in the pool. That's doubt.

You take your eyes off. You fix your eyes somewhere else, and then all of a sudden you become unstable. So then he says, we're going to run this real quick, because we don't have time. He says, so what do you do? Number three, what do you do? When your identity is rooted in Jesus. What do you do when you're living amongst people that don't believe like you believe? And then you run into this thing called money.

And here's his answer. His answer is not give more. Here's his answer, verse 9, let the lowly brother boast in his exultation. And let the rich. He's probably assuming rich brother boast. Let the rich brother boast in his humiliation. Sounds a lot like Jesus, doesn't it? Jesus talked a ton about money.

Say things like it's harder for a rich man to get into heaven and you'd pass through the, a camel through the eye of a needle. Where your heart is, where your money is, there your heart is, he'd say all these things about money. So how can a poor person boast in exultation? and how can a rich person remain humble in their wealth and opulence? And he says it's the exact same thing.

You put your eyes on Jesus and it puts money in its proper perspective. Because if you're poor and lowly and you're suffering and you're in the trial of not having enough, what you can do, it's not saying you're going to magically get more money. That's the prosperity gospel. it's from the pit of hell. But what it does say is, hey, listen, you remember that you are a child of God. You are an heir and a co-air with Christ,

meaning there is a day that is coming when everything that is Christ is yours. So don't get so bent out of shape about whether you have enough or measure up or, you know, keeping up with the Jones' next door. And then he says, hey, if you're over here and you got more money, more problems, Good for you.

You know how you remain humble? You remember that ultimately you didn't do it. God did it all. But you too are in error with Christ. And that at the foot of the cross, the ground is completely level. And so you who are rich, don't boast in yourself. Boast in Jesus. Get low.

And you who are lowly, you fix your eyes on Jesus. and you exalt in the fact that you are a son or a daughter of the king. That's how you do this thing. He says, because like the fowers of the grass, he will pass away. It's temporary. The sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass. Its flowers fall and its beauty perishes. Second Timothy, the grass withers, the flowers fade,

but the word of the Lord endures forever. It sounds a lot like James, doesn't it? So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuit? Both of those being fixated on money as solving your problem is temporary at best. And at worst, it's a lure to pull you away from relying on Jesus. And then verse 12, here it is, we're going to end here. Blessed is the man. Remember the sermon on the mount?

Blessed is he, blessed is he, blessed is he, blessed is he, blessed is he. Jesus just picks up his half-brother's words. blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life the crown of life is the abundant life in eternity in its fullness forevermore and for the one who remains steadfast in christ you will receive that crown which god has promised, all of God's promises are yes and amen in Jesus Christ. You can know they're true because he raised his son from the dead. And he says, which God has promised to those who love him. You know how you love God? You remember that he first loved you. Do you know how much he loves you?

Right now. Do you know how much he cares for you? how deeply he loves you. He dreamt you up. He loves you so many. He dreamt you up from all of eternity. He created you, numbered the hairs on your head, counted your days, wrote them in his book of life. That's how much he loves you.

Do you know how much he loves you? He loves you that when you turned your back, I turned to my back on him and walked away, and he had every right to say, fine, you do it your way, but it's not going to end up super great. He didn't do that. He came running after us, sending his son Jesus Christ. He loves you so much that Jesus would live the life you and I are meant to live. He would love you so much that Jesus

would pay the penalty, the wages of sin is debt, that he would pay that penalty for you and for me. He loves you so much that he would raise his son, Jesus from the dead, resurrected, that he would He would then ascend. He loves you so much that he would put his son at the right hand that Jesus could intercede for you. Rule and reign for you. He loves you so much he's coming back for you. He's returning. And for you who love him, love him because he loves you.

You get the crown of life. Let's pray together. Maybe for the first day. time, you thought you've had to work in order to get faith, not be loved by God in order to have a faith that works. So for the first time, you would like to say that you love God and you surrender to the Lordship of Jesus. Would you raise your hand right now, right in this room, right now, raise it high and say, I want to declare that I love God for the first time. Heavenly Father, we love you. Thank you for loving us. You are love. Lord, I pray for this church, God, us. God, I pray that you would

grant us a faith that works. Pray you would grant us when we lack wisdom, your son, Jesus. God created us a steadfast heart when we face trials of many kinds. And Lord, protect us from clinging to the temporary things like wealth and cling only to you. And God, on that day when we receive the crown of life, we'll take it back off and we'll lay it down at your feet gladly and joyfully as an act of worship. And we pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. Would you stand? Let's do that right now.

Let's worship God. Let's thank him for all he's done. Maybe you need to come down and ask for wisdom. You come and do that. Maybe you're in a trial and you need to come down and you need to be steadfast and you need to pray. Come and do that. But let's respond. Let's pray.

Let's sing. Let's give. Let's worship Jesus.