Simplify. "Doing What Matters Most"

Do you feel maxed out? Are you living life in the margin? Is your energy tank running on empty? Maybe it's time to simplify and determine what is most important. This 4-week sermon series will help you examine and survey where we are in our personal lives and what margin is or isn't there.

Beginning August 20th to September 10th, 2023

“The Heart of Giving” Malachi 3:1-12

“Simplify” Doing What Matters Most

Sermon Series

“The Heart of Giving”

Malachi 3:1-12

Introduction

One Sunday morning because the mother was sick she sent her son on to the country church without her. The said now “You go straight to church.” Before the small boy left his mother gave him two quarters. She said “One quarter is for you to get some ice cream on the way home and one quarter is for God.”

So putting the quarters in his pocket, he left for church. On the way he stopped momentarily at a bridge on leaned over the side to see the water. When he did this one of the quarters fell out of his pocket and fell into the river below. He jumped down and checked for the other quarter. Having found it he said “which I sure am glad I didn’t lose my quarter for ice cream!”

Often times we have the same attitude toward giving as the little boy. When we have gotten what we wanted we have nothing left to give. God is warning the Israelites through the prophet Malachi that they should prepare because a king was coming who would judge them on how they worshiped God, specifically on how they worshiped Him with their giving. This morning I want you to understand that this is not a message on tithing, but a message on how we are to worship and show loyalty to our Lord.

In terms of the number of verses on a topic, the subject of money and wealth is the second most dominant theme in the Bible, second only to idolatry. The Bible has 500 verses on prayer, less than 500 verses on faith, but more than 2000 verses on money and possessions. Jesus talked more on money than heaven and hell combined.

Why? Because we hold money very close to our hearts. God knows that money is the chief rival for our heart’s affection. Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”

This is an Old Testament passage, aren’t we under grace now? First tithing was done before Moses and the Law. In Genesis 4:1-8 Cain and Abel tithe off of their first fruits. In Genesis 14:20 Abraham tithes to Melchizedek, the priest of God. This was before the Law was given.

Secondly, in the New Testament Christ had the perfect opportunity to do away with the tithe when talking with the Pharisees. Matthew 23:23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.” Jesus encourages us to continue to tithe, but with the right heart.

Prayer

I. Our Hearts as it Relates to Worship (vv. 1-5)

“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the LORD. 4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years. 5 “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the LORD of hosts.”

(v. 1) “my messenger” is a reference to John the Baptist. Jesus 400 years later referring to John the Baptist says in Matthew 11:10 “For this reason is he of whom it is written:‘Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, Who will prepare Your way before You.’

“prepare the way” It was custom of the Near Eastern kings to send messengers before them to remove obstacles to their visit. He would go through the towns and the people would fill in any holes In the road, clean up, etc…

God is giving the people a warning, to get their lives right, to repent and turn from their evil ways before the king comes in judgment. He had sent messengers like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. God had sent many messengers, but now the king was coming Himself.

“suddenly” does not mean immediately, but instantaneously and unannounced. When all things have been prepared Jesus will return to rule (Matt. 24:40-42).

We are now in between the messenger of the covenant, and His second coming in judgment. We are in a state of grace. It is a day for repentance (or turning from our sin) and salvation.

“whom you desire” is likely sarcastic. They are saying that they are seeking him but in reality this is shown to be false because of their actions. According to the prophet, the people were guilty of many serious sins. The priests were offering blemished animals in a formal but insincere religious ritualism. They were going through the motions.

Many were divorcing their wives to marry unbelieving women. Most had been disobeying God’s laws by withholding tithes of their harvest. And they were accusing God of loving them only halfheartedly and of being unjust in his dealings with them – because he had had not prospered them adequately.

In essence they were saying “God look at all this we are doing for you, what have you done for us lately? We believe that we should have much more material possessions for as much as we serve you.” (Do you see the irony? They were doing nothing that pleased Him.)

(v. 3) “a refiners fire” and “a launderer’s soup” — fire is a reference to burning off dross of silver or impurities and launderer’s soup is a reference to alkali that whitens fabrics. When a silver smith would work silver he would heat up the metal to a boiling point where the impurities would rise to the surface. He would then skim off the impurities. He would do this until all the impurities were gone and he could see a perfect reflection of himself in the silver.

If God is not pleased with our worship of Him he will heat up our lives to remove the impurities until he can see His Son in us. A launderer would use the harsh and abrasive alkali to whiten cloth. When we go to heaven we will wear white because we have been cleansed by Jesus’ death on the cross.

It is only when those who present the offering have been cleansed that the offering would be acceptable. This is also a reference to the motive behind the offerings. Simply presenting the offering to God is not enough. It must be done with a clean heart, a pure motive, and obedience to God.

Matthew 23:23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.”

The Pharisees would bring their tithe of everything down to the spices in their cabinets, but their motives were so that people would see them and say “wow aren’t they religious!” They did it for the glory it gave them from others.

“swiftly” Jesus second coming will happen suddenly in “the twinkling of an eye.” His judgment will be quick as well. He will testify against “I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, . . . and do not fear me” In other words those that do not respect or fear the Lord.

Malachi is saying that Jesus will return and He will sit in judgment of those who do not fear the Lord. The Israelites did not fear God because they gave with wrong motives, they gave their second best, and they were unconcerned about their sin. While the Lord is a God of wrath he is also a God of mercy, longsuffering and grace. The Lord’s response to the people’s rebellion and sin was to say that he does not change.

Our Hearts as it Relates to Money (vv. 6-12)

6 “For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. 7 From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’ 8 Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. 9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. 10 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. 11 I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the LORD of hosts. 12 Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the LORD of hosts”.

“I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed Genesis 15:9 ff. God made a promise to Abraham and to his descendants that they would be His people. It is because of this promise that no matter what Abraham’s family did God would still keep his promise. It was because of this promise they had not been destroyed because of their sin long ago.

In theology this doctrine is called immutability. It means that, being perfect, God cannot and does not change. God cannot get any better nor can he get any worse, either would mean that he was not God to begin with. It is therefore we who change. It was because of this character of God that the people were not destroyed.

They thought that God was not being faithful to them, even tough it was them who had changed, showing disrespect and sin toward God. There is a pattern all throughout the Old Testament. God will bless the nation, and they love God. Over time they grow complacent and forget God and that it is He who had given them all that they had.

They then become involved in any number of sins and after warnings from various prophets they are judged by God. The people would then repent and turn back to God who would then forgive them and bless them, and they would follow His ways again.

“Return to me, and I will return to you,” The people have always had the option of returning to Him through repentance and renewed obedience. God’s people asked what have they done that they needed to return from. Did they not know what they were doing wrong? They ask “How are we to return, we haven’t done anything wrong?” “You are the one who has been unfaithful.”

God says that they were robbing Him “In tithes and offerings.”

What is a tithe? An offering? The meaning of the word ‘tithe’ is 10%. God says that we are to bring the whole 10% of their income into the storehouse. The storehouse was a section of the temple where the agrarian Israel would give their grain, animals, etc… It therefore is a reference to the Church. Tithes are to go to the local church. Offerings are what we give above and beyond the tithe.

The reason for the tithe is so that “there may be food in my house.” Ministries within the Church are dependant upon the faithful giving of each member. God has not designed any other way for fund raising than the tithe and offerings. The financial stability of the church is dependent upon the member’s hearts being right with the Lord.

God promises that if we will tithe, we will be blessed. How are we blessed? (v. 11) “I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the LORD of hosts.”

(1) protection from destruction – plagues have throughout the Bible been a way that God would judge Israel. Lev. 26:24, 25; Deut. 28:21; Egypt 12:29, 30. When we choose to be disobedient we step out of God’s protective circle. But if we are obedient we remain within God’s protective graces.

A curse therefore may be that our possessions or what we depend on for our income may be destroyed. He would do this to strip us of what we idolize so that all that would be left is God – because He is faithful to discipline us as his children. Discipline hurts.

(2) productivity in labor — “fields will not cast their fruit.” Our work will yield a harvest. When we are obedient to God our efforts will be multiplied because God is directing it instead of us.

A curse therefore would be that no matter how hard we toil we can never seem to get ahead. We sink deeper and deeper in debt. We become anxious and worried because we are depending on ourselves instead of trusting in God to provide.

(3) popularity – when we are obedient to God will bless us because it is His desire that His name be lifted up. We can say when I added up all that I owe (to God and the world) and the money that I am taking in I would not have enough. God provided the money that I needed to do both. The blessing is that we will be able to be a witness of what God as done with our lives. There will also be joy in your household because of your relationship with the Lord.

A curse therefore would be that we have robbed ourselves of the blessing that comes from giving. We have no testimony of how God has done the impossible with our finances and lives. People will not call us blessed but instead will know that we have done it our way and in our own strength.

Still not convinced about this whole tithing thing? This is the only place in the Bible where man can test God. “Test me in this.”

Another reason God requires a whole tithe is that tithing ultimately is a test to determine if we trust God. It reveals the reality of whom we love more God or money.

“A Call For Commitment”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_SyrU5fqag

“Simplify” Doing What Matters Most

Sermon Series

“A Call For Commitment”

Joshua 24:14-33

Introduction

Commitment is one of those words we throw around but often times do not stop to consider the cost. Jesus told a set of parables that illustrate this point. A man will not set out to build a house unless he first makes sure that he will be able to afford to complete it, and a king will not declare war on another king unless he is sure he will be able to defeat him. Commitment costs us something.

The same is true about Christianity, about our commitment to God. Many professing Christians fail to consider how costly their relationship to God will be. They think that commitment is simply walking the aisle and getting saved, but my friend, that is only God’s commitment to us. Our commitment to Him is lived out for the rest of our lives after we leave the church building. This morning Joshua is going to call the Israelite people to a commitment to God and it will cost them the pet sins that have crept into their lives over the years.

Prayer

I. The Cost of Commitment (vv. 14-18)

“Now therefore fear the LORD and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” 16 Then the people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods, 17 for it is the LORD our God who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed. 18 And the LORD drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the LORD, for he is our God.”

(v. 14) “Now therefore fear the LORD” in light of all that God has done, and God has just spoken through Joshua reminding them of all that He had done for them. To “Fear the Lord,” is to treat him the way he deserves and requires that we treat him. When we were younger we loved, depended on, respected, and feared our parents. We know that if we stepped out of line or disobeyed then there would punishment.

“And serve him with all faithfulness.” Joshua says you know that God loves you, because he just went through a brief history of the Israelite people. Now in light of this love serve him. But notice that fear comes before service.

When we serve first, without fear, then it is done to make us feel good, or to make us look good, or for any other reason then to bring glory to God. But when fear comes first, we serve out of love, a humbleness of who we are before a mighty God, we serve out of a thankful heart.

“Put away the gods,” or “Throw away the gods” – In the minds of the people, these gods were much like the Greek and Roman gods: very petty in their jealousies, childish in action. They would fight and kill one another only to be resurrected again. The religion appealed to the Hebrews because it was very materialistic. “Fulfill my needs,” they said. “Give me pleasure.”

“choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve” –To serve comes from the Hebrew word “avath” which means “to be a bondservant.” A bondservant was a person who placed himself in service to another man. He gave himself as a slave to that man because of a debt he owed him or because he was too poor to support himself or his family.

Hebrew law said that after six years, the slave was to be set free, but if he said, “I love my master, and I will not go free,” he was to be taken to the door of the temple where he would receive the mark of a bondslave, an awl would be driven through his earlobe, and he would serve the master forever.

“But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” – “No irresolution, no more debate, no more discussion; I am determined. I am resolved. I have decided, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

A person can not be in-between. He’s either dead or he’s alive. He’s saved or he’s lost. He’s justified or he’s condemned. We’re with God or we’re against Him. Jesus said that: “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” (Matthew 12:30). We’re either one or the other.

You either give yourself as a bondservant to God by faith in Jesus Christ or you give yourself as a bondservant to the rulers of this world, the powers of darkness, Satan himself. There is no neutral zone. You cannot serve “no one.” You cannot serve “both”. You must choose to whom you will give your allegiance.

Matthew 10:32-33 “So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, 33 but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.”

Romans 10:9-10 “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”

There are two ways that you can not follow the Lord – First, you simply decide not to choose at all. All you want to do is to live for yourself. But to live for yourself is to take yourself outside of God’s grace and to place yourself in Satan’s realm. Second, you decide to grab all of life that you can. Enjoy yourself. Eat, drink, and be merry. But know that the rest of that sentence says, “for tomorrow we die.”

That’s the bad part of serving Satan. One day your life will end and where all delusions and lies of the world end up. The Bible says that those who follow after the things of this world will find themselves spending eternity in Hell. That is a hefty and costly commitment. Our commitments cost us something.

Notice also in “as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” He does not give his family a choice. He does not say “Hey kids do you want to go to church today, or do you want to help at this church event, or do you want to be apart of this program?” He says we will serve the Lord.

Duet. 6 “as you go . . .” encourages us to take them with us as we seek to serve the Lord, and develop this relationship in the context of love for the Lord. I believe that a family that serves the Lord together is just as powerful and meaningful as sitting in a stadium or going fishing. A mother and daughter helping another family, or making cookies for a neighbor is just a powerful if not more than going to the mall shopping. Serving God does not have to be independent of family time – make service family time.

II. The Choice of Commitment (vv. 19-21)
“But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the LORD, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. 20 If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm and consume you, after having done you good.” 21 And the people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the LORD.”

The reason “You are not able to serve the LORD” is because you cannot serve God and the world at the same time. Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

With regard to prayer James 1:6-8 says “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” We cannot serve God because we are double-minded.”

When we seek to live for ourselves and follow the ways of the world; then we are committed to the world. Service to God then becomes trifle and meaningless. We are also seeking to serve God “in the flesh” or doing it in our own strength. Instead of being guided by the Holy Spirit’s wisdom we are guided by what seems right to us at the time.

“He is a holy God”– He is unapproachable in His being set apart and different from mankind. He alone is sovereign, He alone is perfect, He alone is all knowing, and ever present. Because of these things He alone is worthy to be praised and worshipped. When anyone worships another other than God, His response is one of jealousy. God’s jealousy is just because He alone is God.

“He will not forgive your transgressions(rebellion) and your sins.” – We should not always count on forgiveness of sin as being an option. The fact that we are forgiven is due to the miracle of grace. There is always punishment of sin by a holy God. His wrath and jealously must be poured out on someone, someone must pay the price of the people’s rebellion and sin. God in being a faithful and just God cannot wink or ignore sin.

III. The Consecrated Life in Commitment (vv. 22-27)

“Then Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the LORD, to serve him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.” 23 He said, “Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your heart to the LORD, the God of Israel.” 24 And the people said to Joshua, “The LORD our God we will serve, and his voice we will obey.” 25 So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and put in place statutes and rules for them at Shechem. 26 And Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. And he took a large stone and set it up there under the terebinth that was by the sanctuary of the LORD. 27 And Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be a witness against us, for zit has heard all the words of the LORD that he spoke to us. Therefore it shall be a witness against you, lest you deal falsely with your God.”

The whole context of this passage is that the nation of Israel is confirming their covenant with God, so the dialogue takes on the feel of legal proceedings. In this legal context witnesses are called to witness the agreement between two parties.

They would never forget the solemnest of this day; but, if hereafter they should break this covenant, he assures them that the professions and promises they had now made would certainly rise up in judgment against them and condemn them; and they agreed to it: “We are witnesses; let us be judged out of our own mouths if ever we be false to our God.”[1]

“Then Joshua said to the people,” – “Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your heart to the LORD” – In light of this supposed commitment, and a saying that they followed the Lord, Joshua commands them to throw away gods still in their possession.

There must always be a calling to commitment and a purging of sin from the family and home because it constantly creeps in. Sin seeks to imperceptibly slow and make it’s way into the heart.

You take an action further that you have ever gone before, you watch something longer than you know you should, but the next time you watch it longer. Influences that may have bothered you a year ago have become a way of life.

Where did these people get the gods or idols? v. 15 “whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living” They got them from their parents who got them from their parents. In other words the family tradition that is passed down is one of hidden sin and rebellion not of righteousness and right living. The legacy is one of sin and not faith. Is there anything that goes on in your family that is not glorifying to God that you learned from your parents and that you are passing down to your children?

They also get these gods from those whom they have conquered! The Israelites had won victory after victory but they were also exposed to these people. It is in this exposure that they begin to take on the characteristics of the enemy. Mainly, their gods. It was God who gave them the victory, but they are secretly bowing to other gods. We must be an influence in the world, not allowing the world to influence us!

It is entirely possible that where Joshua sets up this memorial under the oak that it is the same spot where Abraham had worshipped (Gen 12:6), and at the root of which Jacob buried the idols and charms found in his family (Gen 35:4: cf. Josh 12:4, Allon-moreh, oak of Moreh or Shechem).[2]

It is time not to dig up the idols of the past, but to dig another hole and bury more idols next to it. We need to come back to a place in our lives where we evaluate whether something has crept into our lives that does not please the Lord.

There has to be a time in every generation where the people say I renounce the false gods (even of my father) and choose to follow the One True God. As Joshua is about to die, he demands a commitment from the next generation to follow God wholeheartedly. There will be a time, as this aged father knows, when the next generation has to step up and make a commitment. He is about to die, and someone will have to be the leader. Joshua is about to go the way of all men, who would stand for God in the tribes as they go on their ways?

When we make a commitment that engages the whole person, heart, mind and soul, then we will never forget it. I remember the classroom where a pastor led me to the Lord, the baptismal pool that I was baptized in, and the first Bible that I truly studied until it fell apart so that is was unusable anymore. You remember the places of the commitments because of the cost of commitment.

When we make steps of commitment toward God we don’t forget about it. Shechem would be a special place for these people, because it was there that they renewed their commitment to the Lord. The rocks and geographical features of the landscape would remind them of their commitment.

Why have this public display and call to commitment, why not just send them off to claim their promised land? When people are at rest and they have no battles to fight, when they have no armies on the horizon, or enemies to their rear, they forget God. They forget all that God has done for them and it this relationship with Him is the reason that they are safe and at peace.

As the Israelites are going to a land of peace and rest, Joshua wants to give them one last reminder and encourages them to re-commit to the Lord. If they turn from God, it will not be long before all the work and battles they had fought for, would be taken away by the enemy and God would allow it to happen in judgment.

Conclusion

Let us have the wholehearted commitment to the Lord as Caleb and the resoluteness to stand for Him as Joshua.

“The Power of Prayer” James 5:13-18

“Simplify” Doing What Matters Most

The Power of Prayer

James 5:13-19

Introduction

James concludes his writing with one last big idea. “The main thrust of this section is the power of prayer and its appropriateness in every situation of life. Prayer is encouraged in times of distress (v. 13), elation (v. 13), sickness (v. 14), and sin (v. 15-16a) and in assisting fellow Christians in striving for righteousness and spiritual health (16a).”[1]

Prayer

My Response to Life Is to Pray and to Praise (vv. 13-15)

13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

Suffering

“Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray” The word suffering does not just refer to bodily illnesses, but rather it means “adversity,” “suffering hardship.” It is the stress of a strenuous circumstance that leads to an action, or a reaction. It’s when a person has experienced hardship and now they are affected by the situation. What is the first thing we do or say when hardship, stress, and adversity comes our way?

If we are the person suffering, we are told to pray, but not just one time but as an ongoing habit.[2] “Prayer is a blessing to the heart and to the mental life. It is good to talk with God and our worry disappears in the presence of the Lord.

So, what should we pray for? There are times when we are so stressed and suffering so much we don’t even know what to say, or what to pray for. Often times we want to hardship and suffering to end and we pray for the pain to stop.

Paul prayed that the “thorn of his flesh” would be removed. It wasn’t. Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane “that this cup would pass from me.” It didn’t. You can pray for it to end, but sometimes that’s the season you are in. So, here are some things that you could pray for:

Wisdom (James 1:5) One of the things we will see later in the text is that people are watching how you are going to respond – so we need wisdom to respond and deal with the suffering appropriately. Many a foolish word and action has been done while people are under suffering, but God has promised to give you the wise words to say, and the wise action to take, if we ask Him.
Endurance – stress and suffering will over time take it toll on your spirit, your body, your health, so as God for strength to endure.
Reading and Studying the Word of God – as you read and study it, take God’s Word and pray it back to God. When you don’t know what to say, let God give you the Words to say.[3]

Smiling

“Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise” James starts with someone being low, and then turns to someone’s mood being cheerful. How then should we respond when things are good, delightful, and over all calm? Prayer and praise are the Christian’s emotional outlet. When we are troubled, we pray; when we are cheerful, we sing. We also should avoid the temptation to pray less when things are good. If times are hard, we pray. If times are good, we pray.

Sick

“14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders[4] of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.”

If the person is sick they are to call for the elders (plural) of the church. This was already a Jewish custom for the town elders to be called in for prayer when a person was very ill. The emphasis was on the praying, (not healing) and continues the theme from the earlier verses.[5]

The same phrase for “anointing with oil” is used in the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:34 “He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him.” Olive oil was thought to have medicinal properties and was used in a wide variety of ailments.

There is a lot of misunderstanding surrounding this verse. For example, Roman Catholics use this verse to support their idea of Extreme Unction – which prepares a person for death, but the intention of the text is to continue life.[6] There are no miracle healers, no matter what they say, no one can lay hands on someone and miraculously heal them. It also is not a mandate to not seek medical attention.

“Some may wonder why James does not mention calling in the doctor! That is where it is needful to keep in mind the New Testament setting of the epistle. Doctors were few in those days; their skills very limited, and they were very expensive – as the woman with the issue of blood, who had spent all her substance in consulting them, in vain, so sadly experienced (Luke 8:43).”[7] The sick Christian today calls the doctor, but James is emphasizing the power of prayer for the sick. It is both, not either or.

The spirit, the mind, and the body are one unit – all need healing, all are affected by our sin, our repentance, and our relationship with other believers.

So, while there may be lots to discuss about the anointing with oil, the basic idea is to surround yourself with leaders from your church who pray with you, when you are gravely ill.

So, the question then is why elders verses any other Christian? Why the pastors, verses people from your Sunday School class? This text is not easy to interpret, so I am going to give you my interpretation. This book was written to the persecuted church, who had been scattered – people had to leave their ancestorial homes, reestablish homes, businesses, and create new lives – while also having to live with the reality that as soon as you do this, you may have to do it again. They were beaten, many were slaves, and they still are living under persecution.

This person who is gravely ill could be sick from all this stress, perhaps abuse from persecution, and they may even be asking, “why is this happening to me?” What have I done to deserve this illness?”[8]

What they need are people to say, “The Lord is with us, You made the right decision by following Christ,” to appropriately rub their wounds with care and concern, and to share Scripture with them, pray with them as they are working out this horrible time in their life.

Jesus in his healing ministry often touched those who were sick. “He touched the hand of Peter’s wife’s mother, and the fever left her (Matt. 8:15); when two blind men called upon Him to have mercy on them, He asked, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” and on their reply, “Yes, Lord” He touched their eyes saying, “according to your faith, be healed,” (Matt. 9:29). He touched the tongue of a deaf-mute (Mark 7:33); He touched the ear of Malchus (Luke 22:51); He touched the leper and made him clean (Luke 15:13); In none of these cases did Jesus need to touch them, He could have done this with a word.”[9]

The sin here may be related to how he has reacted to the stress of the persecution the church is experiencing. They may have lost their temper, grumbled against another church member, got in a fight, who knows what the sin may have been, but they need help in navigating back to God and seeking forgiveness. (which in many ways brings a different kind of healing).

But the result of the elders prayers is two-fold, “(1) the sick person is made well (sozo)’ and (2) the Lord will raise him up (egeiro).”[10]

God’s Response to Our Prayers (vv. 16-18)

16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18 Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.

Whenever we see the word, “therefore” what follows is tied to what came before this word. We are to pray when are suffering, sing when we are cheerful, surround ourselves with fellow Christians when we are ill who are praying for us, therefore –

In order to confess our sins to one another there has to be a high level of trust and love.

Matthew 5:23-24 “So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”

The power of a righteous person is focused here on interaction with other people. A righteous person is asking forgiveness for sins (from others publicly that they have wronged), they are praying for the sick, for other believers, and a great amount of effort is going into praying.

“The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working” This means that the righteous person is able to do, or is enabled to do (by the Holy Spirit) – their prayer has a powerful effect. “Such a prayer can have noticeable consequences on a person whose sickness is the result of sin, as long as (or especially if) the sin has been confessed.”[11]

In the original language of James it reads, “prayer to pray” “The Scottish Covenanters used to speak of “gaining access,” – There is a difference between just saying a prayer, and in our praying really to pray: to know that we are not only communing with God, but are constrained to express in prayer the yearnings of the heart of God Himself. That is the “effectual fervent prayer.”

James then gives the example of Elijah, 1 Kings 18:42-45 “And Elijah went up to the top of Mount Carmel. And he bowed himself down on the earth and put his face between his knees. 43 And he said to his servant, “Go up now, look toward the sea.” And he went up and looked and said, “There is nothing.” And he said, “Go again,” seven times. 44 And at the seventh time he said, “Behold, a little cloud like a man’s hand is rising from the sea.” And he said, “Go up, say to Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot and go down, lest the rain stop you.’” 45 And in a little while the heavens grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain.”[12]

He had his weaknesses, as all humans do, but God heard the prayers of Elijah. James is emphasizing Elijah’s effort in prayer, that is why God sent the rain when he asked.

“with a nature like ours” The same man who is mentioned in 1 Kings 18, (a righteous man of prayer) is also the same man in 1 Kings 19 – who runs scared for his life from Jezebel.

He is emphasizing that what Elijah did was not “a magical performance of a superhuman being but the act of man in all regards exactly like ourselves, who simply used prayer as we can likewise use.”[13] Elijah dared to take God at his word.[14]

Elijah’s prayers “resulted in the refreshing rain coming down to the earth, so the prayer of the righteous believer can result in the refreshing and healing of a Christian afflicted by sickness caused by sin.”[15]

Our Response to the Wandering Sinner (v. 19)

19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

The very last verse of the book of James deals with a brother in Christ who has wandered from the “truth.” They have believed the lie of the world and have been enticed away. The Greek word for wanders has the “picture of one who is lost in the mountains, who has missed his path. . .”[16]

1 Peter 4:8 “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.”

This last verse speaks of going after someone who has gone astray because you love them (not in judgement, or spite, or to show them that you are right), but simply acknowledging that they are headed into a dangerous area, and you love them enough to pursue them.

The verse is not saying to accept the person’s sin and flaws, but when the person repents the love for them is going to give you ability to see past their previous mistakes. Proverbs 24:24-25 “Whoever says to the wicked, “You are in the right,” will be cursed by peoples, abhorred by nations, 25 but those who rebuke the wicked will have delight, and a good blessing will come upon them.”

The church is not a country club, a fraternity or sorority, or Kiwanis – membership is open to all based on one condition, and it is one that everyone who calls themselves a Christian must hold to, repentance. All of us have sinned and fallen short, and we all must repent and turn to the forgiveness of Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:18 “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation” Our collective ministry is to go after the wandering world and reconcile them back to God. In the instances of Jesus’ healing mentioned earlier, Jesus was going to them, or passed by them as “he was going.” Jesus took the initiative, we must take the initiative.

Also, there is no incentive to go after a wandering brother for you, the benefit is that the person may return. Love for someone else is the sole motivation, and this comes from our being aligned with the purpose and calling of Christ. James says, “will save his soul from death”

This life is filled with pain and suffering, and many times it is the result/consequence of our sin. When we reconcile a sinner back to the Lord, we are saving them from this eventual pain and suffering.

“James presents the joy of the winner of souls who throws the mantle of love over the sins of the repentant sinner, the joy of the Shepherd who has found the lost sheep out on the mountain and is returning with him in his arms, the joy of the Father who welcomes the prodigal boy home with the best robe and the fatted calf, the joy of the presence of the angels that one sinner has repented and turned unto God.”[17]

The end result of the wanderer being restored to the Lord, and that he is not remembered, not branded, as the person who sinned and wandered away, the sin is remembered no more.

________________________

[1] Clifton Allen, Gen. Ed., The Broadman Bible Commentary, Volume 12 (Nashville, Tennessee; Broadman Publishing, 1973) 136.

[2] Pray is given as a present tense of durative action. Robertson, 186.

[3] Lehman Strauss, James, Your Brother (Neptune, New Jersey; Loizeaux Brothers, 1980) 208.

[4] “The expression “elder” designates persons entrusted with leadership and teaching in the church (Acts 11:30; 14:23; 15:2; 16:4; 20:17; 21:28; 1 Tim. 5:17-19; Titus 1:5; 1 Peter 5:1,2; 2 John 1).” Pheme Perkins, Interpretation A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching, First and Second Peter, James, and Jude (Louisville, Kentucky; John Knox Press, 1982) 136.

[5] Allen, 137.

[6] Ibid, 138.

[7] Herbert F. Stevenson, James Speaks For Today (Westwood, New Jersey; Fleming H. Revell Company, 1966) 95.

[8] Peter H. Davids, New International Biblical Commentary, James (Peabody, Massachusetts; Hendrickson Publishing, 1989) 122.

[9] Stevenson, 96.

[10] David P. Nystrom, The NIV Application Commentary, James (Grand Rapids, Michigan; Zondervan Publishing House, 1997) 307.

[11] Nystrom, 307.

[12] Elijah’s prayer was for God’s people to turn back to Him, and he did this by praying for a drought. God’s people would suffer during this time. It is given as an example and is linked to other Christians who are praying for other sick or wayward believers. Therefore, one may pray for hardship to come upon someone in order to get them to turn back to God.

[13] George Arthur Buttrick, The Interpreter’s Bible, Volume 12 (Nashville, Tennessee; Abingdon Press, 1957) 72.

[14] Strauss, 222.

[15] Nystron, 308.

[16] Allen, 196.

[17] Allen, 199.

“The Importance of Bible Study” Misc. Scriptures

The Importance of Bible Study

Misc. Scriptures

Introduction

When my children were younger a neighbor of ours invited my children to a birthday party at Adventure Park in New Market, Maryland. We rode go-carts, ate birthday cupcakes, and sang happy birthday. As part of the birthday the parents of the birthday child gave us a swipe card to go and play video games.

Kimberly went with Joshua and Hannah-Grace, and Isaac, and I went with Caleb. Caleb loves video games but his attention span then won’t let him play for more than minute per game. So we would swipe his card, he would play for about a minute, and just take off. So on one of the games he did this with was dance revolution.

Well after swiping the games and then running, I started playing the games instead. On dance revolution you chose the style of music and the skill level. Arrows float up the screen and are colored coded so you know where to put your feet. So I started out on level one (which looks like this), then I went to level two (which looks like this), and then level three – now with level three, you have to throw in one of these.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2IammLWeNE (8:27-8:55)

Our spiritual habits will help you grow closer in your walk with the LORD. Did you know that who we are and who we will become are based on habits and commitments that we have made or will make?

There are many Christians who desire to grow spiritually but they just simply do not know how, or where to begin. They may even find themselves in a cycle of sin and asking for forgiveness only to return to same sin over and over – How do we break this cycle?

Bible Study God is like Dance Revolution, you start slow, and learn the moves, then you can go faster and faster – but many want to start on level 10, and they get lost (like studying Revelation or Leviticus, when they may need to start with the gospel of John).

You begin your time with Jesus by having good habits that will change who you are over time. With any relationship, time spent together is very important. Back in July of 1997 I married a beautiful young woman named Kimberly Sue Roberts, but what if I told you the only time we ever talked or saw each other was Easter and Christmas, maybe Mother’s Day – how would describe our marriage?

If it has been that long since you have spent time in God’s Word, then your relationship with him is just as bad. And Communication, openly talking with others is just as important as being there. God desires to talk to us, spend time with us. Some of you may say “I have a habit already – I’m here at church, just about every week.” That’s great! And it’s part of the steps we encourage with our 4 G’s (Gather– worship service attendance, Grow – be in a small group in community, Give – financially and in service, and Go – take the gospel outside the walls of the church and engage the community), but to grow with the Lord we also need these habits we will look at over the next few weeks.

You may ask, “Why should I want to study my Bible?” Because we become like the people that we hang out with. We begin to take on some characteristic of the people that we surround ourselves with.

We are also having this Simplify series because we want you to learn some skills so that you can do these things on your own. So let’s say today we are having a fellowship meal after church, and I was in charge of the food – but the only time you ate again was next Sunday when I made mac-n-cheese again? Would you be healthy? Spiritual growth is not about coming and being fed, it’s learning to feed yourself, on your own. You learning to cook something other than mac-n-cheese, everyday.

Let’s Pray – Jesus we thank you that you are willing to wait for us. You are the Creator and sustainer of all of creation, and you want to spend time with us. That was why you died on the cross, not so that we can do stuff for you – but so that we can talk and grow in our relationship. Show us this morning how we can deepen this relationship and grow to become more like you. Amen.

Why Should I Spend Time In His Word?

So That We May Grow Up

1 Peter 2:2-5 “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. 4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

You do not have to have a newborn home for very long before you realize what this word crave means. They will scream, wiggle, flail, they will do all that they can to get milk. Every three to four hours a timer goes off inside the child and you had best not ignore it. Does a timer go off in your heart?

This verse says that we should crave God’s Word – but to be honest it is an acquired taste. 3 types of Quiet Times– There’s the caster oil quiet time – yuck, but good for what ails you. Then there’s the shredded wheat quiet time – nourishing but dry. Then there’s the strawberries and cream quiet time – delicious can’t get enough, time flies, etc… How do you go from caster oil to strawberries-n-cream? You spend time with God everyday.

Psalm 19:9-10 “the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether. 10 More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.”

Notice in the 1 Peter passage it says “so that by it you may grow” not “so that you may know.” We spend time with God and study His word so that we may change. Spending time with God is not about knowing more about Him, that’s great, but it’s knowing and changing. Taking what we know and applying it to our lives.

We have the Bible not to satisfy our curiosity, but to help us conform to the image of Christ. Not to give us loopholes to sin, but to make us like our Savior. It’s not about facts, but transformation.

The Prince of Granada, the heir to the Spanish crown was sentenced to life in solitary confinement in Madrid’s ancient prison called the Place of the Skull. The fearful, dirty, and dreary nature of the place earned it the name. Everyone knew that once you were in, you would never come out alive. The Prince was given one book to read the entire time – the Bible. With only one book to read, he read it over hundreds and hundreds of times. This book became his constant companion. After 33 years of imprisonment, he died. When they came in to clean out his cell, they found some notes he had written using nails to mark the soft stone in the prison walls.

The notations were as follows. Psalm 118:8 is the middle verse of the Bible. Ezra 7:21 contains all the letters of the alphabet except the letter “J.” The ninth verse in the eighth chapter of Esther is the longest verse in the Bible. No name or word of more than six syllables can be found in the entire Bible. For all we know about this prince, he never made any commitment to Christ or had any religious experience, but he became an expert in Bible trivia. Reading the Bible is not enough, learning is not enough, spiritual growth is about a change in our lives.

The analogy between a human baby and a spiritual baby breaks down when we realize how each baby matures. A human baby is fed by his parents and growth is natural. But a baby Christian will only grow as much as he or she purposefully reads and obeys and applies the Word to his life. Growth is up to him.

So That We May Mature

Hebrews 5:11-14 “About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. 14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.”

The key word in this passage is “time,” by this time – Spiritual growth takes time. You cannot implement the various spiritual disciplines that we are going to talk about and one week later become a mature Christian.

This passage shows that time does not make you a mature Christian. Unlike natural growth, spiritual growth requires a concerted and constant effort. There are many people who wrongly assume that just because they have been Christians for many years automatically makes them a mature Christian. I have seen youth outgrow their parent’s spiritually because of the effort they put into it.

When we do not have a steady intake of God’s Word we find ourselves repeating the same mistakes over and over. Paul says that someone has to teach them “the elementary truths of God’s word all over again.”

Who is mature? Those who “by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil” If we are immature in our faith, then someone else has to show us the ABC’s of Christianity – over and over and over…..

Have you guys ever been to a restaurant that has a buffet? The kind where someone stands behind the counter and dips the food out for you and hands it to you on plate or bowl? Well Kimberly and I went to this one restaurant and I asked for some chicken, some fried okra, some corn bread muffins, some peach cobbler – then we got to the end of the line and there was this vat of disgusting looking ooze. I asked “what is that?” and the lady responded this is food that has already been chewed up and spit back into this container – in case you don’t want to chew it yourself.

The mature Christian is the person who says, I want to chew on God’s Word myself – they are willing to spend time with God past the milk stage and want the steak, the meat. Spiritual maturity is all about application– applying God’s word to your life and coming back for more.

Another way of thinking of spiritual maturity is to be “built up.” Acts 20:32 “And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” We are learning more about God, applying his truth to our lives, and therefore we grow and are built up into the person he desires for us to become.

God’s Word takes us to places we never thought we could or would. He takes us on a journey that has twists and curves and is anything but predictable. You are moving from one point to another, you are taking steps, moving toward becoming like Christ.

So That We May Be Effective

2 Timothy 3:16-17 “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

The Bible “is useful” for four things – first for teaching. The bible teaches us how to think, what we should believe. If we are not thinking correctly, then we are not living correctly. Matthew 4:4 “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

Secondly the Bible tells us when we have “crossed the line.” It is useful for rebuking us when we are doing wrong. It tells us what sin is. It tells you what God’s plan is for your life and where you have gone astray.

Third, it is useful for correcting – it tells us of Christ and how our sins may be forgiven. He doesn’t just tell we were wrong, but it tells us how to get back in a right way of living. And Fourthly, “training in righteousness” – the Bible shows us how to live.

A five-step plan for what to do when you have your quiet time:

Start with prayer. Ask God to prepare you to meet with Him. If there is something in your life that you know displeases Him, confess it. Let Him forgive you so that nothing will hinder your communion together.

Read a specific passage of Scripture–perhaps a chapter or two. If you are not very familiar with the Bible, you may wish to start with the New Testament. Many people think that the Gospel of John is a good place to start. Perhaps you would enjoy reading one or two of the Psalms every day.

Meditate on it for a while after you have read a passage. Think about what you read, and ask yourself what it means. What does God want you to do? Remember, even though you may not understand all you read in the Bible, you can still obey what you do understand.

Write down questions about the passage as you read. It is good to write down the things you learn and the questions you have. Later you can search out the answers from someone who knows the subject or Bible commentaries. You can ask the question, “what did this teach me about God?” and “what did this teach me about myself?”

Journaling is simply writing your thoughts and reflections about your life and relationship with the Lord in a notebook. Spend some time writing your thoughts as you spend time with God in His word and prayer. It can be as simple as writing what’s on your heart.

You can write about what God is teaching you in your Bible reading time. You can also write about how you are feeling and struggling with. Develop the habit of writing. This habit reinforces what God is trying to tell you in your mind and heart. I believe it is part of a good quiet time because it is a way for you to remember what God is revealing to you during that time.

Finally, respond and take action. Respond with praise and thanksgiving – “I praise you God for…..” Respond in repentance and confession – “I confess my sin of ……” Respond by asking for guidance – “Lord, lead me today by…..”
Respond with obedience – “I will obey you in……”

Conclusion

I have discovered that anything that is an “ought” in my life I will always be a failure at, for “ought” is a lousy motivator. Anything that is an “ought” I may in time do. I will do it out of compulsion, guilt, or duty – it will do it begrudgingly but I won’t do it often.

There are many of who understand our salvation to be in terms that Jesus has saved me so that I may serve Him. Didn’t Jesus say, “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” We become disciples of Christ, so that we may become His fishers of men (and we serve, and we work, and we toil).

What we miss is that Jesus’ invitation simply says, “Come, follow me,” – meaning to be in a relationship with Him. Being a fisher of men was not the purpose of my salvation (it happens, it is an outcome) – but the relationship with Jesus, the following comes first.

We serve, and in our minds we “I ought to have a quiet time” “I ought to spend time with Him” — and we get burn out, and tired, and disillusioned by life, all the while we work, and serve, and toil – and Jesus says, I said “Come and follow me.” Jesus invites us to a relationship first (service comes later as an outflow of the relationship). He simply wants to know you, and for you to know Him.

He did not die, so that you can serve Him, he died so that, you can have a relationship with Him. He doesn’t really need our help anyway, He’s God!

“Simplify” Doing What Matters Most

Sermon Series

“The Heart of Giving”

Malachi 3:1-12

I. Our Hearts as it Relates to Worship (vv. 1-5)

Our Hearts as it Relates to Money (vv. 6-12)

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