Sermon Video: Let the rich weep and wail - James 5:1-6

There are few topics as well represented, and at the same time, as unwelcome (to even God's people) in the Bible as that of wealth and poverty.  The Bible is replete with warnings about the dangers of wealth and its misuses, and also has ample demands upon the people of God to treat the poor with dignity and justice.  The words of James about wealth thus echo the prophets of old and the words of Jesus in the Gospels.  James points out four abuses of wealth that constituted guilt on the part of the rich: (1) hoarding wealth and leaving it unproductive or underutilized, (2) treating those working for them unjustly, (3) wasting resources in displays of vain luxury, (4) and utilizing the power that goes hand in glove with wealth to rig the system in their favor and deny justice to others.  All four of these abuses were rampant in the 1st Century Roman world, and they remain equally prevalent in our world today.  Wealth remains a grave temptation for abuse for those who have it, and the desire for and seeking after wealth by those who don't have it remains a major source of the sins of greed, envy, and pride, not to mention neglected and forgotten family responsibilities.
The Church has failed, in this area more than most, to live up to Jesus' expectation that worldly treasures would not be its focus, that worldly power and fame would not ensnare his people.  We need look no further than the popularity of the Prosperity Gospel to see the dangerous temptation of these things upon the Church.
It is long since past-due that Christ's followers reject wealth (fame and power as well) as a criteria for leadership, in our own affairs and in the politics we participate in.  That someone is wealthy is a horrible reason to entrust him/her with leadership, and yet such things continue with disastrous results.  We need to start taking the teachings of Jesus Christ on this issue seriously; it is not the rich who will inherit the earth, but the meek.

To watch the video, click on the link below:

Sermon Video: Who knows what tomorrow may bring? - James 4:13-17

We all make plans for the future, some of us more wisely than others, some with more efforts than others, but we all make plans, we have to.  We live moment by moment, the future will always be unknown to all of humanity, we may think we know what tomorrow will bring, but in the end it may be far better, or far worse, than we anticipate; and, in the end, we may not be there to see it.  How then do we plan, how do we live know when the future is so uncertain?  The answer is simple.  We recognize and acknowledge that God knows the future, that God deserves our gratitude as our Creator, and our allegiance as our Lord, and we live our lives humbly in service to the kingdom of God.  When we live now as we ought, our plans for the future will likewise reflect the purpose of God in this world: the development of the fruit of the Spirit in our own lives, and the spread of the Gospel's message of God's love and reconciling forgiveness awaiting our repentance.  What we cannot allow ourselves to do is live in pride, cultivating a facade of independence, for this is a dead-end, our only hope for meaning and purpose in life is to acknowledge God's rule over it.

To watch the video, click on the link below:

Why the history of the Bible should matter to you.

In two weeks I will finish teaching my seminar on the history of the Bible for the sixth time in the past three years.  I am thankful for each chance that I have had to share the history of how the modern English Bible came to be, from its original Greek and Hebrew autographs to our text today.  An article on today's local newspaper (a syndicated column in the religion page) illustrated to me once again the need for an accurate understanding of the Bible based in historical fact not fantasy.  The two columnists were asked to answer the question, "Why are there so many arguments about what's in the Bible?"  An excellent question, unfortunately this particular question was put to two men who don't actually believe in the Bible, a dubious start to an answer.  The first of the two is an Elder in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints; a Mormon.  Mormons believe that the canon of scripture remains open, that new revelation continues to occur.  The Elder, after referencing "errors" in the modern text, offers up the solution of instead consulting the new revelation of the Book of Mormon (among other new texts).  In the end, a non-Christian Mormon perspective advocates for turning away from the Bible instead of answering the question at hand; not overly helpful.
The second columnist is a pastor of a congregation, but in his attack on the Biblical text, which I will quote shortly, he makes error after error of outright historical falsehoods, all while positing that the Biblical text today is more/less worthless for anything other than being a "moral compass".  The pastor, whose name I will omit so as to not make this personal, claimed that the Bible "has been tweaked, touched up, added to and deleted from to fit the viewpoints of the ruling class as well as serve the personal interest of religious authorities."  There's just one problem with this oft-repeated conspiracy theory, it has no basis in history.  Manuscripts of the Bible have been uncovered, lost in the Egyptian desert since the 2nd and 3rd century, that confirm the accuracy of the hand copied manuscripts (in their thousands, over 5,000 total copies have survived) that supposedly went through this revision.  Why have there been zero new readings found in the recently uncovered manuscripts, does he really believe that the Church changed these copies as well?  And how would they have done so, when there were copies of the text being made all over the Mediterranean world by countless copyists?  Historical fantasy of conspiracies does not make them real.
The line that really made me understand that this particular pastor's education has been sorely lacking in the history of the Bible was this, "It is important to remember, when we read the Bible today we are reading a translation of a translation of a translation in a language that didn't exist when the original Bible was written."  He is absolutely right that English didn't exist when the Bible was written in Greek and Hebrew.  The rest of the sentence is so laughably inaccurate as to be akin to claiming the moon landing was faked.  The modern English Bible (and the not-so-modern KJV as well) is a direct translation from the original Greek and Hebrew with no intermediary languages involved.  The KJV is based upon Erasmus' 16th century printed Greek text, the modern translations (NIV, NASB, ESV, etc.) are all based upon the Nestle-Aland and United Bible Society eclectic text which takes into consideration all of the over 5,000 surviving Greek manuscripts to determine the most accurate original reading.  If you don't understand a simple fact such as how the Bible was translated from its original languages into English, how can I take seriously anything else you say?  The line following that whopper was this, "Scholars agree there are more than 20,000 inconsistencies in the Bible as the result of different people with different viewpoints."  Another ludicrous figure pulled out of a hat to fit the pre-supposition that the Bible is a product of men not God.
When I looked up the columnist's church on the internet, I was not surprised to find that it is a Universalist Church built upon "Spiritual Principles"; Jesus is nowhere to be found on their website, evidently not a part of the equation.
Why does it matter that pastors and the laity know the history of the Bible?  If the faith of the Apostles, and the actual teaching of Christ matter to you, then so does the history of the Word of God.  The world has plenty of people willing to reject the Bible and search for answers elsewhere, we have nothing to fear from the truth, the history of the Bible is plain and clear for all to see, only ignorance.

Sermon Video: There is only one Judge - James 4:11-12

We are all faced with opportunities, usually on a daily basis, to be judgmental of others, to act as judge and jury regarding the actions of those we know and those we only know of because they are public figures.  American society is infected with this attitude, and the Church is not immune to it.  We judge fellow Christians, making assumptions about motives, assuming the worst, and sadly even taking enjoyment in criticizing those who are supposed to be our brothers and sisters in Christ.  There is, however, only one Lawgiver, and only one Judge.  It is God's right, and God's alone, to sit in judgment, for only God is himself holy and not likewise a lawbreaker.  How can we judge others for breaking the Law of God when we ourselves have broken it?  How can we judge others when we, unlike God, cannot save them from their sins?
It is common, and it is easy, to judge others; social media only makes it more so.  As a Christian community, we need to walk away from this temptation.  We need to reject the cruel and destructive politics that passes for leadership, and we need to ignore the temptation to allow what we say (or type or text) to usurp the role of God by judging others.

To watch the video, click on the link below:

Sermon Video - Submit Yourself to God: James 4:7-10

There is much that humanity doesn't, by nature, like about the idea of submitting to God.  Americans, in particular, confuse their love of political freedom with their need for spiritual submission to God, resulting in a stubborn independence regarding the commands of God.  There is, however, no way to approach God that does not include submission to his will.
What does it mean to submit to God?  James explains several things that this involves: (1) Resisting the devil, we can't hardly submit to God and remain friends with his enemies at the same time.  (2)  Repentance from sin, (3) Removal of the double-mindedness that tries to keep our options open and entertains temptations, and (4) a serious attitude toward our sin that grieves for them as God does.  There are other aspects of submitting to the will of God, and James will discuss one of them in vs. 13-16, but these are enough to show us the difficulty and the necessity of the task.
In the end, submitting to God is an act of humility, one that cannot be accomplished by the proud, and another reminder why God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

To watch the video, click on the link below: