Faith that is Genuine

The title for this lesson is Faith That Is Genuine. And this is our second, our final week that we're gonna study what I've called the preface to the letter of James because it's gonna change a little bit after this. Our content will change. But in this section, we are gonna definitely come away with the idea that real faith is built on something important and it's built on something outside of ourselves. It is built on the word of truth which is planted in our hearts and then it must grow to maturity. And that's really important. We wanna really camp on this so that we're not deceived into thinking that real faith comes from something inside of ourselves like our works, our obedience, our deeds and that sort of thing. That's not what makes our faith real. It is Jesus, the implanted word of God that makes our faith real. So we're starting in James 1 and verse 16. We'll read a few verses and then get into it. James 1, 16,

Father, would you help us to understand your word? Help us to be hearers right now this morning of what your word says and not put our minds on something else that's going on or be resistant in any way to what your word is teaching us. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. So the first concept that we run into in today's lesson are these good gifts and these perfect gifts that come from above and the fact that we should not be deceived about them. And who would want to deceive us about God and his goodness except for that wily old enemy that wants to convince us that God, in fact, is not good. He tries to deceive all mankind as a whole that God is not good because look around. How could a good God let all this happen? And he tries to convince us to deceive us personally that God is not good in your life because look at my life. How could God be good if these things are going on? And if we become uncertain that God is good and that God gives good gifts, then we are much more likely to be deceived in other things, to fall into temptations that will draw us away from the Lord. So this is good for us to talk about these things. I don't pretend to know exactly what James had in mind when he said these good gifts. You know, we do have bookmarks and a lot of merchandising. Every good and perfect gift is from above and you don't even know what it says. I don't know, is it a sunny day? Is it a pumpkin spice latte? Is it a new car? I don't know. What is the good and perfect gift, you know? But if we were to connect it with the previous context that we had last week, the previous verses, it would connect with the trials that mature us. And that's biblical. That certainly we can find, we can connect dots all over scripture about that, that the gifts that we receive from God may be obviously good like a sunny day or they may be concealed in bad trials where they are working good for us. That's what Paul told the believers in Rome, right? In Romans 8, 28, he said, all things work together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. We have Old Testament. We were just in Exodus last spring where we saw the trials that the Lord had allowed the children to go through as they left Egypt to go on their journey toward the promised land. You know, first that dead end at the Red Sea where it looked tragic and then God gifted them with that triumph over the Egyptian army and then they get into the, they crossed the Red Sea and then the apparent lack of food, the apparent lack of water, these trials that they faced, but then God provided good things for them to show his care and his provision. So that's definitely something that we can see throughout scripture. Or the context that we're approaching today, which is salvation, maybe the good gift, maybe the perfect gift here is related to that, related to God's own son, the word of truth who has been given to us for the forgiveness of sins and certainly came from above. You know, if we read verse 18 and 17 backwards, we'd see that connection of his own will. He brought us forth by the word of truth because every good and perfect gift is from above. So that makes sense to us too. The word of truth is going to become our theme for today and the word of truth is the foundation of real faith. After verse one where James said he was a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, he never again uses his earthly given name, but here he talks about Jesus and that's what makes our foundation. He talks about the word of truth. But why these comments about no variation or shadow due to change? What are they in there for? What was he trying to convey by inserting that? I wonder if we need to ask first. I always like just about every week to take us back to ask before this was written to us, it was written to somebody else. So let's try and get into their world and find out why he might have said that to them. This was a time, we talked about the fact that this was the first New Testament book written. This was a time of transition in history for sure. Orthodox Jews were still holding on to the law of Moses. They were still holding on to the temple sacrifices while the Christians believed that God's perfect lamb had come and fulfilled all of that, no longer doing that. So we have these two groups side by side in communities worshiping God differently and the Christians had made a change in how they worshiped God. But had God changed? There's a question. I think about, I try and get myself into their world and I think about these Christians who were formerly Jews. I have, my family is quite spread apart in age. My kids are 14 years apart from top to bottom and we had two kids. We call them our first litter and our second litter because there's eight years between. So we had two litters of children. And you can imagine when your children are that far spread apart, they have different sets of memories, different sets of family experiences. For example, my older kids lived in Washington State with us. They have memories from there that my younger kids know nothing of. My younger kids lived in the home we live in right now that my older kids were married and never lived at home. Do you see what I'm getting at? Different sets of memories. I wanna think about these Christians for a minute who have children, probably quite spread apart in age. The older kids in the family remember worshiping God through the temple sacrifices. The younger kids in the family, once they have embraced the truth of Jesus Christ and the gospel, they only know the sacraments. They know nothing of it. Isn't that interesting to think about? Changes have happened in their life. But the question remains, has God changed? Has God changed throughout this? And even though the way they approached and worshiped God had changed. And so James writes, do not be deceived. Good and perfect gifts do come down from the father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. And it's important that we just say, God doesn't change his mind. The scriptures have shown God's unfolding plan from the beginning. God's plan was centered on the word, which is our theme for today, from the beginning. And when John went to write his gospel, what did he illuminate us about? He said, in the beginning was the word. And the word was with God. And the word was God. He said the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. All right, so the gospel message has no variation of change. This plan has been unfolding from the foundations of the earth. The plan is to bring these people forth by the word of truth. And God's plan is to bring us forth by the word of truth. And that's how each one of us enters the kingdom. It is something outside of ourself, the word of truth, grace and truth through Jesus Christ. All right, before we leave that, I want to reach into the NIV for verse 8, because I really, really like how those translators chose a repetitive concept from our previous lesson. And this is how it reads in the NIV. It says, verse 8, he chose to give. us birth through the word of truth. Give us birth through the word of truth, okay? What did we learn about birth last week? We talked about sin getting birth and we we said that when our will agrees with the temptation or a desire and they unite, it would give birth to sin. Okay, now this tells us that when our will unites with the word of truth, then we have been given birth. We have been born again. And so I kind of like how they repeated that theme of giving birth. That is how God chose to bring us into his kingdom, by us agreeing with the word which offers forgiveness of sin. And the remainder of this lesson, in fact this book, is going to talk about how we agree with the word. How we receive it, how well we listen to it, how much we're interested in doing it, how much we will allow it to grow and flourish in our life. So I want to reach into something that Jesus taught about the word to really, really give us a firm foundation on this. So I'm going to reach into the parable of the sower. It's in Matthew 13 18. I'll put it on the screen, but if you wanted to turn to it, you may do that. Matthew chapter 13 verses 18. And this is probably familiar to you. It's probably something James heard Jesus say. Remember we said James was a, he was following Jesus and listening, but he wasn't yet a follower of Jesus. And so he probably heard Jesus. I have to admit that in the parable of the sower, I've, I mean you guys, you've probably taught this in Sunday school. Half of you in this room have taught this parable. And when you teach the parable, it's all about the seed, right? You're focused on the seed. I have to admit that this is the first time my eyes were completely opened as Jesus explains it to how much he, how he converts that to the word. It is the word. And so I want to show that to you. So let's start with Matthew 13 verse 18.

So did you get the emphasis Jesus placed on hearing the word? Every type of soil, it was the matter of hearing the word. And this is what James goes on to teach in the remainder of this lesson. We're back in James 1, let's pick it up in 19. He says,

Now doesn't that make so much sense in light of the parable of the sower and how Jesus explained the parable of the sower and hearing the word. That is the point of it. So we should be quick to hear the word of God, the way God intended the gift to be given so that we can agree with it, bring our will and the word and agree with it and allow it to bring forth new life, give birth. Paul also said to the Romans, Romans 10 17, faith, real faith, that is our theme, real faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. Okay, so real faith comes from hearing. We should be slow to speak, slow to anger, and the sense here is resistance of the mind against understanding. We should be slow to that, do not resist the understanding of the word, do not put up resistance for that. We would call it hard-heartedness if we were making likenesses with the parable of the with the seed being planted. And we're to receive with meekness, which is humility and not pride, the implanted word. What is the root word there? Plant. Implanted word that what? Saves your souls. It's something that comes from the outside, it is Jesus, it is the word of Christ, the word of truth that becomes implanted within us which saves our souls and then produce a harvest and that is the point of the letter of James, is producing a harvest. But do you see how important this foundation is? So you don't read through it and go it's all about the harvest, it's all about the doing. No, it's not about the doing. You've got to start with this implanted word. Okay, so one little aside on verses 19 and 20 and that is because these are most commonly applied to relationships between people. Everyone should be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. We always just talk about because we see things in a real natural realm, okay? Clearly the context is the word of God which is implanted, the word of truth implanted within us. However, we also said that as we're going through James, there's going to be a lot of wisdom and a lot of biblical truth that very, that you can totally lift up out of the context and apply it to another situation and it will be true. So mamas, it is totally fine to tell your children you should be quick to hear and slow to speak. That is fine. In our relationships, this is wise, this is good advice and that's why in our discussion questions, we went ahead and processed it that way also and said, is there some relationship that the Holy Spirit is telling us? I need to be a little slower to speak here, you know, more listening, that sort of thing. Okay, so as we move on, again, we're gonna note that doing and working and being good that comes from inside of us isn't able to save our souls. Okay, it's only the implanted word that's able to save your soul. We're at verse 22, James says, but be doers of the word and not hearers only. Deceiving yourselves, deceiving yourselves that once the implanted word is there, once I'm born again, good, I'm done, no more work to be done. Nuh-uh, that's not how seeds grow, it's not how plants grow, it's not how harvest comes in, right? Verse 23, for if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he's like a man who looks intently at his natural face in the mirror, for he looks at himself and he goes away and at once forgets what he was like, but the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. So once again, the concept of not merely hearing the message but actually doing it, that's probably the most important concept to agree with and the most difficult concept to put into place in our life, I think. But in order to bear fruit, like the parable of the sower, the farmer had to have a great attentiveness to that soil. A farmer, a gardener, is very attentive to the soil. It needs to be amended with fertilizer, it needs to be aerated and turned over, it needs, he needs to check the moisture, all these things have to be done. But James doesn't go forward with an agricultural analogy, he does this mirror thing, okay, and but the same attentiveness is at play here. Looking intently at his natural face in the mirror and not forgetting but acting. A couple years ago, Paul bought me one of those magnifying mirrors that hooks on the wall, you know, it has the little arm and it swings away. Ah, and now I'm so hooked on it, if I travel, if I stay anyplace else, you know, and you have to lean all the way over the sink, you know, it's like, you know, it's like I just love this thing. But those magnifying mirrors are good news, bad news, right? The good news is that I can actually see what I'm doing. The bad news is I can actually see how much needs to be done. And really, that's what it is. When we look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, we see how much God has given us by his grace. And we also see how much we need to continue to grow by his grace. And so it's a good analogy. And that's the life that we live as Christians, is always looking into that perfect law. Now, how silly would it be if I came up to one of my friends and I looked in her face to try and do my makeup. And I'm looking at her face, and I'm like, oh, I see how you. OK, all right, I'll try and do that. It would be ridiculous, right? But spiritually, how much do we do that? How much do we start looking in somebody else's face to try and accomplish our growth? And we go, they look pretty good. I like how they do that. I'll copy that. But clearly, we are to look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, liberty meaning freedom. And as we peer into that mirror, it assures us that we are resting. We are free because we are resting in Christ alone. And we are growing in Jesus's grace alone. All right, verse 26 and 27. If anyone thinks that he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. Religion that's pure and undefiled before God the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world. And that's the closing statement for this foundation, the foundational preface of the letter, that if you believe that you are growing in the Lord merely by Christian experiences, religious experiences, things like going to church, certain prayers, ceremonies, taking communion, then James warns us, you're probably going to deceive your heart if you think that that is what's going to help you grow. We grow as we allow that implanted seed, Jesus within us, to produce conduct and character that resembles our Heavenly Father. At the same time, resists being stained by the world. I got to thinking, we can't look like Jesus and look like the world at the same time. We just can't. And so faith that is genuine will be faith that continues to want to look more like Jesus. So let's summarize what did we learn from this lesson. Number one, God is good, and he gives good gifts to his kids. Jesus is the greatest gift, but God may give us other gifts as well that might be awesome at the time or terrible at the time. But he's able to make all things work together for good. We learned that we must maintain a soft heart toward God, not resisting the word of truth, but cultivate a heart for the word of truth so that it can penetrate the soil of our hearts and to grow. We learned that we must be lifelong hearers of the word, just like we look into the mirror to check things that need a little adjustment. We need to continue to lifelong look into that mirror of God's word and align ourselves and come back and realign ourselves and come back and realign ourselves. And we learned that our relationship with God isn't about religious practice. It's about cultivating the conduct and the character to resemble him. And that's where we're headed from here, you guys. The rest of our study is going to be about the conduct and the character. And buckle up, because next week we take all of chapter 2. So I hope that you've been writing out your verses. If you got behind, this week is the time to catch up and transcribe in your journal, in your notebook. You can do it. I'm doing it. You can do it. You learn a lot by slowing down and transcribing. This is going to be good stuff. So Father, thank you. Lord, thank you that you planned from the beginning of creation for the word of God to be something that would mingle with our will and be planted within us to bring us forth into new life so that we would be marked, so that we would belong to you, Lord God. And Lord, I just pray for anyone who's here or listening to this message, Lord, who has not just taken their will and said, I want to receive that word of God, Jesus, the Spirit of Christ, to be in my heart. Lord, what a simple thing you have laid out for us to just agree and say, yes, that is real faith. And that is how I'm made right with the Lord. And so I pray that people would hear the message, that gospel message from the beginning, the foundation of the earth, receive it, and be entered into your kingdom, Lord. And Father, I pray that you would help us to grow in maturity, Lord, to look diligently into your word and to not become discouraged, Lord, but to just grow in our character to look like you. It's your work, Lord. We just need to yield ourselves. And we pray for this in Jesus' name. Amen.