And really think about it. Where
are you right now? Where am I right now? Are you here? You may be physically,
but are you here? Are you present? Or is your mind somewhere else?
Is your heart someplace else? That's a question that you need
to ask yourself every day, every moment. As a matter of fact,
I think you need to be in such a habit of being aware of where
you are in your presence, that you're mindful, that it
becomes intuitive, like breathing and blinking. You start thinking
about blinking, it becomes an issue, right? Are you present? Are you present
right now with the Lord's people? Are you present right now in
your heart and mind with the idea that you're about to hear
some scripture and hear a guy talk about it? Am I present? Or am I thinking about something
else? Am I thinking about someone else? Am I thinking about going
and doing other things? There's not a lot that you can
do. if you're not present. There's not a lot. There's not a lot that you'll
glean or gain by thinking about the future, by living in the
past. Brother Mike said it best. He's
like, no matter what we've done, no matter what guilt we may hold,
we have the power and the privilege of letting that go because Jesus
paid it all. Now we're in 1 Peter chapter
four, so you can turn there. And then we're gonna be popping
in and out of the book of James as well, so you can turn there.
Chapter two specifically of James. So 1 Peter four, and then one
book prior is the book of James, or the letter of James. And we're
going to be there. Now Peter in this writing has
moved into some application, moved into some mindset that
he wants these people to have about how they live their lives
from day to day, from moment to moment. He's taught them to
be present as God's people in the midst of a place and an occasion
and an experience where they will not be treated as such.
As a matter of fact, their treatment will be very much like the treatment
of Christ. They will be hated, They will
be ridiculed, they will be persecuted, they will be put to the sword,
and they've lost everything already. So they have little to nothing
left of their old lives. And what they're learning in
this dispersion is that that old life was really a role they
played, it wasn't who they were. And so I'm gonna move very quickly,
starting in verse 7 through verse 11, Because there's probably
about four or five sermons in this, but I want to move into
some application that might help you right now. So Peter has said to these wayward
Christians, I don't want you, look at verse
four, since therefore Christ suffered, chapter four, verse
one, in the flesh, arm yourself with the same way of thinking
for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so
as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh, no longer
for human passions, but for the will of God. For the time that
has passed suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do,
living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking
parties, lawless idolatry. With respect to this, they are
shocked and surprised when you don't join them in the same flood
of debauchery. And then they malign you, they
speak ill of you. But they will give an account
to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this is why
the gospel is preached even to those who are dead, that though
judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit
the way God does. Verse 7. The end of all things is at hand.
Therefore be self-controlled and be sober-minded for the sake
of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly
since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to
one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift,
use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's very grace.
Whoever speaks, speak as oracles of God. Whoever serves is one
who serves by the strength that God supplies in order that in
everything God may be revealed and glorified through Jesus Christ
to him belong glory and dominion forever and ever so be it. Amen
It's real easy to take up this text and start over there, you
know and in verse 4 and say, okay, well, I'm not
going to do that, and then back up a few places and say, well,
I'm not going to do that, don't do that, put away malice, put
away this, put away hypocrisy, put away slander, and just start
making a list of everything you're going to put away. And you start
evaluating your life with a spotlight or a microscope. or what we call
navel gazing, we'll just start looking inwardly and just making
sure that we're measuring up according to the standards of
what God's word says in the first letter written by Peter. But
that's not what the letter was written for, and that's not the
application thereof. So what does it mean? Well, I've
already went through all of that. You need to be engaged in the
teaching from week to week. You need to be engaged in the
reading of this letter from day to day. You need to embrace it
in such a way that it actually becomes part of your understanding,
part of your wisdom. I think one of the worst things
that we've ever done in Christendom as a culture is to subjugate
a spiritual growth opportunity on Sunday morning. This is not for your spiritual
growth. This is for your application. This is for you to be able to
be trained to do the work of the ministry, starting in your
own heart and mind, in your own home, and in the community in
which you live, and to be present and mindful of Christ, and Christ
in you, in everything that you do every day. Now why? Well, because that's
what the Bible teaches us. Who we are. Why do we want to
walk around and live as though we're not who we are? That's
what's half wrong with the world now as it is. If you think about, this is not
the first time you've heard this. You've seen Paul teach it. You've
seen John teach it in his letters. We've seen it everywhere. We
see it in James. James chapter 2. What good is
it, verse 14, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but
he doesn't do anything with it. He doesn't have works. Can that
faith save him? It's a rhetorical question. It's
to shock the senses to make What is the faith that saves? The
faithfulness of Christ, of course. If a brother or sister is poorly
clothed and lacking food, you just say, go in peace, be warm
and full. No, you give them something to
wear, you give them something to eat. What good is it if you don't do that?
Also, faith by itself, if it does not have a work, is dead. Some will say, you've got faith
and I have works. Show me your faith apart from your works and
I'll show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one?
Good. You do well. Even the demons know that. They
absolutely believe it. They know it's true. There's
no way in their entire mind that they don't understand that. The
demons believe, but they shudder. Knowing the facts and the theologies
of God is not salvation. God himself is salvation. Do
you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from
works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works
when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith
was active along with his works and faith was completed by his
works. And the scripture was fulfilled and says Abraham believed
God and it was counted to him as righteousness. And he was
called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified
by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also
Rahab the prostitute justified by works? She received the messengers
and sent them out by another way. Whereas the body, apart
from the spirit, is dead, also faith, apart from works, is dead.
Now I remember in the early days of seminary, in the master divinity
season of my life, One of the first things that I had to deal
with was why is James and Paul at odds? Why is James chapter
2 at odds with Paul who says faith alone? And then you see
the entirety of church history and theological history and historical
theology and all the arguments of philosophy and applied theology
and everything and people begin to think that they're at odds
with each other. Well, they're not at odds with each other just
like Peter's not at odds with James or Peter, I mean, or Paul
or any of the rest of them. The problem is that we have so
dissected the Bible that we can't embrace it. We've pulled out
so many theologies and so many things that we've started our
own system of law in the name of grace, in the name of faith,
in the name of Christ. And yes, that includes, like
we heard just a minute ago in verse 4 of 1 Peter 4, when they
said they will malign you when you don't engage in their debauchery. The same thing is true that the
culture of Christianity maligns you when you do not engage in
their works, or you do not engage in their theology, or you dare
posit one against the other. But why is it that we cannot,
by faith, engage in what seems like a dichotomy or seems like
something's not right? And then we have to do all sorts
of philosophical and theological acrobatics to make it work. Oh,
that makes work. I can create the fantasy of anything
in any subject in any sphere to make it seem logical to you.
Sometimes it's not about what is logical in argument. Sometimes
it's about what is true by statement. And if one is true and the other
is true, then obviously if we interpret one to be at odds with
the other, we're wrong, right? So then fill up on the reality
that God's Word is sufficient for this. Fill up on the truth
that Christ has set you free in His death, He has been raised
to life, He said it is finished, and if you are in Him, you will
know Him. But there is application here. There's application. So let's
get back into 1 Peter 4 verse 7 for just a minute and let's
think about that for a second. It says, at the end of all things is at
hand, therefore be self-controlled and sober minded for the sake
of your prayers. What in the world? The end of all things?
How many times have we heard that? How many times have we
seen just in our lifetime in the 20th, 21st century where
people have said, well, the last days are here, here it is, the
end of the day, the end of the world, here it is. And the irony
behind that is they call that the apocalypse, but the apocalypse
literally means things that I've told you. Things that are revealed. It's not about destruction. It's
about knowing. The word revelation. Oh, I know
now. All right, great. Not, oh, I'm
scared to know. I don't want to know. Don't tell
me. See how silly we changed the actual meaning of a word
just in culture? The apocalypse. is not even a
real statement. It doesn't make any sense whatsoever.
It's a transliteration. Now misnomer. But it is what
it is, right? So when someone says apocalypse,
it no longer means a Greek term of revealed things. It means
the end of days. Oh my goodness. What is the end
of days? Here in Peter's mind, he was
contemplating the eschatological urgency. What does that mean?
The end times of all things. Are we not told to keep that
in mind? Are we not told to keep an eternal
perspective in 2 Corinthians chapter 4? Are we not told to
keep an eternal perspective? I mean, I believe Paul and Peter
And John and the rest of these guys, I believe they all felt
that they would not die physically before the Lord Jesus returned. They're so emphatic about it that they actually put this in
almost everything they write. Well, why were they wrong? They
weren't wrong, but they were measuring it by their own understanding
of time. And it's very clear, Jesus even
says it, even the Son of Man does not even know the day or
the hour. No one can tell. No one will ever be correct.
No one will be right. The metaphor and the imagery
that Jesus tells in the stories, he says that it'll be like a
thief in the night. He's not going to set a time to come in
and do your burglary. He's not going to come in there
and knock on the door and say, yo man, you got a minute? I want
to go ahead and just come. No, it's not good. Maybe tomorrow
night. It's going to be like a thief in the night. It's going
to be like a woman in the throes of labor. it's gonna come upon
us suddenly we're not going to be prepared and it's going to
be instantaneous a twinkling of the eye one minute we're sitting
here blinking talking the next boom here it's done it is finished
it is over but yet the mindset of this life is that we are aliens
and sojourners in this world according to the Bible and we
are in the world but we are not of the world just like Christ
was not of the world and he left the world and the Bible tells
us in Romans chapter 8 and other places that the world will be
restored at the coming of Christ like in the twinkling of an eye. So Peter emphasizing this urgency,
this eschatological or end times urgency, he's connecting it with
personal and practical righteous living. How dare I say the word
holiness? You know words can never have
more than one meaning by the way. Insert sarcasm and silliness.
The declaration of the end should remind us to live in that mindset. Why? Well, because the end of
this dispersion was not going to happen for these people. Generations
and generations and generations to this very day have yet to
ever find their homeland. Because their land was not one
that would be built with hands. Their kingdom was not one that
could be established by boundaries and borders and governments and
kings. But it's one upon which the throne, the throne of which
upon the king of kings sits. We're to live with the mindset
that this world is temporary, but we're to be present in it.
These light momentary afflictions, this present suffering, it's
part of the beauty of the life that God has promised us. If
we're trying to escape it, if we're trying to control it, we
are literally ignoring and denying the very essence of the cross
of Jesus Christ because we are unwilling to embrace that we
are connecting and identifying with Him in our suffering. We are sojourners, a temporary
world. So we in this temporary world
are called not to please ourselves in a way that the world would
do, but to To do what? To find the ultimate place of
peace and joy with self-control, sober-mindedness. Over in verse
13 of chapter 1, he says, gird up your loins and be sober, the
loins of your mind and be sober-minded. What is that about? Being alert,
being present, being here, being now, being in the moment. Not
hyper-vigilance, not worry, not wonder, ooh, do I have everything
ready? Not fear-based, not shame-based,
not conformity to the Christian culture, to theological culture,
to the purity culture, but to be present and mindful of the
fact that no matter what is flying into our face, no matter what
is crumbling under our feet, we are okay even in death. We can live authentically as
God's people with self-control. And self-control is the authentic
expression of faith, according to Peter. It shows the world who we are.
It reminds us of who we are and whose we are. It embraces the
freedom and submission that we've been talking about since the
very beginning. To align our will with the will of other and
with the well-being of others. That's what submission is all
about. That's what Jesus Christ did for us. He submitted, even
though He is the God of glory. And this gives us the freedom
to not be distracted by the world, but to be rested, and this is
stuff I've preached on, so this is all review, but to be rested
in the sovereignty of God and His power and His control, that
all angels and authorities and powers that have been subjected
to Him. And we see that. And then above
all, verse 8, what does he say? Above all, love covers a multitude
of sins. A multitude of sins. What? Above all, keep loving one another
earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. How am I
supposed to love that knucklehead, John? How am I supposed to love
that knucklehead, Betty? Love covers a multitude of sins.
It doesn't let people off the hook for consequences. It doesn't
let people off the hook for poor behavior. Poor behavior should
never, ever, under any circumstance, be justified in the body of Christ.
At the same time, we don't judge people based on poor behavior
because the best behavior that we have is still poor behavior
in the context of righteousness. So we, who are spiritual, shut
our mouths and lead by example. And when we feel like we can't
love the knucklehead next to us because they're just not as
clean as we are, we're the dirty one. You see? Love. Peter here, Jesus says
the same thing when they say, what is the greatest of all the
laws? The greatest of all the laws,
Jesus says to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind,
and strength. But the second of equal standing, absolute supremacy
is to love your neighbor as yourself. It is not this one and then right
below it, it's absolute. You cannot love God if you do
not love your neighbor. They're one in the same. Jesus
Christ showed his love for the Father by dying because of his
love for the church. Hoo-yah! What do we do with that,
right? So this covering of a multitude
of sins here in this practicality is that we are able to foster
forgiveness and reconciliation and unity within the body of
Christ. shows our values, our core identity,
the person that we are. It reflects who we are and our
righteousness is imputed to us with the foundational value of
kingdom mindedness. It purifies our relationships.
It unites our relationships. It actually builds a unity that
the world can understand because we're so different. It shows that we're a holy people,
a royal nation, a royal priesthood. So we should forgive quickly.
That's what he's saying. Just forgive quickly. Find reconciliation. We know what church correction
looks like. We know what discipline looks
like. We know there are times where we have to put boundaries
and, you know, little tiny rope fences up or chain link fences
or walls. I'm not a proponent of that in
the faith. But sometimes we have to ask
people just not to come around until they change certain things.
But when the change outwardly takes place, even if it's not
inwardly embodied, we accept that. Verse 9, showing hospitality
to one another without grumbling. Oh man, if he hadn't put that
in there, we could have all been hospitable, right? I mean, this was a cornerstone
of the early church. We don't live this way. And the
United States of America has never lived this way. Europe
has never lived this way. No other population in history
has ever lived the way the first church did. So hospitality does
not mean let's have you guys over for some fellowship. Hospitality
was, we must feed one another lest we all starve. Hospitality
was, you're coming through town. We've got to let you stay with
us so you don't die. Hospitality was, wow, you're
sick. We need to take you in as an infirm and take care of
your needs because there are no hospitals. That's hospitality
and do it without complaining. See? But it's not telling us
to do those things in equivocal ways. It's telling us to have
that heart, because that's the heart of Christ. People argue,
well, I gotta do it. Christ didn't save everybody.
Christ didn't heal everybody. Christ didn't bless everybody. He did what he needed to do,
what he was able to do, for the purpose in which he did it. And
then he moved on. He hid. He vanished. He spent
time by himself. He fasted. He prayed. He rejuvenated
his physical, human self. Hospitality embodies community-centered
ideas and values. requiring that we are submissive
to one another in the body of Christ in reference to needs
above personal convenience, without complaint. So when we open our lives, we
open our homes, we open our wallets, we open our kitchens, we open
our mouths as a way of ministering to other people, as an act of
service, we're doing so in the name of Christ. Don't rob yourself
from the reward of joy by complaining. That's what Peter's saying. In
verse 10, he says, As each has received a gift, use it to serve
one another, good stewards of God's very grace. Remember, these
gifts that we have come from God. That's what pushed me over
into James earlier in the week. That all good gifts come from
the Father of lights above. And we are gifts. And the manifestation
of these gifts are really just an instrument of God's grace.
We are to serve one another. And we've been entrusted as God's
people to edify one another and to grow one another. and to give
to one another in such a way that everybody is blessed. That's
why it's called varied grace. There's diversity in the body
of Christ. And there is no role and there
is no ministry that's insignificant. Romans 12 teaches us that. So herein we live out our values
as believers. We live out our identity as God's
people. We live in our freedom to be
submissive by using these gifts for other people. In verse 11,
it talks about speaking and serving for God's glory. Whoever speaks,
whoever serves, so that all, in all that we do, God may be
glorified through Christ. So there's two specific categories
that are very broad here that Peter approaches, and I know
I'm going fast, but I'm going to back up in a minute, I promise. The speaking and the serving. When you speak, We need to be
careful that what we say is wise according to scripture. And we're going to make mistakes
in that. It's okay. Because we all have varied gifts,
we all have varied growth, we all have varied, what? levels
of maturity and we will grow together and even our error but
it's important to understand that when we say something to
someone and we say this is something that's wise according to what
I see in the Bible we need to be sure that we're sure because
it's much better to be quiet than to lead people astray The same thing with service. Sometimes we feel like we're
able to just do. This has been one of my biggest
sins is that I served for a very long time in my power. If I want to live authentically,
if you want to live authentically in serving, We need to recognize
that the power and the sustained ability to do comes from God. Even when we can't and don't
feel like we can move forward in His power, we will. And we'll
know that it's His power because we will have joy. And we won't grumble. Why does this matter? Because
of verse 11. The latter part of it, the whole
thing, because it all is glorifying to God. It brings his name above
all things, all dominion and all glory forever and ever. Amen.
So this doxology here that Peter's written underscores the purpose
of our lives. in everything that we do every
day to give glory to God. Peter connects this declaration
to the entire theme of the letter, to live honorably in all circumstances,
to suffer well with joy and peace. Even, excuse me, even, like he
says in verse, in chapter one, that even when you're, what?
Joy is inexpressible. What better way? It's just another
way of showing who we are, of expressing our identity, of living
a life of purpose. I mean, think about it for a minute.
Is Jesus not the embodiment of all this stuff? Jesus exemplified
self-control, sober-mindedness. In His trial in the Garden of
Gethsemane, Jesus loved one another earnestly. The gospel is the
story of Christ's love. Jesus showed hospitality. Jesus was hospitable. He's the ultimate steward of
grace. He fulfilled the mission that he was sent to do. Though
he was God, he did not take that equality with God something to
be made much of. Jesus spoke as the Father spoke. Jesus served as the Father served. We are to embody this. This is just review. I've been
talking about this for months. So now I want to get into some
application of using James and Peter together. Why? Because
it's there. Someone also asked me some questions
about James. It made me dig a little bit deeper.
And then also the fact that I want to show you that this is synergistic
in the whole Bible. What a better way to do it. What
better way to do it. So there's just a couple of things
I want you to see here. Faith And living out our faith in the
New Testament typically is instructed through trials or sufferings
or things that are uncomfortable. At the minimum, the apostles
teach us in these letters that we are going to face challenges
and external pressures and internal temptations. What are those temptations? Sometimes it's just flat sins.
Sometimes it's just wanting to give up. Sometimes it's not willing
to even move. Our fear and our struggles either
cause us to do one of two things predominantly, and that's to
become avoidant and just not deal with it in action, or to
become compliant and just go along with it. Both are wrong. Both are maladaptive. Both are
very unfruitful. Neither of them exemplifies an
authentic lifestyle that is spirit filled. So James, his readers were wrestling
with intellectual faith, divorced from action. He struggled with
favoritism, a lack of compassion. The irony is that I was in the
middle of that letter in the midst of some great turmoil amongst
us as a congregation. Peter's audience endures trials
through persecution. Different context, different
audience, different situation, same story, same remedy. And Peter's audience, they were
tempted to retreat into the world or conform to be like the world.
So James and Peter both remind us that faith, when genuine,
transforms not only our lives, but the lives of those around
us and shines like a light. See, sometimes we'd rather just
use Peter to beat people up. You need to stop grumbling. You
need to shut your mouth. You need to submit to your husband. That's the biggest bunch of garbage
that ever plagued the world. To use the Bible like that. It's
spiritual abuse. And I'll piggyback on what I
said last week. It's demonic, according to the Bible. And people don't want to hear
that. It's like the Pharisees didn't want to hear that all
their worship was vain. Nicodemus couldn't understand that everything
he'd ever done to teach the Scripture was darkness. Because it didn't
point to the true light. So we see the exhortation that
James gives about faith without works, faith that works in actions. This is a shared call here between
Peter and James. What good is it, my brothers,
if someone says he has faith that doesn't have works? Can
that faith save him? So James is saying, hey, listen, this
is not condemnation, but it's an invitation to let faith fulfill
its God-given purpose. Transformation. It's not just
about eternal salvation. If that were the case, then when
God saved us spiritually in time by granting us faith and see
I have to be careful even saying that because God saved us on
the cross that we just poof we just vanished there'd be no reason
to be here Peter echoes this call he urges
people to live with intentionality as each has received the gift
use it use it use it Jesus embodies this So we need to reflect on
the compassion that Christ had. And we need to say, how am I
actually living this out with tangible acts of mercy, tangible
acts of love? James says to care for the vulnerable,
chapter 1, verse 27. So we're supposed to use our
gifts to do works, to do what God has called us to do, to be
and have an impact in the world. Friends, that's never meant theological
fortitude. ever. As a pastor, that's not
the point. Do the work of an evangelist.
That's not corrective. It's about proclamation, instruction,
guidance, but most importantly, going before people as an example. The second thing that I see in
this intersectionality with Peter and James and is that trials,
and you know this, this is just repetitive, y'all can probably
just go to sleep, you don't even need to really listen to this because
we've talked about it over and over and over again, but trials
and suffering are testing grounds for our faith. We're never going
to engage until we have to. And sometimes that have to is,
ooh, people don't think I'm doing anything, I better go get to
work. Don't want to look like a lazy Christian. That's trial, right? I know for
you, I mean I don't know how often you clean out from under
your refrigerator or behind it, but I used to try to do that
once a quarter or so. But I'll tell you one thing that'll
actually get it done when you drop that carton of eggs. Or
you knock the gallon of tea off the counter and it spills all
out from under it and you're moving everything. You need to
clean it all up and it's so fresh and you go, man, I'm going to
do this every week so it never gets so nasty under there. What
is that? That's a prehistoric thing that's been living there.
I don't know what that, hey, there's that Lego we lost 16 years ago. Trials is a testing ground for
faith. Sometimes we clean things up or we get things going because
of crisis, just like we do when we clean up our house after a
flood or a car after a bad muddy road. James' perspective is that
trials refine us, that trials mature us. Count it all joy,
my siblings, when you meet trials of various kinds because don't
you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness?
So hardships Trials, pain, are not obstacles, but they're opportunities
to deepen trust in God. When it comes to fear, when it
comes to suffering, when it comes to trials, friends, these are
opportunities that should make us as giddy as if we know when
we see something on the ground and we go to pick it up, it's
a thousand dollars. Ho ho ho, I just found a thousand
dollars. Ho ho ho, I'm suffering. That's got to be our mindset. Because psychologically, the
anticipation of excitement and the anticipation of terror are
the exact same motivator. Which one do you want to see?
Depends on your perspective. Peter's perspective basically
says, in this you rejoice though now for a little while if necessary
you agree by various kinds of trials. so that the tested genuineness
of your faith would be made obvious. And what's the outcome of that?
Praise and glory and honor at the revelation at the apocalypse
of Jesus Christ. See, Jesus endured the ultimate
trial on the cross, but he entrusted himself to the one who is faithful. He entrusted himself. And he
says, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. It's not
easy. I mean, when I get through here
in a few minutes, it's like, well, by golly, James has got me on track. I'm just never going to fret
again. Hot diggity-jig. It's not going
to happen. Because if you don't fret, you can't have faith. If
you're not suffering, you're not going to grow. If you're
not in a place of chaos, you're never going to build your character.
If you don't have pain, you're never going to understand God's
power. If you don't have fear, you don't even know how to fuel
a life fulfilled. Why would we avoid these things?
We're worthless. That's James's point. We're supposed to live out faith
in community. The impetus, the spark of this
opportunity is things not right. Things going wrong. I've been reading my journals.
Holy cow, my poetry from 22 is awful. And I'm gonna publish
it. It's awful. But it's honest. I won't publish the journals.
They're not legally able to be posted. I think the internet
would shut down. But this fire, these sufferings,
are exactly what we need to be refined, to grow, so that we
can live our faith in community, so that we can live our faith
together, so that we can live out our joy together. Faith works in community through
love and through impartiality. This is what James is arguing.
Don't show partiality. James warns us against favoritism.
Don't you ever prioritize wealthy people. Ever. It's a grave sin. A grave, grave
sin for a Christian. And it's a pathetic thing for
anybody who's not a believer to do. It's just really gross. Think about it. If God is impartial,
James says it this way, chapter 2, verse 8, he says, if you really
fulfill the royal law according to scripture, you will love your
neighbor as yourself. Peter, in the same way, emphasizes
love as a central part of the community. Above all, keep loving
one another earnestly since love covers a multitude of sins. So this love fosters unity, fosters
intimacy, fosters life, fosters growth. So you haven't said anything
about people who aren't doing this. What do we do with them?
Show them the way. It's not here. There's nowhere
in the Bible where we have the prescription to get in the business
of other people's lives and try to get them straight. Those who
are spiritual, restore the one that's fallen. Be careful lest
you fall into temptation. How? Patient teaching, long suffering,
endurance, prayer, quietness, resolve, focus, oversight, and
if the behavior isn't remedied in a good enough time and it's
causing trouble, the behavior Hey, y'all don't come back around
here until you brush your teeth. Whatever it might be, let's clean
that up. By this, all people will know
that you are my disciples, that you put people in their place
and you make sure that they are doing everything the way I told
you to tell them or you make them feel really dirty and ostracize
them. says Jesus nowhere. Above all, love earnestly. Jesus says it this way, by this
all people will know that you are my followers if you have
love for one another in the same way I loved you. Let me wash
your feet Judas. Tell you what, Judas, why don't
you be the treasurer? We wouldn't even let thieves
worship with us if we knew they were thieves. One of the greatest things that
could ever happen to a church is for a bunch of sinners to
show up to remind us of who we are. Huh. Faith and works. James and Peter align here too.
James says works are the new, are the, are the, works are the
naturally occurring outflow of a real and living faith. Don't misunderstand. He's not
saying unconverted, lost, going to hell, not saved. It's either valuable and active
or it's dead and worthless. You can be in a relationship
that's dead, but you can still be together. You can have, you
can have a body and be alive, but you could be in a coma. So
in some sense, when we aren't living and embodying our identity
in Christ as Christians in compassion and love and nothing else, Until
that's perfected, there's nothing else to do. Then it's like we're in a coma. That's a metaphor. It's not saying
anything wrong about people in comas. James says that, according to
the Bible, Abraham and Rahab are examples. Abraham was certainly
not a man who trusted God a whole lot. But he did from time to
time because God was faithful and God came through. And it was time for Isaac to
be put to the knife. The Bible says, Abraham got up
early the next morning. I don't know about you, but if
there's things that I really don't want to do, I really don't
want to get up the next morning. Much less early. He was eager. Because he knew that God was
faithful. Same thing with Rahab. Their
actions revealed that they believed God. They believed that God would
determine the outcome of their circumstances. They believed
that God was sovereign over all this confusion. They believed
that God would establish the promises that He'd made even
when what He was telling them to do was absolutely contrary
to the outcome of what He said would take place. Peter, the same thing. James says, you see that faith
was active along with his works and the faith was completed by
his works. Peter says it this way, whoever speaks as the one
who speaks the oracles of God serves as the one who serves
by the strength of God that he supplies in order that in everything
God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. Jesus, in John 10, 25, the works
that I do, in my Father's name, bear witness about me. What are
we doing in the name of our Father? Here's the nuts and bolts, or
the bits and pieces, as one of my friends says. Our works are
inseparable from our identity. So whoever we think we are, watch. That's who we really are. Show me, don't tell me. If there's ever been a lesson
that we all need to learn every single day, is to be present
as a witness to our own lives and thoughts. And to filter them. Does our
faith bear the fruit that reflects the love of Jesus Christ? Does
our faith bear the fruit of trusting God in the face of our trials? How are we serving one another
by faith with the gifts that we've been given? How does our
life every single day glorify God so that others may see and
rejoice in the day of Christ? I'll show you my faith by my
works. Not I'll prove it. Not I'll earn it. Not I'll be
secure in them. I'll show you. You can tell me
what you want to tell me, but if you don't have love, you lie
and the truth is not in you. That's John. Peter declares, in order that
in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. It's all
the same thing. We must live our lives to testify to the transformative
power of Christ in love. So all these questions that I've
just posed for us to contemplate, even the very first one that
I started out with, you know, are you here? Where are you?
Where are we now? Are we mindful and present? Are we able to answer these questions
and come to the right answer? And the answer to these questions
is we're not doing this the way we're supposed to. Yes, that's
correct. We're never going to perfectly embody righteousness. We're never going to perfectly
embody love. We're never going to perfectly
embody the pursuit of these things. But does that mean we should
stop? And I'm not even going to tell you to try. That's the
stupidest thing I've ever heard in my life. I had the Christmas
tree in the floor the other day, yesterday, in the bag, and it
goes up to the attic. I said, I'm gonna try to get
that upstairs tomorrow. And I laughed, and I said, I would not let anybody
get away with that. I'm not going to try. I'm going
to take that upstairs tomorrow. You see the difference? I'm gonna try to get out of the
chair right now, later. No, I'm just gonna stand up. Jesus, when He healed, He didn't
say, hey, you know, you want to be healed? Why don't you try?
Get up, would you try to stand up? He said, stand up and take
your mat and go. And the man stood up and took
his mat and went. That's what faith does. So our
faith is strong sometimes and we can walk. Our faith is sometimes
not so strong and we make an argument and debate whether or
not we can even get up because we've never been able to really
get up before. Well, beloved, that's why we're together. It's
about being in community. You are not alone in this fight.
You are not alone in this journey. And it is not about you posturing.
It is not about us trying to look the part. It is about us
being authentically honest with every fiber of our being and
every breath that we live. Whether we're doing it well or
we're failing miserably, we are still the righteousness of God
in Christ. And that is enough power for
me to at least lurch myself off the edge of the seat, even if
I can't stand up. And maybe you'll be there to
help me. And maybe I'll be there to help you. Because Christ has fulfilled
it all. Christ didn't need help getting on the cross. Somebody
put him there. God has put you squarely into
his heart, squarely into Christ, and you have been submerged and
immersed into the love of God, and nothing can take it away.
So in that, we must rest as we work and let the world see the
light of Christ in us. Let's pray. We thank you, Father,
in all that we learn. that it's not within our power
to perfect. So let us live purely as your
people every day, even in our failures, so that
you may be preeminent. You may be our strength. We thank
you, Father, for just the joy that comes with this. Lord, remind us of what Remind
us of the cost. It would never be possible for
us to stand perfect. But the perfect man, Jesus Christ,
gave himself for us in our place. And we are alive in him. So encourage
and empower us to live for a change, to live in this world, to live
with laughter and joy, even in sadness and pain. Father, we thank you for this
promise, even when we don't believe it. In Christ's name, amen.