Manslick Road church of Christ » 2007 » March
The little book of James is one of my favorites. It emphasizes application of Bible principles and is therefore among the most practical books in all Scripture.
Take a few minutes and read it again. Notice these things that James groups together. It is foolish to try to disconnect them.
- Hardships and beneficial experiences (Jas. 1:2-4 ).
- Faith and prayer (Jas. 1:5-8 ).
- One’s sin and his willingness to sin (Jas. 1:13-15 ).
- Hearing and doing God’s will (Jas. 1:22-25 ).
- Religion and daily living (Jas. 1:26-27 ).
- “Big sins” and “little sins” (Jas. 2:9-11 ).
- Faith and works (Jas. 2:14-26 ).
- Wisdom and good behavior (Jas. 3:13-18 ).
- Quarreling and selfishness (Jas. 4:1-3 ).
- Friendship with the world and enmity toward God (Jas. 4:4 ).
- Present humility and future exaltation (Jas. 4:6-10 ).
- Your plans and God’s will (Jas. 4:13-16 ).
- Patience and strength (Jas. 5:8 ).
- Prayer and righteousness (Jas. 5:16 ).
- Apostasy and death (Jas. 5:19-20 ).
“For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel” (Ezra 7:10 ).
Jeshua and Zerubbabel led the initial group of Babylonian captives back to Jerusalem. With the help of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, they rebuilt the temple. About eighty years later, King Artaxerxes authorized a second group to return under Ezra. His mission was to teach God’s law. Artaxerxes ordered the provincial rulers in Palestine to provide Ezra whatever he needed. The King himself donated funds to pay for operating expenses at the temple (Ezra 7).
The Bible emphasizes that Artaxerxes granted Ezra’s requests because “the hand of the Lord was upon him” (Ezra 7:6, 9, 28 ). And why was God’s hand so favorable toward this priest? Because, as our text explains, he had set his heart on God. That involved three things.
First, Ezra set his heart to study God’s law. He was not presumptuous about God’s will. It is not uncommon for people to just assume that God views things the way they do. Some think they have an intuitive knowledge of right and wrong implanted by God. But Jeremiah said, “I know, O Lord, that a man’s way is not in himself, nor is it in man who walks to direct his steps” (Jer. 10:23 ).
God’s thoughts are not the same as ours (Is. 55:8-9 ). If we want to know His will, we must listen to His word. The blessed man is the one whose “delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night” (Ps. 1:2 ).
Second, Ezra set his heart to practice God’s law. It does little good to know God’s will if we do not live it. James likened that to looking in a mirror, then ignoring the needed changes (Jas. 1:23-24 ). “But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does” (Jas. 1:25 ). Later he added, “To one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin” (Jas. 4:17 ).
Third, Ezra set his heart to teach God’s law. That was part of his priestly function (Dt. 33:8-11 ). But it was more: it was another expression of his love for God. Just as Ezra desired for himself the blessings that come from a godly life, he wanted that for others as well.
People with Ezra’s heart care about little children, whose hearts must be molded. They are concerned about their peers, who may have had little opportunity to hear God’s law. And they are aware that folks who know tend to forget when they are not reminded.
Ezra’s heart was set on the Lord. On what is your heart set?
The NFL made lots of news last month with Super Bowl XLI. I am not talking about the fact that it was the first one played by teams with African American head coaches, nor that it was the first one played in rain. I am referring to the league’s crackdown on church Super Bowl parties.
It all began when someone in the NFL office spotted a web site promoting a Super Bowl gathering at Fall Creek Baptist Church in Indianapolis. The league informed the church that it could not use a wall projector to show the game, citing copyright laws. (Using the expression Super Bowl in advertising and charging for admission or refreshments is also prohibited.) Churches across the country scurried to make last-minute adjustments to their plans. Some altered arrangements to comply with the law, others simply canceled their parties.
At least one church reacted much differently. The following excerpt is from Yahoo! News, posted February 2.
Second Baptist Church, located 3705 Kessler Blvd. North Drive, [Indianapolis], will proceed with its plans to show the game Sunday —using a rear projection TV screen—following an afternoon service, an assistant to the church’s senior pastor told 6News.
“The NFL implied that it has a problem with the venue and medium that local churches conduct ministry,” the senior pastor, the Rev. David Greene, said in a press release. “We want to save souls by any means necessary. Football, traditional service, street ministry—it doesn’t matter.
“All we want to do is increase fellowship with believers and demonstrate true love to people that don’t know Christ. . . .
“I believe that God’s people have to take a stand,” Greene said in the letter. “If the church continues to compromise with the world, it will soon have no influence on the world that God has instructed us to reach in His Great Commission as directed in St. Matthew 28:18-20 .”
A stand against compromise with the world—by having a church Super Bowl party?! Get this straight. Watching football instead of worshiping isn’t worldly. Making eating and entertainment a church function, in direction opposition to 1 Corinthians 11 , isn’t worldly. Redefining fellowship (a word that in the Bible refers to sharing in Christ) to mean food and fun isn’t worldly. Ignoring divine and civil law isn’t worldly. No, compromise with the world doesn’t occur until you allow the NFL to say how its programming can be used.
Can reasoning be any more upside down? “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil; who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness” (Is. 5:20 ).
Less than a year after its inception, Paul wrote a letter to the church at Thessalonica. He began, “We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers; constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ . . .” (1 Th. 1:2-3 ).
Faith, hope, and love are a familiar trio. Here they are coupled with work, labor, and steadfastness. They are motivators. Faith in the Lord prompted the Thessalonians to work. Their love—for the Lord, for truth, for lost souls, for one another, etc.—produced labor (a more potent word than work; it suggests intense effort). Their hope in Christ made them steadfast, enduring persecution, disappointments, even internal problems that might arise.
We rightfully preach about the need to obey God. Obligations such as giving, assembling regularly, visiting the sick, and teaching the lost must be stressed. We cannot ignore these things and please God. Nevertheless, after all those sermons are preached, some still do not comply. Why not? In the final analysis, they do not want to.
If you combined all the shame, embarrassment, and browbeating you could possibly heap on someone, along with a heavy dose of motivational speeches and presentations by “experts,” the result would still not begin to compare with the moving power of genuine and growing faith, hope, and love.
I will still preach on what we ought to do. I will occasionally try to shame laggards into action. I will give a “can do” lesson once in a while. But what we need most is greater faith, greater hope, and greater love. Think about it.