Words are small. In the sea of noise around you, a word appears insignificant. But don’t be fooled. Words are powerful. Words create worlds, and destroy them. They encourage or cripple. 

Words spring forth truth, love, blessings, wisdom, and beauty. Yet they also spread lies, hate, curses, folly, and sin. 

God created the world by the power of his words. And the Bible warns in Proverbs 18:21, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.”

We’ve all experienced the life-giving and life-ending power of a small word, things said by us or to us that we carry for years.

So let’s ask ourselves, are our words really causing life or death? And why does the Bible take our words so seriously? Are they really that big of a deal?

Let’s talk about the most powerful muscle in our body by far, the tongue. 

You’ll Be Judged For Every Careless Word

We’ve been walking through the book of James, and today we’re in James 3, where we get a serious warning.

James 3:1-2 (ESV) says,

Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. ² For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body.

First, we need to understand who James is talking to. While this passage applies to all people generally, he is talking specifically to those who are teachers or want to become teachers in the church.

Why?

One day, we will all stand before the Lord at the final judgment, and those who take on the responsibility of teaching the Bible will be judged with greater strictness. 

Sit with that for a moment. 

We will be on our faces before the all-powerful, holy God of all creation. And, as Jesus says, “on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak” (Matt 12:36).

That’s a scary thought. How many careless words have you said in your life? You’ll be held accountable for them.

And teachers in the church will be judged with even more strictness. Why? 

Teachers command a higher level of power and respect. It is a lofty position that receives a lot of attention. And many ambitious people can seek teacher status for the wrong reasons.

Along with great influence comes great responsibility. There is literally “greater judgment” for teachers in the church, and I would also include this new era of YouTube teachers or Podcasters. 

If you step into the role of a teacher who claims to instruct people on the ways of the Lord, you’d better be ready for the weight of that calling.

Your words have greater potential to harm. A careless word spoken could cause all sorts of misunderstandings, confusion, and bad theology, leading people astray. 

The Bible reserves some of its harshest words for false teachers, and you do not want to become one of them.

And when people ask me about how to know if you are called to ministry, I always warn them, “Don’t do it, unless you feel so compelled to teach the Bible that you cannot do anything else.” 

Know that if you go down this path, you are taking a weighty responsibility on your shoulders. It is a blessing and a burden to teach the Bible. You must hold yourself to a higher standard, because God will. You’d better know your Bible really well, understand sound doctrine, and ensure that you live a life above reproach so you do not lead anyone astray.

So check your heart. Why do you want to become a pastor or Bible teacher? Are there any impure motives? Is it for the fame and glory? If your motives aren’t pure, turn back now.

James continues this warning, and it isn’t just for teachers. It applies to every one of us.

1. The Tongue Directs.

³ If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. ⁴ Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. ⁵ So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. (James 3:3-5)

James says our tongues are like bits in a horse’s mouth or the rudder on a ship. Though small, it directs the body of a beast or boat. And in the context of a teacher in the church, it applies to the body of believers. 

Preaching is the rudder of the church. It has great power to steer people’s lives. Good preaching steers the church along the straight and narrow path, impacting generations of faithful Christians. Bad preaching steers people down a path of confusion or apathy. And worst of all, false teaching can lead thousands astray. 

Even outside the church, you may have had somebody give you advice, encouragement, or tell you what they think you should do. And you may have followed that advice and been thankful you did, or regretted it because it was bad advice.

Our words direct. They have power to steer people’s lives. That is not inconsequential. We make real impacts on people just by what we say, the advice we share, the behavior we encourage or discourage.

That alone shows the power of our words, but there’s more. 

2. The Tongue Destroys.

How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! ⁶ And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. ⁷ For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, ⁸ but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. (James 3:5-8)

Like a match, though small, our words have the power to destroy even a mighty forest. 

In the ancient world, few things were more feared than fires. They didn’t have the same resources to fight fires that we do today. A small spark could incinerate a forest or devour an entire city. And James says, our tongues carry this same danger to destroy. 

Then James switches analogies again, compares the tongue to a restless, untamable, poisonous creature. We have tamed nearly every creature known to man. But we have not been able to tame the tongue. And the tongue’s poison spreads to those who hear its venomous words. 

Just think about some of the things people have said that poisoned you. Maybe a harsh comment, an insult that hit your deepest insecurity. Maybe it was a parent or authority figure who shattered your dreams with harsh words; you could never do this, be that, or live up to their standards. The tongue is destructive and dangerous. 

Ideas can also be poisonous. Corrupt ideologies, false theologies, misinformation, and worldly wisdom spread like poison and have caused more harm to the world than a thousand missiles.

The point is that, like fire or poison, our words are a powerful tool when harnessed for good, and destructive when used carelessly or maliciously.

3. The Tongue Discloses

 ⁹ With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. ¹⁰ From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. ¹¹ Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? ¹² Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water. (James 3:9-12)

From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. We praise God and then curse people, who God created in his image. 

How dare we claim to worship God, praising him in church, and then turning the next day to insult, gossip, slander, or shame people God created in his image? Do you think that is honoring to God? Does that please him?

No way!

If you say that you love me, and then you insult my children, how do you think I am going to feel about that? Will we still be good? Absolutely not. If you insult my kids, you are insulting me. And God feels similarly when you say curses and horrible things about his children. It is not just harmless gossip and careless words. It’s serious sin. 

James compares it to fresh water and salt water coming out of the same spring. That’s impossible. The salt will ruin the fresh water. Or it’s like saying a fig tree produces olives, or a grape vine produces figs. Or getting fresh water from a salt pond. 

James says that our words reflect what comes from our hearts. If our heart is wicked (salt water), it won’t produce fresh water. All of the good things we say are stained by the bad. 

In other words, the tongue discloses the unrighteousness of our hearts. The words we say reveal the condition of our soul. As Jesus said, “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matt 12:34).

Words will betray your heart.

Christians should speak differently from the rest of the world, not participating in lies, gossip, slander, cursing, and other foul talk. If we genuinely believe in Jesus and devote our lives to him, it should change our hearts to be more like his. And as the Lord purifies our hearts, it will purify our speech too.

Our words disclose our inner selves. You might be able to fake it for a little while, but eventually your true self will spill out through your words. 

What Do Your Words Say About You?

So what do your words reveal about your heart today?

If you are a Christian, and even more so if you are taking the role of a Christian teacher or preacher, do your words reflect a heart genuinely changed by God?

And when the stain of sin in your heart comes out in your words, do you justify it because everybody is doing it? Or do you recognize it as sin, and humbly repent? 

None of us are perfect, and the tongue is hard to tame. But that doesn’t mean that we give up trying to honor God with every word that leaves our lips. 

Because we will give an account on the day of judgment for every careless, hurtful, destructive, lying, gossipy, slanderous, vengeful, poisonous word we have ever spoken.

So praise Jesus for his grace and mercy. Because I have said more than enough careless words in my life to be guilty, and you have too.

The only reason any of us have hope with our words is that God doesn’t just demand better speech; he offers a new heart. And a new heart, over time, produces new words.

So this week, before you speak, ask yourself: Will these words build or destroy?

And if there is somebody you’ve hurt with your careless words, apologize today.

The post Your Words Matter More Than You Think – James 3:1-12 appeared first on Brandon Hilgemann.

Have you ever met a Zombie Christian? I’m not talking about zombies like in the horror movies. I mean, somebody who has the appearance of spiritual life (goes to church, knows the Bible, believes in Jesus) but they’re actually full of dead faith.

They’re like the walking dead, showing signs of life but still dead. This is a bigger problem than many might think.

There are zombie Christians in every church. 

We live in a culture that often reduces Christianity to what you believe. If you say, “I believe that Jesus died for my sins and rose again.” Most people would immediately think you are saved by your faith in Jesus, and they may be right. But is intellectual belief the same as genuine saving faith?

Today, we’re digging into James 2:14-26, and this is the problem he addresses without mixing words. There are zombie Christians in the church, those with the appearance of faith, but their faith is dead. So how do we know someone’s faith is alive and genuine?

Many people hear this passage and think James is saying you have to earn your way to God. He’s not. And when you understand what he is actually arguing, it changes your understanding of what it means to be saved.

The Problem of Dead Faith

James leads with the big question right away.

¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? (James 2:14 ESV)

In other words, can faith without works save someone? Our first instinct is to say yes, because the Bible teaches that if we have faith, we are saved. That’s true, but James is going a little deeper here.

What if a person is only saying they have faith? How do we know if that faith is genuine? How do we know that we are not being fooled or even fooling ourselves?

According to James, if you say you have faith but don’t back it up with doing good works, we have reasons to question the sincerity of that faith.

Look at how James explains it.

¹⁵ If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, ¹⁶ and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? ¹⁷ So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.  (James 2:15-17)

What good is it for you to say, “Be warm and filled,” to someone in need of food and clothing? It doesn’t matter how much you believe it, or how much you sincerely hope they are warm and filled. If you don’t follow up with action, the person is no better off.

Dead faith is what James calls anyone who claims to have faith but does not have good works that back up their claim.

If you have no good works, you may think you have faith; it might look alive and well on the outside, but it’s dead faith on the inside. You’re a Zombie Christian. And dead faith doesn’t save.

Now I know that sounds harsh, but keep following James’ reason here to understand what he is getting at.

Demon Faith: Belief is Not Enough

¹⁸ But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. ¹⁹ You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! (James 2:18-19)

How can you show your faith apart from works? It’s an impossible task. You cannot show anyone your faith except through your actions. I can’t see your heart. I can’t read your mind. James is pointing to how absurd it is to say that I have faith, but it never shows.

Instead, he says, I will show faith by works. Faith is evident in the way you live, speak, and the decisions you make. You cannot divorce them.

And then James hits on something truly terrifying: Believing in God is not enough. 

Why? Demons believe in God, too. They are more convinced of God’s existence than anyone else, but is their acceptance of the knowledge of his existence enough to save them? No. Why? Because saving faith is more than easy believism. They have knowledge of God without devotion to God. They knowingly rebel against God.

Authentic faith changes you from the inside out. Not where you simply believe in God, but where you worship him as Lord, and submit your life to his service.

Now, James is about to get into something highly controversial in his case that faith apart from works is dead. He uses two examples from the Old Testament to support his point: Abraham and Rahab.

Abraham and Rahab Are Justified By Works?

²⁰ Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? ²¹ Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? ²² You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; ²³ and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. ²⁴ You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. ²⁵ And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? ²⁶ For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. (James 2:20-26)

If you don’t know these stories. In Genesis 22, God tests Abraham by asking him to sacrifice his son, Isaac. Abraham’s faith was evident in his willingness to do it because he trusted God so fully. But God graciously provided an alternative sacrifice, which is a beautiful foreshadowing of what God would one day do for us all by sacrificing his son, Jesus. And James quotes Genesis 15:6, which says that God counted Abraham’s faith as righteousness. This was genuine faith. 

And Rahab, in Joshua 2, was a gentile prostitute living in Jericho who sheltered the spies from Israel in her home and helped them escape. When God brought down the walls of Jericho, she and her family were the only ones spared because of her good works that flowed from her faith in God. And by the way, Jesus would eventually be born from her lineage.

And this is the controversy: James says both Abraham and Rahab are examples of people who were justified by their works.

Why is that controversial? 

Justification, or to be justified, is a legal term that means to be declared righteous. When Jesus saves us, we are justified (declared righteous) before God based on the finished work of Jesus, not by anything we have accomplished. 

Paul writes in Romans 3:28, “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.”

And in Galatians 2:16, he says it even stronger:  “a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ.”

The Bible teaches that we are justified by faith alone. We are not saved by works. James sounds a bit like works-based salvation, in which you must do enough good to outweigh the bad so you can be saved. And that’s what every other religion teaches. 

So which is it? Are we justified by faith alone (as the protestant reformers emphasized) or by works (as James seems to be saying)? And is this a contradiction in the Bible that people may point out to disprove the reliability of the Bible?

When James says in 2:24 that “a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.” He is not actually contradicting what Paul is teaching. He does not say we are not justified by faith alone, but that we are justified by faith that is not dead.

Reconciling Faith and Works

Perhaps the best way to think about this is to imagine a healthy tree in an orchard. A healthy tree will eventually produce fruit. The fruit does not make the tree healthy. The fruit is evidence that the tree is healthy. 

Genuine faith is like this tree. Faith is the root. Good works are the fruit. It is not the good works that save you. You are saved by faith. But saving faith will always produce fruit in your life.

This is what James is getting at. As the reformers said, “We are saved by grace through faith in Christ alone. But saving faith is never alone.” Saving faith always produces fruit. 

This fruit of good works in a person’s life is evidence that saving faith exists. If you see no fruit in your life or the life of another who claims to have faith, you are correct to question if they truly have faith or if it is the same faith as the demons. 

We see this clearly in Paul’s writing in Ephesians 2:8-10,

⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Do you see the chain here? We are saved by grace through faith in Christ for good works.

We are not saved by good works for grace through Christ in faith. It is not a result of works. But God saved us so that we would do the good works that he created us to do. 

If we say we are saved by grace through faith in Christ, but don’t see any good works flowing from it, we’re zombie Christians. Our faith is dead, just like the demons.

A Spiritual Audit for Living Faith

So what do we do with this? There are two traps to avoid here.

First, don’t be fooled by the trap of legalism, that you have to do good works to earn your salvation. We are not saved by our works; we trust in the work of Christ.

But the second is the trap of lawlessness. It’s living like you are saved by faith, so it doesn’t matter how you live. So you indulge in the ways of the world and produce zero fruit. 

So it’s time for a spiritual audit. Ask yourself, “Am I a Zombie Christian?”

Examine your heart and your hands over the last week:

Do you have a “demon faith” where it is all head-knowledge with no heart for God? You know God, but do not love to follow him?

And what are your hands actually doing for the kingdom of God? Are you serving God and others around you, or only giving lip service?

Now, this isn’t meant to guilt you into thinking you have to produce mountains of fruit to be saved. My seminary professor, Dr. Wayne Grudem, used to ask, “How much fruit does a Christian have to produce to know they are saved?” 

His answer: “Some.”

It is not enormous amounts, but it can’t be nothing. You should see some fruit. 

Just look at the fruit of the spirit in Galatians 5:22-23: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self-control. 

Do you see the fruit of faith in your life?

Knowledge about God doesn’t make you a Christian. Genuine saving faith in Christ does. And you will know you are a Christian by the evidence of good works that are the natural fruit of faith.

Don’t settle for zombie Christianity.

The post Dead Faith: Are You a Zombie Christian? – James 2:14-26 appeared first on Brandon Hilgemann.

Let’s talk about the sin that most pastors happily commit. They aren’t hiding it. Some even celebrate it. I’ve seen it while serving in many churches across the country. But to understand why it happens, I need to tell you about an experiment I ran at a local coffee shop. 

Years ago, when I was writing my first book, I would drop my son off at preschool and find a nearby coffee shop to work in while I waited to pick him up. 

I was deep in writing mode, my mind was clouded, and all I could focus on was the next word on the page. So I dressed comfortably: a wrinkled shirt, sweatpants, a hat, and glasses. Basically, I looked like a slob, and I didn’t care because I was deep down the writer’s rabbit hole and needed to get the first draft done. 

And it was kind of nice because people barely seemed to notice me. I could get in, get my drink, and work invisibly in the corner. 

But one day, I noticed something interesting. I ordered my usual drink and got barely any interaction other than a “Sup bro?”, a few nods, and some grunts. But the guy behind me, a well-dressed man in a suit, got a completely different reaction from the guy behind the counter. He received a warm greeting, some basic chit-chat, and a “Have a great day!”  

Why wasn’t I treated that way?

So the next day I tried an experiment. I wore a tucked-in dress shirt and slacks with a nice watch. And wow! It was a night-and-day difference. I noticed that people were more friendly, called me “sir”, and instead of calling my name to get my drink, they brought it to me. 

I continued this experiment, and within a week, the baristas were remembering my name and order. It was like before I dressed well, I was nothing, but suddenly I was a VIP. People walking in the shop were even more likely to smile at me, rather than look at me and quickly look away. Strange. I was the same guy drinking the same latte in the same corner, just wearing different clothes. 

I learned something valuable about human nature from this: people judge you by your appearance. 

I know. Revolutionary information!

But it’s real. And it’s powerful. If you look like you are successful and wealthy, you are more likely to be given the royal treatment. 

It’s harmless in a coffee shop, but it’s a problem in the church.

This is the sin that most pastors happily commit: favoritism in church. Most laugh it off or don’t think twice about it. But it’s a bigger problem than many realize. 

I’ve been a pastor for nearly two decades, in multiple churches of all shapes and sizes across the country. And I have seen this problem firsthand.

Wealthy church members can get VIP treatment, extra influence in the church, a seat on the board, their names on buildings, and more face time with the pastor, just because they are big givers. Some churches, when raising funds for a building project or another initiative, will even hold VIP dinners and invite only the wealthiest members to enjoy a 5-star meal at the church’s expense.

When someone with wealth or status, such as a professional athlete, shows up, it’s not uncommon for a pastor to give them special attention and pull out all the stops to secure their church membership. But do we treat the homeless person who comes in off the street the same way? 

Special treatment and VIP donor development make sense from a business perspective, but the church is more than a business. What does the Bible say?

What James 2 Says About Favoritism in the Church

Today, we’re in James 2, where James takes this problem straight on. 

My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory (James 2:1, ESV).

The Greek word for “partiality” literally means to “receive the face,” which means to make a judgment based on external appearance.

Jesus, the Lord of glory, did not show partiality, and neither should his followers. There is no place for partiality in the church. Christianity is incompatible with partiality. Everyone is equal before God.

This could apply to judging anyone based on appearance, wealth, social status, age, gender, beauty, country of origin, or race.

But James next gives a specific example applied to partiality based on wealth. And he asks four rhetorical questions, whose obvious answers are yes. 

² For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, ³ and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” ⁴ have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? (James 2:2-4)

James doesn’t come right out and say that the man is rich. He only mentions his “fine clothing” and “gold ring”. But we all immediately assume that means he’s rich. But it’s fascinating that James just mentions his appearance and lets us assume he’s rich. In a sense, we are already judging. 

Here’s the first question: Have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? And the answer is an obvious yes. If you treat people differently based on their appearance, you have judged them. And you have judged them unjustly because it is only based on their appearance, and nothing more. 

If you see a rich businessman attending your church as more valuable than a poor single mother,  this is evil thinking. And that is convicting, because if we’re honest, most of us are tempted to do the same. 

And here’s the second question:

⁵ Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? (James 2:5)

Why is it wrong to treat the poor differently? Because God has chosen them as heirs of the kingdom. God has selected the poor to be heirs of his kingdom by faith in him. God does not choose us based on any merit or worldly status we have attained. It is only by his grace and mercy.

Remember, Jesus said, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:25).  

This doesn’t mean the rich can’t also inherit the kingdom, but it’s harder for them. Those who are wealthy are more likely to be proud and to rely on their accomplishments or charitable giving. The poor are far more likely to be humble to receive God’s grace and mercy because they have nothing else.

I’ve seen it. I’ve worked in churches in wealthy areas, and it was some of the hardest ministry because the people didn’t need anything. Or so they thought. And when I worked in less wealthy areas, I saw the shift in humility and complete dependence on God to provide.

So when we treat the poor as lesser-class citizens in the church, we are dishonoring God’s chosen heirs. And that’s a problem.

Here are the third and fourth questions, which are combined:

⁶ But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? ⁷ Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called? (James 2:6-7)

Why are Christians so quick to try to copy the standards of the culture that oppresses us? 

In the first century church, the rich in the world were the ones oppressing Christians, persecuting the church, and blaspheming the name of Jesus.

The greatest growth in the early church was among the poor, not the rich. 

Why does the church show favor and try to copy the standards of the culture that is oppressing the church? Yet we are drawn to it still.

I wonder why we are always trying to prop up the latest celebrity who converted to Christianity so we can gain status in the eyes of the culture, like when Kanye said he was a Christian, came out with a gospel album, and was instantly given a platform to perform and preach in churches across the country. That didn’t age well, did it?

We need to pump the brakes on treating people differently just because of their worldly status. That’s sinful and wrong. The church should not follow worldly ways, but so many still do. It’s an alluring temptation for pastors that they might gain worldly influence and wealth because so-and-so goes to your church.

Let’s stop trying to be like the culture that is against us.

But James isn’t finished yet. In the next few verses, he gets to the heart of the matter: Partiality is a sin.

⁸ If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. ⁹ But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. ¹⁰ For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of 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 murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. ¹² So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. ¹³ For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. (James 2:8-13)

If you judge people in the church and treat them worse than others because of their appearance, you have broken the great commandment (the royal law). That is not loving your neighbor as yourself. You would want to be valued just as much as the rich person. 

And James destroys anyone who tries to laugh this off as just a little sin. Why? Because if you break one law, you are guilty of breaking all of it. 

How many laws do you have to break before you are a lawbreaker? Just one. If you break one law, you’ve broken the law (it isn’t in parts, but a whole). The law must be kept in its entirety for you to be innocent. Break one law, and you are a transgressor of the law. It’s like throwing a rock through a window.

You can’t think you are better than someone because you’ve only broken one law, like murder, but haven’t committed adultery (that doesn’t make you any more righteous). 

Some sins are worse than others and deserving of more severe punishment (John 19:11; Matt 11:21-22). That’s another topic for another time. However, all sins make us guilty of breaking the law.

So we should live (in the way we speak and act) with judgment in mind. We are now under the law of liberty, the freedom we have in Christ. Freedom from the bondage of sin and the burden of the law. But even if we claim to be believers, we will still be held accountable. And if we do not show mercy, why would we expect to receive it from God?

Look: I know I’ve been guilty of partiality. You probably have too. If partiality is a sin, and sin makes us lawbreakers, then we are all in trouble.

Thank God, James ends on a positive note: “Mercy triumphs over judgment.” This means that those who have mercy will be shown mercy by God. His mercy will triumph over the judgment we deserve.

I am guilty of breaking the law. I am deserving of judgment. But by the grace of God, he has shown mercy to me, and I am continuing to do my best to show that same mercy to every person who walks through the doors of my church.

How to Guard Your Heart Against Partiality

So what do we do with this? 

Examine your heart. Are you showing partiality?

Do you treat people differently because of the appearance of their social status, education, wealth, influence, skin color, cultural background, or whatever?

If a homeless person walks into your church, would you welcome them in and shake their hand just like you do everyone else? Would you invite them to sit next to you?

James’ message here is convicting to me. But my hope is that all Christians and churches would stop treating certain people like VIPs, because in God’s economy, all who humble themselves before him are VIPs. We are all equal. All created in the Image of God. And all deserving of honor and respect. 

This is the precedent that Jesus set when he stopped for children, widows, lepers, outcast sinners, prostitutes, and even wealthy tax collectors and Pharisees.

My brothers and sisters, let us show no partiality as we hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Have you ever felt like a second-class citizen in the church? Or have you seen the VIP treatment firsthand? Tell us your story in the comments. 

The post Why Favoritism In Church Is a Sin Many Pastors Ignore – James 2:1-13 appeared first on Brandon Hilgemann.

Is faith in God reasonable? 

I’m going to walk through five classical arguments for the existence of God, that show why faith is reasonable and answers the fundamental questions of life in ways that a godless worldview simply cannot.

These are some of the many reasons why I believe in God, and why I think it is reasonable for you to do the same. 

I’m not going to twist your arm and try to whip you up emotionally. I just want to lay out the facts so you can decide for yourself.

Alright, so buckle up and warm up your brains because this is going to require some deep thinking. Are you ready?

1. Cosmological Argument: The Universe Had a Beginning

Cosmological just means the question of how the universe began. 

We must begin with the beginning. How did everything come into existence?

We have two options: Either something set the world into motion or nothing set the world into motion.

Which is it?

Nothing can’t do anything. 

Imagine walking with a friend out in nature, and you hear a loud crash in the distance. And you say to your friend, “Wow, what caused that sound?” And your friend says, “Nothing.” And you say, “What do you mean, nothing caused it?” And your friend says, “Yeah, those sounds just happen out here. Nothing causes them.” Would you believe that? No. Why?

Nothing can’t do anything. By definition, nothing is non-existent. And a non-existent thing cannot cause anything. To say that nothing caused something is logically impossible.

So to say that nothing set the world into motion is false. 

That means something must have set the world into motion.

We can see from the world around us that everything we observe has some cause. Animals are born. Plants grow from seeds. Chemicals react to other chemicals to form materials. The world appears to be a giant chain of cause and effect. Therefore, we can reason that following that chain back in time to the very beginning, there must be some initial cause that set everything in motion. 

However, in order for that to be possible, there must be something outside this chain of cause and effect in the natural world, a supernatural uncaused first cause. That sounds a little wild until you realize that the word supernatural just means something super or above nature. And by uncaused, I mean something that has no beginning. If it had a beginning, it could not be the first cause because everything with a beginning has a cause.

Naturalism, the belief that the natural world is all that exists, cannot give a good explanation for this uncaused first cause. But Christianity can.

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth”(Genesis 1:1 ESV).

“By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible” (Hebrews 11:3).

God is the uncaused first cause. He has existed for all eternity outside of the natural order that he created. If there was a big bang, he lit the match. He is the immaterial creator of the material world.

Argument Summary: The material universe began to exist. Everything that begins to exist has a cause. Therefore, the universe has a cause outside itself, something that is uncaused, immaterial, and of unimaginable power. 

That sounds a lot like God to me.

But this argument only tells us that there must be an uncaused cause outside the material universe. Can we learn anything about this cause from the material world that it set into motion?

2. Teleological Argument: The Universe Is Orderly 

Teleological essentially means the question of purpose. In other words, does the universe have a purpose?

The universe is either the product of accidental chaos or purposeful order.

Which is it?

If the universe is the product of random chance and chaos, atoms exploding and colliding together at high speeds until eventually all this chaos over many years led to life on Earth, is that logical? Perhaps. Some make this argument.

But we have to ask a few questions here: (1) Is the world chaotic or orderly?

You may look at planets flying around space and think, it seems a bit chaotic to me. But is it really? I’m no physicist, but I know enough to see that the orbit of planets is incredibly predictable. I mean, it’s predictable enough for us to use the stars to determine direction, and the sun to calculate time. The universe is so orderly that gravity always works the same. The sun is 93 million miles away from Earth, but if the sun were a little further, life could not exist. And if the sun were a little closer, life could not exist. The Earth orbits perfectly in what some call the “Goldilocks Zone,” where all the conditions are just right for life to exist. 

So if the world is orderly, (2) can chaos produce order?

I’ve never seen it, have you? Throw a bomb into a junk yard, will it ever assemble a working machine? Watch a tornado hit a bunch of trees, will it ever assemble a functional home? Chaos produces chaos, not order. 

So I would argue that the world shows more signs of being the product of purposeful design than of accidental, chaotic chance.

I don’t have time to get into all the details, but even just the way that the human body works, it is incredible. We have all of these different systems and mechanics in our body that all work together from our respiratory, cardiovascular, and nervous system… It’s amazing! Human biology is so complex and so intelligent that we have had the brightest minds on the planet studying it for countless hours over for hundreds of years, and we still don’t know how it all works as well as it does. It’s amazing.

And you are telling me that this is all just chemicals and random chance? That’s hard to believe. I don’t have that much faith.

It is more reasonable to believe that a purposeful and orderly world is the result of a purposeful designer who created it all.

Maybe the fact that people have attributed the universe to the result of a divine intelligent being since the beginning of human history is not as far fetched as the enlightened scientists of our time think.

For thousands of years the Bible has taught things like: 

“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (Psalm 19:1)

“¹⁹ For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. ²⁰ For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse” (Romans 1:19-20)

The more we learn about the brilliance of how the universe and life in it works, the more in awe we should be of the glory and power of God. He is not just smart, he is more intelligent than we can even imagine.

And the world is just a small reflection of God’s greatness.

Argument Summary: The world is either chaotic or orderly. Order exists. Order comes from order, not chaos. Order is evidence of intelligence. Therefore, the world is orderly and comes from an intelligent being.

So we can rationally conclude that there must be an intelligent uncaused cause. But can we know anything else about what this creator values? I believe we can.

3. Moral Argument: We All Live Like Morality Is Objective

Does morality exist?

Either objective morality exists, or it does not exist. 

Some argue that objective morality does not exist. It is all relative. Morality is simply a cultural convention of agreed-upon values that evolved over time. To that I would say, was the Holocaust objectively bad? If you say objective morality does not exist, then is there anything keeping another holocaust from being good tomorrow, as long as everyone agrees? When pressed on it, we all agree that murder is bad, especially if I do it to you.

Objective morality exists. And in order for objective morality to exist, there must be an unchanging standard of morality. Otherwise, how do we know if what I think is moral truly is? Morality falls apart without an objective standard of morality.

While atheists can absolutely be moral people who care deeply about human flourishing, a naturalistic worldview struggles to provide any unchanging standard for why or how we must value human flourishing.

Naturalism cannot give a satisfactory objective standard. But Christianity can. God is the standard.

“They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them” (Romans 2:15).

The human conscience is a witness of God’s existence. We feel bad when we do things that we intuitively know are bad. God is a moral being. He is the standard of righteousness, perfectly holy. And as beings that he created in his image, we were created to reflect his righteousness. So when we fall short of that, we feel it. We know it. 

God is the perfect standard for morality. He is unchanging. So our morality is based on him. And the atheist cannot base their morality on anything unchanging. The foundation is weak so the morality is weak. 

Argument Summary: Either objective morality exists, or it doesn’t. Objective morality must exist for morality to exist at all. Morality exists, and we all live as if it is objective because of our conscience. Therefore, objective morality exists. And in order for morality to be truly objective, there must be an unchanging object that sets the standard. The unchanging standard of morality is God.

This argument shows that the uncaused intelligent first cause is a moral being. And it scratches the surface of a big problem for those who do not believe in God.

4. Presuppositional Argument: Atheism Assumes Theism 

The meaning of the word “atheism” itself is interesting to me. “A” means without, and “theism” means belief in God. So by definition, you cannot even talk about what atheists believe without mentioning God. 

It’s one of the only belief systems that is defined more by what it does not believe than by what it does believe.

Now, if you want, you substitute it for the more positive “naturalism,” the belief that the natural world is all that exists.

But here is the argument: Naturalism cannot account for the very foundation of its own arguments. So often unknowingly, naturalism actually borrows from theism to argue against theism. 

Naturalism cannot account for the foundations of morality, logic, or science on its own.

As we just discussed, morality, in order to be true, must be objectively universally binding and grounded in something. (It cannot be simply a matter of cultural preference, not applicable to everyone, and based on nothing). 

So when an atheist argues that God does not exist because evil exists, they are borrowing from a theistic worldview of objective morality to base their argument against it. A naturalistic worldview cannot explain why morality exists. It cannot be measured. It is purely immaterial and abstract. Yet they would all agree that murder is bad, especially if you do it to them. Every attempt to ground morality without God collapses. That is why a lot of people are saying morality is relative (a set of culturally evolved conventions). Then there is nothing keeping another holocaust from being good tomorrow as long as everyone agrees? Morality falls apart without a standard of morality that can only be explained by God as the standard for morality. 

The atheist cannot give an objectively satisfying answer to this question: What is the basis for morality?

Logic is universally binding on all things, everyone agrees, yet it cannot be weighed or measured or examined. So how did logic come to be? There is no naturalistic explanation. When atheists use logic to argue against God, they are borrowing a theistic worldview that they cannot explain. But a rational God explains it. God created the laws of logic because he is a rational and logical being. The Christian worldview says that he is the Logos. And rational thought works because it is the product of a rational mind created by a rational God.

How can a naturalistic worldview trust the laws of logic, which is immaterial, to be universally binding on a purely naturalistic world? If the human mind is the result of a blind, random, physical process of what is most helpful for survival, we have no basis to conclude that our beliefs correspond perfectly with reality. 

They borrow from us whenever they use logic to argue against us. What is the basis for their thinking that their logic is true? They have no standard for it.

Ancient philosophers discussed the law of logic as a discovery of just how existence operates, but they couldn’t account for why.

Science requires consistency of the natural world. We must be able to test and reproduce our hypotheses. The past must reliably predict the future. There is no naturalistic explanation for why the laws of physics are unchanging. You cannot prove the future will resemble the past without assuming the future will resemble the past. Scientists can only do science assuming a constant uniformity borrowed from the Christian worldview. Other religions didn’t offer this assurance. We can only deduce that they exist. But an unchanging God explains unchanging laws.

Someone who says “I only believe in science” has a big problem. Science itself cannot prove this statement. That is a philosophical claim. Science is very limited. It can only investigate things within the natural, physical, repeatable world. Science cannot explain philosophy, ethics (morality), history (since it can’t be repeated), beauty, meaning and purpose, or theology. So to say science has not proven God is like saying this metal detector has not detected any happiness.

Without the existence of God, naturalism cannot give a satisfying answer to: How can we trust laws to be constant and unchanging? All they could say was that they have not changed and therefore will not change, but why? What’s stopping the future from being different from the past?

So the very tools that we use to evaluate the world (logic, science, morality, and others) all presuppose the Christian view of reality. The skeptic has no basis for trusting these tools. They only assume that they are true, but cannot give a good explanation why.

The Bible has been telling us this for thousands of years.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” (Proverbs 1:7)

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight” (Proverbs 9:10)

The beginning of all knowledge and wisdom is belief in God. Without him, you cannot even understand the foundations of logic, science, or morality. You can only say, “That’s just the way it is.” And come on, we all know an atheist would never allow a Christian to get away with that response to any of their questions. 

So the next time an atheist makes a moral, logical, or even scientific claim, you can simply ask: “Could you please explain to me the standard by which you are making that claim?”

Therefore, with these first arguments, we have an uncaused, intelligent, moral, and logical God.

Argument Summary: Naturalism cannot satisfactorily give an answer for the foundation of morality, logic, or science. Naturalists must assume the foundations of a theistic worldview to make any arguments against theism.

But this argument is not quite far enough. All that does is prove that belief in a god like this is rational. And it proves that anyone who tells you that belief in God is not intelligent is being lazy. They are not being intellectually honest, but just assuming Christians are fools while assuming our worldview to be true, and they don’t even know it.

But to fully know who God is, we need to look at how he has revealed himself through history.

5. Historical Argument: History Proves His Story

There is a reason we divide our calendar BC (before Christ) and AD (anno domini – in the year of our Lord). History is all his story.

And there is far more than I can go into in here. I would love to point to some of the miraculous things God did in the Old Testament, or some of the many prophecies about Jesus, like Isaiah 53, written 700 years before Christ.

But I just want to focus on the central claim of Christianity. Did Jesus rise again from the dead?

Either Jesus rose from the dead, or he did not.

Which is it?

Jesus predicted he would. Old Testament prophecies said that he would. But if Jesus did not rise from the dead, our Christian faith is worthless. Jesus would be proven a liar, and we are all just wasting our time here singing about a dead guy.

When Christianity began to spread after Jesus was crucified, the religious leaders went to a lot of trouble to persecute and try to stop it from spreading. And do you know what would have instantly stopped it? All they had to do was produce the body of Jesus still dead. But they couldn’t. Why? It wasn’t in the tomb. 

You can visit the graves of the prophets of most major religions today. Mohammad is still buried in Saudi Arabia, Buddha was cremated, and his ashes are relics you can visit in various temples in Asia, Confucius is still buried in China, Joseph Smith is still dead and buried in Illinois.

But we can’t find the grave of Jesus, because he’s not there. I’ve been to Israel and seen the sites where Jesus may have been put in the tomb, and guess what? He’s not there.

So did Jesus rise from the dead?

We have substantial historical eyewitness testimony evidence that he did. I could spend a whole sermon talking about this, but let’s just look at what Paul wrote.

“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁴ that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁵ and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. ⁶ Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. ⁷ Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. ⁸ Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. ⁹ For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God” (1 Corinthians 15:3-9).

So Paul says that Jesus died and rose again and then he appeared to all of these eyewitnesses. First, Cephas (who is Peter). And Peter confirms this claim in his writings (1 and 2 Peter), and the Gospels also tell his story. Paul also says Jesus appeared to the twelve disciples, and we have accounts written in the gospels about this and this also includes John who wrote John, 1-3 John and Revelation that confirm this claim

Next (v.6), Paul says Jesus “appeared to more than 500 brothers, most of whom are still alive.” Now, why would he say this? Because Paul was writing within their lifetime. The church wasn’t that big yet. People knew who these 500 brothers were. It was like Paul was saying, just go ask them. If Paul was lying, anyone at this time could have simply said, who are they, and nobody would have been able to find one of these witnesses. But this was a given fact in the church because these guys were around and shared their stories.

V.7 Then he appeared to James. This is a big one. Who is this James? It was not the disciple James, he was executed by Herod. This is James, the brother of Jesus (who wrote the book of James). And by the way, early in Jesus’ ministry tried to stop Jesus from preaching along with Mary and his other brothers (Mk 3:21). But suddenly, the brother of Jesus who doubted Jesus goes from skeptic to believer (John 7:5), and became a leader in the church in Jerusalem until he was executed, thrown off the temple mount by the religious leaders because of his faith that his brother had risen from the dead. And by the way, another brother of Jesus, Jude (who wrote the book of Jude). 

But I still need to hit on Paul’s last point, that Jesus also appeared to Paul, who “persecuted the church”. Paul went from Christian killer to the number one evangelist and writer of 13 books of the New Testament. How did that happen? Paul had an encounter with the resurrected Jesus on the road to persecute more Christians. 

All of these testimonies and a whole lot more prove at the very least that something was going on, because all of the disciples except John, and Jesus’ brother James, and Paul, were martyred for their faith. And who would die for something you knew was a lie? Nobody does that. You have to at least admit that they believed they had seen Jesus alive after he died.

Argument Summary: Either Jesus rose from the dead, or he did not. The tomb is empty. A body could not be produced. There is historical evidence that witnesses saw him alive and died for their testimony. There is no historical evidence that they were lying. Therefore, it is reasonable to believe Jesus rose from the dead. 

Faith In God Is Reasonable

So based on these five arguments, it is absolutely rational and logical to believe in God. And further, to believe in the God of the Bible. 

Now here is the question that matters most: Do you believe? 

If yes, I hope you are encouraged today. 

If not, I hope you have been challenged to think deeper about this today. And ultimately, I pray that you, too, will come to believe as I do.

Christianity answers the deepest questions of existence; it fills the deepest longings and desires of our souls for meaning, purpose, justice, and more. And I have seen God’s work undeniably in my life, and in the lives of so many others.

And if you have any questions or pushback on these arguments, drop them in the comments, and I’ll answer as many as I can.

The post 5 Arguments for the Existence of God appeared first on Brandon Hilgemann.

There’s an old story about a church looking for a new pastor. They brought in a few candidates to interview and preach a sermon, and one of the pastors stood out far above the rest. His sermon was powerful. They all agreed, he was their guy.

So they hired him. On his first Sunday, he opened his Bible and delivered a powerful sermon. The people were ecstatic and couldn’t wait for next week.

On the second Sunday, the pastor opened his Bible and preached a powerful sermon. With only one problem: It was the same sermon as the week before. The congregation thought it strange, but it was still good.

On the third Sunday, the pastor opened his Bible and preached the same sermon again! At this point, the people were concerned. So the elders of the church asked to meet with the pastor.

“We are a bit concerned that you keep preaching the same sermon,” they said. “Do you have another?” And the preacher replied, “Absolutely, but the church hasn’t obeyed the first one yet.”

How many of us here today are guilty of the same thing? We come to church, hear a powerful sermon, then get in our car and go home, and nothing in day-to-day life has changed.

Most Christians today, if they have been going to church for a while, know the Bible pretty well. You may not be an “expert,” but you know many of the stories, and you’ve heard Jesus’ teaching. 

In fact, if you grew up in the church and attended roughly three out of every four weeks, every 10 years of your life, you have heard 390 sermons. Multiply that out over 30 years, and you’ve heard well over 1,000 sermons in that time.

If you’ve sat in a pew for years, you are far more educated than the average person on the street.

But here’s the problem: Most Christians’ education far exceeds their obedience.

What good is information if it doesn’t lead to life transformation? What use is all that Bible knowledge if you only hear and never do?

As a pastor, I’m guilty of this too, even though I see this all the time, and it is so frustrating. You just want to look at people and say, “How can you start coming to church, sit here and listen to sermon after sermon for years, and your life still looks the same as when you started?” And then you step back and say, “And why am I no different?”

Bible knowledge without action is like having a Ferrari in your garage but never turning the key. And that is where our walk through the book of James takes us today.

Be Doers Of The Word

James 1:22 (ESV) says,

²² But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 

The doer first hears the Word of God and then does it. They receive God’s word with joy, delight in it, and then show the evidence of their internal faith in their outward life.

If you merely hear the word of God and don’t do anything with it, you are deceiving yourself. You can believe that with all your religious knowledge and study, you are a better Christian than most. After all, you always win at Bible trivia. That’s the lie Satan would love you to buy. 

If there is no evidence of the fruit of faith in your life, you have to wonder, are you a Christian in name only, or are you a true follower of Jesus Christ?

You can’t divide God’s Word into just the parts you like or the easy parts. Many people want just enough of Jesus to save them, but not enough to change them.

They’re here for the salvation without the dedication, the benefits without the commitment, the reward without the work.

But James doesn’t just leave us with this command. He gives us a picture of what it looks like when we don’t do what the word says, and it’s a little embarrassing.

James 1:23-25,

²³ For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. ²⁴ For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. ²⁵ But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. 

Imagine waking up, getting ready for work, looking in the mirror, and seeing your hair sticking up all over the place, your clothes don’t match, and you have toothpaste all down your chin, and you just shrug it off and forget all about it. Nobody would do that! That’s crazy. But we do it with the Bible. 

The Bible is also like a mirror, helping us see clearly who we are as God sees us. It exposes the flaws and imperfections in our lives that we would happily ignore without it.

Looking in the mirror is not always a fun experience. Maybe you are like me, and there are times when you avoid mirrors intentionally because you don’t like what you see.

But James says that when we look in the mirror of the Bible and, rather than walking away, act on what we see to work and persevere through the difficulty of changing our ways to follow God, we are blessed by obedience.

Obedience is a blessing

“Blessed” here doesn’t mean what we think about today in western culture, that you will be posting pictures on Instagram of your large house, beautiful family, and a new car.

We equate blessing with success in America, but that’s not what blessing is about.

The word “blessed” in James 1:25 in the original Greek that the New Testament of the Bible was written in is the word“μακάριος”, which means happy or favored by God. It’s the same word that we see in the beatitudes when Jesus says things like blessed are the poor in spirit or blessed are the persecuted or blessed are those who mourn. 

Blessed means that those who obey God’s commands will find favor with the Lord and be filled with the joy that only comes with serving and knowing him, regardless of their circumstances. This isn’t some superficial blessing; it’s a far deeper happiness in your soul.

This idea of blessing flowing from obedience is throughout Scripture. Look at what Jesus says in Luke 11:28 . A woman in the crowd shouts out to Jesus, that his mother is blessed for raising Jesus. And Jesus replies,

But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” 

If you think Jesus’ mom, Mary, is blessed because she raised the Son of God, you know who is more blessed? Those who do God’s Word. Those are the most blessed people on earth. It’s not the ones who have perfect children; it’s those who do the Word that are blessed.

In other words, Jesus says be a doer of the Word, and you will be blessed.

If you don’t obey, do you really love God?

James continues in 1:26-27, 

²⁶ If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. ²⁷ Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. 

There are plenty of “religious” people who know a lot about the Bible and theology. But do you really love God, if all you have is knowledge without action? 

There are countless Christians by name only who claim to love the Lord, but when you examine their lives, there is no evidence of faith. They aren’t producing the fruit of the Spirit. They are wrapped up in worldly living just like everyone else on Monday through Saturday until they drive to church and pay lip service to God on Sunday. If you want to talk about what it looks like to be a follower of Jesus, that isn’t it.

Think about this: If you were put on trial for your faith in Jesus, would there be enough evidence to convict you?

James just wrote about being quick to listen and slow to speak before this passage, and he says if you don’t tame your tongue, your religion is worthless. You know what to do but you don’t do it.

Do you know what pure religion looks like? It looks like obedience to God. It looks like caring for orphans and widows (the least in society who offer you nothing in return). These are just a few examples. Because it also means “keeping oneself unstained from the world.” So you don’t live like everyone else, but in a way that honors God in all areas of your life. 

According to the Bible, if you love God, you will do what he says.

Jesus says in John 14:23–24,

²³ “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. ²⁴ Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. 

So, according to Jesus, if we truly love him, what will we do? Keep his commands! We’ll be doers of the Word. And if we do not love him, what will we do? Not keep his commands! We won’t do the word. 

Those who are not followers of Jesus have at least one thing in common; whether they know anything about him or not, they won’t follow his commands.

1 John 5:3 says it simply,

For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.

Keeping God’s commandments is not a burden when you love God. But they are a burden if you don’t love him. If you love God, you obey him with joy. You know that he is good and that he won’t steer you wrong. His commandments are for our good. The actual burden comes from breaking his commandments. We feel the weight of the guilt and shame of our sins.

Obeying God pleases him and blesses you. Disobeying God is sin.

Do What You Know

Here’s the point: We need to hear the Word and do what it says.

What do you need to do that God has commanded you?

Maybe it is visiting orphans and widows. Maybe it is a secret sin you finally need to cut from your life. Whatever it is, Do what God has commanded you.

We won’t ever perfectly obey all of God’s commands all of the time. So thank God there’s grace for us. So don’t feel too burdened by legalism. But at the same time, if we love the Lord, we will desire to follow his commands. And it won’t be a burden to us because his commands are not burdensome; they’re blessings. 

Maybe that old pastor story is right. You don’t need another sermon, another podcast, or another book. Walk in the blessings of God and do what you already know he has commanded you to do.

The post Do The Word: Bible Knowledge Without Action Is Deceptive – James 1:22-27 appeared first on Brandon Hilgemann.

I have a problem that you probably have too. I’m guilty of talking too much too often, and it gets me in trouble.

My kids start telling me about their day at school, and I immediately jump in and start talking about how what they said reminded me of the time when I… and their eyes glaze over in boredom.

And when other people are talking, what are most of us doing? Instead of listening intently, we’re thinking about what we want to say next, waiting for the moment they pause to jump back in.   

Here’s a question I want you to sit with for just a second.

When was the last time you were in a conversation and you thought to yourself, “I really wish that person would talk more and listen less”?

Probably never, right?

And yet, if we’re honest, that’s exactly what most of us do. We talk too much. We listen too little. And when things don’t go our way, we get frustrated fast.

So what does that do to our relationships? Are your relationships better or worse when you speak more than you listen? 

I’ll be honest, I’m a pastor who gets paid to speak for a living. But I’ve learned that listening is an even more important skill. Most people just need to know they are heard, and my biggest regrets all happened because I opened my mouth too fast. 

The Bible says a lot about this.

Be Quick to Listen

In James 1:19-21 (ESV), James writes:

¹⁹ Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; ²⁰ for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. ²¹ Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. 

Wisdom says we should be quick to hear and slow to speak and slow to anger. 

We are often the opposite. We live in a world that rewards fast-talking, hot-take-opinion-shouting people. Social media is basically a giant competition to see who can say something first and say it angriest.

Wisdom requires slowing down, but we aren’t slow to anything. 

Instead of being quick to hear, we hear quickly. We don’t listen. We just wait for our chance to speak. 

Instead of being slow to speak, we talk fast. Why do we feel like we have to give our opinion on everything? Ask yourself, “Did anyone ask for my opinion on this or am I just force-feeding it to them?”

Instead of being slow to anger, we anger easily. It feels like many people today are a powder keg looking for a flame. 

Why Your Anger Isn’t Working

“The anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God” (1:20).

Anger doesn’t produce the righteousness of God in you. And it also doesn’t produce righteousness of God in the people you spout off to.

Notice it says the anger of man. There is a difference between the anger of man and the anger of God. There is a righteous anger that is sometimes good and necessary, and that’s a whole other subject. But we are talking about fleshly, human anger that is misplaced and anything but godly. It’s an emotion that drives you to do and say all kinds of evil, unrighteous, and hurtful things to the people around you.

And this anger does not produce the righteousness of God. 

Parents, if you lose your temper at your kids over and over again for years, they might behave better around you right away because they’re afraid of you. But watch what happens in the long run when they are no longer young and make decisions for themselves outside of your watch. Will all the anger from you produce righteousness in them? 

That’s not how I’ve ever seen it. Angry parents often produce angry and rebellious kids.

This can apply to any relationship: at work, at school, in traffic. I have never in my life seen someone flip off a driver who cut them off and that made the other driver calm down, rethink their life choices, and take a more righteous path.

Whether it is a conflict with your wife, your kids, your parents, your coworkers, or the guy on the freeway. You can steamroll people with a lot of angry words and you might win the argument, but you lose the war.

Matching another’s anger with your anger doesn’t solve anything. It’s throwing gas on the fire. Listen intently as they shout their anger, then respond calmly and graciously, validating their feelings, addressing their concerns, and explaining where you may disagree and why.

I’ve disarmed so many anger bombs this way.

So what should you do instead when you notice that, like me, you have a problem with not listening, speaking too fast, and letting anger erupt?

The Real Solution: Receive the Word with Humility

“Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls” (1:21). 

It’s not just that we should listen to everything. Most importantly, we should listen to what matters most, the word of God. Everything we listen to then is filtered through the word.

Slow down today. Put aside all the filthiness of the world. James uses words that are like a metaphor for changing clothing. It’s almost like saying take off those filthy rags of unrighteousness that you’ve been wearing, and sit in the presence of God. Humbly hear from him. Listen to his word. And don’t merely listen, receive it. Ponder the implications of what it means, and let it take root in your life. 

God’s word is like a seed. When you humbly receive it, it is implanted on good soil and takes root. And that little seed will grow into a tree that bears incredible fruit.

And what does that mean that the word is able to save your souls? We are saved by grace through faith in Christ alone. And faith comes from hearing the word of God. 

And you won’t hear from God if you keep talking, keep getting angry, and don’t slow down to listen.

So will you receive this word today? 

A Simple Challenge This Week

Listen first, and then speak with care and wisdom when the time is right. This will save you from so many problems in life. And it honors God.

This week, before you speak, fire off the online comment or say something emotionally charged that you might regret, ask yourself, “Have I actually listened?” 

If not, slow down.

And if all else fails, get some duct tape.

The post Slow to Speak: What the Bible Says About Talking Too Much – James 1:19-21 appeared first on Brandon Hilgemann.

You promised, “Never Again,” and then you did it again. Here is why white-knuckled willpower alone will never be enough to overcome temptation. 

If you are caught in the horrible cycle of temptation, sin, and shame, it can feel impossible to overcome.

I’m going to share three weapons from the Bible that actually work against temptation, but first, we need to understand how temptation works. 

My name is Brandon. I’m a pastor who has spent years helping people who are secretly struggling with temptation. Right now, I’m teaching through the book of James, so follow along if you’re interested.

Today, we’re in James 1:12-18, and it will change how you think about temptation.

Keep Your Eyes on the Prize

James 1:12 (ESV) says, 

¹² Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. 

James reminds us of the blessing of persevering through trials and temptations. In the end, you will receive the crown of life.

Keep your eyes on the prize. There is a reward for perseverance. 

Temptation will make you think it is the reward. It whispers, “Just give in, and you’ll be satisfied. You’ll be happier if you just do it one last time. Why are you even fighting? You can’t win.”

It’s all a lie.

The greatest reward comes through resisting temptation and loving the Lord. 

So the next time you are tempted, remember your reward. Will you trade temporary pleasure for eternal glory? 

Stop Blaming Others

James continues in verse 13:

¹³ Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 

Blaming God is foolish. It’s what Adam did in the garden. When God confronted him about eating the forbidden fruit, what did Adam say? 

“The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate” (Gen 3:12).

He blamed Eve. Then he blamed God. Sound familiar?

Blaming God is ridiculous because, as James says, God cannot be tempted with evil. Why? God is good. He isn’t just good like we say a nice person is good. God is goodness itself.

Everything in life that we call good is only good because it is a reflection of God:

• Truth is good because God is truth.
• Love is good because God is love.
• Justice is good because God is perfectly just. 

God cannot be evil, because evil is the opposite of God. It is everything he is not. And God cannot cease being God.

So we cannot say that God tempts. Not possible.

God allows tests, but he tempts no one. 

What Adam failed to do is what we’re all tempted to do: fail to take responsibility. He wanted to shift the blame and play the victim. Regardless of the situation, Adam was responsible for what he chose.

So are we.

Know Where Temptation Comes From

¹⁴ But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 

James is using a fishing metaphor here. Temptation is like a lure. It’s a hook draped in bait. And you’re swimming through life when suddenly you see it. It looks good. Even if you know there might be a hook, you can’t stop thinking about how good it will taste. 

Don’t take the bait! 

It looks good, but you’ll get hooked. And after a fish gets hooked, it gets cooked. 

People who don’t run from sin and keep it lingering around are like fish circling a baited hook. Eventually, hunger wins.

And recognize the source of temptation. It comes from within you! It’s your desire.

So stop blaming everything else. It is your problem. Before we can get help, we need to admit we have a problem. The problem is me. 

I desire to do what I know I should not do.

You might say, well, what’s wrong with a little desire?

Desire Leads to Death

¹⁵ Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. 

Notice this: When does sin come? The desire itself is not the sin. Sin is acting on a wrong desire. 

The Bible says even Jesus was tempted, but he did not sin (Heb 4:15). 

So don’t beat yourself up over having desire. The moment a man notices a beautiful woman, that’s not a sin. The desire becomes lust when he continues looking or thinking about her.

The initial desire is not a sin, but you have to kill it right away because desire is pregnant with sin, and if you let it grow, sin is coming. 

And sin produces death. It kills relationships. It kills people physically and spiritually. Romans says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 6:23). 

Sin produces death, but the good news is that God paved the path to forgiveness through Jesus.

God Is Good, and He Doesn’t Change

¹⁶ Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. ¹⁷ Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. 

Do not be deceived. The deception is that the temptation is good, that giving in will lead to pleasure and happiness. But it’s a lure, a hook, that leads to death. 

Don’t be deceived. God is good, and he does not change. He’s always good. He won’t steer you wrong. And every good gift in your life comes from him.

And here’s the greatest gift of all: 

¹⁸ Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. 

God uses the message in His Word to save all who believe. 

Just as sin gives birth to death, the word gives birth to life. God made a way through Jesus to save you and me, not because we earned it, but because he is good and loves to give good gifts.

Three Weapons Against Temptation

Here’s the point: Stop blaming God or anything else. Take responsibility for your own desires and actions. 

And the good news is you don’t have to do it alone. In fact, you can’t do it alone.

The enemy is good at what he does, and the desire within you is too strong. Resisting temptation is not possible without God. 

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh (Gal 5:16).

You need to walk by the Spirit of God. By his power in you, you have the power to resist the desires of the flesh. 

And we have this promise:

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it (1 Cor 10:13).

There is always a way of out of temptation, even if you don’t see it.

Notice: Who provides the way out? God does! So don’t try to do it on your own. Begin with a relationship with him.

Start there. And then, arm yourself. Here are three helpful weapons against temptation from the Bible that have worked for me. 

1. Store the Word 

I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you (Ps 119:11).

Like a survivalist preps for the worst, you need the Word locked and loaded before temptation comes so you can identify and fight it. 

2. Flee the Fight

she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house (Gen 39:12).

Joseph literally ran out of the house when he was tempted by another man’s wife. He even left some of his clothes behind. And we should do the same.

Don’t let the desire linger. Get out right away. The longer you linger, the stronger it grows.

3. Light the Dark

Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible (Eph 5:11-13).

Sin loves darkness. It grows in secrecy. So stop keeping it in the dark. Expose it to the light. Get help. Talk to someone about it. Go somewhere public where you can’t give in to the temptation.

Temptation does not have the final word in your story. God is faithful, and he always provide a way out.

The post How to Overcome Temptation – James 1:12-18 appeared first on Brandon Hilgemann.

We have more information today than any generation in history. In ancient times, you had to cross oceans or climb mountains to find an expert teacher. But today, you have all the world’s knowledge in your pocket. So why are people still so foolish?

We have more information today than any generation in history… and less wisdom.

You know, there is a difference between wisdom and knowledge: Knowledge is knowing the right answer. Wisdom is knowing how to apply it.

Knowledge is data. Wisdom is direction. 

For example, knowledge is knowing the right answer to say. Wisdom is knowing when not to say it. 

I get in trouble with this one with my wife all the time. She tells me a problem she has, and I immediately gift her with my golden knowledge of the perfect solution to her problem. Anyone who has been married long enough knows that isn’t going to go well.

Why?

She wasn’t looking for an answer. She knows the answer. She’s not dumb and is, in fact, smarter than me in many ways. She was looking for a listening ear, empathy in her struggle, and validation of her feelings. And I’m just like, “I know the answer! Problem solved. You’re welcome. What else can I help you with?”

You may have all the knowledge in the world, but how do you gain wisdom to know how to apply it? AI can tell you how to make a million dollars, but it can’t tell you if the process will corrupt your soul. That’s the gap between knowledge and wisdom. 

The good news is that, just as no one is born with knowledge, wisdom is not a genetic trait either. Both must be learned. 

The world will tell you it’s gained over years of life experience and failures, and there’s some truth to that. But how does that help you now? And how do you know that one person’s wisdom is truly wise? There’s a lot of worldly wisdom that sounds great until you try it.

Well, the Bible says there is a better way. If you want to gain wisdom, here is how to do it according to the Bible.

How to Ask God for Wisdom

Look at James 1:5-8 (ESV). 

⁵ If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. ⁶ But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. ⁷ For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; ⁸ he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

James says, “You want wisdom? Ask for it.” But who you ask and how you do it makes all the difference in the world. 

First, he says, “ask God.” Why?

As the creator and sustainer of all things, God is the source of all knowledge and wisdom. So if you want wisdom, why go to some online “influencer” who may or may not have it? Go to the one who has it all.

Proverbs, the wisdom book of the Bible, says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10; Psalm 111:10). If you want to get wisdom, start with God. Know who he is. He is all-knowing, all-powerful, and that should humble you before him with a healthy, reverent fear in awe of his greatness. It’s not terror of God, but awestruck wonder at how great he is. That is the start of all wisdom right there. 

And once you know God, you realize what James says that you can humbly approach him and ask for wisdom because he is a good and loving God who “gives generously to all without reproach”. This is a promise here. Ask God for wisdom, and he will give it to you, with one condition. 

The condition, James says, is that you need to ask God the right way: “ask in faith, with no doubting.” Why does that matter? 

James gives this beautiful analogy of the sea: “the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. ⁷ For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; ⁸ he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”

Doubt is like being adrift at sea without a sail or rudder. You are at the mercy of the wind and the waves. It could take you where to go, but more often you’ll be dashed upon the rocks or lost at sea. You have no direction or stability. 

If you doubt God, you’re going to struggle to ask him for wisdom in the first place. And when God gives you wisdom, you’re going to have trouble receiving it. 

For example, how James says just before this passage to count trials as joy. If you doubt God, you are going to doubt his wisdom. It will sound like foolishness to you.

So you will be tossed back and forth between godly and worldly wisdom, lacking direction or consistency. 

James says this kind of person is “double-minded.” A pastor friend of mine often says that the most miserable people on the planet are those with one foot in the kingdom of God and one foot in the world. You are inconsistent between what you believe and what you do, as if you have two minds battling inside you. One says follow God’s ways, and the other says follow the world’s ways. And in this situation, the world wins out. 

If you’re double-minded, you’re basically asking God for his ‘opinion’ so you can compare it to yours. But God isn’t a consultant; He’s a commander. We don’t ask for his advice; we ask his direction.

So you have to believe. Have single-minded faith in God. Trust that his wisdom is good and true.

Godly Wisdom Inverts Worldly Thinking

After telling us how to get wisdom, James applies godly wisdom to a common problem. A double-minded person torn between godly and worldly wisdom will be tossed by the problems of life, especially when it comes to money.

⁹ Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, ¹⁰ and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. ¹¹ For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits (James 1:9-11 ).

Those lacking money and those with plenty of it will be torn to follow worldly wisdom to chase after it, and believe that their value is defined by it. 

James inverts worldly thinking to show how godly wisdom works. Opposite of what most people think, with God, the poor can boast in their exaltation and the rich in their humility. How does that work? 

Godly wisdom sees things from God’s eternal perspective.

Those who know the Lord, and are poor, know that they are truly rich. This life is temporary, and the riches of God’s grace are enough to satisfy. What good would it be to gain the whole world and forfeit their soul? Plus, they know the rich rewards that await them in heaven.

The rich who know the Lord are reminded that this life is temporary and they are humbled by how great God is and how small they are in comparison. They know they cannot serve two masters, both God and money. So they use their riches to glorify God and help others rather than to prop themselves up or flaunt their wealth over others who are less fortunate. The rich who have godly wisdom know that judgment is coming.

Death is the great equalizer. Their bank accounts are like a desert flower that is here for a moment and then withers in the heat of the sun. Their life will end in the midst of their pursuit of wealth, and then what was the purpose of it all? Wisdom is investing in the things that don’t whither.

The rich believer wants God to be pleased with how they managed the wealth he gave them, both physically in how they use it and mentally in how much they allowed it to master them or not.

This is just one example of how Godly wisdom changes every area of your life.

When you seek God for wisdom, you will learn things like: strength comes through weakness, you lead by serving, you gain your life by losing it, the way to defeat your enemies is by loving them, and more.

So how do you gain wisdom? Go to God, the source of all wisdom, and ask for his help.

Don’t be double-minded with one foot in the world and one in God’s kingdom. Go all in in your fear and awe of the Lord and all of his ways. Trust that it is good and true, even when it doesn’t make sense from a worldly perspective, because God, from his eternal perspective, knows far more than you and I do.

The post How to Get Wisdom According to the Bible – James 1:5-11 appeared first on Brandon Hilgemann.

Life is filled with all kinds of trials: pain, suffering, loss, rejection, persecution, injustice… the list could go on. It’s not a question of if you will face a trial, but when. 

So how can we have a happy and joy-filled life with all of the unwanted and unplanned difficulties of life? Is it even possible? The Bible’s answer might shock you. 

Most people think trials should be avoided at all costs. But the Bible says, trials should be celebrated. What?!

Allow me to explain, because it’s not as crazy as it sounds. In fact, in this video, I will show you why the Bible says we can rejoice in the difficulties in life and how for thousands of years, this way of seeing the world has given people the strength to keep going even in the absolute worst situations imaginable. 

If you’re new, hi, I’m Brandon and I’ve been a pastor for over 18 years. In that time, I’ve walked alongside hundreds of people through all kinds of unexpected trials and difficulties in their life like cancer, death, divorce, and addiction, and I’ve seen how the truth in this one Bible verse is a game-changer.

What Does the Bible Say About Trials?

The book of James begins with one of the most counterintuitive commands in the Bible. After introducing himself in verse one, he jumps right into it in James 1:2-4 (ESV). 

² Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, ³ for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. ⁴ And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

So what is James saying here. Let’s break this down:

First notice that James says, “When you meet trials of various kinds” not “if” but “when.” Trials are coming. Name one person who has ever walked the face of the earth who did not experience any trials. If you can do it, let me know in the comments, because I don’t think you can. 

It doesn’t matter how rich or privileged or lucky you are in this life, trials come for us all. And for some of us, they come a whole lot harder. So instead of living ignorant about life’s difficulties and then being shocked when things don’t go as we planned, we should expect trials to come. 

In fact, we should probably be more surprised when we have seasons where everything is going well and we aren’t facing trials, than when we do face trials. 

Second, when you face trials, what should you do?James says,“Count it all joy”. This is not natural. Nobody gets a bad diagnosis and thinks “Oh joy!” Nobody faces persecution and says, “I’ve been waiting my whole life for this. Wohoo!” The audience James is writing to are “the twelve tribes in the Dispersion” (James 1:1). These are Jews who converted to Christianity and because of intense persecution for their faith have been scattered around the known world. They knew a thing or two about trials. And James says “Count it all joy!” How is that possible?

What James is talking about here is a deliberate change of thinking. You have to actively reframe your thinking to count all your trials as joy.

Joy Is Not the Same as Happiness

Happiness is different than joy. Happiness is more of a temporary emotion based on circumstances. Joy is a deeper, lasting state rooted in the hope of what you know is true, not just what you feel right now. 

This doesn’t mean you will ever be happy about suffering or difficulties in life, but it does mean that even in the hard things, you can have joy. This isn’t a turn your frown upside down, just be positive surface-level advice. There is a heavy theological depth behind it.

The only reason James can say this is because of his faith in Jesus. If you believe Jesus died on the cross in your place so that you can be forgiven of all your sins and guaranteed a future home in heaven after this life, it changes everything about how you see the world and how you live. 

You realize that this life is just a test. Better days are ahead for you. So while the trials we endure today may be absolutely awful (I don’t want to diminish anyone’s pain or suffering), they are all temporary. Life is a test, and this is not the end of the story. In the grand scheme of eternity, this temporary suffering is only small part of your story. 

And trials also have benefits here and now as well that we often overlook. James says, “for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”

As I just said, life is a test, and difficulty, suffering, hardship, and trials all are tests of your faith. Will you endure and believe even through this, or will your faith be shaken? 

Most of us have probably known somebody who claimed to have faith in God, but fell away as soon as life got difficult. The trials came and their faith was proven to be lacking. It’s sad every time, and I always pray that they will come back, but I have seen it again and again.

A Life Without Trials Is a Life Without Growth

If you think your relationship with God is transactional, where you believe if you follow him, then he will make you healthy and wealthy and happy, you need to read the Bible. Every single hero of our faith endured severe trials that tested their faith. And we respect these men and women of the Bible because of their steadfastness.

In fact, the best stories include the most severe trials. And we know this intuitively. What is a story without conflict? Who wants to watch a movie where nothing bad ever happens? 

Or imagine sports without any opposition? Imagine a football team lines up without any opponent, snaps the ball, and everyone runs to the endzone. Then they line up and do it again. How boring would that be?! 

You don’t want a life without trials, because that would be no life at all. It is when we fight through the trials and persevere in our faith that we find the greatest meaning and purpose in life, even if we don’t wish the same struggles on our worst enemies. 

And look what James says next, there is a purpose for your struggles. “And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

Essentially, steadfastness produces maturity. Steadfast faith through the tests and trials of life is the process God uses to refine and shape you and make you into the complete person that God wants you to become.

A life without resistance is a life without growth. Just as you don’t build muscle without weights, you don’t build faith without trials. 

God’s Goal Isn’t Your Comfort

Despite popular opinion, God’s goal is not to make you comfortable. His goal is to make you complete.

So stop waiting for life to get better to be happy. Don’t let trials steal your joy. Be weird like James and the apostles, who celebrated when they faced trials and praised God even when they were persecuted. 

Count the trials joyfully because you know that your faith is being refined. You are being strengthened. God never wastes a trial. He uses them to help you grow. But we have to change our perspective to see that. 

The world says, “Trials should be avoided at all cost.” So we seek comfort and escape from it all. And if they pray, they pray, “God get me out of this.”

But the Christian says, “trials should be counted as joy.” So we see the trials as a test of our faith and a chance to mature and grow more steadfast and complete. And our prayer is “God help me grow from this.”

So “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

The post How To Find Joy Even When Life Falls Apart – James 1:2-4 appeared first on Brandon Hilgemann.

The claim that Jesus rose from the dead is the foundation of Christianity. If the resurrection is true, nothing matters more. If false, Christianity is a massive waste of time. He is either the risen Son of God, deserving worship, or a false prophet deserving condemnation.

So today, I want to talk about one of the more compelling and easily overlooked arguments for the resurrection of Jesus.

If you are new here, hi, I’m Brandon. I’ve dedicated my life to following Jesus, including over 18 years as a pastor and 9 years studying in seminary. That’s a lot of time and sacrifice based on this fundamental claim.

But I have not always been 100% convinced. As a teenager, I wrestled with doubts and had to decide if it was truly my faith or my parents. After searching for answers, reading the Bible, and a lot of other books, I concluded that  Christianity is true and dedicated my life to ministry.

Later, disillusionment with church leaders who treated me more like a tool than a person led to the darkest year of my life. Yet, God didn’t let go. I wrestled through that season of doubt and came out even more convinced that Jesus is God, and that the church, though often led by broken men, is still worth fighting for.

And that leads me to one of the most convincing arguments for Jesus’ resurrection.

Evidence for the Resurrection

James 1:1 (ESV),

James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings.

Now, why is this an argument for Jesus’ resurrection? At first glance, it doesn’t seem like much, and a lot of people will read straight through it without further thought. But when you slow down and ask, ” Who is James?” that’s when things get interesting! 

We can’t get him mixed up with the other two Jameses, who were disciples of Jesus. 

The first is James, the son of Zebedee (the brother of John), who Herod executed around 44AD in Acts 12. 

About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. ² He killed James the brother of John with the sword (Acts 12:1-2)

The second is James, the son of Alphaeus, who is among the disciples, but very little else is mentioned about him.

But this James, who wrote the book of James, is the brother of Jesus. We first see James in Mark 6:3 and Matthew 13:55.

Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?”  (Mark 6:3)

“Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? (Matthew 13:55)

James became a prominent leader in the early days of the church. He was sometimes called James the Just or “Camel knees” because he prayed so much that his knees resembled a camel’s, became one of the most influential figures in the Jerusalem church.

Paul mentioned him in a recording of his visit to Jerusalem in Galatians 1:19,

I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord’s brother. 

He is likely referring to him in 1 Corinthians 9:5, when he mentions, “the other apostles and brothers of the Lord and Cephas.”

In Acts 15, we see James’ authority and influence in the church as he presides over the verdict of the Jerusalem Council on whether gentile converts to Christianity should be circumcised. 

Though not in the Bible, historians such as Josephus and Eusebius record that James was martyred in 62 AD by the High Priest in Jerusalem after refusing to deny Christ. He was thrown 160 feet from the Temple Mount, ironically, where Satan tempted Jesus to jump. Somehow surviving the fall, James was then beaten to death with a club.

What’s amazing here in James 1:1 is how he refers to himself. He doesn’t pull family rank and say, “James, brother of Jesus.” He says servant of God and the Lord Jesus. Think about that. 

He calls Jesus Lord and puts him on equal footing with God.

And James isn’t alone here. One of the other brothers of Jesus mentioned in the Bible, Judas or Jude, also wrote a letter in the Bible called Jude, and he says the same thing:

Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James,  (Jude 1)

It’s very similar to James’ introduction, except notice that Jude claims James as his brother because James was such a prominent leader in the church. 

What’s even more remarkable about this is that James and Jude didn’t always believe this about Jesus. 

In the gospel of John, we read about Jesus before he was crucified: 

For not even his brothers believed in him.  (John 7:5)

And Matthew says not only that, James and his family actively tried to stop Jesus because they thought he was crazy:

Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. ²¹ And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”  (Mark 3:20–21)

A few verses later, we see them trying to reach Jesus while he is teaching.

³¹ And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. ³² And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you.”  (Mark 3:31–32)

So Mary and Jesus’ brothers are trying to get to him because they believe he is crazy. And this is when Jesus famously responds: Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.

So we see James and his whole family (Mary included) being skeptical and doubting Jesus’ authority to teach as the son of God. 

And so what changed? Why did James go from doubting Jesus to leading the church and dying for his claim because he refused to deny Jesus as the Son of God?

Maybe a better question, for those of you who have brothers, is: What would your brother have to do for you to worship him as God?

The answer is in 1 Corinthians 15:7. Paul writes about Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, and the many people to whom Jesus appeared after his resurrection, and this is the key. Towards the end of the list, he writes:

Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.

Jesus died, and then three days later, he got back up and appeared to many people, including his brother, James. 

And that is what it would take for one of my brothers to convince me, too. I wouldn’t believe them unless I saw something undeniable. James knew Jesus died, and Jesus came back again and proved his power over death and all things.

So here we have an incredibly compelling case for the central claim of Christianity. What would make James and Jude, the brothers of Jesus, believe their brother was God? It took a resurrection. And James believes so much that he died for his claim. He gained nothing but a martyr’s death because he couldn’t deny what he had seen or heard. 

And so he is so humbled by this that he doesn’t even refer to himself as the brother of Jesus. No, he is a humble servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. And he took that conviction even beyond his death.

Confidence in the Resurrection

The resurrection of Jesus is not just some myth. You can believe it because it is grounded in historical facts, such as this example.

So we can live confidently in our faith, with unshakeable conviction and humility as James did.

And if you want to know more about what James stood for, I’m going to be covering the rest of his writing in upcoming videos. We’re just scratching the surface here. 

James, often called the Proverbs of the New Testament, is packed with wisdom on suffering, speech, money, putting our faith into action, and much more that we can all learn from. Subscribe if you want to come along for the ride.

The post A Compelling Argument for the Resurrection of Jesus – James 1:1 appeared first on Brandon Hilgemann.