Great night last night! And I must admit that I sinned in this way: I had an opportunity to stand up for Christ in supporting the true beliefs of a Christ-follower, but I missed it... At the time, I felt that my tongue was being held but something other than my own brain, but looking back, I wish I could have said something. Maybe I wasn't supposed to, but I ask forgiveness anyways in that I could have shared with everyone something that might have needed to be heard. I'm sorry.
Moving on! Last night was a great night for us at Lighthouse, we had a cool group there and we had some good discussions as indivuals as well as a group. I want to encourage everyone to understand what we believe and to constantly learn what is right in GOD'S eyes, bot what is socially accepted by the world as being okay. The basis of Christian faith in the social aspect: love the sinner, not the sin; encourage the sinner away from sin, not towards more sin. Think about that.Last night, we went over the entire second chapter of James. For those of you who couldn't make it, here is what we discussed :)
James 2
Before we dive into Scripture, I encourage you to sit in silence and focus on opening your heart a little so that you can accept and understand anything that God has to teach you.
The first thing we will talk about is the following video; for those of you who are familiar with the band Korn, this man was the bassist for the group but left because he felt God's calling on his life to change. Watch it, it's powerful:
Brian Welch - I Am Second - Brian Welch - I Am Second (youtube)
Once you have watched this, we can begin to study life and what God means for us in this life we are given :)
So...
At first, what were your immediate thoughts of this man?
Is he dirty? Scary? Looks like he could kill you? What?
- Do you think you'd ever be able to confront him on the street, or in a public place - without knowing anything about him? Would you feel comfortable with gettig to know him?
- Now, if you had seen his Jesus tattoos, do you think that you immediate impression of him would have changed a little bit? Would you feel more comfortable with approaching him?
- If given the task to do so, which kinds of people would you rather face in a public place? What kind of people would you immediately search out?
Let's take a look at this short verse from Matthew 28:19...
Short verse... what is it all about? (And I'm not referring to the hokey pokey)
The Great Commission
What is the Great Commission?
- We (Christ's disciples) to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations.
What are disciples?
- In this case, disciples are followers of Christ and His teachings
How do you make disciples?
- You make disciples by first evangelizing.
What is evangelism?
- Evangelism is spreading the Good News of Christ's salvation offered to all people to everyone.
Fun question: Where does the cycle start? (chicken or the egg scenario; if you make disciples by evangelizing, and to evangelize you need to be a disciple, who came first? The Disciple, or the Evangelist?)
;D
According to Christ's calling (in the Great Commission) what kind of people are we supposed to reach out to, and why?
- We are called to all people, and yet, how often do we reach beyond our comfort zone?
- Why do we not reach beyond out little bubble - especially if we see someone who can really use some Jesus?
Are we ever judgemental in these situations?
So... What does all this have to do with James 2? Let us read :D
- What is judgment? *Romans 2:1
Judgment is made when we look upon someone we know or don't know and make an immediate guess as to what kind of person they are based on their clothes, the looks of their social status, their attitude, physical features, and so on. Other times, we judge others by what we know them to have done. If you see someone who once robbed a store, you automatically label him and thief, and you tend to stay far away from him - either from fear, or because you don't want to associate with people like that. Judgment can be made on friend or foe, turn friends to foes, and destroy a lot of great potentials in the process. What we quite so often seem to forget is this: we have done the exact same things. Maybe not "in the same way" as another person has, but if you did it, you did it. What the above passage from Romans has to say is this: regardless who you are, you have failed miserably just as these other people have that you are placing judgment on - so you have absolutely no room to judge.
- What is favoritism? *James 2:1
If Jesus had showed favoritism when dying on the cross, do you really think you'd be something special? Do you really think he would have given up everything for you who does nothing but live in sin and gossip? Don't you think He would have only died for people who were more like Him? But notice - He didn't play favorites. He died for you and me just the same. He loved us all, and regardless of our constant and continuous choice to live in sin, He chose us all to be His favorites. Because we are equals in His blood, why do we often play the childish game of favoritism? The above verse from James says that as believers in Christ we should not judge anyone - especially each other! If we truly claim to be Christ-like Christ-followers, why on earth would we pull the judge card on any living being and choose certain people over others? And how on earth do people actually justify themselves in doing so?
In James 2:1-13, James provides us with a scenario...
Rich Man
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Poor Man
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Wears gold rings and fine clothes
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Wears shabby clothes… and that’s it
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Receives positive special attention from host
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Receives negative special attention from host
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Offered a good seat
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Told to stand or sit on the floor by their feet
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Both of these men were at the same dinner meeting. Both of them were jugded and shown favoritism based on the judgments made about each man according to the host. Both men were judged. Now think about the next verse:
"Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith, and those who love Him will inherit the kingdom?" (2:5)
Those who are judged as poor in the eyes of the world are the ones who are most likely to be used by God to do His Will in the world. Consider the different ways they could be used.
Now technically, according to Jesus, we are to give up everything we have and pick up our cross to follow Him - He means EVERYTHING! *Luke 9:23
We wouldn't do that though, why?
Everything we have (i.e. friendships, family members, relationships, pets, clothes, food, money, etc.) is given to us to show the world that God is the One we give glory to. *1 Corinthians 10:31
Yes, of course, we are given things as blessings (for example: a laptop) to use for His glory - we could reach out to people through facebook, make Bible studies, or organize events using a software processor, or through the internet, and so on. But we are never supposed to attach ourselves to these blessings as much as we are supposed to attach ourselves to the One who gave these blessings. We are NOT supposed to compare our attachments and relationships to that of our relationship with God - nothing else can compare to it. When it comes to our blessings from God: be thankful for them. But do not attach yourself in such a way that it would keep you from your relationship with God. We must be willing, at any given point, to leave it all behind without hesitation or argument in order to completely follow Jesus Christ and His teachings - our calling from God. If this were to happen, we should be at least willing to give up everything and everyone - otherwise we have put too much stock into our possessions than we have in Him.
This is Jesus' teaching on our belongings, and how not to be: *Matthew 10:17-25
Now, this first part of James 2 has prompted us to focus inwardly on how we need to change some ways we view life, view people, and view what we are attached to. Let's move on to how we should be towards the world He called us to serve:
James 2:14-26
What is faith? *Hebrews 11:1
Faith is a tricky thing... When we believe that God is in us to work through us, we are changed from the inside out. Not on our own accord, but because of how He works in our lives to change us into being something beautiful for His glory.
What are deeds? *Matthew 6:1-4
The deeds I am referring to here are the deeds done because of God's Holy Spirit moving in us, changing us from the inside out, and working in His world to do His works - not for the glory and recognition of ourselves, but for the glory and honor of Him.
Faith and deeds need to be a checked balance - what does this mean?
Your faith in God will prompt you to do things out of, what people say, is "the goodness of your heart." But that goodness - is God. When you are weak enough to let Him be strong in you (like we talked about last week), then you will do deeds that you wouldn't regularly feel comfortable with. But, with the growing faith you have, you must understand that you cannot boast about all that you do for the glory of God. You must also learn to understnd (2:18-19) that you cannot simply have faith and not do anything about it "because having faith is what I am designed for - you are designed to do stuff," or "doing works is what I was designed to do, not much for the faith part of it." NO. They are a married couple, and God does not like divorce - you cannot separate the two and think that it is okay. If you truly have faith, your faith and love for God will grow, and He will use you to do His works in the world. *Matthew 25:31-40
Looking at verses 21-25, we have two Old Testament examples of people who were seen as less than nothing to do God's work because of their faith. The first one is more personal, the second one is more open for multiple people (if that makes sense...)
Abraham was told to sacrifice his only son in order to show God that he loved Him more than he loved his only son.
Rahab was a pagan prostitute that knew, through the power of the Holy Spirit, what she was to do to protect the spies sent to Jericho.
God saw that Abraham would sacrifice his own son to God if God asked him to; God stopped him and let him keep Isaac, but knew Abraham's faith in God because of his deeds.
Rahab, thereafter, received the Lord's Spirit into her and she lived a life for Him, never to sell her body for sex again.
Because of each of their faith, they were redeemed from their sins committed out of faith and trust in God - non matter how close the realtionship with Him was.
Keep this in mind: *Hebrews 13:1-2
WRAP-UP
Who are we called to, and why?
Can you let go of everything and everyone in your life to follow Christ if that is what you were called to do?
How can we continue to make ourselves vulnerable to God so that He can mold us daily to do His Will?
All original material: Jessica Greve 2012
References from: Wikipedia.org; Leeland and Big Daddy Weave (courtesy of youtube.com); iamsecond.com (Brian Welch)
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