People pursue happiness in all the wrong places and in all the wrong ways. The results are:

• People never find lasting happiness
• People hurt themselves and others in the pursuit of happiness
• People get sadder rather than happier
• People give up the pursuit/hope.

Does that ring true for you? It certainly does for me. In my teens and early twenties I pursued happiness in all the wrong places and in all the wrong ways. I never found lasting happiness, I hurt myself and others in the process, I got sadder rather than happier, and I almost gave up hope of ever finding happiness.

Thankfully, God, in his great mercy and love, saved me from this and turned me to himself and I have found the greatest happiness in God, even in the midst of some painful events and trying times. I thought about telling you more of my story to illustrate, but let’s leave that for another time and let God tell you his story in Proverbs 3:13-20. His narrative of the emotional benefits of Wisdom (who is Christ), is far more persuasive than mine. Let’s discover God’s way to true and lasting happiness.

For more, see my sermon notes.  Scroll down a bit further and you’ll find a one-page sermon summary infographic.

Sermon Notes

Infographic

On this Palm Sunday, as we approach Easter, do you sometimes feel a distance and detachment from Christ’s death and resurrection?

It was so long ago, it’s distant history. “How,” you ask, “can it have any impact on the present?” It was 2000 years ago, so what possible connection can that have with April 2020? How are the dusty streets of Jerusalem relevant in hi-tech Grand Rapids? Why is the single death of Christ more important than all the Coronavirus deaths put together?

Or, maybe the disconnect is more personal. It’s not just the question of how such distant history can have any connection with the present. It’s how does another person’s life, death, and resurrection connect with me? I read the biography of Christ, but how is that relevant to my own biography? In the age of TikTok and lockdowns, how does a naked, bloodied, and bruised body, hanging on a wooden cross outside Jerusalem, have any bearing on my life?

Do you sometimes feel that disconnect? Do you identify with this distance and detachment from Christ’s death and resurrection?

The Apostle Paul saw the Colossians suffer with this problem too and addressed it in Colossians 2:11-12. Let’s use these words to connect the past with the present, history with today, and Christ’s life, death, and resurrection with yours.

Whether the gap is six feet, six miles, or 2000 years, I want to close that gap to zero. I want to show you, child of God, that you died 2000 years ago. Indeed I want to show you that you were present on Palm Sunday.

For more, see my sermon notes.  Scroll down a bit further and you’ll find a one-page sermon summary infographic. Index to other sermon notes here.

Sermon Notes

Infographic

How come we can so quickly switch from praising God to cursing his image-bearers?

• We praise God in church then attack his image in the parking lot
• We praise God in our devotions then attack his image on Facebook
• We praise God at work but then attack his image in the coffee room

Do you feel the inconsistency?  Do you want your tongue to be more consistent, steady, and uniform? Do you want a one-faced rather than a two-faced tongue? Let’s see how James addresses this contradiction in James 3:9-12 and helps us to be more consistent

NATURE CANNOT PRODUCE OPPOSITES (11-12)

• A spring gushes salt or fresh water (11)
• A tree can only bear its own fruit (12a)
• A salt pond cannot supply fresh water (12b)

That’s a great nature lesson, but what’s it got to do with me?

OUR TONGUE SHOULD NOT PRODUCE OPPOSITES (9-10)

• Our tongues bless our Lord and Father (9a)
• Our tongues curse divine image-bearers (9b)
• These things should not be (10)

Do you see how the consistency of nature exposes the inconsistency of our tongues?

LIVING THE BIBLE

Use nature to teach your tongue to bless God and his image-bearers.

PRAYING THE BIBLE

We praise you our God and love to praise you. But we confess that we often curse your image-bearers and that we sometimes enjoy doing that too. Indeed, we can quickly switch from praising you to cursing your image-bearers

Your creation shows us that opposites cannot come out of the same thing. Therefore stop our tongues from producing the polar opposites of blessing God and cursing God’s image-bearers.

We thank you for Jesus Christ who died under your curse so that we can be blessed. Amen

Listen to this episode on Living the Bible podcast. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and Spotify. Index to Living Faith in Testing Times series.

Few of us realize the power of the tongue for good or for evil. We therefore don’t maximize the good our tongue can do. But we also minimize the damage our tongue can do

Our tongue has a major impact on our lives and on many lives. It is the influencer of the year in many ways. So how can we maximize the good and minimize the evil? Let’s see how James gets the balance right in James 3:3-8.

1. YOUR TINY TONGUE CAN ACCOMPLISH SO MUCH

• Big horses are controlled by tiny bridle (3)
• Big ships are controlled by tiny rudders (4)
• Big people are controlled by a tiny tongue (5a)

A tiny tongue can be a big blessing. It’s wonderful how much good a little piece of flesh can do. So, should we just let it loose?

2. YOUR TINY TONGUE CAN DESTROY SO MUCH

• A tiny tongue can start a big fire (5b-6)
• A tiny tongue is an untamable beast (7-8a)
• A tiny tongue can be like cyanide (8b)

A tiny tongue can cause terrible trauma. It’s horrendous how much damage a little piece of flesh can do isn’t it?

LIVING THE BIBLE

Recognize how much our tongue can accomplish/destroy and use it for good not evil.

PRAYING THE BIBLE

We praise you, Lord Jesus, for your perfect tongue. Your tongue has accomplished so much good and never done any harm.

In contrast, we confess that we have accomplished so little with our tongues and done so much damage. Our tongues have burned like a fire, savaged like a beast, and poisoned like cyanide. We ask you to forgive us for Jesus sake.

Going forward, help us to recognize how much terrible trauma we can inflict with our tongues and stop us. Help us to recognize how much good we can accomplish and help us to do it. Especially help us to speak your truth to recover and rebuild lost sinners. Amen.

Listen to this episode on Living the Bible podcast. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and Spotify. Index to Living Faith in Testing Times series.

Many want to be preachers and Bible teachers without realizing how dangerous a job it is. This desire often results from an over-confidence in their abilities and from viewing these positions through rose-tinted spectacles. What they don’t realize is that they are a danger to themselves and to others.

So should you become a preacher or teacher? If so, how can you do this safely. Let’s see what James has to say to us about this in James 3:1-2.

1. TEACHERS SHOULD HESITATE

“Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers” (1a).

• Many want to be teachers            

• Few should become teachers            

Why should I pause? Why so much caution?

2. TEACHERS WILL BE STRICTLY JUDGED

“For you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For we all stumble in many ways” (1b-2a).

• Teachers will be strictly judged   

• Teachers will fail frequently

Well, why would anyone become a teacher then?

3. TEACHERS CAN ACCELERATE HOLINESS (2)

“And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body” (2b).

• Tongue-control is possible    

• Tongue-control enables body-control   

Do you see how despite the negative, there’s also a major positive? Becoming a better Bible teacher will make you a holier person.

LIVING THE BIBLE

Consider preaching and teaching cautiously, prayerfully, humbly, and hopefully.

PRAYING THE BIBLE

Perfect Teacher, we confess that sometimes our motives for wanting to become a preacher or teacher of the Bible are sinful. We think too much of our own talents and abilities, and too little of the difficulties and dangers.

Thank you for your Word which checks our desire and reminds us how solemn and serious being a preacher or teacher of the Bible is. We who are teachers are so liable to make mistakes and you will judge us more strictly than others.

But improvements in our preaching and teaching should go hand-in-hand with improvements in our holiness, which we long for. Therefore help us to consider teaching cautiously, prayerfully, humbly, and hopefully.

We praise you, Lord Jesus, because you were the perfect teacher who never stumbled, the perfect man able to bridle your whole body. We embrace your perfection to cover our imperfection and use your perfection to motivate our own. Amen.

Listen to this episode on Living the Bible podcast. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and Spotify. Index to Living Faith in Testing Times series.

We believe in the wonderful truth of justification by faith without works. It’s the most important truth in the Christian religion. We are justified, declared right by God, through faith alone, apart from works.

But some have taken that wonderful glorious truth and twisted it by arguing that if works don’t matter when it comes to being saved by God, works don’t matter when it comes to our witness before others. If works don’t matter in the court of heaven, they don’t matter in the court of human opinion.

These professing Christians therefore do not pursue good works, do not commend good works, and may even condemn good works done by other Christians as legalistic or as undermining the Gospel. They may even glory in sinful works because this allegedly shows how free the Gospel is. The end result is that non-Christians who see all this have serious and understandable questions about such a faith that doesn’t produce any change in people’s lives.

James confronted this error in James 2:18-26. There, he argues that while works do not enter into our being declared righteous before God, works do enter into our being declared righteous by people. His argument is that invisible faith is proven, demonstrated, evidenced, and justified by visible good works. What’s his proof? He gives us three examples

Himself (18-19): James throws down a challenge to his opponent. “Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” He says, I can prove I have faith by the visible works you can see in my life. How can you prove you have faith without pointing to works? It’s like claiming you’re a baker, but you have no cakes to point to. Or, to use the example James uses, it’s like the devils claiming to have faith without having any good works they can point to.

Abraham (20-24): James then asks his opponent, “Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?” (20). He doesn’t wait for an answer, but goes straight to Abraham, the prototype believer, the one whom the Bible uses as a model for justification by faith alone.

Abraham was justified before God by faith alone. But his faith was justified and proven before people by his willing offering of Isaac as a sacrifice (21). That was what proved him righteous before people. That was what made him a useful believer. His active faith produced active works and so completed his faith before a watching world, perfected his witness before others. He was justified by faith alone before God, but not before people. All people have to go on is what they can see, and Abraham gave them something to see, with the result that he was justified before them by works.

Rahab (25-26): Rahab was justified by faith alone before God. But she proved her faith, she justified her faith before others, by the way she received and protected the Israelite spies. These works justified, or proved, her faith before others.

James sums it up like this: “For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead” (26). Or to put it more bluntly, “A faith without works is as useless as a body without a soul.”

LIVING THE BIBLE

If you claim that God has justified you by faith alone, prove it to others by good works. Prove your faith by your works.

PRAYING THE BIBLE

We praise you, just and holy God, that you justify us, you declare us righteous on the basis of Christ’s work alone. We thank you that we do not have to bring any good works before you because we have none that can please you. We praise you that being justified by faith we have peace with you through Jesus Christ our Lord.

But we want others to know this too and therefore you have called us to prove our faith by our works, to demonstrate we are declared righteous before you by being righteous before others.

We agree with your assessment that workless faith is utterly useless and dead. Deliver us therefore from such useless, lifeless, workless faith.

We praise you for Jesus Christ and for his perfect faith and his perfect works, that we present alone to you as the basis of our salvation. Help us to live as he lived so that others can see the one we believe in for our salvation. Amen.

Listen to this episode on Living the Bible podcast. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and Spotify. Index to Living Faith in Testing Times series.