How easy is it for you to “just say no”?  I’ve been a follower of Christ for several years and I can say that there are areas of my life that have radically changed – but I can also say, very honestly, that I have never stopped being tempted to fall back into old patterns.  I can also say, very honestly, that resisting temptation has never come easily nor have I always been successful. That’s just the reality of it.  From my experience so far, temptations to sin never cease to show up and it is always a challenge to resist them.

James will address this issue in our study of his letter this Sunday. We’ll be reading James 1:13-18.

Verses 13-15 paint a vivid picture, don’t they? Right off the bat, he tells us in no uncertain terms who bears the responsibility of our choices. Who is it that he points to? As you read this, is there anyone missing in his explanation of how temptation and sin develops in our lives?  Does that provide any information about why the responsibility of our choices rests where it does?

The process of desire conceiving sin and sin growing into death is a fairly unsettling image. I suppose he’s trying to make his point as emphatically as he can. I don’t believe we should read this as an intimation that if a Christian slips or commits willful sin that he or she has lost salvation, or is in any way facing physical death for it. Instead, I see him as trying to make as clear a picture about the nature of the sin we’re tempted to play with as he can.  In essence he’s posing the dilemma: “Why would you cooperate with what is trying to kill you?”  In the midst of being tempted to choose an action, attitude or thought that is not in sync with God’s character…how hard or easy is it for you to associate that with death?  Do you see that as something that would be helpful?

I absolutely LOVE verses 16-18.  After Jimmy sets up this fairly bleak picture of death, and we innately feel our own sense of weakness in this scenario, suddenly there is light streaming from above us and the Hero arrives on the scene.  Have you ever struggled with the idea that God is upset, or at least irritated with you because you still struggle with some temptations?  As you read James’ description of God’s role in all of this, do you see him as an irritated perfectionist or a powerful and caring Ally?  Does it make a difference how you imagine God when you are struggling with temptation?  If you’re fighting a temptation does it help to think of God as someone yelling at you “Do BETTER!”, or to think of Gandalf appearing at sunrise on the eastern hills of Helm’s Deep to change the tide of battle?

It appears that how we view God is of upmost importance when it comes to our success in resisting temptation. James warns us: “Do not be deceived!” just before he begins his description of the character and action of God in our times of temptation.

Let me leave you with a quote from Eugene Peterson:

“It is wicked to tell a person that God is an angry tyrant storming through the heavens, out to get every trespasser and throw him into the lake of fire. It is wicked to tell a person that God is a senile grandfather dozing in a celestial rocking chair with only the shortest of attention spans for what is going on in the world. It is wicked to tell a person that God is a compulsively efficient and utterly humorless manager of a tightly run cosmos, obsessed with getting the highest productivity possible out of history and with absolutely no concern for persons apart from their usefulness. 

“If we believe that God is an angry tyrant, we are going to defensively avoid him if we can. If we believe that God is a senile grandfather, we are going to live carelessly and trivially with no sense of transcending purpose. If we believe that God is an efficiency expert, we are going to live angry at being reduced to a function and never appreciated as a person.

“It is wicked to to tell a person a lie about God because, if we come to believe the wrong things about God, we will think the wrong things about ourselves and we will live meanly or badly. Telling a person a lie about God distorts reality, perverts life and damages all the processes of living.”   (From the book “Traveling Light”, by Eugene Peterson)

God is here to change the tide of battle in our struggle against sin.  How cool.

See you all Sunday!

This Sunday we’ll be reading James 1:9-12. We idolize the wealthy in our society. People are famous and have reality shows who have never, EVER done anything of value for our world; they are famous simply because they are rich.  We make them celebrities and envy them and fantasize what it would be like to be in their shoes. But all through the Scriptures, both Old and New testaments, we are presented with a different view of the wealthy.

From the very opening of his letter, James has been presenting us a very unusual perspective on life. He encourages joy during difficult times. He announces that wisdom isn’t something gained purely through life experiences, but that it is given as a gift by God. In this section, he turns the world on its head again.  How does this passage compare to the world’s perception of wealth? How do you think the “lowly” person is exalted? How is a rich person like a withering flower?

Considering the description James gives of wealth in v11, how does this challenge our understanding about what will bring us security and happiness?

V12 provides the ultimate contrast. If you were to summarize what he’s saying, what is the basis for a sense of security and joy?

See you on Sunday!

Have you ever had someone do something that really hurt you…or maybe infringed on your rights or took something from you?  Imagine that person coming to you with a note from your pastor saying “This person has really changed and I believe in him/her- please accept them and forgive them and charge me with anything they defrauded you of.”

What would you do? How would you feel? What would it take for you to muster up the strength to go along with that request?

That’s the premise of the short Epistle we’ll be reading this Sunday: Philemon 1-25.  It’s basically a short e-mail Paul sent to a friend of his who had a runaway slave that Paul had met and led to a salvation experience, whom he was sending back to Philemon to ask for his freedom so he could keep working with Paul in Rome. Get it? What comes through in this epistle is how Paul anticipates that the dynamic of social arrangements and relationships will change when they come under the influence of Christ.  In Christ we will treat each other differently than in the dynamic of the broken world.

So – as Paul is talking about this slave, Onesimus, he describes him with terms that are very different from fugitive or slave. What does he call Onisemus in v10 or v12 (in the ESV)?  Considering those words, and his description of Philemon’s and Onesimus’ relationship in v16, what seems to be the overriding dynamic that characterizes their relationship in Christ?

We don’t know what Philemon does after reading this letter. Some people believe the outcome was good and Onesimus went on to great things – but we’ll really never know.

Let’s think about this letter in light of our own lives, shall we? What is one of the prickliest relational problems you’ve worked on recently (it may have been yours, or problems between other people)? What can we learn from this letter that can aid us in navigating difficult relationships?  V18 and 19 are beautiful and profound to me.  Can those verses help inform us about why grace is an important factor in relationships?

What can we learn from this letter that will produce an “in Christ” dynamic in our relationships today?

Hope you can make it Sunday…if so, see you then!

 

This Sunday we’ll be reading Titus 3:1-8.

Paul is making his point in reverse in this section. He begins with the results, and works his way backwards through the causes. We should live this way, because of how we used to be and what God has done for us. Working our way from the front to the back of his instructions, we realize he is describing our intended lifestyle as a response to God’s grace.

Paul’s instructions have to do with how we react to and treat other people. Who does he begin with? How easy or difficult is it for you to show grace in that area?

As you think over your life before Christ, are there times you’d like to forget, and really hope God has forgotten? Does that have any effect on how you perceive and behave towards others?

What are the benefits Paul describes that we receive from being in relationship with God through Christ? It’s pretty clear that we didn’t deserve those benefits. When I think of what I brought to the table in this relationship with God, I realize the only thing I brought were my sins which Jesus paid for. So then…who are the people that I think are less deserving of grace than I am? Who am I quick to judge…whether president or pauper…who do I reserve the right to criticize and disrespect, and what could I possibly use as a justification for that considering how God has treated me?

V8 doesn’t sound like Paul is making suggestions – he seems pretty adamant. In his view, this is what being a Christian looks like. Not that we live this way in order TO be saved…but this is what God’s redemption of us is intended to look like. I feel like I have a long way to go, but that sure is the person I want to be.

Maybe we can move that direction together?

A community or neighborhood watch are crime prevention programs initiated by neighborhoods where they look out for each other and, hopefully, prevent burglaries or vandalism…or worse. The idea behind them was that citizens needed to take up the responsibility to look after each other and their communities.

It’s not a bad idea…but it’s one that needs to be carried out with great caution, as the events that happened in South Florida several weeks back drove home.  Two people, completely misunderstanding each other in a toxic atmosphere of mistrust resulted in one innocent, unarmed teen’s death.

A community watch can be a good thing, if those undertaking the watch carefully follow the guidlines and keep the primary goal in mind…that of the safety of the community.  If it becomes some vigilante group, or a team of busybodies, then it actually subverts it’s intended purpose.

In similar fashion, Paul intends that the church community watch out for threats to the health of their fellowship. Instead of watching out for burglars, we have to be careful about doctrines, behaviors and attitudes that can negatively effect the well-being of the group. But we have to do so cautiously, so as not to end up working against ourselves by forgetting that redemption and relationship are the goals.

We’re going to be reading Titus 1:10-16 this week, and Paul provides some guidelines about what we need to be careful of as a community concerning doctrine, practice and motive.

What does Paul warn us about mostly in this section? What sort of myths and commands of people can serve to be divisive in the church today?

Some people freak out at Paul’s statement about Cretans in v12. It seems pretty harsh. But if you factor in the history of that statement (you can find it HERE), does it help you see why Paul may have been using that quote?

Hope to see you Sunday!