The Bridge Church (www.bridgechurch.ca) : Blog

Godly Justice

The Bridge Church — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 15:22:00 -0700

Royal Law...”love your neighbour as yourself” ... doing right...Favouritism – Sin – convicted as lawbreakers... keeps this part of the law but screws up in another area your guilty of IT ALL!...

In this passage, James has opened this teaching about living out our faith to a subject much broader than only favouritism. He is addressing and issue of our heart that is particularly highlighted in favouritism.

Then he says something that is really hard to get your mind wrapped around... 12 Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, we understand what it is to be judged by a standard and be found guilty and convicted to punishment. We understand what it is to “pay for a crime” but to be judged by a law THAT GIVES freedom is hard to understand – it seems justice has been cheated. When a murder gets off we feel justice has not been served. The law is there to protect good civil life and when justice is not served our ‘good civil life’ has been discredited and cheated. If you’re a murder, adulterer, thief, your crime must be satisfied – and judgement by a law that leads to your freedom is not part of our intellectual equation.

Mercy...is a good and nice sounding attribute, but if the crime is too heinous mercy may not be deserved. A grandmother may give mercy to a child who snitched a cookie where the parents may be less likely. But when it becomes matters of life and heart – mercy is costly

What James is talking about is the practical working out of a doctrine of our Christian faith called “JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH” and it is crucial for us to know and understand because it is the essence of what Jesus did on the cross and the basis of how we are to live life now.

“The principle of the whole doctrine of salvation and the foundation of all religion” J Calvin

Whether we realize it or not, what we understand about our position before God determines how we live and relate to other people.

One of my favourite movies & plays is “Les Miserables” based on the novel by the French author Victor Hugo.

Les Miserables

The ‘royal law’

‘royal’ comes from the same root as ‘kingdom’ – this kingdom law in which Jesus’ teaching must play a central part

Deut 6:4-6 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.

Lev 19:18 "'Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.

Then Jesus comes affirming this – His followers must love their neighbour as themselves, including the poorest people, who can offer them nothing material in return.

Luke 10:26-29 "What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?"

27 He answered: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" 28 "You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."

29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

“Neighbour” embraces everyone – even enemies, just as Jesus taught in Luke 10 (Good Samaritan). Not only those close to us relationally, financially, or religiously, those similar to us in life or style but those who by circumstance or providence have intersected our lives.

We say... “there are some people I just don’t relate too...” “I am not comfortable around...” “I relate best to...those who are like me..like this...” “I just don’t have a category for ...” “I don’t understand...,” “I don’t like...” = SIN

James, Jesus and all of scripture affirm we are to live the “royal law” but to do it we ...

We must Experience God’s Justice - in our own lives

10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. 11 For he who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not murder." If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.

Lawbreaker – ‘parabatees’ – violator

From God’s perspective it is all or nothing = one keeps the law – completely or else you are a violator of the law.

Jesus upped the bar – when he said

Matt 5:21-22

21 "You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' 22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.

Everyone of us have violated God’s righteous laws

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of the law -

Our sin condemned us to death – not annihilation but the complete, physical, emotional, spiritual – ongoing death. It is the death people live in today (which is only a foreshadow of the death to come)

But Jesus changed all that ...Christ died for the ungodly to bring us to God

1 Peter 3:18 For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.

Gal 3:24 So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.

We experience God’s Justice when we acknowledge and receive the truth that Jesus died as a sinless man, in our place. The only way he could die as a sinless man was because He was God himself and completely without sin, but took our place to die for our violations as lawbreakers.

We are justified by faith alone – through grace alone – in Jesus alone.

2 Cor 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

It is in our repentance that we receive God’s forgiveness and the new life that the Holy Spirit brings.

Acts 3:19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,

2 Cor 7:10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret,

Experiencing Gods Justice is Experiencing God’s Freedom

Rom 8:1-4Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, 4 in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.

When we have experienced Gods Justification we begin to live differently...

Gal 6:2 Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

God’s law helps us see ourselves clearly...as sinners. Jesus comes to fulfill the law and take our punishment for our sin.

Before Gods Justice can be served, the law has to be satisfied, the law you and I broke.

2 Cor 5:14-15

14 For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

By faith in Christ alone, we who were previously condemned are free. But if we think we are set free to go and sin more, we are not truely free. But if faith in Christ compels us to live for Him who sets us free, then our freedom is secure, and that begins a transformational change within us...we begin to become regenerated, made new from the inside out and we begin to live in Justice.

Live as one Justified– do not play spiritual games (v8-10)

God’s justice changes us to become more like the person He knows we can become

How we live matters...

8 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing right

James 2:12 Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom,

All the characters in Jesus parable of the Good Samaritan revealed who they were and their motivations.

The Good Samaritan acted out of the good of his life. He lived very differently than the priest or Levite and when he saw a man in need his first thought was not who is he, what has he done, should I help him but instead he was compelled to care for the mans needs.

When Jean ValJean was faced with the prospect of another man going back to prison in his place, he traveled to the trial to be ready to come clean

When faced with the situation of Fontane he had compassion and took her in to care for her

When faced with Fontanes death, he continued to care for her daughter as his own.

Because we have been justified before God we live differently...

Rom 5:1-5 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

When you and I begin to live as one justified – we live very differently from the rest of the world.

Jean Valjean was a new man because the bishop had sacrificed for him and gave Valjean a new chance at life. Therefore he was able to give himself freely for Fonatine, Cosset, and men wrongly accused, He gave his factory to his workers, he even gave himself to Jobert, his enemy without contempt or hatred

When we live justified before God there is nothing to hold us back from receiving others, there is no place for favouritism because all are ours to care for

We are free and available to care for others – because I have been justified – the gospel is making me to be a new person...

Express God’s Justice through Mercy

12 Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, 13 because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!

I am able to express Christ’s love through mercy

Judgment without mercy is hatred – you are wishing the demise of someone = that they get what they deserve.

But because I have received Mercy from Christ and have been justified before God, have taken on the righteousness of Christ – have been made right and new by faith through grace I can be merciful to others. I can love them, the unlovable, the different, the annoying,

Mercy... by the atoning sacrifice of Jesus, a way is opened up for us to exercise compassion to others in misery... Caring for someone...doing for someone...accepting someone...serving someone... that I would not normally

Those who think (by the worlds standards) they are like me – would not do this...”

I am extending God’s justice – through Christ, to those who need mercy, because I needed and received God’s mercy

This is what communion represents

Jesus said “do this in remembrance of me”

I remember what Jesus has done for me and all humanity to bring us to God with our sins forgiven

Do you need to receive God’s mercy this morning before you “remember?”

Do you need to receive God’s forgiveness this morning – come before him in repentance – admitting I don’t want to live that way anymore and ask Him to forgive you,

Receive his forgiveness in faith,

Recognize his grace that makes you right before God, not your works, good deeds but his grace

When you remember what Jesus has done for you – let it change you as you leave the table,

You have received his mercy, to give his mercy to everyone you meet, everyone who crosses your path

Commit to Him to live justified and express His mercy every day of your life.

The Call to Love ALL People

The Bridge Church — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 15:24:00 -0700

Dodie Gadient, a schoolteacher for thirteen years, decided to travel across America and see the sights she had taught about. Traveling alone in a truck with camper in tow, she launched out. One afternoon rounding a curve on I-5 near Sacramento in rush-hour traffic, a water pump blew on her truck. She was tired, exasperated, scared, and alone. In spite of the traffic jam she caused, no one seemed interested in helping. Leaning up against the trailer, she prayed, “Please God, send me an angel . . . preferably one with mechanical experience.”

Within four minutes, a huge Harley drove up, ridden by an enormous man sporting long, black hair, a beard and tattooed arms. With an incredible air of confidence, he jumped off and, without even glancing at Dodie, went to work on the truck. Within another few minutes, he flagged down a larger truck, attached
a tow chain to the frame of the disabled Chevy, and whisked the whole 56-foot rig off the freeway onto a side street, where he calmly continued to work on the water pump.

The intimidated schoolteacher was too dumbfounded to talk. Especially when she read the paralyzing words on the back of his leather jacket: “Hell’s Angels – California.” As he finished the task, she finally got up the courage to say, “Thanks so much,” and carry on a brief conversation. Noticing her surprise at the whole ordeal, he looked her straight in the eye and mumbled, “Don’t judge a book by its cover. You may not know who you’re talking to.” With that, he smiled, closed the hood of the truck, and straddled his Harley. With a wave, he was gone as fast as he had appeared.

Looks can be deceiving. There are times when we believe that Christians have to fit a specific mold or a specific picture that we have created. In reality, often our ideas are based in areas that we have favouritism – we want and expect Christians to be a certain way and do certain things for us to feel comfortable around them and want to be with them. Christian holiness matters, but sometimes issues of money, or age, race, language, appearance, place in life matter almost as much and will keep us from experiencing and expressing the love of Christian Community

We Judge People By Their Appearance – the things we “see” in a person. Just as the congregation in James 2 they judged two visitors by how they looked we often do the same thing.

“My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favouritism.”

Favouritism
noun 1. an inclination to favor some person or group 2. unfair treatment of a person or group on the basis of prejudice

Favouritism in the Bible literally means “to receive one’s face.”

Favoritism, partiality or as it is translated in some versions, “respect of persons” is mentioned several times in the New Testament. But in every other case it speaks of how God does not show favouritism...

“God does not show partiality.”(Acts 10:34) “God is not a respecter of persons.” “God does not receive people by face.” “God does not judge by externals, he judges the heart.” (1 Pet. 1:17)

James uses the phrase “as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ” or more literally “our Lord Jesus Christ, the Glory”, two different ways of translating the verse – the first is more qualitative describing the dignity of Jesus. The second way is to look at it more positionally – like the Shekinah glory of God – in the localized presence of Yahweh.

In this sense – James would be saying “My brothers and sisters, when you gather, the presence of Jesus is in your midst so do not show any favouritism.”

James uses an example of a wealthy guest who comes to a gathering of the church as an illustration of favouritism.
Thomas Lea says in the Holman New Testament Commentary that “the word describing the ring of the rich man indicated that he was ‘gold-fingered’ . Someone with gold rings would be showing off both status and wealth, a person with both rank and money.

. . The word ‘fine’ was used to describe the rich man’s clothing, and means ‘sparkling’ or ‘glittering’ . . .

Someone bringing attention to himself and his wealth.

The word ‘filthy’ was used to describe the poor man’s clothing, and pictured clothing which was dirty or shabby. The man may have come from work, his clothing stained with the evidence of his labor. The word for ‘poor’ is a greek term for the most severe form of poverty, implying destitute, without virtually any resources.

The handsome apparel on the rich man earned special treatment for him. The greeter gave him a place of special honor.

It is interesting that the problem begins with speaking – James had just told his readers they should be “slow to speak” – and here we can see how hasty judgement leads to sinful speech.

“here is a good seat for you”...”you go stand in the corner

James 2:4 “have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?”

James says “you have looked at the situation and made a determination about two people that is completely wrong from the way I see them.”

You have turned your attention from worship and set your sights on the things of the world.

We must learn to “see” people as God “sees” them – learning to look with spiritual eyes and not material eyes, where we are captivated only by the things we physically “see”

1 Sam 16:7

But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

God is not going to value the things the world values. In the world we seek status, power, position, in the eyes of others. We set our sights far too low, because we look at those just slightly ahead of us, whether it is in our career, or in life circumstances. But God does not look at us or others around us in that way.

God sees everyone as one He made – special and unique, ones He created to bear His image.

He is not impressed by what we have or don’t have – He has no favourites except every one of his children. Like a good parent who shows no favouritism among their children, but love them all deeply.

I remember shortly after my mother died, someone was speaking of her and said “she had the unique ability to make all her children think that they were her favourites.

God also sees everyone as a sinner – who by their own choices have gone their own ways, they are lost and in need of a savour, a sinner in need of forgiveness, outcast from heaven and in need of grace.

Each one of us have entered into his presence with filthy hearts.

God sees every person as one he accepts through their repentance and faith in His Son

Ones who must turn to him...

Everyone needs grace, forgiveness, love and acceptance

Regardless of their race, spiritual background, gender, age, education, intellect, wealth, athleticism, charisma, all the things we can look at that tend to sub-divide us.

When we only want to be around certain people with certain attributes – whether it is age, race or class we are not acting like God

When we only want certain types of people in our meetup group – we are in sin

When we only are willing to hang out with particular people we – we are not being Godlike

What did Jesus ‘see’ and who did he associate with?

When Jesus looked at people he had – compassion, hope, love

Jesus went to whom...?

Lepers, prostitutes, thieves, swindlers, blind, demon possessed, poor, destitute, adulterers, working class, uneducated, common, paralytics, lame, crippled, needy, old and infirmed, dumb, ones with shrivelled limbs, the sick, the afraid, the hungry, the harassed, the helpless, the desperate, the children and women, the off-breeds and half-breeds, the bastards of humanity.

Who did Jesus bless...

The poor in spirit, mourners, meek, hungry, persecuted, children, old

Who did he rebuke and challenge = the religious, educated, powerful and the rich

“Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong?

Who did he chase away = the confident and consuming, the ones looking for comfort and ease

Favouritism is fed by our own selfish motives – comfort of being with people ‘like me’ or those I’d like to be like.

In the world – not everyone is welcome everywhere.

In the church, the family of God, the body of Jesus – everyone is welcome and equal.

We all stand on level ground at the foot of the cross.

Gal 3:26-29

You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Prejudice and racism is all around us – but it is not to be here at The Bridge.

Classification by economics drives many social settings – but not here in our church.

Favouritism by age or gender has no place in our church – that does not mean that we don’t at times do things specifically for different groups = like a ministry time specifically oriented towards our children

or we may have some of our meet-ups oriented to men or women, but no one group is favoured or more special than another and no one is treated unfair or less important.

James 2:5 Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?

James poses a rhetorical question – the key idea here is the word “chosen” . James is saying that Christians have been chosen as the new community of God’s people here on earth.

Paul has a parallel teaching

1 Corinthians 1:26-30

26 Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things — and the things that are not — to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God — that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. NIV

It has been said that “God is on the side of the poor, not because they are poor but because they are responsive to him and are near to the kingdom.”

Whether a person is rich or poor makes no difference to God, and it shouldn’t make a difference to us.

Regardless of what would make a person different from us, in Christ we are one and equal and there must not be favouritism.

We should be marked by love, Jesus said:

John 13:35

By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another

Here at The Bridge, we are a wonderful church, and we come from many different places, around the world and in life.

On any given Sunday – we will have 50-60 people worshiping here with us – a relatively small church BUT – we will have 16 different Nationalities and cultures represented – 12 different mother-tongues – we span everything from birth to mid-70’s and from poverty to upper middle class.

We don’t have a homogeneous bone in our body = the thing that holds us together is our faith in Christ, the bond of the Holy Spirit.

The way we will keep favouritism from growing among us is by continuing to reach out to get to know someone different from us – you don’t’ have to look far and celebrate the commonality we have which is in Jesus.

This morning Let us commit to one another and before God that we – The Bridge – will not be a church that allows favouritism to enter and grow.

One evidence of our faith is we accept everyone on the basis of how God accepts them, not by the worlds standards.

How do we break the hold of Favouritism?

- Repentance – “I have sought to be with people like me”

- Become willing to accept others who are not like you

Rom 15:7 Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.

When we think that the other person doesn’t have something to offer me then we know we have fallen into the trap of favouritism

- Sacrificial service to others – serve someone who cannot repay you

- Look for someone you do not know and start a conversation

The High Call of a Christians Live

The Bridge Church — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 15:22:00 -0700

The great challenge of a Christian’s life is living the Christian life. Recognizing that I have entered into the most amazing, fulfilling, satisfying relationship I can imagine with my maker and my God and then letting the new life that Jesus has given me come out in my daily life.

James 1:19-27

this passage from James is the thesis of his entire letter

What is this saying:
James 1:19 My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,

My dear brothers = James is writing to Jewish Christians – but he is endearing them as he is about to say something that is going to be challenging

Take note of this = “know this” he is drawing their attention to what he is about to tell them because this is important for them to get.

James offers his audience a proverb – a proverb is a “nugget” of truth that is designed to whet your appetite for the treasure of truth. The Jewish people liked proverbs – short quips they could remember and use in their conversations -

Like Solomon said in Proverbs 1:8 “Listen, my son, to your fathers instructions; James is saying “My brothers, take note of this...”

Everyone = “anthropos” this applies to all humanity

Should be = “estoo” “let be” this is to be a state of character – ‘ought to be’

Quick to listen = quick = jump to it, rapidly pursue “hurry up and listen”

Slow to speak = contrast to listening – a hesitancy or delay to say something.

Opposite of what we usually do – we are usually quick to speak our mind and slow to listen – we often think we have something so valuable to say that we don’t need to listen – we are convinced already of what is right – true – good – we get committed to it and so we say whatever comes to mind and only listen when we are not sure.

To be “slow to speak” does not mean that we “never speak up” but our tongues should have a throttle and governor –

I grew up mowing lawns – and my mowers would always have a throttle and governor – the throttle determined how fast the engine ran and the governor determined how much power the engine would run with. Our tongues should have the same throttle & governor controlling how fast our mouths run and how much power our words have.

Because we are so sure we know what it right , we are quick to share it then we can become angry to defend what we think – we have just spoken and we can become angry when we have to justify or defend what we just said – we don’t want to look stupid or wrong James says we should be:

Slow to become angry = the anger here is often translated ‘wrath’ and is not the picture of a blow-up but the sustained impassioned burning anger.

The righteousness that God wants is not going to be produced by our anger. We cannot bring about God’s Kingdom through violence or wrath.

James is not saying we should never get angry – there is a place for “righteous anger”, but anger will not demonstrate the righteousness God expects our lives to be marked by.

In Verse 21 James connects the truth of this parable to a new level – anger cannot be your path but it can be and will be if we do not do what he says next –

21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

Get rid of = lay aside; put away; the NAS makes it very conscious action - “putting aside” – James is expecting his hearers to have already done this – like a parent expects his child to clean his room when he knows it is probably not done and has set the bar at his expectations “you’ve done this already haven’t you?” Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and evil – is a ‘given conclusion’.

James wants them to have removed “all dirtiness and excess wickedness”

Moral filth – Dirtiness = defilements that will spiritually stain our souls

Prevalent evil = evil that springs out of the character or sin that is within our own hearts.

Eph 4:31-32

31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. 32 Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.

Eph 5:3-6

3 Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God's people. 4 Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes—these are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God. 5 You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God. For a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.

6 Don't be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey him.

The moral failures and taints of evil in our character – get rid of these – take them off like filthy clothes

In Humility = ‘humbly’ – the attitude one would rightly have if they have removed the moral filth and evil that has been in their hearts. Like as you take off filthy clothes – you look at them and you think about where you’ve been and what you have done – how your anger and pride has lead you to say terrible things

In the Greco roman world – humility was not viewed as a virtue but a weakness, but in Judaism and Christianity humility is an essential element of Christ.

humbly accept the word planted in you-

implanted word = ‘emphutos’= engrafted, innate

in Greek thought, innate meant something inherent from birth – part of one’s nature, in today’s world people often think that people are born with God in them, goodness is inherent within a person, but if God’s ways were truly innate we would not have to receive it.

Christianity = the word of the gospel has taken up residence within believers – It is planted by God at a person’s new birth – God plants His word in our lives. This is why only after we receive Christ into our lives can we spiritually understand God’s Word.

1 Cor 2:14

The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.

This is not just a proverb for interpersonal relationships – regarding how we should relate to other people – though we would perhaps be richer in our relationships if we employed this proverb to our interactions with one another. However this proverb – and subsequent teaching is positioned in the middle of James’s conversation about God’s Word.

The context of this statement:

James 1:18-22

18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

19 My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. 21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

This proverb is teaching us something about how we relate to and regard God’s Word

...the word planted in you, which can save you.

God’s Word is able to continually work out the salvation that Jesus provides. God’s Word will sustain & mature us – from the beginning of our relationship with Him to the culmination of our salvation in the eschaton – the coming age.

The NAS = “...which is able to save your souls.” – “soul” is not included in NIV

Soul = “psuche” = your whole being – heart, mind, the rational & immortal

James call is to receive God’s word into our lives that can save our whole life –

If the gospel is obeyed, it is able to save the persons self.

James 1:22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

22 aBut prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. NASU

A hearer of the word, one who merely listens to the word is the person who has great intentions, but doesn’t quite get around to doing anything. This is the person who has heard – maybe many times for a long time but cant quite deliver.

All of us have had situations where we have the best intentions but no execution

Prov 25:14

14 Like clouds and wind without rain

is a man who boasts of gifts he does not give.

There are many people who can sound spiritual, they talk the talk but can’t walk the walk.

James says this is the person who deceives themselves... we can justify a lot,

“I intended to love this person by taking them a meal or calling them, but I had to work late and then give my cat a bath...”

We say these things to make ourselves feel good about our lives, but we are not deceiving anyone else.

James uses a great illustration to make his point.

James 1:23-25

23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 2

We understand mirrors – we have mirrors around us all the time. We use mirrors to make sure we look the way we want to look – or as close as we can get.

When James wrote this, mirrors were not as common and when a person looked at themselves in a mirror it maybe years between their last good look at themselves so they would peer into it for a long time so they wouldn’t forget what they looked like.

We look into mirrors so we can fix things – our hair, our face, our clothing

We would never look into a mirror and see us as a great mess and not do anything about it

When we go to God’s Word – it is to be like a mirror where we see ourselves in light of God’s image. We should spend time looking at how God looks at us, how he values us, sees us. We should see our messes – our sin, our bad habits, our attitudes – and consider what God would want us to do.

If we spend time reading the Bible and close the book with out meditating on what it said, without considering what it means – to me and in me – without offering to God to change the parts of me that need to be changed so I can look more like God’s image – then I am just like the person who saw the mess in the mirror but didn’t care enough to do anything about it.

Pirke Aboth:

There are four types of disciples:

Swift to hear and swift to lose – his gain is cancelled by his loss

Slow to hear and slow to lose – his loss is cancelled by his gain

Swift to hear and slow to lose – this is a happy lot

Slow to hear and swift to lose – this is an evil lot

The Big “BUT” the alternative that God offers us to help us succeed pleasing him and ourselves

James 1:25

25 But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it — he will be blessed in what he does.

James describes God’s Word as the “perfect law that gives freedom”

The Law was given to reveal our sin and lead us to a dependent relationship with God;

If I look into a mirror just to find my faults without changing something – I will feel bad about myself – depressing - God gave us the law to show us His standard for life and to drive us to him so he change us – bring regeneration into our lives because that is where we will ultimately find freedom.

James 1:26-27

26 If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. 27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

James summarizes his thesis in these last 2 verses – If someone wants to look like a godly person yet is not humbly and quickly to willing to listen.

The word “religion” has had a bad connotation in our current culture, because the world has tried to pack emotional meaning into the word that is not linguistically there. The word religion actually means “How I worship” – “how I ceremonially demonstrate my faith before God” that is my religion.

James says there are two ways of coming before God. One is authentic and the other inauthentic.

One is living the way I want and looking spiritual

The other is caring about the people God cares about to the point that He uses my life to care FOR those people – and living a holy life.

We will only be able to do that consistently if we are letting God’s Word change & shape our lives so we look like Him living in our skin –

Like Jesus said –

John 15:7-8

7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8 This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

What does this mean?

James calls his readers to 2 demonstrations of their faith

Holy Living & Faith-filled Action

What does this mean for my life?

The Christian life looks like:
a life marked by humility, with a desire to reflect God's image (not the world's around me)

A Christian should respond to God's Word with obedient listening, careful speech and humble attitude

the application of obedience and humility looks like caring for the people God cares for – in the way He would do it; while maintaining personal purity.

Father – Thank you that you desire to reveal yourself through my life. But God, sometimes when I look in the mirror – especially the mirror of your Word – all I see is a mess because of the sin of my life. Please forgive me and cleanse my soul – my heart, mind, attitudes and actions.

Please help me spend time in your Word this week and I commit to you now that I will let you challenge me and shape me because Your Word will bring my soul to life. Please let me be quick to listen – especially to you, let me be slow to speak – like I really know what you would say; and let me stop carrying that burning anger about those issues of my life, but please help me humbly receive your Word that will bring me life.

I want to do what you tell me to do, I want to care about the people you care about and in the ways you would care for them.

And God please keep my feet from running towards the moral filth and evil that is always around me and has at times marked my own life.

I love you Father, please help me live your holy life, Amen.

Temptation

The Bridge Church — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 17:02:00 -0700

PC Study Bible Data

Temptation is COMMON!

Temptation, It is something we all deal with it. The temptation to buy that piece of clothing or that electronic toy. The temptation to make this generalized lie in a report. The temptation to cheat on this test or expense report; the temptation to fanticize about this other person in an inappropriate way; or the temptation to say this hurtful thing to this other person; the temptation to manipulate a situation to make me look good and minimize my failing in a situation; the temptation to lie for my friend so they wouldn’t get in trouble, when what they did was wrong. Temptation is something we each deal with – every day; some are big and some are small – in our minds, but they are all significant in God’s estimation.

What is temptation,

Websters defines temptation as the act of enticing someone to commit an unwise or immoral act, especially by a promise of reward

Temptation, also translated or means ‘the test’ peirasmos; an experiment, a trial, temptation:

The unique thing about being human is that God made us with a free will the privilege of Free Will requires regular testing

As humans, God gave us something unique to all the rest of creation, an unbridled will, the supreme opportunity to choose. And with that privilege to choose he also put in place a mechanism to that will identify who we truly are and what we truly believe in. He gives us opportunities to be tested.

In school teachers give their students tests to prove what they know. Athletes are tested to see what they can do. In science experiments are designed to prove different aspects of a subject. At work, supervisors give employees projects to prove what they can do. And, in life, God allows us to be tested, tempted to see what we really believe about who we are and who God is and where our strength really comes from.

James 1:12-18

12 Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

13 When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

16 Don't be deceived, my dear brothers. 17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

The passage begins with a beatitude – a blessing – we can expect to be tested, temptation is a foregone conclusion, however, it is worth our while to pass the test. Those who pass the test receive the “crown of life”. This crown is not like a ‘royal crown’ but the laurel wreath that was given to winners of athletic competitions – the ones who have striven to win and end well and demonstrate their love for God receive the glories of life that God promises – and enter eternal life looking like the victorious Christ.

Our eternal life is not dependent upon our ability to pass the tests, but we will be blessed if we do.

An interesting thing about humans is that when we fail a test we often look for something or someone else to blame. “It’s not my fault that I screwed up!” We often want to make excuses for our own failures and James addresses this about us...

13 When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone;

When we try to blame God for our failures it produces a twisted picture of God as one who puts obstacles in peoples paths in order to tempt them to fall. But James is not going to let us get by with that, because James depicts God as the one who does not want his people to stumble and gives them the strength to endure temptation – “For God cannot be tempted to do evil”

God does not tempt us

God is not going to use evil against us to make us fall – but that does not mean that he is ignorant of it

God does indeed subject us to testing, but God does not test us with an evil intent that would lead us into sin, instead He is going to lead us to the door out of evil that we would never use if we were never tested. (1Cor 10:13)

Job 1:6-13

Job 1:6 One day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”

Satan answered the LORD, “From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it.”

Job 1:8 Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”

Job 1:9 “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. 10 “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. 11 But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.”

Job 1:12 The LORD said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.”

Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.

The point is - We must take responsibility for our tests– when we fail the test we cannot blame God or Satan

14 but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.

The true source of temptation comes from within us. Every single one of us is going to experience temptation from within ourselves.

Desire here does not necessarily equate to lust but rather refers to any intense longing for anything improper and would get in our way of pursuing God.

Temptations are tailored to the individual – we must not belittle a person for struggling with something that we may think is no big deal – instead recognize that each of us has our own battles, nuanced especially for us and it will be something that will draw us away from our relationship with God, usually by guilt or pride.

Temptations will either drag us or entice us – like fishing or hunting, like something killed and dragged away or lured and tricked into the frying pan.

Temptation will take you captive and sin kills.

When I was in school I used to hate tests because I would get what people now call ‘test anxiety’ my mind would just freeze up under the stress of the test. Consequently I would not prove all I could on the test because the test would overwhelm me, all I could focus on was the test, what I didn’t know, what I wasn’t sure of, what would I forget and I would forget what I knew.

Temptation has that same capability, it will seize you, captivate your attention, it is all you can think about – it is all you want. Temptation causes us to regard a particular sin, that’s all we see, it is what I think about, I rationalize it, think about how to hide it, justify it - and soon we can become captivated by it. Temptation has seized you.

15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

When you go fishing you put a worm on a hook. It is not the worm that puts the fish in your fry pan, it is the hook, but the fish would not give the hook a second glance if it were not for the worm, something the fish really was interested in and captivates its attention.

Temptation is the worm that attracts us to the sin that kills us. Temptation is the enticement to sin, it is an invitation to contridict God, his ways or desires.

Temptation takes our own desires, longings, ways, ideas, values and puts them up against God’s ways, his desires and then the test is our choice, temptation says ‘which will you choose’. When we choose God’s ways, we choose life, when we choose our own ways we choose the hook that puts us in the fry pan.

The test at school is not bad in and of itself, though students rarely enjoy them. The teacher is only bad when they don’t give a test. And strength is built when we pass the test. Confidence grows when we pass tests, especially tests that we have failed before

God is Faithful – he wants you to succeed. He wants you to succeed in trusting him because he knows that is the only real source of strength. God knows that His faithfulness is stronger than the temptation, but the choice remains ours.

16 Don't be deceived, my dear brothers. 17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

When James speaks of the first fruits of all that God desires us to become – he is saying God has more in mind for us, more in-store for us than what we have experienced so far, and the tests we go through are preparing us for what he has in-store for us in the future and it will be found in a relationship with him.

Temptation will reveal our independence and reliance on ourselves which ultimately leads us to death, but the crown of life that He has for us will be in our relationship with Him

The test is not the worm, the test is sin, the hook. Will I do things my own way or Gods way; will I seek to satisfy my needs in the ways that seem best to me or will I let God satisfy my needs?

When a man tries to satisfy his sexual desires by looking at pornography, porn is the worm that the man develops an appetite for, but the hook is his desire to satisfy his needs his own way on his own time schedule and not God’s ways. He sets himself up as the determiner of this area of his life, the master of this ship.

Money can be a worm too -

1Tim. 6:9 People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.

Money itself is not bad, but if the desire to get rich becomes a replacement for having to trust in God’s security and provisions and I just trust in my own abilty to make money and bring me confidence and satisfaction then I am plunging head first into ruin.

God knows what you are able to deal with, and it will always be more than you think you can deal with, that is what makes it a temptation. If you could handle it on your own, you wouldn’t need him, but in reality we do need him and the test is will we look to him.

God provides a way of escape - He chose us – we must choose Him

When I take his way out, I am proving I trust him. I am trusting in the strength he provides, - Paul said in “my weakness He is made strong”

The escape route is always passing by the temptation not playing with it.

God wants us to pass the test, but we cant do it without him. The point is not our ability to overcome the temptation but the strength that comes from our dependence upon him as the one who is giving us every good and perfect gift of life. It is that strength that allows us to swim by the worm on the hook and look for the real food that he will bring to us.

He is faithful and will always provide a way of escape – a door out, maybe I need to leave the room before I say something that I will regret. The thought comes to my mind to go to the other room, God’s spirit offering me a way out but will I take it.

Maybe I usually walk to the store the same path every few days but I have to go by that shop that sells

His way out promises us that we will endure – we will pass the test, we will succeed.

Temptation is responding to a desire that will sieze you, take you captive to a hook that will kill you spiritually, it will suck every ounce of spiritual strength from you.

But Jesus came to set the captives free, those bound to sin and death. It is by His choice that we experience a new birth into a new way of living that is in, through and based upon trusting in His word of Truth, so we can experience all He has in-store for us both in this life and the life to come.

To truly overcome temptation is to pass by it, pay it no regard, to receive what Jesus really offers us, life that is real.

The test is not will I eat the worm and get off the hook, but will I pass the worm by to get what will truly satisfy.

Jesus said “ I have come that you may have life and have to abundantly” to the fullest, to get that kind of life you will have to give up trying to get it your own way, that looks so enticing and trust that Jesus knows the real way.

Living in an Upside Down World

The Bridge Church — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 13:57:00 -0700

PC Study Bible Data

Last week we considered how wisdom for living our lives comes from God, He is the one who knows how life is to work and when we ask Him to give us wisdom, He will, but we must trust Him in what he says, believing that His ways are best.

James 1:5-6

If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind

This week we get a very practical picture of what James is talking about. And we are going to discover that we are completely upside down to the way God put the world together and the way we have been conditioned to think and live.

The world is disoriented – and we are use to the disoriented pressure.

Scuba Diving – look for the bubbles going up

The message of James is

Through Jesus, God rescues us from living upside down

God’s wisdom will show us how to live and live well. And it is going to cost us by trusting God’s ways are true and right and then living them out.

The problem is…

We like living upside down!

We come into this world upside down and spend the rest of our life making it work

We start out upside down

We grow up upside down

We find our thrills upside down

We organize our life upside down – like we think that’s the way it is supposed to be

We view life upside down, we look at our relationships upside down

We even study life upside down -

Naval researcher Dr. Dietrich Beischer testing effects of being upside-down for prolonged periods of time on animals.

We balance life upside down We think we see life clearly upside down!

The teaching of Jesus was a paradox

Paradox: a contradictory statement that is true, a statement contrary to the received opinion. Jesus begins to turn our lives back right side up.

Jesus said…

"So the last will be first, and the first will be last." Matt 20:16

Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Matt 18:4

The greatest among you will be your servant. ¹² For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. Matt 23:11-12

Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Matthew 10:39

Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, ⁴⁴ and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. Mark 10:43-44

But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Luke 6:35

To find real wealth you have to give all you have

To be his disciple you have to pick up your cross and follow him

Jesus described life in the kingdom and he came to rescue us to take us to his kingdom.

He came into a world where everything happened upside down and God’s wisdom is going to turn our lives right-side up and it changes our perspectives of God, ourselves and our world.

James jumps right in addressing this completely alternate way of living…

James 1:9-11

The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position. 10 But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower. 11 For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich man will fade away even while he goes about his business.

Those who know they really are needy are ready to discover God’s greatness

Those who use all they have to serve others are blessed

Life is short, the things of this world will pass away, don’t get caught by the trappings of this place - there are more important things to point your lives towards.

Lets look closer at what James is trying to say…

9 The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position.

James turns things upside down right away…Reversal in roles between rich and poor
- in ancient culture – there was no middle class - 90% poor / 10% rich - did not mix socially
What Jesus is talking about is the one in humble circumstances depicts a person of little significance in the worlds evaluation, even oppressed by the world – but they should take pride in their high postion.
- A person may be poor economically or socially or both but there is more at stake than the physical conditions we experience - gaining God’s perspective of our circumstances is more important in the scheme of eternal life.

James contrasts physically rich / poor literally as opposites alluding to a spiritual state
- Mixing the physical / spiritual realms – what is happening in one affects the other. We build barriers in our life that we think can’t be broken or overcome

James is not making an application to all poor people in general, but address this to “the brother in humble circumstances…”
- The readers likely responded to this because they were viewed in this light – of no regard – dispersed into the world, no ‘home’, reminded everyday they didn’t ‘fit’ in their current place = all because of their religious choice to follow Christ.

Perhaps they have made a conscious choice to follow Christ that has left them in a compromised physical state economically
[present tense imp] “boast” “take pride” – live in this perspective every day
- Normally negative concept – inappropriate expression; inflated sense of righteousness
Because “his” is singular present tense it carries the same tense to “high position”. This understanding does not come from society, but God’s perspective. This is not just an “attitude” but REALITY that affects how we live today. James is saying “when you live this way you are fitting precisely to the kind of life of the Kingdom. This perspective can only come from a relationship with God. This is not some kind of mind game where you maintain a different perspective of yourself but we let Jesus break in and permanently turn our understanding of ourselves right side up.

James redirects the reader’s attention towards the promised anticipation of the life to come. “Focusing on our future destiny can begin to reframe our perspectives on the present as well, as we look beyond our socioeconomic status and begin to see the world through God’s eyes.” (Bloomburg, 55 [Moo])

Those who know they need Christ realize they have been adopted into God’s family – they have a future that is real time and eternal.

Also they realize that those who use all they have to serve others in the name of Jesus are blessed

10 But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower.

James is talking to people seen as literally wealthy
These people are told to “boast”, “take pride in” an attitude / action often associated with wealthy people. – but the reversal here is the call to boast in humiliation
- The only way to get there is a change in self-perspective – James seems to be intending some kind of spiritual humbling – because they are wealthy
James reminds them they will die like everyone else and forfeit all their material positions – don’t put your value in temporal wealth
- He who dies with the most toys still dies”

Here James does not call the reader “brothers” – he is making a purposeful point…

Luke 12:15

Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."

The worlds view of wealth is not God’s view of a person’s life. God is not impressed by a person’s bank account.
- Like William Buffet would not be impressed with my financial portfolio or yours, because Buffet’s portfolio is a magnitude greater than mine’ God is equally not impressed with William Buffet’s – and honestly we are the ones who draw the distinctions of importance / value by the world’s standards. In God’s view He owns everything I have and Buffet, and He sees no distinction between the wealthy and the poor. And when we do we are not acting like “brothers” of God’s family.
- James, in his letter, is going to talk quite a lot about how we view others and use our wealth, and he is establishing up front – we are upside down in our worldly thinking.
“wildflowers” only last a few days before drying up and dying; beauty only lingers in memory

Prov 23:5

Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone,

for they will surely sprout wings

and fly off to the sky like an eagle.

James is stressing that wealth and status of the rich remain remarkably transient and we can use what we have to bless others – and in so doing we are blessed too.

Life is short, the things of this world will pass away, don’t get caught by the trappings of this place

11 For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich man will fade away even while he goes about his business.

James is using illustrations to portray timeless truths rather than past life events.
Scorching heat withers the plant– searing (scorching) wind – sirocco wind swept through the desert
- Produces drought
- Heat of the day peaks not at sun’s rising but early afternoon
- The complete destructiveness of heat and wind
- inevitably comes
Grass withers, flowers fall [lit. the beauty of its face is destroyed]
- The flowers beauty and glory turns out to be utter ruin, destroyed by the extremes of the elements / nature’s cycles
The rich will fade away even in the midst of their daily pursuits
- Destruction is inevitable and thorough – through the “comings & goings”
While “on the go” from place to place, the rich will die, regardless of specific activities of the moment.

If we are going to live our life demonstrating a faith that is real and showing up in our lives, it is going to look upside down to the rest of the world.

Only God’s wisdom is going to give us the framework to re-calibrate our lives, and we will have to trust that what God says is right and true. As we make decisions to live His ways in our life we will be living our faith that makes a difference.

This morning, you may not even know all the ways you are living your life upside down to the way God intends you to live, but maybe he has shown you one or two areas that He wants to change in your life… are you willing to trust Him and do it his way?

Where do you know you really need God to show up = maybe it is in your finances, or marriage, or relationship at work, or your health, when you realize you have been adopted into God’s family – you have a future that is real and eternal – how does that change the way you could respond to your situation as God would in His wisdom? Are you willing to do that. Maybe it means a phone call or visit, maybe it means enduring a bad situation for the hope of bringing something good, maybe it means changing your job or moving or staying where your at because of what God is doing in you and through you.

Where are you wealthy? Can you realize that those who use all they have to serve others in the name of Jesus are blessed? What you have, your wealth, your education, your experiences are for God to use to bless others, not just yourself.

Life is short – don’t get caught up in the trappings of this upside down world.

Where have you been trapped? Let Christ bring you freedom this morning.

Acknowledge where / how you are trapped upside down to His truth – ask Him to forgive you – take responsibility for your own upside down living
Confess that you do not want to live this way anymore
Ask Him what you should do to live in His right side up ways – this is asking for His wisdom
Do what he tells you to do – tell someone what he is doing in your life.

Father thank you that you want to turn us right side up and help us see you, ourselves and this world from your perspective. We know your ways are right and true, help us trust you as you calibrate our lives to live in your ways.

This morning, if you have been trapped living upside down to God’s ways and you want to experience Him turning your life right side up then:

Ask Him to show you where / how you have been living opposite of His ways
Ask Him to forgive you, acknowledging it has been your choices that have kept you living upside down.
Confess to Him that you don’t want to live like this any more
Ask Him what you should do to live right side up – ask for His wisdom
- Maybe you need to commit to become a follower of Him
Do what He tells you to do – that is the Holy Spirit speaking to your heart – what God tells you to do you should do.
Thank Him for loving you enough to turn your life right side up

Thank you Father for loving us and showing us Yourself, ourselves and how we should live today.

Rom 12:2

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.

The Great Search for Wisdom

The Bridge Church — Sun, 30 May 2010 11:13:00 -0700

The amazing thing about trials is they take me to the end of my rope sometimes. To the point that I don’t know what to do next. I am out of options. It doesn’t matter where I am in my life, if I am just starting or well into life, trials, difficulties, challenges take me to the brink. I can look at someone else’s difficulty and think “Yea, I have been there before, If I were them I would do this...” but I am not them and when I am going through my own difficulty I am in new and uncharted waters again and I need something I don’t have.

Everyone is different in the way they deal with their life challenges. Whether the challenge is health, money, relationship, emotions, addictions, the challenge each person faces is real. Just like pain, each person’s pain tolerance is different when it comes to their life challenges. Each person deals with different amounts of life challenges, like plates, some people can put a lot on their plate and other people’s plates are small and can’t handle so much – regardless, everyone has an edge to their plate where things start to fall off and messes are made. At the point where we are at the edge of our life plate that is where we need help. When everything can stay on our plates without too much inconvenience our life is pretty much under control, but there are times in our lives when things get dumped on us, maybe they came from nowhere(like a health problem) or maybe we took them on not realizing it was going to grow to be this kind of challenge (like getting married or having children) or maybe someone else dumped on us and we didn’t want it at all but now we have to deal with it (like a family relationship challenge or a problem at work) it is at that point I need new insight in what to do, I need answers to problems, I need a strategy to make it through the challenge, I need to know what the problem really is – I need WISDOM.

What is Wisdom?

We may have some idea of what wisdom is = this intangible insight, understanding, information that I need that will help me work through the challenges of my life to make my problems go away = right. And in a very basic sense – wisdom is the ability a person has to create strategies to accomplish the results he / she desires in her life. But, it also is a bit broader than that,

wis·dom [wiz-duh m] –noun

1.the quality or state of being wise; knowledge of what is true or right coupled with just judgment as to action; sagacity, discernment, or insight. Random House Dictionary,

Wisdom is more than education – in the Biblical sense – a child who simply trusts and obeys God has more wisdom than the greatest intellectual who does not trust and obey God.

Wisdom is something we grow in –we can grow in understanding, knowledge, discretion, judgement, decision making skills, but wisdom comes as we learn to apply God’s truth and His ways with our knowledge and understanding so we experience the blessings of God.

At the same time Wisdom comes at a cost. With more wisdom comes the tinge of sorrow and pain as we see things from God’s perspectives. We begin to see how tragic the human condition is and we see more clearly how rebellion against God has marred and scared our world and our own lives.

We also discover that wisdom is not fixed, as we can grow in Wisdom we can also decline or destroy wisdom. A person who was once wise can become a fool while he maintains his knowledge and intelligence. Just as Solomon was at one time said to be the wisest person who lived, by the end of his life he was a mess of a man because of the bad choices he made to satisfy his own pride. And his children were postured to leave a horrific legacy on Israel.

A person who wants to acquire wisdom must encounter Two precursors to wisdom –

The first one is HUMILITY

Prov 11:2 When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.

Humility involves a spirit of deference and submission – the first will be last, the last will be first (Matt 20:16) Deference = willingness to bend, be flexible in a situation; Submission = willingness to put others first serve others (Matt 20:26)

Humility shapes our relationship with God, we defer to His wishes and to His will – for our life and how He has put the world together.

Humility also affects our relationship with other people, we recognize them as equal to us before God and as worthy of just and kind treatment as we are. Humility allows us to rejoice when others are blessed and we are not.

Humility shapes our own self-concept – how we view ourselves. In proper humility we do not think more highly of ourselves than we should, rather we think of ourselves with sober judgement. We are willing and able to humble ourselves in the sight of ourselves and others to exercise wisdom

Humility sets the stage for Wisdoms arrival from God. The proud, arrogant person misses the opportunity to experience the wisdom that only humility can bring

If/when we allow pride to grow in our lives we cannot and will not experience God’s wisdom.

The second precursor to Wisdom is the FEAR OF THE LORD

In the fear of the Lord, our concern in life becomes to please God in our thoughts, attitudes, words and actions –

Prov 9:10

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,

and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

For a person to develop and grow in the Wisdom that God brings into a persons life with the skill of dealing with a broad range of life’s challenges, we must enter into a relationship with God described as the Fear of the Lord.

The fear of the Lord is a profound respect for God and only then can the Lord become our instructor to teach us wisdom. God is often going to teach us wisdom through a number of methods and means, His Word, prayer and other people – His children, His church, and as they challenge us, encourage us, teach us if we do not have humility and fear of the Lord, we will not let God teach us His wisdom.

When we believe that God is the only one who holds all things together and he is the one who knows everything – I am learning from Him – always – I am in a postion to grow in wisdom.

The person who thinks they are equal or independent from God is the one who misses wisdoms blessings and eventually falls prey to life’s trials.

I met someone this week who at one time in their life had a close walk with Jesus, but now as they grew older and wiser in their own eyes, their pride and arrogance had deterioriated any amount of wisdom they once had and they were suffering to lifes challenges.

How do we know when we have encountered real wisdom?

In Proverbs wisdom is personified as a woman who is calling out to people and in

Prov 8:8-9

8 All the words of my mouth are just;

none of them is crooked or perverse.

9 To the discerning all of them are right;

they are faultless to those who have knowledge.

Prov 8:20

20 I walk in the way of righteousness,

along the paths of justice,

Wisdom has already declared in Prov 8 all the tremendous capacities she can grant and how she will bless those who love her and seek her.

And it says we will find her on a road with 2 curbs – the Two boundaries that define wisdom.

One is Righteousness and the other is Justice.

Always doing what is right before God and treating others justly. Apart from righteousness and Justice you will never find God’s wisdom and you will not find wisdoms blessing or successes.

A wise strategy for life is one where the goal and all the individual steps lead towards righteousness of God and justice towards people. A godly person is a righteous and just one.

When we desire to bring about God’s right way of living – it means we know, can discern and identify a wrong way of living. Anything that compromises truth, is a lie. Unearned gain is either a gift or stolen.

A wise person will be concerned for the wellbeing of others, everyone else involved. Their interests go well beyond themselves but desire to make sure everyone succeeds.

We know we need wisdom – How do I get wisdom?

James 1:5

If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.

Ask God –

Asking God is more than just praying and saying “God please give me wisdom...” but it is the sense of turning my attention to him and his ways. I am going to ask and give him my ear

“2 turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding,”

When God shows his wisdom – he is revealing himself and God loves to reveal himself and so he gives us his wisdom, so we see him and his ways, His love and justice for his people.

God gives wisdom, Generously, Without finding fault

You may have made some terrible mistakes in the past but that will not disqualify you from experiencing God’s generous supply of wisdom.

You may be going through a terrific trial right now in your life but God is generous with His wisdom.

As we go through this book of James, God is going to challenge us in our thinking, in our attitudes about Him, ourselves and how we relate to others around us – especially those we would just as soon not have to relate too – God is ready to give you wisdom in how you can respond in right ways.

BUT... realizing the truth of God’s wisdom will cost you...

James 1:8-8

But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

Will I trust God that He knows – has the knowledge, insight, understanding to show me what to do and how to live?

James 1:6-8

6 But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. 7 Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.NLT

We can be very critical of God and his ways – what it means to doubt – questioning, challenging, sceptical, critical of God – and when we take this approach we are actually judging God – we are making ourselves equal with God, knowing just as well has he does to discern what is true and right and we distrust God.

As we get older and more educated we become less likely to trust God and his ways – and we don’t receive his benefits.

We “think” we “know” more - what the Bible calls being “wise in our own eyes”

Prov 26:12

12 Do you see a man wise in his own eyes?

There is more hope for a fool than for him.

James uses an illustration of waves of the sea that are always moving. We like to keep our options open. We want something sure and solid, just not always sure where it might come from so we keep one foot on the dock and one foot on the boat. Eventually you have to choose which you will trust.

We can be just like that as we trust and relate to God as adults. We think we know better and we try to manage life and God and things don’t seem to work when God tells us to do something that requires humility or high regard for him. We think we know better and compromise God’s righteousness or honest concern for others and we struggle.

As we go through James this summer we need to decide who are we going to trust? He is going to challenge us on how we view power, money, ourselves, others, and we will be tempted to make excuses for ourselves and in the long run miss the transformation process God wants to do in each of us.

Prov 3:5-6

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding;

6 in all your ways acknowledge him,

and he will make your paths straight.

To experience God’s wisdom we are going to have to trust that God’s ways are true and right, that caring for others and serving them will lead to wise decisions.

Let your heart be softened by God’s spirit – so you can trust him

Commit to trust him when he tells you what to do

Give your life to him

Give your intellect to him

Consider it What?!

The Bridge Church — Sun, 23 May 2010 17:38:00 -0700

The bible gives us a picture of God’s new reality—a reality that is here/real because of what Christ accomplished on the cross. And yet, this reality is held in a paradoxical tension of “already but not yet.” This tension is pervasive throughout Scripture—the end of Matthew Jesus says “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” yet we see wickedness prosper over good; injustice rather than justice. The Bible affirms Christ’s reign NOW but we look over our city and see many who are openly hostile to Christ and many more who are indifferent to him. Our own salvation is something that is “now but not yet”—we have been saved and the Bible declares we are “being saved.” The challenge we have as we approach the Bible is to allow it to speak and declare God’s new reality and by the power of the Holy Spirit submit ourselves to this reality so that we can live in it, to the glory of God.

Our text this morning invites us into God’s new reality—a new way of seeing, thinking, and being/living in the world; particularly with regards to suffering. A new way of seeing, thinking, and living is made possible by the Holy Spirit living inside Christ’s followers.

James 1:2-4, 12

²Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. ⁴Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking in anything….¹²Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

PRAYER:

Most gracious God, our Father, we pray this morning that you would give us eyes to see the new reality that you are inviting us into. We ask for the power of your presence and the work of your Holy Spirit in our lives to make the proper connections between your Word and our seeing, thinking, being, and living. We submit our thinking and living to the authority of your Word and to the leading of your Spirit. For we believe that when the living God speaks something always happens—your Word does not return void but accomplishes your purposes. Therefore we pray expectantly—speak Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with words that we will receive, that our lives might be lived in the fullness of joy that is in Christ. We pray these things for your glory and our good. Amen.

BOOK: Our text beings with a command—

CONSIDER it pure joy

“Consider it pure joy”—we expect something like “consider it pure joy when…the sun is shining…things are good…you get that raise/promotion…Consider it pure joy when…you are at church…with friends…when you’re laughing…when all seems well and right with the world (or at least our part of it). We expect those kinds of words to follow but instead the command is to “consider it pure joy when you face trials of many kinds.”

This is truly a new way of looking at the challenging and painful experiences in life. No one naturally says, “difficulties/trials…sign me up!” And yet James begins here! He doesn’t try to soften us up to the idea…saying “trials aren’t all that bad.” NO! James knows trials are not fun, that they are painful. James is a leader of the Church in Jerusalem—where Christ was crucified—the place was hostile towards Christianity. A quick glance at the book of Acts shows the hostility in Jerusalem:

Acts 5:33

When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them [Peter & John].

Acts 7:54, 58

Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him [Stephen]….Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him.

TRIALS-

James is no stranger to trials and does not belittle the pain or difficulty they bring.

*“The Greek word used here (peripipto) suggests an unwelcome and unanticipated experience.”[1] [Jesus uses the same word in the Story of the Good Samaritan (luke 10:30) as the man “fell into the hands of” robbers]

*“They [trials] can be a part of the normal ebb and flow of life, they can result from the wiles of Satan, or (as we are about to see in 1:12-18) they can be allowed by God and even sent by God. No matter their source, James insists that we should respond not with anger or disappointment, but with utter joy.”[2]

But he wants his readers (and us) to approach the many kinds of trials we face, whether it’s intense persecution (physical or not), broken relationships, or financial/job difficulties and whatever, with a renewed mindset; one that sees them as “pure joy.”

JOY-

In the way we often think of joy this doesn’t make sense. But this new reality is NOT inviting us into the idea that Christians are supposed to smile all the time, or that we should feel happy in the midst of trial. Joy is something different than feelings. Joy “speaks of a state of being rather than an emotion.”[3] And is perhaps, more appropriately defined as: “an unnatural reaction of deep, steady and unadulterated thankful trust in God.”[4]

I know that this brings up questions, like: How in the world can James see trials as pure joy? And to that question we will turn. But let me say this, “A large part of the life of faith is one’s attitude toward things in life and one’s response to events.”[5] As Christians we are to submit ourselves to the working of the Holy Spirit so that he can restore the image of Christ in us. That means, reshaping our hearts, minds, attitudes, and responses to better reflect the heart, mind, attitude, and responses of Christ.

PAUSE TO SURRENDER

How in the world can James see trials as pure joy?

James 1:3

³because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.

The Greek word for “because you know” is a participle that can also be read as having an imperatival force; more of a command—know the testing of your faith produces perseverance—“as a way of helping them regard testing as joy.”[6]

Either way we take it, we are still rightly drawn back into Israel’s story, which is their history/experience with God. And what do we see...

Psalm 66:10-12

¹⁰For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried. ¹¹You brought us into the net; you laid a crushing burden on our backs; ¹²you let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.

Proverbs 17:3

³The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and the LORD tests hearts.

...When we look at Israel’s story, we see testing and trials but we also see restoration and the hope of restoration, which often comes through perseverance.

The next question that comes to my mind is: What is so valuable about “perseverance” that makes the persevering of trials become joy?

PERSEVERANCE-

“This is not a passive virtue but a steady clinging to the truth within any situation.”[7] Against any passive sense, perseverance can be seen as a “militant patience,” an engaged waiting, an enduring—a living steadfast through trials and tests.[8]

But perseverance alone is not the goal James has mind!

James 1:4

⁴Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking in anything.

This idea is “parallel to the Hebrew idea that testing can result in purification.”[9] It can result in purification, but only if we submit to the Holy Spirit and persevere by his power. Notice how joy, perseverance, and restoration are themed in Psalm 66

Psalm 66:1, 10-12

¹Shout for joy to God, all the earth; sing the glory of his name; give him glorious praise!...¹⁰For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried. ¹¹You brought us into the net; you laid a crushing burden on our backs; ¹²you let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.

When Proverbs 17:3 tells us, “the LORD tests hearts” the implied trajectory of the statement moves us NOT to leave us wounded and shattered but to something precious, refined, made whole! And so we are commanded and encouraged, even though it is difficult, to allow perseverance to finish its work in us because God is making us whole through persevering in trials. We may not like it, but God has a purpose for the “testing” and the purpose is good.[10]

This has been the case since God entered into relationship with Israel.

Proverbs 3:11-12

¹¹My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline or be weary of this reproof, for the LORD reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.

Because God loves us, he allows us to go through times of testing; times of intense pressure because he is developing something inside of us and transforming us from the inside out. As much as we may not like it, it is the way God has set it up. And so the NT authors embrace it and say...

Romans 5:3-5

³...we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance /perseverance, 4and endurance/perseverance produces character, and character produces hope, 5and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

“The maturing of the believer is simply becoming what God intends that a human being should be.”[11] That is, to restore the image of God in man. This is what salvation is all about: restoration! And God chooses to do that through proving/testing our faith.

The bible uses several different images to illustrate the Christian life; from gardeners to athletes to soldiers. James is telling us to let perseverance finish its work in us so that we can be whole and complete, not lacking anything.

This idea of “’not lacking in anything,’….may be more closely associated with military imagery, being fully outfitted for battle….the strengthening of endurance through trials is an important aspect of Christian life, and without it the Christian is ill-equipped for service to God…”[12]

So, what is so valuable about “perseverance” that makes the persevering of trials become joy?

James gives us two reasons.

The first is a promise for this life. It is the path to maturity; to being refashioned in the image of God, so that we are better equipped to reflect his image into the lives that surround us. And the good news here is that we are not alone in these trials, although we may often feel like it; the Holy Spirit of God is living inside of us giving us the energy and strength to persevere...giving us the patience to let perseverance mature and equip us to live as the Father means for us to live.

Second is a promise for future reward.

James 1:12

¹²Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

This phrase, “crown of life” is not descriptive of an actual crown but is the goal of the Christian life; eternal life in Christ. (Rev. 2:10).[13]

The promise of God to his followers is that we “do not strive in futility with a vain, blind hope but instead endure purposefully with the goal of everlasting life with God in sight.”[14]

Now this promise is conditional, it is for “those who love him.” And a characteristic of those who love him is perseverance—a perseverance that is allowed to work and develop maturity.

TOOK: What is this new reality that we are invited to? To consider trials as joy because they are opportunities for God to reshape his image in us, which equips us to live for him now and eagerly await his promise of life for the future.[15]

[1] David Nystrom, James: the NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1997), 47.

[2] Nystrom, 48.

[3] Craig L. Blomberg, Mariam J. Kamell, James: Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2008), 48.

[4] Derek Tidball, Wisdom from Heaven: The Message of the Letter of James for Today (Fearn, Scotland: Christian Focus, 2003), 22.

[5] Dan G. McCartney, James (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2009), 84.

[6] Ibid., 85-86.

[7]

Living our Faith

The Bridge Church — Sun, 16 May 2010 17:36:00 -0700

PC Study Bible Data

On Jan 1, 1990, President Vaclav Havel of Czechoslovakia addressed his nation. It had been a few weeks sinces his country peaceably ousted the Communist totalitarian government that had held power for forty years. Only two days before Havel had been elected President by a parliament still dominated by Communists. Havel said:

We live in a contaminated moral environment... We learned not to believe in anything, to ignore each other, to care only for ourselves. Concepts such as love, friendship, compassion, humility, and forgiveness lost their depth and dimensions, and for many of us they came to represent only psychological peculiarities, or to resemble long-lost greetings from ancient times...When I talk about contaminated moral atmosphere...I am talking about all of us...Why do I say this? It would be quite unreasonable to understand the sad legacy of the last forty years as something alien, something bequeathed to us by some distant relative. On the contrary, we must accept this legacy as a sin we committed against ourselves.

There are many points of similarity between this brief excerpt from Havel’s speech and the letter of James. Havel writes from the heart, like James; his is a heart that has known adversity as well as joy. Both are keen observers of human nature. Both are vitally interested in the creation of true community, a community marked by mutual care and interdependent responsibility. In an era in which the sense of personal responsibility seems endangered, Havel calls us to account.

James also is unafraid to call sin by its true name. And like Havel, he will not allow us to shirk responsibility for our own actions, or for the evil that occurs because of our own inaction.

James wrote to a wide group of churches addressing the challenges of their cultural condition, problems that include giving in when trials come, passing blame in temptation, intolerance of others yet tolerating sin, favouritism, and the insatiable desire for wealth, materialism and status.

James is the one who says...

James 1:2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,

James 1:10 the one who is rich should take pride in his low position,

James 2:26 faith without deeds is dead.

James 4:3 you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

James 4:4 friendship with the world is hatred toward God?

As we walk through this letter of James, we will find that the thing highest on James mind was the creation of true Christian community that could only begin to develop as the hearts and minds of followers of Jesus began to let the ways of Jesus change them.

Lets look at an introduction to this letter of James.

It begins. James 1:1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,

To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations:

Greetings.

Who is it that writes this...

I. JAMES, THE AUTHOR

A. His Identity

“James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.” (James 1:1a) is the way he introduces himself.

It was a popular name, and was a form of the Old Testament name Jacob. His brief introduction shows two facts about James.

he was well known. He introduced himself with only his first name, assuming that his readers could identify him.
he showed great humility in that he wanted to be known as a servant of Jesus.

Four men named James appear in the New Testament.

Two of these are, James the father of Judas(Luke 6:16) and

James, the son of Alphaeus (Luke 6:15).

While both of these are members of the twelve apostles, they are little‐known figures who do not seem to qualify as possible authors of the letter.

James, the son of Zebedee, and brother of John, was a prominent leader among the Apostles, but his early martyrdom occurred at a time before the Book of James was written, eliminating him as a possible author. This is recorded in Acts 12:2 and is believed to have occurred in A.D. 44.

This leaves only James, the brother of the Lord Jesus Christ, as the most likely candidate. The early

church accepted him as the author of the book.

B. His Biography

James was a younger brother of Jesus. By brother, I mean of course, a half‐brother. Joseph was not

the father of Jesus, since He was conceived by the Holy Spirit of God (Luke 1:35). Contrary to Roman Catholic teaching, Joseph and Mary had other children after Jesus was born.

This truth is implied in

Matt 1:25 But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

It is explicitly stated in Luke’s description of Jesus that Mary “brought forth her firstborn son”

(Luke 2:7).

In Matthew 13:55 and Mark 6:3 it is clearly stated that Jesus had both brothers and sisters, and

His brothers names are listed.

Mark 6:3

3 Isn't this the carpenter? Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph,a Judas and Simon? Aren't his sisters here with us?"

In both Matthew and Mark,

James is listed first, suggesting he may have been the oldest of the other brothers.

Paul explicitly calls James “the Lord’s brother” (Galatians 1:19).

It is surprising to observe that though they grew up with Him and observed His perfect sinless life,

His brothers did not believe in Him throughout His earthly life and ministry. This is stated in

John 7:5 For even his own brothers did not believe in him.

This is implied in the account early in Jesus ministry...

Mark 3:31-35

31 Then Jesus' mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. 32 A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, "Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you."

33 "Who are my mother and my brothers?" he asked.

34 Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother."

Can you imagine how James felt hearing that...

Can you imagine what it would be like to grow up in Jesus’ home. They lived in the presence of

a perfect, sinless person. They ate, played, worked, and worshiped with Him.

Our fallen sinful natures are usually uncomfortable in the presence of others who are more holy than we are holy. Think of the arguments and divisions they must have had about Him. Can’t you hear them saying, “You always think you are better than us!” Or “He has such a holier than thou attitude!”

The story does have a good outcome. James becomes a follower of Jesus

We find after the resurrection that Jesus’ brothers met with the 120 in the upper room for prayer (Acts 1:14).

What was it that caused the change from unbelief to faith?

I Corinthians 15:7 states that Jesus appeared to James after His resurrection! This convinced James that He was the Son of God, and James then came to faith in the Savior.

He then, in turn, would share this knowledge with the other brothers.

James becomes a leader

While James was not an apostle, He soon became one of the key leaders in the church in Jerusalem.

When Paul would later visit Jerusalem, he would describe James, along with Peter and John as “pillars” in the church (Galatians 2:9).

He would later become, to use a contemporary term, its “senior pastor”, or elder. When Peter was miraculously released from prison, he told the believers to

Acts 12:17 "Tell James and the brothers about this,"

James presided as moderator over the important Jerusalem Council, which met in Acts 15 to discuss the relationship of the Gentile converts to the Mosaic Law.

Many years later, Paul returned to Jerusalem at the end of his third missionary journey and James was still in the presiding role. Acts 21:18 records that “Paul went in with us unto James; and all the elders were present.”

Note that a plurality of elders did not negate James’ primary role as leader, just as the equality in the apostolic office did not negate Peter’s leadership of the twelve.

While we have no record of his death in the Bible, the first‐century historian Josephus records that

James was sentenced to death by stoning on orders of the Sadducean high priest named Annas.

The fourth century Christian writer named Eusebius maintains that the Jewish leaders cast him down from the roof of the Temple, but he survived the fall. He was then stoned and finally killed by a blow to the head from a club held by one of his attackers. This is believed to have occurred in A.D. 62.

C. His Character

James refers to himself as a “bond‐servant of God, and of the Lord Jesus Christ.” (1:1 NAS). This is a display of his humility.

Leadership in the early church was based on Jesus’ teaching on humility. He who would be great

must become the least.

In spite of being the son of Mary, the brother of Jesus, the head of the Jerusalem church, and the fact that Jesus appeared personally to Him after the resurrection, James just describes himself as a bond‐servant. The word for bond‐servant is doulas and describes a slave, a person who had no personal freedom and under the control of his master. In exchange for absolute obedience and loyalty, a master would provide his bond‐servant with food, clothing, and housing.

The word further describes one who had become a slave at birth.

James had become a doulas by his new birth by grace through faith in Christ. (cf. James 1:18).

To be a “doulas of God” was considered a great honour in Jewish society. By taking that title, James

identified himself with these who were honoured not for who they were, but whom they served, “the living God.”

Tradition has it that he was such a righteous and good man, that he was nicknamed “James, the

Just.”

Also that he spent so much time in prayer on his knees that they became hardened, and thus he was

called “Old Camel Knees.”

D. His Ministry

James addresses his letter “to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad.” The word scattered

means “dispersed.” The twelve tribes was a title used to refer to the nation of Israel as a composite whole.

It is Jewish in nature. They were scattered or dispersed abroad into the Gentile nations from their land in Palestine. By New Testament times many Jews, for personal and business reasons, had chosen to live outside of Palestine. Peter used the word as a technical term to identify Jews living outside of Palestine (I Peter 1:1).

James sent his letter to Christian Jews. At least fifteen times he refers to them as brothers, all in one family by means of the spiritual birth.

It is very possible that many of these believers had been under the pastoral care of James while they were in Jerusalem. Acts 8:1‐4 and 11:19 describe the great persecution which came upon the church in Jerusalem at the time of the death of Stephen, and how many had to flee for their lives. This would expose them to trials of many and various types.

Being Jews they would be rejected by the Gentiles, and being Christian Jews, they would be rejected by their own countrymen. The first subject James addresses in his letter is the purpose behind

trials. (James 1:2‐12).

II. JAMES, THE BOOK

A. It’s Date

James wrote his epistle sometime after he became the leader of the church in Jerusalem in A.D. 44 and before he was killed in A.D. 62. This can be verified by considering both the internal and external evidence which is available to us. Whereas Paul and Peter in their epistles make a distinction between Gentile Christians and Jewish Christians, James addresses only Christians which belonged to the twelve tribes (1:1), and who called Abraham their father (2:21).

Because there is no hint in the book of the Jewish‐Gentile controversy that occurred in the Jerusalem council of Acts 15, the letter was probably composed before that council meeting. Scholars believe the council met in A.D. 49. This would make James the first epistle to the Christian Church.

B. It’s Theology

Some people claim that James has no theology. The validity of that claim depends on what is meant by theology. It is true that the book of James covers little of anything about many basic Christian doctrines.

For instance, he does not address such subjects as the person and work of Christ, the work of the Holy Spirit, the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, the nature and gifts of the church as a spiritual body.

It would appear that James is writing under the assumption that the basic doctrines of the faith were already understood by his audience and did not need to have them gone over again.

So if by “theology” one means a system of beliefs explicitly built upon the person and work of Christ, then it is true that James lacks a “theology.”

If the definition of theology be expanded to include teaching grounded in the understanding of God and His purposes in the world, then James is theological throughout. While he does not refer specifically to the person and work of Christ, he is saturated with the teaching of his brother and

Lord. No other New Testament book is more influenced by the personal teaching of Jesus than James.

There are some twenty‐one references or allusions to the teaching of the Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount alone.

James challenges us that we cannot merely ‘believe’ the right things and at the same time have a faith that makes no demands on my life at all.

What I believe must show up in what I do, why I do it, how I do it or it is not really what I believe at all.

What I believe must show up in what I say.

I share my faith because it is making a difference in how I live

One of the sticking concerns of the book of James is this doctrine of Justification by faith; and the casual reader can become confused between the positions of Paul and James on the matter. The issue is whether we are saved by faith as Paul says

Eph 2:8-10

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 1

But James says...

James 2:14-17

14 What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?

James and Paul both share the same view of ‘works’ but are addressing the issue from 2 different points in time in the life of a believer. Both consider our works must be accomplished in obedience to God, but obedience will not bring you into the family, but once you’re a family member, obedience is crucial.

Works do not save, works will not bring you into a saved condition with God – works will not get you saved,

However, once you are saved, your works of obedience to God – whether religious or acts of love and charity must characterize your life or we should rightly ask ourselves if we truely have been saved. Is my faith influencing the way I live. Do I have faith Indeed?

Do I continue to let sin co-exist in my life.

As a culture we are not too willing to admit our sin. In reviewing a number of public scandals, the Wall Street Journal (Dec 12, 1991) commented:

We have “a drug problem and a high school sex problem and a welfare problem and an AIDS problem and a rape problem. None fo this will go away until more people in positions of responsibility are willing to come forward adn explain, in frankly moral terms, that some of the things people do nowadays are wrong.”

When we fail to recognize things we do as sins, we treat them as unimportant, minor, too weak to gain a hold on our lives, as if the Lord’s Prayer read, “Forgive us our miscalculations as we forgive those who miscalculate against us.”

At other times we redefine sin in terms that sound more palatable. We confuse nature with behaviour. “This is how I am” says the habitual sinner.

“This is how the world works” says the comfortable wealthy person. We have begun to accept this sort of thinking as accurate. But James will have nothing to do with that approach.

His letter speaks of “moral filth” and “humble yourselves”

To our moral justifications James says

James 1:14-15

each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

James calls us to true community. His heart longs for the creation of community in the church. Where we are caring for people who are not like us. We are loving people and bringing them into our lives that others would ignore. He envisions a Christian community composed of relationships of mutual care and responsibility. A community where favouritism is broken down like the Berlin wall, and our wealth becomes opportunities for generous sharing.

We need to allow James to make us uncomfortable, expose us, break us and build us into the followers of Jesus and the Church of Christ that God longs for us to become over this summer.

Discovering Joy in Life

The Bridge Church — Sun, 09 May 2010 12:09:00 -0700

Joy is the surest sign of the presence of God” – Pierre Teilhard De Chardin

No one should have more joy in their lives than followers of Jesus. We have every reason to live in joy and express a joy that can change the world. If we have no joy in our life then we have missed the message of the Gospel.

Jesus came to bring joy into our lives, he does not want us to miss living with Joy

Dancing Shirtless guy video ...

Interestingly, this was not the only video of this guy at the Sasquatch music festival in 2009. There are a number of videos of this guy on youtube...

This is not a message about leadership – although I think the maker of this video offers some great insights. And this dancing guy certainly attracts a group, but honestly, I don’t think it was this guys keen insights to leadership that attracts the crowd. I think there was something about him that got the people going. I believe there was something that made him stand out and ultimately turn a beautiful day at a music concert into a spectacular experience for those who were a part of that experience.

What was it about this guy = what was it that caused him to get up, by himself, half naked and start to dance in the middle of this field. Drugs, alcohol? They are going to accentuate what is already there. I think this guy had joy in his life that caused him to get up and do something.

Jesus wants us to experience joy – full, complete, unrestrained joy. So many Christians today live without joy. So many people in the world live without joy and if anyone should be able to demonstrate a life of joy it should be us, as followers of Jesus

Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is ... joy,...

We have all been around people who fake joy, and you can tell it is kind of a plastic life they are living – and no one wants that kind of experience.

John 15:9-12

"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

This is how this verse comes together

Joy is at the center of love

"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you …

…. Love each other as I have loved you.

We are very interested in quality of life issues today and Jesus is as well, quality of life to him looks like joy. Living in the love that Jesus has for fills our hearts with joy.

1 Peter 1:8

Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, NIV

Obedience is the evidence of love

Now remain in my love. 10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love

Just like an egg that has a shell of love

And that chicken sits on the egg like it knows it should

The life of a new chick is produced

Joy grows from an obedient life surrounded by love.

I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

Obedience and love go hand in hand

John 14:15

"If you love me, you will obey what I command. NIV

Psalms 19:8

The precepts of the LORD are right,

giving joy to the heart.

The commands of the LORD are radiant,

giving light to the eyes.

Precepts – mandate, intentionality – properly appointed, - to care for, to manage, look after

“I am intentionally going through my life with the desire to fulfill God’s mandate of what is right and true” and when I do this it brings joy into my life

God’s ways are enlightening, as I do them they start making more and more sense in my life

If I want a better relationship with my wife or husband, treating them in godly ways (the way God says I should treat them) will increase my satisfaction (and theirs, and Gods) and I will experience more joy in my life.

To obey God requires a choice on my part. Joy is discovered through my choices. Will I choose to ‘see’ myself as God ‘sees’ me and respond to Him accordingly. When I choose to receive God’s love for me and I choose to obey him trusting that His ways are good, I am putting myself in a position that sets me apart from the rest of the world – I begin to live in a joy that floods my soul.

It is not that I ‘choose to live a joyful life’ but “I choose to love God and obey Him; and to love others around me” and I find joy filling my heart. I have something to dance about.

Joy is a condition, quality of our heart. Joy expresses what is going-on on the inside of our lives and flows out our faces, words, actions, attitudes. Joy is expressed in many different ways, but real joy is unmistakable and is probably best tested in the midst of trials.

Joy is the blessing that God’s spirit brings into your life even when others slander you, lie about you, discredit you – a Christians heart can still draw from the well of joy and keep their hearts clean and pure

Matthew 5:11-12 "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Joy that comes from God’s spirit continues to flow in and through our lives in the midst of financial crisis, deteriorating health, or betrayal of a friend

2 Corinthians 7:4 “...in all our troubles my joy knows no bounds.”

If Joy was dependent upon circumstances of life being just right then there would be no strength to joy and it would be synonymous with happiness

Joy stealers – Great suckers of joy

Joy suckers are like vacuum cleaners, they care nothing for what they pick up and they put everything they suck up with all the other dirt they have inside. These things will suck joy right out of our lives.

Critical attitude - critical thinking of others or self Criticism of others will suck my joy out -

“Refuse to speak a negative word about yourself or others, when someone speaks something negative about you, refuse to receive it and renounce it in the name of Jesus!”

People can often steal your joy through criticism when we are loving ourselves more than God.

When we focus on tearing others down, we really take ourselves down at the same time.

“I know I am supposed to love this person, but...” = no joy

There is a place for positive criticism, and that place is soaked, dyed, baked, glued, and so thoroughly saturated in love. If positive criticism is not delivered and more importantly received in love the questions should be rightly asked “was that really positive criticism?”

We can be so consumed by what others think of us and it will suck your joy. The guy in the video did not care what everyone around him thought of him, and before long everyone joined him. If he were so concerned about what everyone else thought, he would never stood up and danced, or he would have sat down at the first sign of criticism.

A friend & i were visiting this week. He was telling me of a conversation he had with a person in his church who was uncomfortable with the idea of evangelism and sharing her faith because she didn’t want to look out of step with her friends – she didn’t want to look ‘religious’ –

She had no joy in her life and she had no impact either.

Focusing on hardship

Life is hard – for everyone – when my mother was very sick and she let her illness consume her thoughts and attitudes, her joy in life wasted away, but when she did not let her illness and the hardness of her life become the focus of her life – joy was free to grow in her.

“Life is hard, but God is good”

This is hard and I am not happy about it – sucks joy

Hebrews 12:2

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. NIV

Focusing on the hardship of unresolved hurt or pain only leads to bitterness – this is why resolving relationships is crucial because it restores joy.

Settling for imitations

Selling out short – thinking that satisfying my desires will be the evidence of joy in my life.

Almost anything can be an imitation of a source of joy

Kids – Friends – Relationships – Sex – Money – Career...

They way they typically work is:

I pour my life into them, they promise to provide me some level of satisfaction, that satisfaction means I will feel good about me in some way, me feeling good about me is the same as joy – and I have just settled for an imitation of joy.

We all do it,

We think getting married will satisfy my heart

We think having kids will satisfy my heart

We think getting this job, this career, this promotion will satisfy my heart

“We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition, when infinite joy is offered to us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in the slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” C.S. Lewis (The Weight of Glory)

Disobedience - Stop obeying him –

When you stop obeying him, your joy will dry up

Trust that He is good – he is not trying to control you – he wants to transform you

When we consciously determine not to obey him, we have just entered the realm of rebellion. We are listening to and responding to something or someone (particularly this someone) other than Jesus.

God wants to bring us back to the original design of who we were made to be, what we were made to do, and that we were to be and do that in a relationship with him, a trusted relationship of love. This going back to formula – in a sense – requires a transformation on our parts – transforming how we think and act – so that joy again begins to flow in us and through us.

Some are not sure they really want to be transformed, or that they need to be transformed. We live in the medicated age, the age of supplements, if you just add this to my life things will be better. If I do this yoga, if I take this herb, if I read this book then it will balance my life and everything will be good, I will be happy, and joy will be restored. But that is not the path to joy, it is a dead end. All that ends up in the vaccum cleaner with last years efforts.

When we stop responding to the Lords precepts should we be surprised when our joy disappears. If our joy is not complete – full, a plethora of joy in our lives could it be that we have stopped obeying him, and experiencing his love?

Discovering joy again

Realize God is good and really does love you – in the midst of your mess, in the middle of your confusion, at the center of your uncertainties He really does love you

He makes that love known – he meets you wherever you are at

He sent his son

He accepts you on the basis of your faith in His son

Respond to His love – wherever you are at, you can respond to him.

Turning away from whatever is captivating your focus and looking to him

Acknowledging you need Him – and this other stuff wont respond to you like he will

Begin to obey Him – if that means forgiving others then forgive, if that means

The joy he intends for us is a full, complete and permanent joy, that can not be moved or shaken. If you are not experiencing joy in your life, perhaps you should ask yourself if I have stopped responding to him in obedience. Am I experiencing his love in my life. If you are not experiencing joy you can begin today, you can begin right now,

Realize God is good and he loves you

Respond to him, be moved in your heart and mind towards him

Turn away from whatever is captivating you and holding you back

Begin obeying him

Experience the joy begin to flow into your life and grow

My Response to Prayer

The Bridge Church — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 14:07:00 -0700

Have you ever been in a meeting and you’re the one that walks out with all (or great percent) of all the action items. Everyone else on the team talks about all the things that need to happen and yet you’re the one that ends up with all the things to do?

I think we experience the same thing everytime we go to God in prayer...

We tell God all that is going on in our world, we express to him all the things we think ought to be done, we give him ideas about how they ought to be done, but then of course leave the spiritual ‘faith’ caveat, “but, God you know better than I do so you do things however you think is best...”

Then we say “amen” and walk out of the throne room of God and into our days. We have left God with all the ‘to-do’s” and we go about looking for all His answers.

God delights to answer our prayers, however he is more interested in the fact that we are in a relationship with him – and we come to him in prayer and enter into a dialog with him.

It is in prayer that God begins to change our lives. In prayer he can transform the way I think, In the quietness of prayer he begins to challenge my values. In the intimate relationship of prayer God begins to shape the way I live my life, the things I say and do. He made us to bear his image and it is in prayer that He gains our attention to influence and shape our lives and wills. He wants to reveal himself to the rest of creation by the ways I live and the things I do. He knows we don’t really know how to live rightly, especially live looking like Him.

If I am truely God’s servant, and He is my God, shouldn’t I expect to leave my prayer time with some things to do. If I know I have truly been with God and heard his voice in the midst of my prayer time, I have spent time learning from him then I can expect to do something that he has for me that day do to.

When we come to God in Prayer – do we expect Him to speak up and say something? God does speak today.

Often, I wonder if we even expect to hear from God when we pray. We may know intellectually that this is a conversation with God, but it often turns into a monologue

In the passage of Isa 28:23-29 it starts out

“Listen and hear my voice; pay attention and hear what I say.”

The NASB says “hear my voice and listen to my words”

“Listen to me, give me your closest attention” Msg

This verse appears somewhat repetitive, It is like what a parent would say to their child. God is using repetition here to make a point that he wants us to hear what he is saying.

To translate the original Hebrew would say something like:

Give your ear and hear my voice, harken and hear my speech.

“You hear the sound of my voice, take in the words that I am saying”

The verbs “listen” and “pay attention” are in a ‘causal’ form, meaning intend to do this, take this seriously.

Listen – is referring to an attitude or perspective

Hear – is referring to an ability and posture

God speaks to us, are we in a attitude and posture to hear him?

The question is “do I listen?” “do we hear him? Can we distinguish his voice from my own, my mind, my friends, parent, the book I just read, what I learned in school, even a demon – Do I know when God is speaking and when it is all these other voices.

We can (and should) expect to hear God speak in our prayer time – it is to be a dialog

Jesus said –

John 10:27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

God delights for us to pray to Him, but he also desires to hear His voice.

How do I hear God’s voice:

The Holy Spirit will speak to your heart and mind.

Maybe it is a thought that you know is not from you.

John 14:26-27

26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 2

The Holy Spirit will always confirm Truth – it will line up with scripture.

Peace in your heart

John 14:27

27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

Confirm through God’s Word

1 Tim 4:5

because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.

There are many times we want to hear from God – we want direction, we want answers, we want things to change, but do we pray to hear from him so we know his heart, his perspective, do I want to hear so I can do his will – or to get the Godly “ok” on my plans.

There are times we pray about the same things and don’t hear a response. Times I pray for something over and over, but my ear is postured only for one response, an answer that makes sense to me, times I prayed to go in one direction and he has said stay, or I want things to stay the way they are and he says go in this direction – not what I expected to hear.

Prayer prepares me to change the way I think & know God. - Seasons change,

“24 When a farmer plows for planting, does he plow continually?

Does he keep on breaking up and harrowing the soil?”

Prayer can help us break the soil, but the soil that needs broken may be my own heart. I can plow thankfulness, harrow admiration, levelling confession in my heart. – preparing my own heart to hear from Him.

I can just keep asking for the same things over and over and He says it is time to do something different – how do I know unless I learn to hear his voice.

When I come to him in prayer – do I come as a learner?

25 When he has leveled the surface,

does he not sow caraway and scatter cummin?

Does he not plant wheat in its place,

barley in its plot,

and spelt in its field?

26 His God instructs him

and teaches him the right way.

I often think I know best how things should go in my life instead of learning his ways from him.

One of the ways I can know that it is truely God speaking in my prayer time is because the Holy Spirit is confirming these thoughts with God’s Word. And there have been many times I have asked God to confirm what I think he has just said by giving me a verse that I can look to

John 14:26

“The Holy Spirit...will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”

God’s Ways are very different from yours and mine – but unless I am in a postion to hear his voice, and willing to come as a learner I will miss what God wants to do in my life.

Isa 55:8-9

8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways my ways,"

declares the Lord .

9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways

and my thoughts than your thoughts.

26 His God instructs him

and teaches him the right way.

God instructs = informs us of what / how / why (his heart and values)

God teaches = he shows us practically – what / how to do something.

How much of our prayer time is devoted to learning from God, letting God inform us / practically showing us how to live.

God wants to show us how to live. He made us to bear his image and we do not know how to do that unless He shows us. The proof of that is our sin – we confess the ways that we didn’t live as he would live if He were living in our skin – which is what He made us to do.

When we pray, we can learn practically how to live and apply his truth. He says...

27 Caraway is not threshed with a sledge,

nor is a cartwheel rolled over cummin;

caraway is beaten out with a rod,

and cummin with a stick.

28 Grain must be ground to make bread;

so one does not go on threshing it forever.

Though he drives the wheels of his threshing cart over it,

his horses do not grind it.

There are many times we think we know how to work at our jobs, love our spouse, raise our kids, buy houses. We think we know how to pick out movies to watch, who to work out with,

But how often do we involve God in the decisions of our life,

He knows where to plant what, when to plant it. He knows how to harvest, some things have to be harvested with a stick and other with a rod, some is smashed and some is ground.

Pretty specific, pretty practical. God knows the right way to do everything, how often do we think we know the right way to do things.

We can’t faithfully respond to God until we have heard from him, learned from him, taught by him.

We deal with all kinds of situations in life

We need to learn when to do things, what to do, how to do it.

The challenge is there is risk involved. Somethings I don’t want to do, so I don’t want to learn and I don’t want to listen.

When we come to God in prayer, we come to listen, learn and then to do the things he tells us to do.

We don’t always want to respond to him. We have our own ideas, agendas, desires, ideas which often carry more importance than what God says.

When we do this – we stop responding to God – we stop learning and listening to God then we think “God no longer speaks” we think...

Jer 42:1-6

42 Then all the army officers, including Johanan son of Kareah and Jezaniaha son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least to the greatest approached 2 Jeremiah the prophet and said to him, "Please hear our petition and pray to the Lord your God for this entire remnant. For as you now see, though we were once many, now only a few are left. 3 Pray that the Lord your God will tell us where we should go and what we should do."

4 "I have heard you," replied Jeremiah the prophet. "I will certainly pray to the Lord your God as you have requested; I will tell you everything the Lord says and will keep nothing back from you."

5 Then they said to Jeremiah, "May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act in accordance with everything the Lord your God sends you to tell us. 6 Whether it is favorable or unfavorable, we will obey the Lord our God, to whom we are sending you, so that it will go well with us, for we will obey the Lord our God."

Jer 43:1-3

43 When Jeremiah finished telling the people all the words of the Lord their God — everything the Lord had sent him to tell them — 2 Azariah son of Hoshaiah and Johanan son of Kareah and all the arrogant men said to Jeremiah, "You are lying! The Lord our God has not sent you to say, 'You must not go to Egypt to settle there.' 3 But Baruch son of Neriah is inciting you against us to hand us over to the Babylonians,a so they may kill us or carry us into exile to Babylon."

There is a risk in hearing from God,,,

We know that when God speaks

We must obey him
Tell God we will not obey him

Oswald Chamber said

I put God in a “humiliating position of having treated me as a child of his while all the time I’ve been ignoring Him.

“the real delight of Hearing from Him is tempered with the shame of having been so long in hearing Him.

We Pray to:

Hear
Learn
Live

How should I respond to him in Prayer?

1. Listen to Him – have an attitude that desires to hear from God
2. Learn from Him – willing to set aside the things I think I know to learn how God would want me respond
3. Do what He says – stretch your faith / participate with him

Does God Respond to Prayer?

The Bridge Church — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 14:06:00 -0700

Everyone who prays desires God to answer their prayers.

Did God hear me? Why doesn’t He answer my prayers? I prayed for this and God didn’t do what I asked Him to do.

Scripture assures us, and I believe, that God desires us to pray to Him and He desires to answer prayers. We have a God who always desires to reveal Himself and one of the wonderful ways He does that is through answered prayer. God also reveals Himself and answers prayer when and how He chooses to.

That being said, prayer is an expression of a relationship between us and God and if we are going to expect God to answer our prayer there are some things we must do as we engage in prayer.

In the narrative in Acts 12 we see God’s people engaging in prayer and we also see God answer their prayer in a way that reveals Himself. In it we also can learn much about how we are to pray.

Peter was placed in prison and it says in v5 ... “but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.”

1. Pray to God

Jer 29:12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.

Well that’s a given; Wouldnt we say “all prayer is unto God” – but no, not all prayer, public or private is “unto God”

Sometimes we say spiritual words so that others can hear...

Matt 6:7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words

Some ways we DON’T pray to God...

Sometimes we can take the ‘radio frequency’ approach to prayer. We just throw our spiritual words out on the airwaves and expect God’s antenna to pick them up wherever He might be. Those who prayer louder, harder, longer are like the better radio stations that have a stronger signal strength, so if we can get them to pray for us maybe God will actually ‘pick-up’ our request. Or the more people we get praying the stronger the signal.

And that for some reason because we took the time to throw our words up on the spiritual airwaves, we assume we prayed to God.

There is no sense of relationship in this kind of prayer and so we seldom see an answer to these kinds of prayers.

Or a husband or wife or parent who prays to manipulate their loved one to do what they want... like the mother who prays for her son “Please God help Billy not to take any more cookies out of the cookie jar tomorrow so I don’t have to spank him.”

Or we pray what we think we should pray to appease another person... we pray “please God help my friend find another job” instead of “please God help my friend repent of the sinful patterns in his life that keep him from being a good employee”

When we do these things we are not praying to God but merely saying spiritual words, not the cries of our hearts to our God who hears.

When we pray, Approach God with a definite and conscious choice. When we come into God’s presence we should have a vivid realization of God bending over to hear us as we pray As David prayed...

Ps 17:6

I have called upon You, for You will hear me, O God;

Incline Your ear to me, and hear my speech. NKJV

It is the picture of us standing before God – who made us, and holds the universe together – and he is turning His ear towards us, and bending over to hear us clearly.

When the church was praying for the release of Peter from prison, they knew they had no one to turn to but God Himself and they were praying very specifically to God.

Praying to God can be hard work and Unfortunately, when we pray, we are not always as attentive as God is, like a child who is talking to their parent but quickly gets distracted, our minds are not always engaged when we pray.

We do not think of us ‘seeing’ God whom we are coming to as we pray. Too often we do not really think about our need or concern as we pray, but instead our minds often wonder all over the world of our existence – there is no power in this kind of prayer.

In our narrative, the church was praying “unto God” they knew there was no hope apart from God, they were focused and clear in their prayers.

R. A. Torrey, in his book “How To Pray” says we must have a “definite and vivid consciousness that we are talking to God” and we must believe He is there hearing us.

Praying to God is possible only by praying through the power of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who leads us into the presence of God, and we must not be hasty with words until He has brought us there. Often we pray in our own minds and soon our minds wander but when we learn to pray from our spirit to God through the Holy Spirit we develop a strength in our prayer life that was not previously there.

Jude 20

But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit.

We are able to bring our prayers before God because we are in a relationship with Him. Be sure that when you pray and while you pray, to set your mind on God and leave it there. This may take some developing of spiritual muscle strength, the harnessing of our wills and focusing on God. “Build yourselves up”.

God responds to prayer as we...

“...earnestly praying to God...”

Acts 12:5

...prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. KJV

...prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God. NASB

The word in the original language this meaning of this word also carries a beautiful word picture of exposed or “stretched-outedly”

The picture of a soul exposed and stretched out, an intense and earnest desire before God. When the KJ says “without ceasing” it not so much a sense of time as in ‘without ending’ but ‘uncompleted’ with no desire to end prayer time.

When we come to God we must seek Him earnestly

Jer 29:13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

We see this in Jesus’ prayer life as well...

Luke 22:44 And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

Heb 5:7 During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.

It means we Pray with Passion - When we pray we put our soul into it.

When I worked for my dad on the end of a shovel, he would always press me to “put your back into it”

Like when your cleaning the bathtub you put ‘elbow grease” into it.

When we pray we put our whole soul into it.

The challenge is we are not used to harnessing and focusing our souls. Jesus and the Christian saints would stretch out their soul towards God with intense and agonizing desire.

Much prayer has no power because there is no passion of the heart in it.

We rush in – pray up – rush out and then we can’t remember what we prayed 2 hours later.

When there is so little heart in our prayers we cant expect God to put much effort or heart into answering, but the ‘fight of faith’ is the agonizing, passion in prayer.

We come to God with intensity of prayer that “rings the soul”

How do we enter into earnest, passionate prayer?

Not by our own strength, we do not “work into it”, again, it is by the Holy Spirit we are able to earnestly pray, but our passion is not for the concern but for the relationship with God, that He might reveal Himself in the situation.

Rom 8:26

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.

Our earnestness that is the work of the flesh is a repulsive thing,

How often in our prayers are are hearts moved to tears for God to reveal himself in answering our concern. As we pray for our lost friends and loved ones, do we weep over their souls.

I remember praying for a friend to come to know Christ, and over time, my heart was moved to tears for his salvation... He and his family now all belong to Christ and are involved in His ministry to the world.

Rom 8:27

And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.

Our earnestness is from the Holy Spirit, a deep desire to please God in all things, this is pleasing to God. To pray rightly we must look to the spirit of God to teach us to pray.

When we pray in the Spirit, we allow God’s Spirit to change our hearts and minds in regards to the concern we are bring to the Father.

A way to increase our passion in prayer is through Fasting -

Often spiritual breakthroughs in direction and circumstances occur through prayer and fasting...

Dan 9:3

So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.

Acts 13:2-3

2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." 3 So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.

We do not need to fast everytime we pray, but there is emphasis in our prayers when we have withdrawn from appetites to give ourselves wholly to prayer. There is peculiar power in this kind of prayer

Nothing honors God when we fast in a pharasiacal or legalistic or manipulative way but when we give all other desires to give ourselves to God from our hearts and allow him to reorient our values and minds then we see God move.

There is power in prayer when we earnestly seek from Him whant we need and are willing to put everything into seeking him

We also see God respond to prayer through...

PRAYING TOGETHER. - “the church was earnestly praying to God for him”

There is increased power in united prayer. God delights in when His people are in prayer and pronounces a blessing on it.

Matt 18:19-20

"Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."

Unity must be real – doesn’t say when 2 agree in asking but “agree” & “come together”

This is talking about a special type of agreement. We can agree and not be together. We can agree and accept, agree and tolerate, agree to disagree and just get along, but these are not the unity of agreement in this passage. When Jesus says “come together” he is using a word that would indicate “touching”. To be “of one heart and mind on the matter” , “to be willing to go together on”, “to be seen as the same by everyone”

One person can ask out of a passionate desire and the other ask to please his friend

God looks for real agreement, and where he sees this kind of unity of heart and mind He sees the kind of relationship that exists between Himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The kind of oneness that Jesus spoke of in John 17, and God moved heaven and earth to bring His Son back to life out of this kind of relationship.

God’s spirit brings 2 or more believers in perfect harmony regarding the thing they are asking ofr God – God blesses.

Does God respond to prayer...

When we come to God

Seek Him earnestly

And Pray together

This morning, do you need to Come to God with a clear & vivid consciousness of standing before God Himself. Maybe you have been relying on the ‘radio frequency’ approach to prayer, but now you are ready to come and stand before God Himself

Maybe you have been relying on your own strength when you come to God and now are ready to come to God with passion and through the Holy Spirit

Maybe you need your church to pray for you or with you in a concern and you need to know we are ready to stand with you before God.

This morning as we pray, if you want others to pray with you, you can come to me & I will gather some people to pray with you or ask some who are standing around you to pray with you about some matter that is on your heart.

Memory Verse

Heb 11:6

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Jesus Prays for Us

The Bridge Church — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 22:09:00 -0700

You have heard the term “out of sight – out of mind”

The last few weeks we have been focusing on Jesus’ journey to the cross, we looked at his sacrifice, the work that he accomplished on the cross, His death and last week we looked at His resurrection... we declared He is alive, we believe it, but...

Where is Jesus now? In heaven right? Preparing a place for us to spend eternity? But where is He, what is He really, actually doing?

I had a job once where the person I directly reported to was a thousand miles away. We talked occasionally, and he knew generally what I was doing, I was doing my job & I wasn’t creating any problems for him, so I must have been doing a good job; but he didn’t always know the specific challenges I was facing, or what I was going through to do my job so he didn’t have any problems. There were lots of times I felt “out of sight – out of mind” & I didn’t always feel appreciated or valued, I didn’t think he really knew what I was doing for him.

On the few times a year when we would be together, it was always pleasant, but we didn’t really have a relationship, we were congenial but not close.

Our relationship with Jesus can become congenial but not close and that can happen because in our minds He becomes “out of sight & out of mind”. We occasionally really connect with Him and it is good, but we loose sight of what He is doing for us now – presently – and the significance of it.

We all are very familiar with websites. We use them, we spend time on the web doing any variety of things. What we see when we go to the website is what is called the “user interface”; it is the ‘front end’. This is where the layout is pleasing and hopefully user friendly. But with websites there is also what is called the ‘back-end’. Only a few have access to the ‘back-end’, it is password protected to keep it secure. It is in the back-end of the website where things are put into place, whether it is information or tools or pictures or forms, everything is formatted in the ‘back-end’ so that the website works and the user has a good experience.

We like things to work, and hopefully without a lot of intervention on our part, we want things to work without too much bother where the mechanics and work is invisible to us. So the user has a good experience without being bothered about what it takes to make it work

We can approach our spiritual life like this, we just want things to work, like our prayer lives – without really being bothered about the details of what or how things happen. I just want to go to God whenever, and tell him exactly what’s going on, what I think, what I need or want and go on – in faith – looking for the answer to show up.

How often when we go to God in prayer we forget that Jesus is there and has been there already interceding for us & all the world. This morning I want to bring the ‘back-end’ and make it part of the ‘front-end’ of our spiritual lives. We may not be aware, or remember the implications of

Rom 8:34

34 Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died — more than that, who was raised to life — is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.

Acts 7:55-56

55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 5

When we get to haven, Jesus is going to be there, when we come before God in prayer, Jesus is there, and has been there, interceding for us

How often do we engage in prayer with little or no acknowledgment that Jesus is even before the throne of God with us, and we need him there. But He becomes ‘out of sight – out of mind’. When we stop praying ‘in Jesus name’ and remove that from our prayer time because it seems like a trite recitation we soon become in danger of loosing sight of the vital necessity to come before God with all kinds of prayers and petitions in the name of Jesus. That the boldness we can enter into God’s presences is because Jesus has, is and will forever be there interceding for us.

This is precisely why Jesus came to earth, died and rose again, so that he might forever intercede for us before God. To forget this or dismiss as a trite thing is to reject the permanent priesthood Jesus died to establish.

Let’s look at this profound truth...

Heb 7:24-25

24 but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. 25 Therefore he is able to save completelyc those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

Jesus is our Priest before God

As a permanent priest, Jesus stands before God –

Priests were those God specifically chose to interact with and on the behalf of the masses.

They were to make sacrifices for the people and to speak to the people about when and how to make sacrifices. They were the ones who were able to go before God without being killed by God. They were to know the heart and mind of God and communicate this to the people. The priest was to intercede for the people before God.

Jesus is before God as the only acceptable sacrifice for us

Heb 9:24-26

24 For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence. 25 Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. 26 Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.

Jesus presents our sin before God

1 John 2:1-2

2 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense — Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also fora the sins of the whole world.

He is able to save completely...

He is able – ‘dunamai’ = able with strength, powerfully
To save – is an ongoing and future action
Completely = entire, uttermost, fully

Perhaps you have had some one do a job for you and they didn’t complete the job. We recently did a job for the manager of the apartment building where our Bridge Suite is located. Luke, Jim, Alan and I cleaned the roof so we could use it for our Good Friday service. Tina the building manager told me later that she didn’t have high expectations of us cleaning the roof but she was amazed when she saw what we did, “I wasn’t expecting a professional job, but it was excellent” we satisfied her completely.

Jesus satisfies God the Father completely to provide our salvation, on our behalf.

However, there is a condition...

“those who come to God through Him...” Those who come before God with out coming through Jesus have missed the doorway of his goodness, love, grace and mercy, and therefore stand before God to face his judgment alone, without the hope of Jesus salvation, with all their sin exposed.

Rev 21:27

but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.

Many a person has expressed “I don’t feel worthy to pray to God” and they would be right. Only a fool thinks a clown can stand before a king. But those who come into God’s presence through Jesus should recognize our sin is real and indeed sinful and Jesus saves us completely form our sin.

His salvation covers all our sin, not just the convenient “white lies” but the big and heavy stuff – when you have hurt others or looked to other things to satisfy our hearts when we should have looked to God, when we have done evil and compromised the goodness of Gods image we were made to reflect

Jesus is there to Intercede = confere, entreat, in favour of... Us

Scripture says “he always lives to intercede” for us

He is there because we need him to be there. God wants us to pray to him

1 Tim 2:1, 3-6

2 I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone.... 3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all men

He is our mediator – our go between. A mediator negotiates for a positive outcome, everything goes through the mediator,

How Jesus intercedes for us...

Jesus acknowledges us, as a shepherd who knows his sheep and while we are still on the earth Jesus prays for us...

John 17:9-10

I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.

The ones who come in His name

Jesus prays for our protection from evil

John 17:5

protect them by the power of your name — the name you gave me — so that they may be one as we are one.

There is power and authority in a name, the name carries the power of the person

John 17:15-16

15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.

Jesus prays for strength over temptation

Heb 4:14-16

14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens,e Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are — yet was without sin. 16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Jesus prays for us to be set apart and sent out

John 17:17-18

17 Sanctifyb them by the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.

Jesus prays that we are able to be the people we were created to be. Free to be the reflection of God’s goodness and truth, and so he prays for us to be separated in lifestyle from the rest of the world. Not separated by geography, that we are removed from the world but that we are free to be who we’re inteneded to be before the world. Living God’s truth and actively engaged in the world. Presenting His justice for those who are being compromised by the world. Delivering the wisdom of his truth where the foolishness of humanity prevails. Offering His love where hatred dominates.

We have the strength and protection to do this and more importantly we have access to God himself because of the strength of our salvation.

And One day... we will not be “out of sight & out of mind” We will be grateful that Jesus has been covering the “back-end” for us, and we will know it was actually the “front-end”

Rev 21:22-27

22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. 25 On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. 26 The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. 27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.

One day, because we come before God through our savour Jesus, because we belong to him and our names are in the lambs book of life, we will enjoy living in the eternal presence and splendour of God almighty.

My response today...

— Trust Jesus alone to intercede before God for you

— Recognize that I can only pray to God because Jesus is there for me

— I will begin to live under Jesus Prayer for me:

— Under his protection from evil

— His strength over temptation

— To be set apart and sent out

Celebrate Life

The Bridge Church — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 16:48:00 -0700

Easter is the most beautiful and glorious celebration in all of the year, in all of life. It is a sacred holiday, because we celebrate when and how God broke into our existence and changed the course of humanity for all eternity. We may mark our calendar by Christmas, the birth of Jesus, but I can assure you, eternity is marked by Easter. God broke into our existence and changed everything by sacrificing His Son so we can live in relationship with Him.

For the last several weeks we have been on this journey of the cross. We looked at...

The Road to the cross was one of Sacrifice – God gave the most valuable thing in all existence – his son – to demonstrate the great value we are to him and how much he loves us.

When you love someone- you will sacrifice yourself for them –

Rom 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

The Heart of the cross was forgiveness – though it was completely unmerited, he didn’t have to forgive us but he did. Can you imagine what our world might be like if God had not forgiven us? We would be living in a legalistic, cold, heartless existence. And yet on the cross he prays for us:

Luke 23:34 "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."

How often we do not have a clue what we are doing, the damage we are inflicting on ourselves and the relationships around us. When left to our own devices, our own understanding, our own initiatives, our own agendas, we will do what we think is best for ourselves, even if it means hurting others – or our longterm best. So often we don’t really know what we are doing, and they didn’t know then that they were killing the Son of God, and yet He forgave them. He also forgave us in our arrogance and ignorance.

The work of the cross was salvation – Jesus saves us from our sin, He is the only one who could save us from our sin and re-introduce us to the Kingdom of God.

Rom 3:23 “...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Our sin is all the things we say, do, think, act out that are in direct opposition to a God who is good in every way, true in all He does, pure and holy in his essence, and He created us in His image, to be just like him.

Our sin mars and destroys that image that God created us to carry so he could reveal himself through our lives to the rest of the world.

It is our sin that separates us from God – and others – destroying relationships because sin is the celebration of our own selfishness, as we try to control our world to our own liking.

And so we get angry to justify our value and importance;
we steal to get what we think we deserve;
we lie to make myself seem something we are not in the eyes of someone else;
we engage in sexual immorality in our pursuit of feeling loved;
we slander others to build ourselves up;
we look to other things to be our god in an attempt to control our circumstances, and worst of all, we think we are god, or at the very least, equal to God.

Sin carries consequences – not only in my life, not only in my relationships, but Sin carries consequences before God. God created us in his image, pure and holy, good in everyway and my sin destroys that image.

If someone destroyed your image you would become very intolerant. Identity theft is a real problem today, and our sin destroys the identity of God in our world, because he made us to bear his image. The consequences of our sin lead to our eternal separation from God – he will not have us stealing his identity and destroying his image forever. Our sin will lead to our eternal death.

All our sin leads us to death, like a cancer that eats away at our souls and relationships with others and with God.

The effect of the cross was Death – Death is real and final. Anyone who has experienced death up close and personal – not so personal that you have died, but have tasted the bitter sting of death, knows that when someone or something dies, it is over, it is done with.

When a loved one dies from a long and agonizing illness, we say, “well at least they are not in pain any longer, it is over...”

Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life inb Christ Jesus our Lord

Jesus experienced death on the cross, everything about him died. He was as John the Baptist described:

John 1:29-30

The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 3

God is no ordinary God and He brought His Son back to life. Because sin was paid for and Jesus was still God, there was nothing to hold him in the grave. Jesus conquered death and rose from the grave. Because He conquered death – he cannot die again

This is the most surprising and unexpected reality – Jesus rose from the dead. No one really expected it. It had never been done before. Even though Jesus said it was going to happen, it was a surprising and new phenomenon.

What is even more surprising is that through our faith in him we are included in His new life.

Rom 6:8-14

8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. 14 For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

He took my sin to the cross – he sacrificed himself for me; He took the penalty and consequences of my sin so that I could be forgiven. My sin died with Christ. Because He died, it was final – all done. There is nothing more that could be done with my sin.

Easter enables me to live free from sin and celebrate life – 11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
- Sin keeps me from experiencing what is good and true in every area and relationship in my life.
- Because of Jesus death, my sin is now dead and powerless; His death put my sin to death.
- I live to God now

Accepting Jesus death on the cross as including my sin is like declaring personal spiritual bankruptcy. You are financially bankrupt when you are in over your head financially, you have more debts than assets; more creditors chasing you than you can deal with; and you see no way out on your own. You cant work hard enough to get out from under the financial situation, you will never be able to pay off your debts.

Our sin causes us to become spiritually bankrupt as well. You only have one creditor = God himself and your sin has put you in arrears. There is no way out, you cant do enough good to make up for the damage you have caused to your life as a reflecting revelation of himself. But Jesus death on the cross sets you free. When you have received forgiveness from bankruptcy you are free to start over.

Now he lives completely to God. Because He rose from the dead I can live free

Because Jesus is risen from the dead – I am alive unto God – not alive to myself any longer. I live to God now – not out of obligation but desire, because he set me free.

I celebrate life by offering myself to God everyday – 13 offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.
- The power of Jesus resurrection brings my soul to life
- I am able to live His revelation in my life – Live in His goodness and truth – an ‘instrument of God’s righteousness’; able to live ‘rightly’

When I become alive unto God I am His and he sets me apart for himself

Offering myself - Presenting myself - to God means that from this point forward I consider my whole life as belonging to God – all that I am, all that I have, all that I will be is his. This comes into play in how I use my time, my money, my talents, All of it now belongs to Him

** this is not your ‘old self’ that you are giving to God, but you HAVE BEEN BROUGHT FROM DEATH TO LIFE – those who believe and receive this new life are in this state or condition – they are no longer dead in their sin, they are no dealing with that any longer but they are now quickened, and alive and the first thing we do is offer ourselves to God

This is where everything begins new – my “old” life has been crucified with Christ – nailed to the cross with Christ

Gal 2:20

20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

I celebrate life by living in the strength of His grace - 14 For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.
- I am no longer required to live in the strength of my own goodness.
- I am free and live under God’s grace.

Under God’s grace I begin to live again. With new hope, new direction for my life. The smoke of my life has cleared and I am able to see the reason I was made, - to demonstrate God’s goodness in my little corner of the world, and with all the talents, gifts, he endowed me with. And not only that but he gives me new gifts as well – spiritual gifts – so that I have even more opportunity to live like his child.

When my father had finally declared bankruptcy I saw the stress of his life go down dramatically, he was free like he had not been in a very long time.

When someone declares bankruptcy – you live under the grace of the bankruptcy and hopefully they begin to make different decisions, living in different ways so they can be and do differently

This morning maybe you have been living spiritually bankrupt for a long time.

You can live under the grace of Christ, be forgiven and live free and alive like never before. You can live out the reason you were made – declaring God – his goodness and celebrating life.

You can begin to celebrate life by:

coming before God recognizing that Jesus took your sin to the cross, asking him to forgive you; receive that forgiveness and new life
Offering yourself to God to live in His good, right and true ways, letting God reveal himself through your life
Begin living under His grace – recognizing you are free now, like never before.

Message: Celebrating Easter goes beyond today to everyday. Easter is celebrating the new life that Jesus brings me every day.

Easter enables me to live free from sin (v11)

Now I can offer myself to God everyday (v13)

Living in the strength of His grace (14)

The Work of the Cross

The Bridge Church — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 16:47:00 -0700

The Work (Message) of the Cross

Palm Sunday -

Matt 21:7-9

7 They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them. 8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,

"Hosanna to the Son of David!"

"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"

"Hosanna in the highest!"

Jesus comes to Jerusalem for the last time to die and provide the way of salvation for humanity..

What does Jesus save us from? Jesus came to save us from our sin

The consequences of our own choices.

The choices that have lead us into direct opposition to God and are even worked against us. We know we have made some bad choices in our lives, and we carry the consequences of those choices.

When we make choices – wilful, deliberate choices that put us in conflict with God then we have caused and experience sin.

What is SIN?

The very word 'sin' has in recent years dropped from most people's vocabulary. It belongs to traditional religious language which, at least in the increasingly secularized West, is now declared by many to be meaningless. Moreover, if and when 'sin' is mentioned, it is most likely to be misrepresented and misunderstood. What is it, then?

The New Testament uses five main Greek words for sin, which together portray its various aspects.

The commonest is ‎hamartia‎, which depicts sin as a missing of the target, the failure to attain a goal, our inability to live a holy, pure, morally right, good at all times and in all ways kind of life.

Rom 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

‎Adikia ‎is 'unrighteousness' or 'iniquity', - when we have acted unjust to someone, we have not done the good and right thing towards another person.

1 Peter 3:18

18 For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.

‎pon¢ria ‎is evil of a vicious or degenerate kind. When we have desired evil on someone, desired to trap or trick them. When we want to do something ‘wrong’ because we can and think it will be fun or make us feel good.

Matt 5:22

22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brotherb will be subject to judgment.

Matt 22:18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, "You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me?

Both these terms seem to speak of an inward corruption or perversion of character.

The more active words are ‎parabasis a 'trespass' or 'transgression', the stepping over a known boundary, it is when we brag about breaking God’s law

Rom 2:23 You who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? 2

‎anomia‎, 'lawlessness', the disregard or violating God’s ways. In each case an objective criterion is implied, either a standard we fail to reach or a line we deliberately cross.

Matt 23:28

28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

We have all sinned, though we are hesitant to admit it.

We have endeavoured to set ourselves up as God, to call the shots like we were God.

We have lied, - not told the truth, we have hurt others and protected ourselves by twisting words.

We have stolen, - cheated on expenses, taken something that doesn’t belong to us.

We have cheated, committed adultery, dishonored our parents, been involved in immorality,

Sin is the celebration of our own autonomy and self-centeredness...

We are not made to be autonomous Only God is Autonomous = able to exist and determine his own existence on his own.

But we want to be the determiners of our lives and in that state we will die.

The emphasis of Scripture, however, is on the godless self-centredness of sin. Every sin is a breach of what Jesus called 'the first and great commandment', not just by failing to love God with all our being, but by actively refusing to acknowledge and obey him as our Creator and Lord. We have rejected the position of dependence which our createdness inevitably involves, and made a bid for independence.

Worse still, we have dared to proclaim our self-dependence, our autonomy, which is to claim the position occupied by God alone.

Sin is not a regrettable lapse from conventional standards; its essence is hostility to God (Rom 8:7), issuing in active rebellion against him. It has been described in terms of 'getting rid of the Lord God' in order to put ourselves in his place in a haughty spirit of 'God-almightiness'.

Emil Brunner sums it up well: 'Sin is defiance, arrogance, the desire to be equal with God, . . . quotation is taken Man In Revolt (p. 129).

Once we have seen that every sin we commit is an expression of this spirit of revolt against God, we shall be able to accept David's confession: 'Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight' (Ps 51:4). This is when he committed adultery with Bathsheba, and arranged to have her husband Uriah killed in battle, David had committed extremely serious offences against them and against the nation. Yet it was God's laws which he had broken and thereby ultimately against God that he had chiefly offended.

Where has sin gone today?

Coming face to face with the reality of our sin is very uncomfortable and no great surprise we not only shy away from it but actively seek to remove it from our vocabulary and find other ways to disguise it. It is not ‘cool’ to talk about sin today.

An acute observer of this situation and one, who has noticed the disappearance of the word, is the American psychiatrist Karl Menninger. He has written about it in his book, Whatever Became of Sin?

Describing the malaise of western society, its general mood of scepticism, criticism and gloom and doom, he adds that 'one misses any mention of "sin"'.

'It was a word once in everyone's mind, but is now rarely if ever heard. Does that mean', he asks, 'that no sin is involved in all our troubles . . .? Has no-one committed any sins? Where, indeed, did sin go? What became of it?' (p. 13).

Enquiring into the causes of sin's disappearance, Dr Menninger notes

first that 'many former sins have become crimes', so that responsibility for dealing with them has passed from church to state, from priest to policeman (p. 50),

while others have dissipated into sicknesses, or at least into symptoms of sickness, so that in their case punishment has been replaced by treatment (pp. 74ff.).

A third convenient device called 'collective irresponsibility' has enabled us to transfer the blame for some of our deviant behaviour from ourselves as individuals to society as a whole or to one of its many groupings (pp. 94ff.).

The fact that we have redefined and re-labeled our sin does not make it go away. Nor does it remove our accountability and consequences before God. It is only when we honestly face it, expose it, take responsibility for it, confess it can we then find Salvation from it. It is only then that we can find life and hope that Christ came to provide us.

God’s response to Our Sin – JESUS ON THE CROSS

Out of His great love for us, He gave His son to die for our sin. We set ourselves up to rebel against God and do things as we please and God provides our salvation so that we have to choose Him over ourselves. That is why there is only one way and Jesus is that way.

Acts 4:

12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."

Col 1:19-20

19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. = salvation

The cross is GOOD NEWS to us

He was destined to save us from the beginning. The Angels proclaimed at His birth

Luke 2:10-12

"Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christa the Lord. 1

Jesus himself knew He was the good news

Mark 1:14-15

Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 "The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!"

Not everyone wants this news...

1 Cor 1:18

18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Foolishness to those who are perishing -

Many have and still today mock Jesus and what he has done for us

Matt 27:41-44

41 In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. 42 "He saved others," they said, "but he can't save himself! He's the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. 43 He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, 'I am the Son of God.'" 4

...BUT to us believe and are being saved... The Opportunity to REALLY LIVE FREE from the CONSEQUENCES OF OUR SIN.

- We are living differently – ‘do overs’ – the opportunity to live new

- We look, act, ‘smell’ differently

- duck

2 Cor 2:14-16

14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. 15 For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life.

Because of the salvation that Jesus works for us on the cross God is able to reveal his good work in our lives. That is God’s power at work in us

Phil 2:13

13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

The cross... is the power of God that is at work in our lives.

Jesus himself provides us peace between us and God by dying on the cross. Where we were excluded from a relationship with God, we had no hope, we lived without God, Jesus now brings us to God because His blood was shed on a cross. That is our salvation. (Eph 2:12-18)

3 TRUTHS ABOUT US & WHAT JESUS DID FOR US

Truth 1: We SIN - You do try to oppose God’s will and ways in your natural state and you will die separated from God unless you receive his salvation

Truth 2: OUR SIN SEPARATES US FROM GOD - you do not have access to God (spiritually, physically, emotionally, relationally) in your natural born state.

Truth 3: JESUS DEATH SAVES US FROM OUR SIN - Salvation is found in no one but Jesus and those who experience it. Realize the power of God in their lives.

Acts 4:

12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."

The Road to the Cross

The Bridge Church — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 16:46:00 -0700

The Road to the Cross

Mar 14, 2010

Matt 16:24-25; Story of woman with alabaster jar (Matt 26:1-16)

We are beginning our journey towards Easter this week. Easter is the day we celebrate the new life that Jesus brings through His resurrection, but as Jesus looks towards His resurrection, He sees a cross. A cross that stands between life in this world, and living in the power of a resurrected life. There is no resurrection without death, and for Jesus it comes by way of the cross.

The road of the cross is a road of sacrifice & surrender

Heb 12:2

Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Jesus knew that the cross was only a doorway into the throne room of God.

Sacrifice – giving up something I consider valuable and sacred for a greater purpose

Athletes make great sacrifices as they train. During the Olympics & now Para-Olympics we hear stories of people making great sacrifices for their sport. They get up earlier than everyone else, they buy equipment, pay for space to train, families make sacrifices as their children move away at young ages to work with a specific coach or be on a particular team

Why do athletes make these sacrifices?

So one day they stand on a podium, receive a medal and hear their national anthem played for their accomplishments.

Watch Dragons Den, you will hear the story of some person who has sacrificed tens & hundreds of thousands of dollars into an idea that perhaps will be in their minds worth much more one day. And they will hit it rich.

Parents sacrifice for their children, people sacrifice to gain an education, people make sacrifices for their marriages, their health, all kinds of things we make sacrifices for. Why? Because we perceive the thing we are sacrificing – as valuable as they are – are not as valuable as whatever lies ahead that is more valuable for us.

Jesus was willing to sacrifice himself for the greater purpose – RESTORING OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD = the salvation of our souls

John 17:3-4

3 Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 4

Jesus knew what it was to be in the presence of God; where His holiness is paramount and revealed for all creation to experience

"Holy, holy, holy
is the Lord God Almighty,
who was, and is, and is to come."

Where as Paul said...

1 Cor 13:12 we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

Jesus knows what it is to have God’s holiness expose us for who and what we are in God’s presence. He knows what it is to drink from the river of life, to hear the praises of all creation, to see the heavenly hosts fall on their faces before God. Jesus knew what ti is to live in the truest and complete sense of God’s eternal love.

Jesus also knows that we could not be in God’s holy presence and survive on our own merit. Jesus knows that all sin is completely burned away and consumed by the holiness of God and that on our own we are dead in our own sin and so he came with a purpose.

Jesus was clear on His greater purpose and while he was on the road to the cross

he came to Jericho and there was a scheming and conniving businessman was intrigued by Jesus and thought he would find a creative way to hide on the fringe and watch Jesus pass by. But Zaccheaus could not hide from Jesus and he ended up serving him lunch and giving him his life and half his fortune = and...

Luke 19:9-10

9 Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."

Or when Jesus had told his disciples again that he was on his way to Jerusalem where he would be betrayed, condemned to death, handed over to the Romans who would mock him, spit on him, flog him and kill him and that three days later He would raise again,

But two of the disciples, James & John were more interested in who was going to have the prestigious positions of leadership and Jesus remained clear about his purpose to bring James, John and many others into the presence of God and he says...

Mark 10:45

45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Or even when Peter thought he knew better what Jesus should and shouldn’t be doing because Jesus had just told them again...

Matt 16:21-27

21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. "Never, Lord!" he said. "This shall never happen to you!"

23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."

Jesus was not about living his life, using his time, strength, possessions... for his own comfort and purposes = He came to sacrifice it all for us, and Jesus casts that same calling to his disciples:

Jesus invites us to live sacrificially

Matt 16:24-27

24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save his lifeh will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 2

When we consider Jesus going to sacrifice himself for us that we may have life and live in God’s presence it leads to several possible responses , three of which are found in another story of Jesus on the road to the cross...

What are we willing to sacrifice – for what greater purpose?

A noble, spiritual, picture for sure, but what does that mean for us and how do we live like this?

There are Three Responses to Jesus’ sacrifice

26 When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, 2 "As you know, the Passover is two days away — and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified."

The disciples have heard this before, and quiet honestly they have struggled with it, perhaps they don’t really understand what he is saying. Maybe they don’t like it or believe it but the scriptures say...

6 While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, 7 a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table.

When we realize who Jesus is and what he has done for us it can truly be quite overwhelming. Everything else takes a notch down in the hues of color. Here a woman was obviously moved by the presence and relationship she had with Jesus, anoints him with an extremely valuable oil. Some commentators say it was worth a years wages. Think about your wages – Gross – not Net – turn that into an object, a car, boat, what single thing could you buy with your annual wage, now consider being moved by emotion, challenged by devotion, and you give it completely to Jesus.

The woman gave her best. She gave her all, her best because Jesus had impacted her life. She had let him ‘in’, to have influence in how she lived and she held nothing from him.

Some will give themselves, their all, their best in response to Jesus sacrifice for them.

8 When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. "Why this waste?" they asked. 9 "This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor."

Their concern was resource management – they wanted God to be efficient with these resources.

They placing social justice at a higher priority than the sacrifice for spiritual life. They missed the expression of worship of God.

The poor stand before God as well as the rich

They were putting material destitution ahead of spiritual destitution. Jesus knew there was something of greater value than money. This is why he said to the disciples after challenging a rich young man

Matt 19:23

23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.

The Disciples were blind to the purpose of the sacrifice – Jesus was clear on it. When we loose sight of a sacrifice we stop sacrificing – the disciples became indignant..

We so easily loose sight of who God is, what His nature is, what he is doing for us and what he wants to do in the lives of others...

10 Aware of this, Jesus said to them, "Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 11 The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. 12 When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. 13 I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her."

We want to make God look like us, we think Jesus is just like me – and he is not.

Jesus is restoring me into a relationship with God. I can not do that – I would not know how to do that, but Jesus does. When we make Jesus like us we think he thinks and acts like we do, that he values the same things I value and we are messed up in our thinking then.

what the disciples saw as a waste Jesus saw as a beautiful thing.

Look at her sacrifice – let it lead you to sacrifice as well

Our sacrifices should lead to Jesus = point to the purpose of his sacrifice – His death, His burial, His life – so we might life. What she did demonstrated the gospel

Judas rejected it all together

Others will reject his sacrifice and it leads to betrayal

14 Then one of the Twelve — the one called Judas Iscariot — went to the chief priests 15 and asked, "What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?"

Judas was not willing to accept who Jesus was and what he was doing for him and others. He was caught up in his own understanding of what the purpose was = not Jesus purposes –

Jesus wants us to respond to the sacrifice he makes for us.

How will you respond? Turn your back like Judas?

make him fit your responsible paradigm?

Sacrifice (what) generously?

Give yourself to him = worship him...

Give your time to him, your resources to making him known,

Jesus invites us to pick up our cross and lead others too him...

What would be too great a sacrifice?

Talking to my friend about Jesus...

Beginning to tithe...

Meeting the need of someone by...

DIETRICH BONHOEFFER:

It is not the religious act that makes the Christian, but participation in the sufferings of God in the secular life.”

Phil 3:7-11

7 But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ — the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Baptism

The Bridge Church — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 10:57:00 -0800

The Sacrament of Baptism

The word Sacrament comes from the Latin word “sacramentum” denoting a deposit, or an oath ,particularly as in a military pledge of allegiance or willingness to give myself to someone or something. I am setting my life apart as a deposit for a greater cause.

The word is also based on a greek word “mysterion”, where we get the english word "mystery".

Something that is a sacrament carries the sense that something has been deemed sacred and set apart for God.

A Sacrament is – an earthly sign of a heavenly meaning Or “Divinely given covenant signs”. Sacraments are the hidden things of God that cannot be know except as God has disclosed them.

In the Old Testament – Circumcision and Passover

In the New Testament – Baptism and the Lord’s Supper

Sacraments often become rituals when people do them because it is the thing to do but they have lost their sense of significant meaning.

Mystery forms the background for understanding sacraments in the context of dealing with the embodiment of God’ s Word revealed in Christ (Incarnation) and the embodiment and growth of that Word in the believers (the Church)

Augistine said sacraments were the “visible Word” where God's Word was being revealed in the life of a Christian.

The sacraments are the wonderful and unique opportunities we have to experience God’s Word visibly appearing in the life of the people of God. The sacrament of Baptism is a wonderful and special event in the life of a follower of Jesus that should reveal to the world of the great things God is doing in their life.

History of Baptism –

In the New Testament we see John the Baptist – who began baptising people who were confessing their sin and repenting of their ways of life. They were people intent on living in an honest and meaningful relationship with God.

Then Jesus was baptised – something extraordinary happened, the heavens broke open, the spirit of God descended like a dove and the Father audibly spoke “This is my son, whom I am well pleased”. Jesus Baptism inaugurated his earthly ministry as he began to preach of a new and different life – and eternal life in God’s kingdom that could only be accessed through Him.

Before Jesus returned to God in Heaven he gave his followers this charge:

Matt 28:18-20

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them ina the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

In the book of Acts we see the Apostles and disciples of Jesus beginning to baptize new followers of Jesus, in Acts 2 Peter, the leader of this new way, after explaining what had just happened at Pentecost preached:

Acts 2:38-39

"Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Not long after that a man named Saul began to persecute the new church, chasing some followers to a town called Damascus, Saul encountered the risen Jesus. The experience blinded him and began a series of events that forever changed his life.

Acts 9:17-19

Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord-Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here — has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit." 18 Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, 19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength.

Over the next several hundred years, baptism became a sacred mark over the life of a follower of Jesus. It was an experience in the life of a person where their physical lives and their new spiritual lives visibly and publically connected, coming together as an inauguration into a completely new way of living as a life set free from the bondages of sin and now living in the grace and power of God.

During the middle ages (500-1500 AD), the Roman Catholic Church gained great power throughout Europe and baptism became an ordinance of the Roman Catholic Church that was only instituted at the birth of a baby in a Catholic family. Baptism administered to infants soon began to loose it’s meaning and significance to the life of the follower of Jesus. During these years the church became the mediator between God and man and God’s Word was strategically and intentionally kept from common people and they had no way of knowing what God had said about Baptism.

The early 1500’s God’s Holy Spirit began to dramatically stir a Reformation in the lives of people. This Reformation was a spiritual revolution that would bring God’s Word to people so they could respond to the gospel of Jesus and God’s love by faith. Martin Luther in 1517 discovered that only in scripture is the righteousness of God found and that by faith alone are we saved by Jesus Christ.

As people began to read the Bible and be convicted by God’s Word, and understand the tremendous love God offers us through his Son Jesus, they began to place their faith in Jesus Christ alone. They also began to want to respond to him in obedience in every aspect of their lives, including the Sacraments that began to take on new life.

Like an earthquake, the Holy Spirit began to shake the landscape of humanity. And like the earthquake in Haiti things began to change with great violence. The Roman Catholic Church began to eliminate anyone who stood against their influence calling them heritics. The Sacraments – Lords Supper and Baptism – became important and volatile concerns during this time.

One of my personal heros of the faith is a man named Balthazar Hubmaier, a significant German theologian who followed the wave began by Luther.

In August 1524, Hubmaier wrote one of the most important theological treaties of the entire Reformation entitled “Concerning Heretics and Those Who Burn Them”. A plea for religious liberty and the voluntary decision a person must make to follow the teachings and life of Christ. That everyone has the freedom to believe in Jesus and not to believe and forsake the gospel. He began the discussion that lead to the early Baptist position of the separation of Church and State.

On January 21, 1525 – 485 years ago, the first baptism of an adult convert took place near Zurich Switzerland when a newly saved Catholic priest baptised his landlord. In the coming weeks and months hundreds of people began to be baptized by breaking ice over frozen streams and rivers. In April 1525 Hubmaier was baptized with 60 other people and a few weeks later on Easter Sunday Hubmaier baptized over 300 people.

To protect their influence, the Church issued a decree that anyone who received believer’s baptism as an adult would be subject to death.

Over the coming years persecution began to spread wherever men & women, under the conviction of the Holy Spirit, willingly confessed their sin, believing that their sins were forgiven by Jesus’ death received the gift of new life in Christ and in that publically professing their faith and participate in believer’s baptism. Thousands of lives were killed for their faith through Switzerland, Holland and Germany. By 1526 Hubmaier and his wife, Elsbeth, were on the run and in August 1527 they were imprisoned outside of Vienna. On March 3 he was tortured but the rack produced no last minute recantation and on March 10, 1528 He was burned at the stake in Vienna. His last words as they rubbed sulphur and gunpowder into his beard were “O dear brothers, pray God that he will give me patience in this my suffering. I will die in the Christian faith.” Three days later his wife was drowned in the Danube, the same way they killed witches and heretics.

The Hubmaier's added their blood to the many who willingly gave their lives to establish the freedom we have to experience the Sacrament of Believers Baptism. What was the significance of this mysterious Sacrament that was worth their lives?

Baptism

Romans 6:3-4 - "Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life."

Baptism is not something we offer to God, but it is something that Jesus Christ offers to us. Jesus calls us to follow him and in that Jesus leads us to our own death. Our own willingness to die to ourselves – our own desires and receive and live in the glorious life that Jesus offers us.

Mark 1:17-18 "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." 18 At once they left their nets and followed him.

Mark 8:34-36 "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save his lifec will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. 3

The Sacrament of Baptism is an Act of Faith

Jesus saves us by our faith – In baptism we become Christ’s possession. The name of Jesus Christ is spoken over the baptismal candidate and they gain a share in that name, they are baptized “into Jesus Christ”

Rom 6:3 “...all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus”

Matt 28:19 "...baptizing them ina the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,"

they now belong to Jesus Christ. Having been rescued from the rule of this world they now have become Christ’s own.

We are set apart by faith

Baptism implies a break in our life. Our past and our future are torn apart by the present moment of baptism.

2 Cor 5:16-17 "So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"

This break does not come about by our breaking of our chains to make my life better. But it is recognizing that long ago, Christ himself entered into our realm and brought about that break through his death on the cross. In baptism this break now also takes effect in my own life. Christ, my mediator between me and God, has also stepped between me and the rest of the world. Those who are baptized no longer belong to the world, no longer serve the world, and are no longer subject to it. They belong to Christ alone and now we relate to the rest of the world only through Christ. He continues to be my mediator between me and everyone, God and the world.

This break with the world is absolute. It requires and causes our death. In baptism we die together with our old world. This death must be understood in the strictest sense as an event that is suffered. We can not bring about our own spiritual death, there is nothing we can do to cause it. Our old self cannot kill itself, it cannot will it’s own death.

The Sacrament of Baptism is an Act of Obedience

We follow Jesus by our own choice, our own obedience to him and his word. We cannot be obedient to that which we do not hear and respond to. The cross of Christ leads us by His grace to our life, our new life found in Christ.

Those who become Christ’s own must come under his cross. The cross of Christ is the gracious death, which we die once and for all time in our baptism.

We die in Christ alone; we die through Christ and in Christ. Christ IS OUR DEATH. It is for the sake our relationship with Christ, and only in that community that we die. In baptism we receive both community with Christ and our death as a gift of grace. We can never create this ourselves.

It is in this death that judgement is passed on our old self and our sin and it is out of this judgement that we rise the new self.

Our obedience in our baptism involves us in the transaction that leads us from death to life.

“ If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection”

Baptism does not save us, like there is no action that we could do that would save us, but it is our choice to follow Jesus to His cross and it is in Jesus that we die in order to be freed from our sin.

Sinners must die. Whoever has died has been justified and freed from sin, sin no longer has any claim on those who are dead. Forgiveness of sin does not mean that the sin is overlooked or forgotten, it means that the sinner has been put to death and separated from sin. Sin no longer has claim over those who are dead. Being baptized into the death of Christ is what brings forgiveness of sin, but we must be willing to associate ourselves with the death and life of Jesus, it is obedience by faith that we are baptized into Christ’s death.

The Sacrament of Baptism is an Act of Community

Christ invades the realm of Satan and lays hold of those who belong to him and thereby creating his church community – His body

“we too may live a new life” Rom 6:4

"There is one body and one Spirit— just as you were called to one hope when you were called— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism;" Eph 4:4-5

In calling the disciples, Jesus demanded a visible act of obedience. To follow Jesus was a public act, in the same way baptism is a public act, for in baptism we are incorporated into the visible church community of Jesus Christ. We become part of the body of Jesus.

The break with the world can no longer be hidden, it must become externally visible through active participation in the life and worship of the body of Jesus – the church community.

Christians who are actively involved in the church community take a step out of the world, their work, and family; they visibly stand in the community with Jesus Christ. They take this step on their own as individuals, but regain what they have given up – brothers, sisters, houses, fields, (Mk 10:30).

Baptism is like a new birth in the family of God. We are born into a new life with a new body and a new family.

Godly Work

The Bridge Church — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 14:00:35 -0800

Nothing seems to keep us occupied more than work does.

For most of us, work is the necessary evil; the things that I have to do so I can do the things I really want to do. We work so we can play. We don’t really like work and yet for many, especially men, our work somehow defines us and gives us some kind of value in our own eyes, the eyes of others around us, the eye’s of our fathers.

I often ask people “do you like what you do?, where you work..., who you work for... most people are neutral, but if given the opportunity they would do it less.

Retirement is the golden egg – the day we finally have everything we need to ‘hang it up’ and do what I always wanted to do.

Until then, we work.

I had planned to finish this series with a message about Sabbath – finding God’s rest – but as I worked through that I realized that to understand what it is to find God’s rest – we must begin with God’s understanding of work.

To keep the Sabbath well, we must have a right view of work, without a good theology of work, we will have a messed up theology of rest. Before we understand God’s rest, we must understand the Lord’s work.

We have a God who He himself works. From the beginning God has been at work

John 5:17

16 So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him. 17 Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working." 18 For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

There is something about finding rest in a Sabbath that is distinctly tied to work.

God initiated and created work for mankind

Gen 2:15

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

Then things went wrong – There’s a serpent, deception, betrayal, trespass, concealment, blaming, and before you know it the garden party with God was over. However, the work was not, there was still work to do, more than ever only now it was “no fun”

Gen 3:17-19

"Cursed is the ground because of you;

through painful toil you will eat of it

all the days of your life.

18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,

and you will eat the plants of the field.

19 By the sweat of your brow

you will eat your food

until you return to the ground,

since from it you were taken;

for dust you are

and to dust you will return."

From that day forward, WORK has been a challenge. The Fall skewed what God had created for good. Now doing our work is like trying to hammer a nail with a screwdriver, frustration is coded into the structure of the fallen creation.

Therefore, there will be days you do not like your work at all.

When you have one of those “take-this-job-and-shove-it days try this.

Pg 15

God values my work and He wants me to value it as well.

Col 3:23-24

23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord

Ps 90:17

May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us;

establish the work of our hands for us —

yes, establish the work of our hands.

Prov 22:29

29 Do you see a man skilled in his work?

He will serve before kings;

he will not serve before obscure men.

When I can see the value God places in my work, I can find value in it as well.

Studs Terkel wrote a book ‘Working’ – a compilation of interviews of hundreds of people about their jobs. A common theme he discovered: “Most people...live somewhere between grudging acceptance of their job to an active dislike of it.”

Yet for many people, their work consumes them and most people deal with it by nursing a fantasy.

The dream of being a man-child: escaping all obligation, all responsibility, but without loosing a shred of freedom. It is having ample money, time, health, power and yet not having a claim on any of it.

The typical response to the burden is to flee it – RUN AWAY – escape is the cure for troubles. “If only I could get away – then I would enjoy life” - But we know that flight is a trap – there is no end to the running.

God’s solution is surprising – He offers REST. But it is not just sleep as another form of escape, but to rest in him in the midst of our threats and burdens. It is discovering that God alone is our refuge, our rock in the midst of struggles. He offers something better than our fantasy – He offers Himself.

God values my work and...

The Lord gives me work as a gift and I must receive it as His calling

Eccl 5:19

when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work — this is a gift of God.

Historically, the church has done little to help people here. If I say the phrase “the Lord’s work” what do you think of? Most people will think of pastor, priest, missionary, and doing those sorts of things. That is a shallow and narrow understanding of the Lord’s work.

The bible tells the story of (Luke 5:1-11)

What has Christ called you to do? Many people struggle with this question. We think that when God calls a person, he takes them from fishing, and makes them preachers. Were not sure that God could call a person to be a fisherman, teacher, landscaper, housecleaner, home-maker, truck driver, construction worker.

The truth is God set up life on this world and we need everyone of those. This work is and can be a calling, a ‘vocation’ - literally the work that The Voice told you to do.

Jesus held honest work in high regard; he never brushed off the value of work.

To Peter and others, Jesus wanted to elevate the status of their work IN THEIR OWN EYES, so that he could reinforce a lesson about the cost of obedience. Jesus makes the choice to heed his voice costly. Fishing is suddenly good – it is suddenly hard to leave.

1 Cor 7:20-22

20 Each one should remain in the situation which he was in when God called him. 21 Were you a slave when you were called? Don't let it trouble you — although if you can gain your freedom, do so. 22 For he who was a slave when he was called by the Lord is the Lord's freedman; similarly, he who was a free man when he was called is Christ's slave.

The opposite of a slave is not a free man. It is a worshiper. The one who is most free is the one who turns the work of his hands into a sacrament, into offering. All that he makes and does are gifts from God, through God and to God. Where the work of our hands becomes the worship of our hearts.

We can view our work as a calling from the Lord and it is not the career field that makes it a calling but our attitude – our perspective. When our perspective of our work changes and lines up with God’s perspective of our life then we are doing God’s work

When I realized that I had given my life to Christ, that I actually belonged to Him. As long as a person ‘belongs’ to themselves then they are responsible to determine their own ‘calling’.

But, as a person who belongs to Jesus, my career becomes his as well. He sanctifies my work and makes it my calling.

I must take responsibility for my calling. Task vs call

Finish a task or fulfill a calling

There was a time in my career at Boeing I really hated my job, but God had begun to get ahold of my heart in a new and significant way. I was moving more and more to the point that I truly wanted to please him in the way I lived, but I hated my job.

God revealed to me in my prayer time and said “ I have put you there, not yourself, there is a reason you are there” and he brought the names of several people to my mind. “I want you to love these people and help them to see me”

That changed my entire perspective of my life and purpose at Boeing. Before long I began to view myself as a person doing the “Lords work” but getting my paycheck from Boeing. What that forced me to do was to be a better employee

Col 3:22-24

22 Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

God calls right where you are at. If He wants you someplace else, doing something else – He will tell you and make sure you know what / where that is, but otherwise - assume He wants you where you are at. God values your work there and he wants you to value it as well.

Most of Jesus life on earth – he spent as a carpenter. The apostle Paul, even at the height of his preaching and missionary work, he supported himself through tent-making.

Paul was insistent about the value of common labour and told the Thessalonians

1 Thess 4:11-12

Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you,

2 Thess 3:10

we gave you this rule: "If a man will not work, he shall not eat."

1 Thess 1:8

“The Lord's message rang out” from their lives.

Martin Luther said:

“the maid who sweeps her kitchen is doing the will of God just as much as the monk who prays – not because she may sing a Christian hymn as she sweeps but because God loves clean floors. The Christian shoemaker does his Christian duty not by putting little crosses on the shoes, but by making good shoes, because God is interested in good craftsmanship.”

There is sanctity in honest Godly work. There is something about it that pleases, not only the eyes of others, but also the heart of God.

Eph 6:5-8

5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. 6 Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. 7 Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, 8 because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free.

All the glory of my work belongs to God – (not me)

We pick our jobs based on the glory we think we will receive from it – based on what we value = $, status, power, prestige, time off...

As my life changes & I see the value God brings to my work, & He is empowering me to accomplish what He has set before me then the Glory of my work belongs to Him and not me.

Work done in such a spirit has the power to reveal Christ himself, to make Christ known and ‘ring out’.

Our Response –

Father my life is yours; thank you that you value me

Thank you that you help me know how you would want me to spend my days

Look into your hands and pray...

Father please take my hands and set them to meaningful work that will bring you glory.

Sanctify the work of my hands.

If you want to call me to another task make it clear and help me accomplish what you set before me.

Help me have an attitude to enjoy the work you call me to.

May the work of my life make you happy.

May the work of my life bring you glory.

The Mystery & Sacrament of Communion

The Bridge Church — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 09:51:00 -0800

The Lord’s Supper is a mysterious sacrament because once again, like in baptism, we are invited to interact with God in the physical and spiritual realities of us and God coming together in a significant and sacred manner. Through the years and traditions, there have been numerous and varied understandings of the mystery of the Lords Supper.

Lets take a quick look at the history of this sacrament. To understand it’s significance we must understand where it came from and what it has gone through to be preserved for us and to be sacred to us today.

Acts 2:42-43

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 4

In the very early days of the church, they likely celebrated the Lords Supper at every meeting or time of worship. But very soon we see in the developing church of Acts and the letters of Paul that the administration of the Lords Supper was confined to the meeting on the first day of the week. The ‘agape’ or ‘love feast’ always preceded communion and be followed by the singing of praises and genuine bonding of the fellowship of the community through greetings and the ‘holy kiss’.

Through the development of the church, the Lords Supper continued to hold a great sense of mystic sacredness and in the church of the first couple of centuries would separate themselves from the more public preaching of the Word and prayers as in the previous period. It was believe to be something too holy for the common eye to see and therefore not a part of the open church meeting and reserved for the gathering of the believers only. All of the ingredients of the agape and elements of the supper were provided by the free-will offerings of the believers and solemnly set apart by the officiating bishop with a consecrating prayer that became known as the “Eucharist” and the gifts were called the ‘sacrifices’.

Over the next centuries several streams of understanding began to be associated with the mystical traditions. Through the medieval period, the Roman Catholic Church taught a doctrine known as ‘Transubstantiation’ that by Divine power the bread and wine were physically and substantially changed into the body and blood of Jesus and that in the mass the physical sacrifice of Jesus occurred fresh for the congregants as a sin offering. The mass became the very center of the Catholic worship service.

During the reformation, the doctrine of transubstantiation was rejected and replaced with more symbolic understandings of the bread and wine. That while the elements had spiritual significance in their meaning they physically remained bread and wine. That when Jesus says “this is” it is understood as “this stands for”, “this signifies”.

Over thousands of years, The Lords Supper has remained a mysterious and sacred act that has evoked the hearts and minds of God’s people as they interact individually and corporately with the heart and mind of Jesus Christ. This is like a most important and sacred family dinner where the Father and Son call their family together to remember and celebrate who they are and why they are at His table.

This is not for those who have not yet believed but for those who have responded to Jesus’ sacrifice for their sin and received the life of God’s Holy Spirit.

In the supper we confess our faith and express what that faith means to us. We do it in memory of Christ’s death and to celebrate His finished work on the cross that secures our everlasting relationship with the God of Life. In the Lord’s Supper we clearly see the vicarious atonement or substitution of Christ for our own sin; that He died the death we, ourselves, personally were condemned to. It was my sin that nailed him to the cross. In the Lords Supper, I personally, emotionally, spiritually, intellectually accept and receive the real and effectual sacrifice that Jesus made for me by letting himself be stripped, beaten, tortured and killed for my wilful sin – the choices, decisions, words, actions, attitudes that goes against what God has said is the way I should live.

More so than in baptism, the Lords Supper Spiritually bridges our present day faith with both the past and future actions of Jesus

Jesus says...

"This is my body, which is for you (PRESENT); do this in remembrance of me."(PAST) 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood(FUTURE); do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me."

Paul encourages us...26 “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.”(FUTURE)

The Lords Supper is a time of remembrance of the sacrifice that Jesus has made for us, why he did it and what His death provided for us. Jesus says “do this in remembrance of me” (Lk 22:19)

The Lords Supper connects us to our Past

God has always been about the work of revealing himself, particularly as he is calling us, his creation to himself and redeeming us. He did this in the Old Testament, as he provided a Passover Lamb. A perfect lamb that was killed and that’s blood was wiped on the doorposts of the Jew’s who were living in Egypt, so that they would escape the death that the rest of the world would experience. The death of the Egyptians was the necessary event that would provide the deliverance of God’s People. At that time Gods people began to celebrate the Passover as an annual and sacred celebration feast to remember what God had done for them. Over and over God would command them to “REMEMBER”

Deut 24:18

8 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there. That is why I command you to do this.

We so easily forget who we are, what has happened in our lives that has made us who we are today. We often want to forget and move on, and when we do we end up going in circles. The Israelites did that for 40 years as they wondered in the desert, they easily would forget what God had done for them and they would have to cover the same ground over and over until they were willing to accept who God was and what he had done for them and the future that he had for them.

When you take the Lords Supper – do you remember what Jesus has done for you. Let your mind remind you of the sin – the specific names, dates, times, places, words, actions that the blood of Jesus is covering in your life. The things you have confessed and repented of. The things you are no longer judged and held responsible for. These are the things that the sacrifice of Jesus and forgiveness of God has set you free of.

Freedom is freedom when you know what you have been set free from. In the Lords Supper we remember the marvellous life and ministry of Jesus. It is an opportunity to express our deepest praise and appreciation for all that Jesus has done for us.

Just as one step in the Jewish Passover meal was to proclaim the Hebrews deliverance from Egyptian bondage, so in the Lord’s Supper we proclaim the deliverance from sin and the misery through the death of “Christ our Passover” (1Cor 5:7)

The Lords Supper connects us with our past – it also connects us with our Present.

The Supper is a time of refreshing and communing with God through the Holy Spirit. An event that happened 2000 years ago becomes real and significant in our present day lives. As we participate in the benefits of Jesus’ death and resurrection life.

1 Cor 10:16

16 When we bless the cup at the Lord's Table, aren't we sharing in the blood of Christ? And when we break the bread, aren't we sharing in the body of Christ? NLT

Through the spirit of Christ we connect our lives with the sacrifice of Jesus...

Through the death and life of Jesus we to are able to live

John 6:53-54 53 Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day

Jesus also said

John 10:10

10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Through the Lord’s Supper we remember what Jesus has done for us and find the refreshment our souls long for to live in the fullness of life that Jesus bring into our lives today. Through the Lords Supper, and the power of the Spirit God reminds us and renews the strength of Jesus life that remains within us.

1 Peter 4:11

11 If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.

At the Lords table we are refreshed, renewed and find the strength to face our very present days.

We must also remember the Lords Supper is not an individual experience but is an expression of the whole community. Not just between me and Jesus, but that God is calling His whole family together, we are part of the body of Jesus.

1 Cor 10:17-18

17 And though we are many, we all eat from one loaf of bread, showing that we are one body. NLT

Paul chastised the Corinthian church on their abuse of this sacred event.

1 Cor 11:20-21

20 When you come together, it is not the Lord's Supper you eat, 21 for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else.

The problem in this church was that each person was only interested in themselves, their own issues, interests, concerns and comforts and Paul reminds us we are part of a body that God is strengthening us for.

The Lords Supper also connects us to our future.

God has always had a greater future for us than we may even have for ourselves, it is a future of a glorious home

In the Old Testament, God was calling his people to worship him and he would take them to their new home – a Promised Land, a land flowing with milk and honey.

Ex 3:17

17 And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into ... — a land flowing with milk and honey.'

The Supper is a time of recommitment and anticipation. We are to examine (literally “prove” or “test” ) ourselves and participate in a worthy manner. When we do this we renew our dedication to Christ and His people, in the hopeful anticipation “till He comes again” After Christs return we shall partake with Him in His physical presence in the Kingdom.

Luke 22:16-18,20

16 For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God."

17 After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, "Take this and divide it among you. 18 For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes."

20 In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.

Jesus is entering into a covenant relationship in itself indicates an on-going future relationship, but this future is not ambiguous in Jesus mind, but very clear and with great fulfillments – it is that time when he comes for us and takes us to the great feast of the lamb in the physical presence of God.

Rev 19:9

9 Then the angel said to me(John), "Write: 'Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!'" And he added, "These are the true words of God."

1 Cor 11:26 “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.”

In the Lords Supper you are declaring you have a future with God. You are anticipating and looking for the return of Christ who will bring you into his glorious home. When Jesus said

John 14:2-4

I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

This is real. When we are participating in the Lords Supper – we are participating in the Past – Present and Future of our Relationship with God because of our faith in Jesus Christ, that his sacrifice of his body and blood on the cross secured this relationship for me.

This is why the Lords Supper is a GREAT, MYSTERIOUS SACRAMENT FOR US AND ONE HE INVITES US TO PARTICIPATE IN.

The Sacrament of Baptism

The Bridge Church — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 16:41:23 -0800

Sacrament –Comes from the Latin word “sacramentum” denoting a deposit, or an oath particularly as in a military pledge of allegiance

and also based on a greek word “mysterion”

The sense that something has been deemed sacred and set apart for God.

Sacrament – an earthly sign of a heavenly meaning Or “Divinely given covenant signs”

Sacraments are the hidden things of God that cannot be know except as God has disclosed them.

In the Old Testament – Circumcision and Passover

In the New Testament – Baptism and the Lord’s Supper

Sacraments become rituals when people do them and they have lost their sense of significant meaning.

Augistine said sacraments were the “visible Word”

The sacraments are the wonderful and unique opportunities we have to experience God’s Word visibly appearing in the life of the people of God.

History of Baptism –

Before Jesus returned to God in Heaven he gave his followers this charge:

Matt 28:18-20

Acts 2:38-39

"Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Acts 9:17-19

Over the next several hundred years, baptism became a sacred mark over the life of a follower of Jesus. It was an experience in the life of a person where their physical lives and their new spiritual lives visibly and publically connected, coming together as an inauguration into a completely new way of living as a life set free from the bondages of sin and now living in the grace and power of God.

During the middle ages (500-1500), the Roman Catholic Church gained great power throughout Europe and baptism became an ordinance of the Roman Catholic Church that was only instituted at the birth of a baby in a Catholic family. Baptism administered to infants soon began to loose it’s meaning and significance to the life of the follower of Jesus. During these years the church became the mediator between God and man and God’s Word was strategically and intentionally kept from common people.

One of my personal heros of the faith is a man named Balthazar Hubmaier, a significant German theologian who followed the wave began by Luther.

To protect their influence, the Church issued a decree that anyone who received believer’s baptism as an adult would be subject to death.

Hubmaier added his blood to the many who willingly gave their lives to establish the freedom we have to experience the Sacrament of Believers Baptism. What was the significance of this mysterious Sacrament that was worth their lives?

Baptism – Memory Verse this week...

3 Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. Romans 6:3-4

Mark 1:17-18

"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." 18 At once they left their nets and followed him.

Mark 8:34-36

"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save his lifec will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. 3

The Sacrament of Baptism is an Act of Faith

Jesus saves us by our faith – In baptism we become Christ’s possession. The name of Jesus Christ is spoken over the baptismal candidate and they gain a share in that name, they are baptized “into Jesus Christ”

Rom 6:3 “...all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus”

Matt 28:19

baptizing them ina the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

they now belong to Jesus Christ. Having been rescued from the rule of this world they now have become Christ’s own.

We are set apart by faith

Baptism implies a break in our life. Our past and our future are torn apart by the present moment of baptism.

2 Cor 5:16-18

16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 1

The Sacrament of Baptism is an Act of Obedience

Those who become Christ’s own must come under his cross. The cross of Christ is the gracious death, which we die once and for all time in our baptism.

It is in this death that judgement is passed on our old self and our sin and it is out of this judgement that we rise the new self.

Our obedience in our baptism involves us in the transaction that leads us from death to life.

“5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection”

The Sacrament of Baptism is an Act of Community

Christ invades the realm of Satan and lays hold of those who belong to him and thereby creating his church community – His body

“we too may live a new life” Rom 6:4

There is one body and one Spirit— just as you were called to one hope when you were called— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; Eph 4:4-5

The break with the world can no longer be hidden, it must become externally visible through active participation in the life and worship of the body of Jesus – the church community.

Baptism is like a new birth in the family of God. We are born into a new life with a new body and a new family.

Here in a few minutes, Dariush, as a new follower of Jesus will experience baptism. I like doing our baptisms in the bay, because he will be leaving the land and entering into the water, just like he leaves his old life and enters into a realm that is very different from anything he has experienced before, his life with Christ. While there I will ask him “what is your profession” and his response will be “Jesus is my Lord and the Bible will be my guide” then I will say “I baptise you Dariush, my brother, in the name of the Father, His Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit”. I will lower him into the water as a picture of his death and the cleansing of his life of his sin, then raising him up to walk in the newness of his life in Christ. Then he will come back to the land to live as a new man.

Prayer

The Bridge Church — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 15:52:00 -0800

One of the great mysteries of our lives is that we can communicate with God.

Jer 29:12-13

call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

When we look at the life of Jesus, we see a man who prayed. Jesus gives us an example of how to live as a man in an interactive relationship with a real and living God.

“Prayer is the nearest approach to God we can experience this side of glory”. – Pickford

Jesus knew that while physically present on earth, his time in prayer brought him into the spiritual presence of His Father. In prayer, the spiritual and physical boundaries are broken down to create a space for our souls to talk with the spirit of God , and listen and learn from Him.

The one essential ingredient of prayer is the awareness and enjoyment of His presence; we draw near to Him, and he draws nigh to us.

There is much we can learn about prayer from the life of Jesus and as we follow his example, we begin to model a life that dramatically and mysteriously comes to life. It should be no surprise that we find Jesus praying at the beginning of his ministry and at the end of his life, because He knew that as a human, prayer was his connection to his Father. Throughout his life he was in a continuous attitude of prayer, where spirit with Spirit mingles in the voiceless words of the heart that indicates the harmony and bond of oneness with the Father. Where his mind, will and desires were constantly being submitted to the Fathers through the ongoing conversation he had through his spirit. Jesus knew that nothing drew him nearer to his Father, while he was on earth, than His time in prayer.

It is through pray that it is as if a doorway is opened to the heavens because of the spiritual work done on our knees.

Prayer – Opens the Heavens

This picture of prayer that opens the heavens begins at Jesus’ baptism and follows him to his death. Matthew, Mark and Luke each describe these mysterious accounts of prayer in Jesus life.

In Luke, God’s attention is drawn towards the person

Luke 3:21-22

When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."

An opening was created / built, like a door opened. Here Luke connects this opening of heaven and Jesus’ prayer life.

Heaven responds showing the immediate access that prayer brings to anyone who seeks God’s presence and help.

Matt 3:16-17

16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."

A ‘way’ was opened up to him, opening created. Heaven had always been open to Jesus, but now he is on a unique mission as the Son of Man and God was making himself completely available to him on a moments notice.

In Mark we witness a different facet of this openness of heaven in prayer...

Mark 1:9-11

At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn (schizomenous – rent, rend, schism) open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."

The heavens parted in an explosive manner. It is a picture of the heavens “cleaved”, “ruptured” as a result of Jesus’ prayer

Torn / parted – an opening was rent, as an immediate breakthrough had occured

This same Greek word surfaces again, in each of these gospel accounts at his crucifixion...in his tortured state, his body broken, his emotions blackened, feeling the pain of abandonment and lonliness, his last ounce of strength reached out to his lifeline of prayer and

Matt 27:50-51

50 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.

51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split.

The veil that had previously separating heaven and earth, God and Man was dramatically being torn in this last prayer of Jesus. Jesus came to break the barrier between God and Man and every stage of his earthly life, Jesus expemplifies the power potential of keeping in touch with God through prayer.

Mark 15:37-38

With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.

38 The curtain of the temple was torn ( eschisthee, rent, divide, schism) in two from top to bottom.

Luke 23:44-46

44 It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, 45 for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." When he had said this, he breathed his last.

Prayer enables us to enter into the presence of the Omnipotent God that breaks open the heavens and shakes the earth, to bring new life, revive buried hopes, and make us more than conquerors.

In prayer Heaven is opened to us and God will do all that is necessary, even turn the world upside down to respond to the prayer that flows from a sincere heart. Over and Over Jesus prods us to ask the Father and see him do great and mighty things.

The Key of Prayer

Not all prayer insures an open heaven.

Moses warns Israel that the heavens above could become as iron, adamantly closed to his people.
In his great Temple prayer, Solomon warns God’s people that their actions if left unconfessed or uncorrected, would shut up heaven to them.
Isaiah explicitly points out that our sins restrain the hearing which God promises and the power which prayer provides.
Jesus himself gives a compelling lesson on the prayer that fails to get off the ground and tells of a self-assured, pious man who sings his own praises and promotes his own goodness and expects God to hear his prayers while he looks with contempt on a broken, irreligious man who stammers out a simple, sincere prayer. The tax collector, on the other hand, moves the heart of God and receives forgiveness as he prays.
The Letter of James has much to say about prayer and says we should not expect God to respond to our selfish disbelief.
Peter challenges husbands that their prayers will not be answered if they do not treat their wives rightly.

What then is the key to prayer that will open heaven?

We see this also in the account of Jesus baptism from Matthew.

Matt 3:13-15

13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?"

15 Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." T

The Key is Obedience

Effectual praying and obedient living provide the access to God’s presence and power.

In this passage, two qualities of obedience are displayed.

“to fulfill all righteousness” – The satisfaction of God’s Character. righteousness and holiness will be fulfilled in his active response to prayer. God will not compromise himself in any way to answer prayer, his response to our prayer will reveal himself and he wants our lives to fulfill his righteousness.

We are reluctant to face the fact that much of the futility of our prayer life is the direct result of our lack of obedience to the Lords Word.. too often we can speak of a righteousness in our lives that is not actually in existence.

Or like King Saul, we go along with the Lord as far as we think necessary, but draw a line that our pride will not step across,

Or we get our back up against God’s will like Jonah and don’t really care about what he wants.

In all of this, we forfeit the openness of heaven and disregard the freedom and power which an intimate relationship with the Lord brings.

The Second quality of this spirit of obedience is in three simple words that put an end to John the Baptists reluctance to baptize Jesus. It is our willingness.

It is “proper for us” – it is not a question of what is only necessary or how far the requirements need to be followed, but it is “fitting, or becoming, or proper” in view of who we are and who God is. Jesus is delighted to do everything that reflects the very nature of his Heavenly Father, and please him in every way.

Jesus views obedience as more than a duty or obligation. Obedience to Jesus is an outworking of the love which drives him to do all and be all that becomes Who He is and Whom He seeks to please

When we are driven by a real desire to please God in any and every thing we do God is pleased to break open the gates of heaven and move heaven and earth, the power of prayer it running at the highest capacity.

Treasures of Prayer

God has so much to give us and our prayers unlock great treasures. They are more than sufficient to meet all our needs.

Again when we look to the baptism of Jesus and Heaven breaks open in response to his prayers, God gives him every thing he needs to do all that is set before him.

The first Treasure is the Affirmation of God - "This is my Son, whom I love...”

He stands up and says “You are Mine”

When a parent sees his or her child do something well, and get recognized, that parents heart is busting open and they want to scream “THAT’S MY CHILD” and the child knows they are loved –

We long to hear God’s voice saying “well done my child”

The second is the Approval of God – “with him I am well pleased”

Jesus’ obedience and pray for God’s glory breaks heaven wide open and God expresses his great delight.

Living under the constant smile of God brings great assurance, confidence and joy into our lives. Continually seeking to please God out of a genuine love for him helps us avoid the on-and-off again most experience in their relationship with God

The Third treasure is the Anointing of God – as the Holy Spirit decended in bodily form as a dove that rested upon him. This is not the anointing and fillilng of the Holy Spirit that a Christian experiences but the anointing of God is the empowerment for service. Jesus is entering His earthly ministry and is being set apart to fulfill the purpose that God has sent him to do. Praying and the anointing of God are inseparably linkied.

It is our sincere praying coupled with loving obedience which opens heaven to release the blessings and power of Gods Spirit that enables us to fulfill God-given tasks that He has for us...

And from her Jesus teaches his disciples to pray.

Matt 6:9-13

"This, then, is how you should pray:

"'Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one.'