Sermon Video: Be Slow to Anger - James 1:19-21

How much better would our world be if everyone followed the advice of James that we ought to be, "quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry"?  Sadly, the opposite is often the case for many people as they are instead, slow to listen, quick to speak, and quick to become angry.  For the Christian, this path is not optional, as we are commanded to be disciples of Jesus Christ, ever growing toward Christ-likeness by learning to value other people enough to put our own impulses and desires aside.  When we make progress toward that goal we will be able to listen to other people, because we care about them, hold on to our tongue to avoid saying things we shouldn't, because we care about other people, and keep our anger in check, whatever its cause, because we care enough about other people that we aren't willing to hurt them to indulge our anger.
Anger is the key to the point that James is making about our attitude as Christians.  Anger simply does not lead to righteousness.  We are not the righteous judge that God is, nor do we have our anger under control, so that even our "righteous anger" at evil tends to run away with us.  It is better for us, as Christians, to not allow anger a place in our hearts, we're in far less danger of giving in to the temptation to sin without it.

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Sermon Video: The Nature of Temptation - James 1:13-18

From the very beginning, man has sought to assign blame to somebody else.  This isn't a tactic that we need to be taught, children figure it out on their own.  The problem is, when blame truly does reside with us, foisting it off elsewhere doesn't make things better.  Temptation is just such an item.  People try to blame society, argue about nature vs. nurture, even go with, "the devil made me do it", all in a vain attempt to shift the blame for our moral failings elsewhere.  Unfortunately for us, temptation comes from within us.  External factors matter, as does parenting and a whole host of related positive and negative factors that affect a person's ability to resist temptation, but the origin of temptation is always from within.  James makes it clear that the villain that is dragging us away toward sin is our own evil desires.  The reason that Jesus successfully resisted temptation, from the devil himself, was his complete lack of wickedness in his heart.  God is all-sufficient, in himself, and thus beyond temptation, we on the other hand, act all the time out of our real or perceived lack, thus our temptation to do evil.  Correctly diagnosing the cause of temptation is an important step, it gives us hope that we can have victory over our temptation, by the power of the Holy Spirit, for we don't have to change the world to remove external temptations, we need only let God repair our damages hearts to remove them internally.

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Sermon Video: Pride in Humble Circumstances - James 1:9-12

Continuing his discussion on perseverance, James brings the factors of wealth and poverty into the discussion by saying that the poor believer ought to take pride in his "high position" and the rich believer ought to take pride in his "low position".  What makes poverty "high" and wealth "low"?  We know that Jesus warned repeatedly about the dangers of wealth as a hindrance to entrance into the kingdom of God, so that can account for riches being called low, but what elevates poverty?  The simple truth of the fallen nature of humanity is that we turn toward God more readily when we feel a greater dependence upon him for our survival.  The more material things one has, the less likely he/she is to recognize the need for God in his/her life.  There are exceptions, of course, but generally this principle holds true.  The Church has always had far more poor people in it than rich people (of course the world contains far more poor people than rich, but they also believe at a higher rate than the rich do).  If dependence upon God for daily needs leads to acceptance of the Gospel's call for repentance, it is certainly something worth taking pride in.
Those Christians who happen to be rich, while a minority they do exist, can take pride in knowing that their wealth had absolutely nothing to do with their salvation.  They can to God by grace, just like the poorest among us, and they need God just as much.
In the end, rich or poor, high or low, we all need to persevere in our faith.  Whatever the circumstances we must endure, however hard the test, by faith we must stand firm in our commitment to God.  When we do stand, when our faith passes the test, we know that one day we will receive a reward from God.

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Pastoral ministry, Apologetics, and Optimism for the Church

One of the things that I sometimes do while working at my desk during the week is listen to Dr. James White's online program The Diving Line from Alpha and Omega Ministries.  These Youtube videos often deal with topics that interest me, in particular Biblical textual issues.  One of the things that I have noticed of late, is that Dr. White's perspective, as an apologist who spends a lot of his time debating, is as a result at times negative about the state of the Church today.  When you spend all of your time and effort combating error and heresy within the Church, and fending off assault from those who are supposed to be on your side, as well as those who are not, it is no wonder that Dr. White doesn't get the chance to see the positive things that are happening in the Church that I have the good fortune of witnesses on a regular basis as I go about pastoral ministry here in my little corner of the world.
It may be that there is theological rot in many of the seminaries, some of which have wandered away from Orthodoxy, but here on the local level, at least in my own experience working with the 50+ churches that we've come into contact with through Mustard Seed Missions, I've only worked with men and women who are preaching, teaching, and living the same Gospel message as our ancestors in the faith.  If certain denominations are heading into danger, and that's something an apologist like Dr. White should be focusing on, that same trend is not evident here on the local level.  Working here in Venango County these past four and a half years, has given me a tremendous optimism about the work that God is doing, an optimism that stems from our ecumenical work for the poor through Mustard Seed Missions, as well as the food pantries, the cross walk, the 40 Days of Prayer, and all the other ways in which God's people here in this place have been working hard for the kingdom of God.
Just today as I listened to yesterday's program while working on my PowerPoint for Sunday, James expressed some of his own frustration after spending the first 45 minutes talking about some of the struggles the Church is facing by those who are wandering from orthodoxy, he said, "And I know in my  mind, God is still on is throne, I'm only seeing a small portion of it.  We've seen all sorts of people brought out of error...I know all that, sometimes you just start getting tired."  After that, Dr. White commented that he takes a long ride on his bike to help clear his mind of the weight he feels on his shoulders when fighting day after day on these issues, a sentiment that I can wholeheartedly agree with (for me, it is running on our awesome running trails in the woods at Two Mile or Oil Creek State Park).
I know that a lot of you are worried about the future, about the future of our nation, and the future of God's Church here.  There are things worth worrying about, trends that need to be countered, battles that must be won.  When that fight ways heavy on your mind, the antidote that I have found may offer you solace.  Find your fellow Christians who have a passion for those in need, and get busy doing something to help in the name of Christ, and get together with your neighboring churches to worship together.  You're not in this alone, and neither is your church.  God has brought revival to this nation through his Church before, he can do it again.  Instead of waiting around for that to happen, get started on kingdom work today, who knows, you may end up being a part of how God turns that blessing of revival into a reality.

{Update 11/21  The James White that I used to listen to while working no longer has the same ministry.  In the past 3-4 years he has followed Eric Metaxas down the road of political 'sky is falling' conspiracy theory laden hysteria.  I no longer recommend listening to his messages with the exception of the older material related to textual criticism}

Sermon Video: The Wisdom of Perseverance - James 1:1-8

The letter of James, written by the half-brother of Jesus by that name, contains a variety of advice/commands regarding practical morality for the disciples of Jesus.  It was written to Jewish Christians in the first century, but remains easily applicable to the Church today because of its focus on how Christians should live.  The first moral lesson from James involves perseverance.  He starts the ball rolling by telling us that we should consider our various trials and tribulations in life to be "pure joy", a tough pill to swallow until you read his rationale, because of their ability to help us cultivate the character quality of perseverance.  Once we have been tested by life, either by the wickedness down to us by other people, or simply by difficult life circumstances, we will realize that our faith is capable, thanks be to God, of withstanding such things.  We can stand in the midst of the storm and hold on to our faith as we continue to work toward reaching maturity as disciples.  Along with the need to develop perseverance, James reminds us that God is willing to give wisdom to those who ask it of him as long as they don't doubt.  Biblical wisdom is the ability to know the righteous path and the willingness to choose it, something we will certainly have need of in our quest to persevere despite the difficulties of life.  It isn't doubt in ourselves that James warns will derail us, nor doubt in the seemingly insurmountable obstacles we may face, but doubt in the goodness, holiness, or love of God.  As long as we maintain our trust that God is good, that his way is holy, and that his love for us is forever, we will be able to receive from God the wisdom that we need to continue to live righteously in this world, no matter what circumstances we face, even when they are "trials of many kinds."

To watch the video, click on the link below: