Evidence of Wholeness

[podcast]http://www.revkwon.com/podcast/evidence_of_wholeness.mp3[/podcast] Last week I concluded with a statement based on James 1:18. “He chose to give us birth?through the word of truth,?that we might be a kind of firstfruits?of all he created.” (James 1:18) So verse 18 tells us that the way God causes the new birth is by the word of God, the gospel. The Holy Spirit carries the word into our dead hearts and causes us to see the truth of Christ as we never have. And we are given life through the word of truth, the word of God, the gospel. If God willed you to this point in your life. Think about how much He is willing you to transform your life and the lives around you through your faith combined by His actions blessing what you do. I believe that we will be made whole in a way that the brokenness of sin cannot take away. I believe the trials we faced, that we’re facing, and will face will make us bolder, stronger, wiser, and more faithful in Jesus’ name. Today I want to lay out to all of you what some of the evidences are for our spiritual wholeness, that is to say the type of people and persons we are to become as we embody the creation God set into motion when His son, Jesus, redeemed our lives. Moreover, I want to discuss how we live into the evidences of our spiritual wholeness if we are not living with the spiritual wholeness that we know Jesus lived and we should be living. Let’s open to James 1:19 and we’re going to read through verse 27.

19?My dear brothers and sisters,?take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak?and slow to become angry,?20?because human anger?does not produce the righteousness that God desires.?21?Therefore, get rid of?all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you,?which can save you. 22?Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.23?Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror?24?and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.?25?But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom,?and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do. 26?Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues?deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless.?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. (James 1:19-27)

Let’s start this at verse 21. “…get rid of?all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you…” This is the statement I want all of us to focus on today. The “word” didn’t just come and go. It was “planted.” It took root and is a part of us. This is amazing. My prayer for us all is that God causes His truth to sink and grip you in. You want to get rid of moral filth because there is good news that is planted and growing within you. Moreover, I want you to see this. Not only are you going to get rid of the “moral filth” you’re “humbly accepting” that “planted word.” Other translations of the Bible say, “receive with meekness…” That is to say that you accept the good news knowing exactly where you stand without it. In other words, do not take the good news growing within you for granted. It is not like that extra slice of pizza on your waistline. It’s not like indoor plumbing. No. the good news that is growing you deserves to be received by you with far greater worth than for it to be sharing your body, mind, and soul with what James calls moral filth. As a result, we need to get rid of the moral filth in our lives. That moral filth doesn’t come from everybody else. I want this to be clear because I think sometimes we blame our sins and shortcomings on other people and especially the people around us who fall short of living into the human being God created them to be. Rather, when James is talking about getting rid of the moral filth in our lives, he is talking about how we process things in our lives that we do not necessarily welcome, especially in situations that swing our beliefs. Here’s what I’m talking about, when people disagree, criticize, dismiss you, don’t you find yourself responding in a way that discredits yourself as a Christ-follower? I know I fail in this way a lot of times. I’m not going to lie, I fall short, but this is the type of thing we need to get rid of in our lives. So, how exactly do we get rid of moral filth in our lives? Let’s go back up to verse 19 and 20. “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak?and slow to become angry,?because human anger?does not produce the righteousness that God desires.” (James 1:19-20) I want to put this in a way that’s understandable to everybody because it’s really a three step process in getting rid of moral filth in our lives.

1. Lead with your ears

1. Follow up with your tongue

1. Let anger straggle along in the rear

One of the more pronounced and really concerning ways Christ communities are not living in light of their identity and their destiny as the “firstfruits of God’s salvation” (v18) is when they are struggling with speaking and listening and anger. James wants them to know this anger, especially as it is working itself out in the mouths of angry believers is not pleasing to God because it doesn’t produce the righteousness of God. It is moral filth—a denial of how your heart and lusts and how enslaved you are to your flesh. If your first reaction is to be angry and then spew that poison at somebody or something whether it is violent or passively aggressive, you’re allowing moral filth strangle the good news that is planted in you. Not only are you taking the word of God for granted, but you are strangling it. James, I believe was thinking about the parable of the seed that Jesus spoke of. The story where a seed was planted and as it started to grow, it was choked out by the thorn bushes. Your words of anger, or outbursts of anger are choking out the faith you are trying to live into as God’s firstfruits. Rather, we need to lead with our ears, just listen to what’s going on that makes you angry and talk that anger down, and everything else just straggle along in the back somewhere. This is the prescription to removing moral filth. Let’s continue to verse 22. “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” I want you to see here. Don’t just hear what I’m saying. I know every week a lot of you are coming here and probably can recite verbatim what I’m saying, what we’re reading in the Bible together. But that’s not enough. We have to actually do it. Every day, I’m doing some quiet time by myself while I commute to work. I’m reading the Bible, I’m listening to other pastors, I’m praying, I’m reflecting on the mercies of God. Sometimes, like two or three times a week, I’m so moved by the word of God, that I share it as a quiet time posting. But on those days, I write quiet time I try to go out of my way to do what I read in the Bible. I’m not just listening to what the Bible has inside of it. I’m doing what it says I should be doing. I’m going to get into that some more in a bit, but I want you to think about this. It’s embarrassing that most Christ followers cannot remember what they heard on the pulpit on Sundays, but more embarrassing that they can’t simply do what the Bible told them to do in the verse or three that they read just that morning. James wants us to be better than the Pharisees. James doesn’t just want you to just know things, he wants you to apply it to your life. When you apply it, you’re humbly and faithfully doing what pleases God—which is embracing Christ as the savior of your life that gives you a new purpose in life. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! People who hear and don’t act are like people who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are or what they look like. Don’t forget and throw out everything you’ve read or heard at church. It doesn’t please God. Rather, you should take it and apply it. That means, that when I’m telling you because the word of God that we read together says that our best lives have been set aside for us and that the trials we face are getting us there, it means you don’t scream and kick in anger, it means you listen to what God is doing and you follow up on that trial and live out the good news in your life. You see where the perfection of God is and chase after it. This is where I’m going to wrap up. Last week I told you that this is now our time to take charge. I said more than ever, our group has more than enough power and influence here at this church to really make a change and impact and all you have to do is take action upon it. I said, you need to tell me, tell us, and we have the resources, like we’ve never had before to do something about it. We don’t have to talk about it, we don’t need game, we can back it up. Isn’t it what James is saying verse 26; religion is worthless if it is just smack talk? James isn’t talking about religion as in institutionalized church. James is talking about your faith. Your faith is worthless if you just talk about. You need to do something about it and with it. If you believe that God saved you through the blood of Jesus Christ, His one and only son, you have to believe God did so for a reason. He has a purpose in saving you. His purpose in you can never be fulfilled if you don’t do anything about it. God is constantly doing things in your life, but we’re not. How is it that we’re not as vested in our own lives when God is doing things consistently and constantly within us and around us? I want to go to verse 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.” (James 1:27) I want you to change that word, “religion” and put in the word, “faith.” Faith that God accepts as pure and faultless is to do something for people who can’t do for themselves. Isn’t that just love? Yes it is. The evidence of your spiritual wholeness is apparent when you love people who can’t. They can’t help themselves from being self-sabotaging, from annoying you, from bringing you down, from messing up situations. You need to love those people, not just by giving them lip service but by investing in them with your actions. You look after the orphans (people who don’t have anybody to guide them), you look after the widows (people who have no support network or can fend for themselves), you do that despite the anger they stir up in you. You get rid of that filth and you don’t wrong them with your tongue lashing or your mouth or your anger, you don’t internalize—you listen to what’s going on and follow up with them, and let that anger of yours straggle in the back, stumbling along in the dust trail you’re leaving behind. That’s the evidence James is talking about when speaking of your spiritual wholeness. This is why Jesus redeems you and me. This is why we are born again. This is what we are called to do—to live in love when it behooves us to do so. Let’s pray.