Purity of Faith

This past week we talked about the tensions between the "spiritual but not religious" and the "religious but not spiritual" and saw James proposed middle road. You can listen to the audio by following the link or read the text below. Don't forget to join us Wednesday, June 30th at 7:00 pm for our first DiG Group gathering. We'll be discussing the sermon, studying the Scriptures, praying and fellowshiping together. Look forward to seeing you.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/2kidvmo1dym/Purity of Faith.mp3

“Purity of Faith” / June 27, 2010 / James 1:19-27

INTRO –S.B.N.R.
Have you ever heard anyone say, ‘Hi! I’m spiritual but not religious’? I know personally I have run into people like this from time to time. Sometime when I do a funeral, people will say I don’t know to church but I am spiritual. I never thought too much of it, figured people were having preacher guilt. Then, I did some research online this week to discover that the ‘spiritual but not religious’ movement is quickly growing, not just an excuse for skipping church. The new trend is to affirm spirituality but to reject any form of organized religion. In fact, the SBNR movement is launching a website next week at http://www.sbnr.org/. As I read their Facebook page, most people affirming ‘spiritual but not religious’ do so because they have been turned off by organized religion at some point.
While the name may be new, the ‘spiritual but not religious’ movement is now a new phenomenon. In fact, many early movements within the early Church leaned towards the spiritual but not religious camp. Movements like the Ebionites, Gnostism, and Montanism pushed against the accepted beliefs about Jesus. In the fourth century, a group of monks called the Desert Fathers, retreated into the desert because they felt the institution had been corrupted. In short, ‘spiritual but not religious’ is nothing new.
Ancient and contemporary critics can easily name the plights of the Church. Today’s critics point to the Church’s and Christians’ hypocritical ways, anti-homosexual attitudes, focus on money and building projects, and irrelevance to modern society among many other things. The criticisms are certainly not unfounded nor are they unfair. Many Christians and churches have indeed become dead, lifeless, corrupt religion, and are worthy of criticism. I share some of the same complaints with the ‘spiritual but not religious.’ The reality is that many United Methodist Churches have been rightly accused of being dead religious institutions in their time and we have probably aided a few people to adopt the ‘spiritual but not religious’ title.

R.B.N.S.
The Church gets criticized by the SBNR because of church people who are ‘religious but not spiritual.’ The church warrants much of the criticisms leveled by the SBNR group because it contains the opposite group of people, the ‘religious but not spiritual.’ The ‘religious but not spiritual group is not a new criticism of organized religion. Rather, the issue is as old as the Scriptures. In the New Testament, the criticisms of religion are the same as they are today. It is important to note that the criticisms of Jesus and the New Testament are more towards the corruptions of religion and the people than they are towards religion itself. Jesus, in fact, rails on the religious people of the day because they are ‘religious but not spiritual.’ The main group of ‘religious but not spiritual’ people was a group called the Pharisees. They were the pious people and the enforcers of religious law. Jesus labeled them hypocrites and he essentially accused them of acting religious without having any real connection with God. Religion, for the Pharisees, was about power, control, and prominence.
Jesus frequently spoke against the Pharisees and told parables and stories condemning them. In the classic Parable of the Good Samaritan, it is a religious Pharisee that leaves the wounded man on the road for dead. The negative feelings towards religion continued with Jesus’ followers. In the New Testament, the Greek word for “religion” is only used three places in the New Testament, two are negative.
As I mentioned, the plight of ‘religious but not spiritual’ did continues to be a problem within the church today, hence the reason for so many people being ‘spiritual but not religious.’ One study I found stated that 17% of people said they were ‘religious but not spiritual.’ That is close to 1 in 5 people that attend some form of organized worship, most likely Sunday morning church, are not spiritual people.
Before we continue on, I think we need to acknowledge that our presence in worship this morning makes us more prone to being ‘religious but not spiritual people.’ Religious but not spiritual folks are people that are overly attached to certain rituals and traditions. They only like those old hymns and preachers in robes. Religious but not spiritual people often use their religious practices to gain power and prominence in society. They believe themselves to be better than those that don’t practice their religion. Folks that simply practice religion miss communing with the divine. So I want to ask you: How do you tend to be religious but not spiritual?

PURE RELIGION
While we have railed on the ‘religious but not spiritual’, being ‘spiritual but not religious’ has its share of shortcomings as well. In many cases, ‘spiritual but not religious’ folks resist organized religion because they like having spiritual freedom and independence. They don’t want any parameters placed upon their spiritual pursuits. Instead, they want “Burger King Spirituality: Have it your way,” spirituality. If spirituality is about connecting with the divine, you can see how this self-centered spirituality cannot be sustained. Many SBNR folks achieve spiritual experiences that are inward, personal, and moving, but they fail to connect it with the rest of their lives. They is no continuity to their spiritual philosophies and it leads to people being devoid of any true spirituality. To be ‘spiritual but not religious’ leaves you vulnerable to divorce your spiritual life from the rest of the world.
James, as we have seen over the past several weeks, likes to find the middle ground between to erroneous ways. In this passage, James first speaks to the religious but not spiritual, then to the spiritual but not religious before showing us a better way: spiritual and religious.

#1. James sees errors in being religious but not spiritual.
James begins the section with: “My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.” While James addresses everyone, I think these words are especially pertinent to the religious but not spiritual. Folks that get caught up in their religion tend to talk too much, listen to little and get anger at sin too easily. We all know people like this because this person is in each of us. When religious people get on their soap box, we easily turn people off to organized religion and the church. I think of people picketing and protesting in the name of Christ. I see people angry and yelling condemning messages to their adversaries. It seems to me that these folks would benefit their cause if they listened to the words of James: be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.
James then encourages the ‘religious but not spiritual’ to: “get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you…” James recognizes that the religious have the word of God planted in them, but their pride has prevented them from accepting it. They are too concerned with following the rules and maintaining power to actually connect with God and receive the salvation of the Lord. Are there places in you that lean towards being ‘religious but not spiritual’? I think it is important that we examine ourselves for parts inside of us that behave in this manner.

#2. James sees errors in being spiritual but not religious.
While James advises the ‘religious but not spiritual’ to watch their pride and their temper, he has advice for the ‘spiritual but not religious’. He says in verse 22: “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” When a person becomes spiritual but not religious, it typically means they practice their version of faith privately. There is no shared community, no accountability, no encouragement from others. As a result, a person can have an authentic spiritual experience but they immediately forget it because it is never shared. James says it this way: “Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.”
I can tell you from personal experience that I have had numerous spiritual encounters. If I had not been in a community of faith and discussed them with other people, I would have missed the true meaning of them. Part of the value of being active in a church is that you have other people to share their wisdom and discernment with you. Any time I feel that the Lord has spoken to me or is leading me in a certain direction; I always talk to someone about it. It helps me to understand the word and then to do what the word says. If I don’t share a revelation from the Lord with someone, I will never actually do it. James understands that spirituality cannot be effectively lived out apart from a religious community. Other people help to remind us who we are and how we are supposed to behave.

#3. James encourages us to be both spiritual and religious.
James sees the value in being both spiritual and religious. In verse 25 he talks about the importance of being connected to religion. “25 But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.” The perfect law for James is a reference to the laws of Judaism but also the new law of Jesus. In Matthew 5:17 Jesus says, “I have not come to abolish the Law but to fulfill it.” Jesus, then, fulfills the law by calling people to “Love God and to Love others.”
When divided, spirituality becomes about God and religion becomes solely about people. Jesus calls us to be about both. We cannot love God or people unless we are both spiritual and religious. Therefore, James exhorts us to pursue spirituality that is grounded in pure and true religion. He reminds the religious community to speak words of love and encouragement. He calls us to true religious community because reminds us that we must put our faith to action, that we must do the word of Jesus Christ, that we must love God and others. I
James seeks to reclaim religion by defining it in v. 27: “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” This is the law of love and the true spirit of religion.



CONCLUSION
In short, James does not believe we can fulfill the law of Christ, the law of love without both true religion and true spirituality. Spirituality without religion leads to forgetfulness and inaction. Religion without spirituality leads to abuse of power and corruption. Both are needed to fulfill the call of God on each of our lives. The call to love God and to love others. The call to be pure in faith and to care for those in need.
I don’t know what side you tend to lean towards. There is no formula to determine where your heart and soul are. Church attendance, prayer, devotion to God… I would encourage you to examine yourself. If you simply come to church and go through the ritual every week without connect with Christ, you are probably more ‘religious but not spiritual.’ For you it is time to reconnect spiritually. Spend some time in quiet solitude with God.
On the flip side, if this is the first time you’ve been in church in months, maybe you are ‘spiritual but not religious.’ Maybe it is time you surround yourself with other Christians in order to be encouraged to put your faith into action. Where ever you are, I encourage you to pursue the perfect law that gives you freedom, the law of Love, the call to love God and others, the call to unite both the spiritual and the religious.

Fields, Flowers, and Faith

I hope you are having a good week. Thanks to everyone who attended my ordination service last week. I have greatly appreciated the love and support everyone has given me over the past three years of this journey. I look forward to continuing to share in vibrant ministry in Brimfield for many years to come. I also want to thank Pastor Tom for preaching and leading worship last Sunday.

Below is the text and audio (pending) from June 13th. There is no audio from June 20th.

“Fields, Flowers, and Faith” / James 1:9-11 / June 13, 2010

INTRODUCTION

As we continue further into our journey with James you will quickly notice that James writes like someone with ADD. That is to say, James doesn’t always follow a linear, logical progression of thought. James is writing in a typical Jewish wisdom style that is non-linear. He has a tendency to jump from topic to topic. James’s non-linear approach does not imply there isn’t some semblance of order. It is just rather hard to impose too much interconnectedness to the letter.
For example, the first chapter of James seems to touch on a hodgepodge of themes. While it does in fact cover a variety of issues, it has been suggested that he is introducing the various topics he will return to later in his letter. We get our first real taste of this non-linear thought process in James 1:9-11. After James opens his letter talking about facing trials leading to mature faith in God, he fairly abruptly begins talking about riches and wealth. The apparent detour in verses 9-11 actually introduce a theme that we will revisit again in chapter two.
Additionally, if we look closely enough, it would also seem that verses 9-11 are indeed connected to earlier verses. While in verse 9 begins, “The brother in humble circumstances,”, in the original Greek there is this little connective word “de,” which is not translated. The word is usually translated “but” or “and,” and would indicate that it is continuing an earlier thought. This preposition connects us to verse two when James says, “Consider it pure joy, whenever you face trials of many kinds.”
In James’s mind, trials are opportunities to live out our faith in Jesus Christ and to put our spiritual practices to the test. They provide the occasion to determine whether one’s faith reflect true religion. In essence, are you able to practice what you preach? As James’s shifts directions to discuss, he knows his audience is experiencing trials and tests of faith involving issues of wealth. In the ancient Greco-Roman world, there were substantial issues of wealth, class and social distinction, and slavery. There were distinct classes of people that did not interact on equal footing. Jesus, himself, was part of the working class and would have been prevented from going certain places and associating with certain people because of his upbringing and profession. Laborers didn’t mingle with bankers. Religious people didn’t befriend the common folk. Society assigned value and worth to people based on their material wealth.
These issues did not disappear upon conversion to Christianity and affected the newly formed congregation. We know that early converts to Christianity suffered financial discrimination for their new found faith. They were typically persecuted by rich non-Christians. Instead of lamenting the struggles, James sees the issues of wealth as presenting an opportunity to grow in faith. This morning, I want to explore these tests of faith that James addresses in verses 9 – 11.

TEST OF MONEY
The Bible discusses the issue of money more than almost any other topic. 2,350 verses address finances and 15% of Jesus’s teaching deals with money (Crown Financial). In the New Testament, Jesus talks more about money than every other topic. In Matthew 6:24 Jesus teaches, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” Money tries to pull us in all directions and begs for our allegiances. It causes a man to be double-minded, unstable in all he does, as James in verse 8. Test and temptations of money are not limited to only the rich but all people are susceptible. In several passages James will touch on the different traps that wealth and riches present. I want to touch on two traps and look at James’s advice to avoid them.

#1 Trap: To be poor is to be cursed.
The first trap that we fall into is the belief that, “to be poor is to be cursed.” Although most of us wouldn’t articulate it in these words, we would affirm the opposite statement to be true. “To be rich is to be blessed.” We equate riches with the favor of God. We someone living in a nice house, driving a big car, or wearing fancy clothes, and many of us think, “I wish I was blessed like that.” Why do we think this way? One of the reason is that we have believed the prosperity Gospel. We hear Jesus say in John 10:10, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full,” and we think of material wealth. While the abundant life, may include material blessings, we need to avoid the trap of thinking to be poor is cursed.
Instead of lamenting a lack of wealth, James advises that: “The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position.” James realizes that there are tangible disadvantages to being poor. You are looked at differently. You are treated with bias. Those who are truly poor have every right to be envious of the rich. Nonetheless, James advises that the poor man boast in his position. James says this because he knows and understands Jesus’s teachings on wealth. In Luke 6:20-21 it says, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 21 Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied…” This not the easiest place to arrive at, but it is possible. James will show us how to arrive there momentarily, but before we get there let’s look at the second trap.

#2 Trap: Riches provide lasting security.
While the first trap sees God’s favor directly related to material riches, the second trap is to believe riches provide lasting security. In other words, money replaces God. Many rich and poor falsely believe that money provides the necessary security in life. I think this trap is more deadly than the first trap. This trap deceives us and leads us directly away from God. We think the more we have in our 401K and IRA the safer our future looks. Therefore, we think to be rich is to have security and to be under the favor of God.
James advises differently. In verse 10 he says, “But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position…” James does not see the intrinsic value in having an abundance of earthly riches. He knows the teaching of Jesus in Luke 6:24-25, “But woe to you who are rich,
for you have already received your comfort. 25 Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry.” James goes on in the rest of verse 10 and 11 to talk about how the rich man passes away like the wild flower. As we have seen over the past several years, James understands how quickly one’s earthly riches and pass away. It is in the these two verses that James proposes his final answer to avoiding the traps of wealth.

THE ULTIMATE ADVICE
It reads, “…because he will pass away like a wild flower. 11 For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich man will fade away even while he goes about his business.” The reference James makes here is a reference every single reader would have known. It is one that many of us have probably heard at some point. It is found in Isaiah 40, where the prophet speaks a word of comfort to the people of Israel. He understands that God will always level the playing field in all circumstances. In verse 4 – 5 it reads, “Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. 5 And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it.”
The most direct reference is in verse 8: “Flowers fade and the grass withers but the word of our God stands forever.” James’ ultimate advice to pass the test of wealth we must pursue God. We pursue God and the things of God: things of ultimate worth and things that will last. The themes of his letter are in fact the things we must pursue: wisdom, faith, and love.

Pursue Wisdom:
As we have already seen, wisdom is an important quality to pursue. James knows that wisdom has lasting value. Proverbs 3 informs us concerning the nature of wisdom. “Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding, 14 for she is more profitable than silverand yields better returns than gold…. 19 By wisdom the Lord laid the earth’s foundations,
by understanding he set the heavens in place…” Wisdom is invaluable to James and too many of us ignore time tested wisdom. We live in a period of time that is ignorant of our country’s mistakes. We need to learn from our elders and value their wisdom. As we find ourselves trying to dig out of the Great Recession, we can learn from those among us that lived through the Great Depression. If we want to pass the tests of wealth and the trials of life, we need to continually seek godly wisdom.

Pursue Faith and Love:
As we pursue wisdom, James teaches us to pursue faith and love. In 1 Corinthians 13:13 it reads, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” James has already discussed the importance of faith and in verse 12, which we will address next week, he touches on the importance of love. These are things that last. Faith and love in action is what true religion is all about.

If we want to avoid the traps of wealth, we must set our hearts on things that last and pursue them. We must value the importance of faith in God and loving relationships with others. These are things that will make a difference into eternity. These are the things that we must pursue if our faith is to become mature and complete. There are countless pitfalls and traps in the journey of life. As we are seeing, We must set our minds, souls, and bodies towards God if we want to successfully complete the journey with God. Christianity is more about pursuing things than avoid. It is about loving relationships with God and others.

Let’s pray and ask God for the strength to avoid the traps of wealth and pursue the things of God.

Jumping In(to a "Journey with James")

We are starting our summer sermon series through the book of James. While I’m sure you have plans for picnics, vacations, and relaxation, I would encourage you to make time to worship regularly this summer. There is no better way to reenergize your soul than to worship the Living God. Therefore, I invite you to join us on the "Journey with James."



You can listen to the audio or read the text.


http://www.mediafire.com/file/hl4mwzz5mae/Jumping In.mp3

“Jumping In” / Brimfield Faith UMC / June 6, 2010

James 1:1-8

THE JOURNEY BEGINS
Beginning this morning we will be embarking on a summer long journey through the letter of James. I try to preach through a book of the Bible at some point during the year because I think it is important to appreciate Scripture in its entirety. We can learn a great deal from selected verses or from a passage, but we can gain different insights when we go through a book from start to finish. The Letter of James has a unique relationship with the rest of the New Testament. It functions as a balance to various perspectives in the Scriptures. I trust that the journey will be a fruitful one for everyone who journeys with us.

JAMES “THE JUST”
If you want to open your Bibles to James 1:1, we will begin. As we begin to read this letter, it is helpful for us to understand things about the sender and recipients of a letter. The opening reads, “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings.” In the first verse we learn some important things. First, we learn that this is a letter from a man named James. James provides a short, ambiguous, introduction to his identity. As a result, scholars can only speculate on the exact identity of James. Our best guess is that this letter is intended to reflect the ideas of James, the brother of Jesus. From Scripture and scholarship we know that James was not an apostle but was held in high esteem in the early church. Eventually, he assumes the position as the head of the church in Jerusalem. Because of his leadership and his righteous lifestyle, he is often referred to as James “the Just.”

Understanding the author of the letter can help us to understand the letter. James writes to a church that is under persecution, struggling with its identity, and how to apply their new faith in everyday life. It is written 30 or 40 years after Jesus’ death, not to a specific community, instead, it is written to “the twelve tribes in the Dispersion.” The Dispersion referred to the Jewish people who had been scattered from Jerusalem at different points into the surrounding areas. Christianity had originated in Jerusalem and was spread as different disciples set out on missionary journeys to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ. In the early days, there was a diversity of beliefs about Christianity, much like today, and James writes his letter hoping to get his specific doctrinal points of emphasis through to these new believers.

James “the Just” led the early church movement called Jewish Christianity. The Letter of James represents the concerns of Jewish Christianity. Jewish Christianity from James’ perspective focused on maintaining the Jewish faith while following Jesus as the messiah. As a result, they emphasized certain points of doctrine over others. James’ movement at various times found itself in conflict with the Apostle Paul’s followers. Paul, while Jewish, focused more on converting Gentiles to Christianity. While these were two of many early movements of Christianity, these two frequently found themselves in conflict.

The Apostle Paul played a large role in shaping the identity of the early church, especially the Gentile, non-Jewish, church. The Christianity that we read in the Scriptures and practice is heavily influenced by Pauline theology. While there is nothing wrong or heretical with Pauline theology, it is susceptible to certain tendencies and errors. The main one being Paul’s theology emphasized the primacy of grace and people mistakenly assumed greater liberties than Paul ever intended. James warns believers against the pitfalls of Paul’s theology. As we read James letter, it will be our task to become tuned in to the potential pitfalls of Pauline theology.

This summer, we will discover some reoccurring themes within the Letter of James. They will be themes like faith, wisdom, prayer, and endurance. James has not chosen these themes randomly or haphazardly. Instead, these are the primary pitfalls James has identified in Paul’s theology. While there may been some direct conflict between Paul’s teachings and James’ teachings, I think the bigger issue was Paul’s followers misunderstood, misapplied and at times took certain liberties with Paul’s teaching. The Letter of James attempted to correct those errors. Those corrections and warnings against the pitfalls have served the church for almost 2000 years and as we will see are just as pertinent today as ever before.

PITFALL #1: INCOMPLETE FAITH

#1. Modern Christians have a tendency at times to misunderstand FAITH.
In Ephesians 2:8-9, Paul writes the hallmark verse about salvation by faith. He says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.” While verse 10 emphasizes that we are “created in Christ Jesus to do good works,” many Christians have come to understand faith as a passive activity. As a result, we separate faith from our actions. We have a tendency to sit on our laurels and think the world will come to us on a silver platter. From this verse and others, we think that hardship cannot come to those who have faith in Christ. In reality, this couldn’t be further from real faith. We will see through the Letter of James attempts to clarify different misperceptions about faith.
In verses 2 – 4, James begins his attempt to rectify this misapplication and misunderstanding about faith. Follow along: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

Pitfall: Faith is mistaken for easy believe-ism.
The pitfall that James identifies first about faith is what I call easy believe-ism. This is a faith that shatters when things get difficult. If we are honest, we all struggle with this to an extent. If hardship comes our way, we immediately question God’s role in our lives. We default to thinking that God must somehow be punishing us. We judge the depth of our faith by the absence of suffering in our lives. When things go good, we say, “God is blessings me.” When things go bad, we say, “God is punishing me.” This is a false and incomplete view of both God and the world in which we live. This is the pitfall that James wants us to avoid.

Remedy: Life is designed to bring about mature faith.
We hear James’ remedy in the first verse after the greeting of the letter. “Consider it pure joy, whenever you face trials of many kinds…” James wants us to praise God in the good times and praise God in the bad times. In James’ view, God wants to use life to deepen and strengthen our faith. Faith is not the vehicle that brings us the easy life. Faith is the vehicle that brings completeness in God.
James doesn’t talk about salvation by faith anywhere in his letter, but he talks about the sanctification process at great length. The Greek word for mature is sometimes translated perfect. In Matthew 5:48, we are encouraged to “be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” James believes we are saved by faith in order to become more like our Creator Father. Therefore, he encourages us to view life as designed to bring about mature, complete faith.
He explains this process systematically: trails test faith, testing develops perseverance and perseverance leads to Christ-likeness. The end goal of God is to restore us into his image. James believes this is how it happens. James, of course, understands this is a hard and tedious process. This is why he address it first in the letter. If we don’t get these first concepts, we won’t succeed in following any of his other advice. Therefore, James addresses a second pitfall which builds on the first.

PITFALL #2: LACK OF WISDOM
#2. Modern Christians have a tendency to lack godly WISDOM.
Developing perseverance to obtain Chris-likeness can be a challenging journey to travel. James identifies a lack of godly wisdom to be a primary stumbling block on the journey. In Romans 8:28, Paul writes about continuing on the journey towards Christ-likeness, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” In this Romans passage, Paul talks about the role of the Holy Spirit sustaining us through life. There is nothing theologically wrong with this passage. In fact, it is one of the my favorite passages in the Bible.
The problem is Christians consistently misunderstand and misquote this passage. They think it says something like, “Everything happens for a reason.” This belief alleviates the need for responsibility and wisdom. Believers believe they are relying solely on the Holy Spirit, while in reality they are relying on worldly wisdom and the folly of man. When believers ignore godly wisdom in favor the Holy Spirit, they lose the guidance of both. The guidance of wisdom and the Holy Spirit are like two sides of the same coin. While James believes in the Holy Spirit, he does not address the role of the Holy Spirit in his letter at all. Instead he focuses on the importance of wisdom. James sees the pitfall as a misguided emphasis on the Holy Spirit. neglect of godly widsom.

Pitfall: We misunderstand the guidance of the Holy Spirit. (v.5-8)
The pitfall that James identifies is a misunderstanding of the guidance of the Holy Spirit. James sees believers who are not wholeheartedly seeking God for the wisdom and guidance that they need. They think they can solely rely on the Holy Spirit. The problem is that divorced from godly wisdom, the Holy Spirit becomes a gut-feeling based on what you had for dinner the night before. As a result, Christians begin to seek God and then hedge their bets. Instead of seeking God’s guidance, they look to other sources of wisdom. Perhaps the business page and the astrology page. Regardless, James says we need to ask God without doubt if we want to receive from him.


Remedy: Seek godly wisdom without doubt.


James understands that we need to ask God for wisdom. Verse 5 and 6 read, “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt…” He undoubtedly draws this advice from the Old Testament. In Psalm 1 it reads, “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked. Proverbs 1:7 reads, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and disciple.” Wisdom is the key to godliness for James. We must ask for it without doubt because we have a generous God who wants to share it with each of his children.

FAITH THAT ENDURES AND GODLY WISDOM
You will be rewarded with maturity and completeness when you seek godly wisdom without doubt. When we discover godly wisdom and persevering faith, we will discover the riches of a living a Christ-like life. Faith and wisdom will be reoccurring themes in the Letter of James because they are keys to the journey with God. As James tells us up front, the journey will be challenging one but one that will reap many rich rewards. As we have completed the first steps of faith and wisdom, they us ask our generous Father to sustain us in the journey.
Let’s pray.

Spirit-Filled Believers

I hope you had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend as we remembered the people who sacrificed their lives for our freedom. In worship, we talked about being filled with the Spirit and prayed for a fresh filling of the Spirit’s power.

Listen here: http://www.mediafire.com/file/mw2l5iuo53n/Spirit Filled Believers.mp3

“Spirit-Filled Believers”
Brimfield Faith UMC / May 30, 2010 / Acts 19:1-7

INTRO – THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
Last week we started in the second chapter of Acts as we read about the origins of the church and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The book of Acts is one of my favorite books in the Bible because it is a theological history of how this movement called Christianity began. It is filled with stories of tension and drama, miracles and wonders. If you haven’t read the book of Acts, I would implore you with all of my will to go home and read it this week. It is a little longer but you can read it in a couple of hours if you try. It is a book that will forever change your views of God, the Holy Spirit, and the early church.
While the theme is the beginnings of the early church there are two main characters in Acts: the apostle Paul and the Holy Spirit. In the passage that Montana read for us this morning, we see these two characters working together to grow the church and to transform followers into empowered disciples. I want to spend some time looking at this story in Acts 19 this morning, because I think it will help us to understand the Holy Spirit with greater clarity.
The drama begins when Paul arrives in the ancient city of Ephesus with the hopes of starting a Christian church there. When Paul arrives he is pleasantly surprised to find a group of people who consider themselves Jesus followers. As Paul talks with these disciples, he discovers they haven’t heard of the Holy Spirit. They reveal that they have been baptized by John the Baptist but haven’t been baptized in the name of Jesus. The story quickly unfolds as they are first baptized in the name of Jesus. Then, Paul lays hands on them and they are filled with the Holy Spirit which was marked by speaking in tongues and prophesying.
If you look closely at this progression, it is a bit curious. First you have people who were baptized under John, but not Jesus. Then they are baptized in the name of Jesus. And then finally, they receive a filling of the Holy Spirit when Paul lays hands on him. This isn’t the only story in which the filling of the Holy Spirit comes after the initial work of salvation. The Holy Spirit was integral to the movement of the early church because it became the marker by which salvation was confirmed. It also provided the power to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ.

THE EXPERIENCES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
Even with the significance of the Holy Spirit, many of the stories in Acts allude to the fact that there was some confusion in the early days of the movement about the Holy Spirit. It seemed that not every believer of Jesus initially received the Holy Spirit. Nonetheless, to be filled with the Holy Spirit was an important part of being a Christ follower. It is so important that in Acts 19:2, Paul specifically asked, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” There answer is, of course, no, to which Paul basically says, we need to fix that! This morning, I want to pose the same question to each of you. “Have you received the Holy Spirit?”
For the earlier church it was paramount that every believer received a tangible filling of the Holy Spirit. As we have seen there was no exact formula for how and when a believer received the Holy Spirit. I believe there Scripture talks about several unique experiences of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. The two that I want to address this morning are mentioned in Acts 19 and further expanded on Paul’s letter back to the Ephesians after he has departed from them. The first experience of the Holy Spirit is a sealing. The second experience of the Holy Spirit is a filling.

#1. The first experience of the Spirit is to be sealed.
Most of us have been taught that we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit when we are baptized, saved and born again. In this we have been taught correctly. My question has always been, what did it really mean to receive the Holy Spirit when I gave my life to Christ? When we are saved from our sins into the eternally loving arms of God, we are marked and sealed by the Holy Spirit. In Ephesians 1:13, Paul explains this initial work of the Holy Spirit, “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.”
A seal in biblical times was a mark that signified legal protection. To have the seal of the Roman Emperor was to be a Roman citizen and be under the protection of Rome. In the same way, to have the seal of the Holy Spirit means that we are citizens of heaven and protected by God. Therefore, as we confess our sins and receive Christ into our hearts, the Holy Spirit enters into us and claims us as God’s own. The initial sealing and marking of the Spirit gives us an assurance of salvation. It is the initial heartwarming experience that testifies to our spirit that we are indeed God’s child. When we are marked by the Holy Spirit, we are set apart from the rest of the world. We are special. We are forever God’s. We become a new creation.
I spent some time with Josh, Joe and Austin last week before their baptism talking about the importance of their decisions to be baptized. They all understood that they were publically declaring their decision to trust Jesus for their eternal salvation. We also talked about how we encounter the Holy Spirit when we are baptized. All of them were wearing new dress clothes and ties. I explained to them that one of the reasons we wear new clothes when we are baptized is because they represent the new clothes God gives us in baptism. We proceed to talk about how the Holy Spirit gives us new clothes that mark us as a new creation and as Christ followers. The spiritual clothes we receive from the Holy Spirit are like a sports jersey that allows everyone to know what team the player is on. The initial work of the Holy Spirit is to mark us with new clothes and to let the world know that we are playing for God’s team.

#2. The second and ongoing experience of the Spirit is to be filled.
The mark of the Spirit really is the starting point for the Christian life. Unfortunately, for many Christians their experience of the Spirit stops after they have been marked and sealed. They give their lives to Christ, get saved and are born again and that’s it. Sure they have security in their eternal salvation and even demonstrate the occasional evidence of the Spirit in their lives. The problem is that they get a glimpse of the abundant life but they cannot sustain it in their lives because they haven’t been filled with the Spirit. If Paul were to encounter these Christians today, he would ask them the same question that he asked the Ephesians: “Have you received the Holy Spirit?” In asking this, he wouldn’t be questioning their salvation or whether they had been born again. Instead, he would be asking, Have you been filled with the Holy Spirit? Have you received the power of the Spirit?
Paul asks this question, because he wants people to discover the life that God has for them. In Ephesians 5:1 Paul desires that believers, “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Paul suggests the way to do this in verse 18: “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. Paul understands that if we are going to discover abundant life and become like God, then we must be filled with the Holy Spirit.
We must be filled with the Holy Spirit, because it is the power of God. The Holy Spirit is the wind and the energy of behind the Christian life. In the Greek the word for power is dunamis. It is where we get the words, dynamite and dynamic. The power of God is something explosive and active. As believers, the second and really ongoing experience of the Spirit is to be filled with the power of God. The primary reason we are filled with the power of the Spirit is to fulfill God’s purpose in our lives.
That purpose is stated in Ephesians 5:1, live a life like God. God desires us for to live without immorality and to live with the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. The problem is we cannot live into these heavenly riches in our own strength; we need the power of the Spirit. Yet, we are not called into the fruit of the Spirit for simply our own benefit. Instead, as we live the Spirit-filled live, we are called to fulfill the purposes of God in our lives.
This means to proclaim the Good News we are experience and share it with others. After all, we are not filled with the Spirit for simply our own benefit. We are ultimately filled with the power of God for the purpose of bring the Kingdom of God into the earth. Therefore, the filling of the Spirit is evidenced in the fruit of the Spirit not only in our lives but in the lives of the people around us, in our church community, in our wider community. If we are living through the power of the Spirit, we have the ability to impact regions and entire states for the Kingdom of God. Yet, none of this is possible without the filling of the Holy Spirit.

SPIRIT-FILLED
Hopefully, we understand the importance of being filled with the Spirit and what the results look like when we live Spirit-filled lives. In my mind, that leaves a couple of unanswered questions about being filled with the Spirit. How and will I know for sure I’ve been filled? First, in the book of Acts the typically means of filling was to have hands laid and to be prayed for. In Acts 19, Paul lays hands and asks the Holy Spirit to fill the believers. For us today, it would mean a person filled with Spirit laying hands and praying for another person to be filled with the Spirit. We do need to recognize that the stories in Acts do not dictate a strict formula but rather show examples of how people are filled with the Spirit. Therefore, God can fill a person with the Spirit in any way he desires.
Now going back to Acts, the filling of the Spirit was typically followed with the new Spirit-filled believer to speak in tongues and prophesy. I realize that this is outside of our church experience, but I do believe these evidences of the Spirit are still applicable today. In fact, I have had church experiences where these specific signs were evidenced. Without opening that entire can of worms, I will say that there are other ways to know if you have been filled with the Holy Spirit.
In short, when we are initially filled with the Holy Spirit, there will be a tangible experience that will confirm it. It is hard to limit what this confirmation will look and feel like. Like Wesley, you might experience a warming of the heart. Or you might have a spontaneous, unprompted release of emotions: crying, rejoicing. You might hear an internal voice of approval or see spiritual pictures. It is important to note that the confirmation may not be immediate. There possibilities are truly endless, but I believe God wants us to know that we have been filled with the power of the Spirit so that we can learn to live in the power of the Spirit.

CONCLUSION – ARE YOU FILLED?
I realize that I may have created more questions than provided answers this morning. I hope that is the case, because the Spirit-filled life is a life full of unexpected experienced in the divine. My desire is to create a hunger in you for more of God and more of the Holy Spirit. I know each person here longs for more out of life. The key to discovering that it to be filled and continually filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. I want to end this morning with an invitation to receive the Holy Spirit. I want to pray for two groups of people this morning.

The first group is the group that needs to be sealed with the Spirit. If you haven’t been born again, that is born of the Spirit, then I want to give you the opportunity to be marked and sealed by the Holy Spirit. Let’s pray for that group and then I’ll address the second group.

The second group is the group that desires to be filled with Spirit. I want to lay hands on people and pray for a filling of the Spirit. During the last hymn, you will be invited to come forward and receive pray to be filled with the Spirit.