WEBVTT 00:01:13.599 --> 00:01:18.560 Thanks for joining us, and thanks for downloading the FBC El Dorado Sermon Podcast. 00:01:18.799 --> 00:01:28.159 In today's sermon, we'll continue our study of the book of James as we look at the final three phases of the life cycle of authentic faith. 00:01:28.400 --> 00:01:31.680 The soil, the roots, and the crown. 00:01:32.640 --> 00:01:40.319 Today we are going to be continuing our study of James with our series Authentic Faith. 00:01:40.560 --> 00:01:45.599 So if you have your Bibles, you can go ahead and turn to James chapter 1. 00:01:45.760 --> 00:01:53.599 And in just a few minutes, we will read just a handful more verses from James chapter 1. 00:01:54.560 --> 00:02:00.319 Deep in the heart of Redwood National Park stands Hyperion. 00:02:00.799 --> 00:02:06.799 Hyperion is the world's tallest living tree. 00:02:07.599 --> 00:02:13.280 Hyperion's height is over three hundred and eighty feet. 00:02:13.919 --> 00:02:20.080 This tree then literally towers over its piers in the forest. 00:02:20.400 --> 00:02:21.360 Don't believe me? 00:02:21.520 --> 00:02:23.439 Check out this picture right here. 00:02:23.680 --> 00:02:26.800 That's Hyperion right there. 00:02:28.080 --> 00:02:32.639 Standing tall above all the other trees around it. 00:02:32.879 --> 00:02:41.439 And if you're wondering, uh its branches contain an estimated 550 million leaves. 00:02:42.080 --> 00:02:48.960 Imagine having to rake and bag 550 million leaves every single fall. 00:02:49.199 --> 00:02:54.479 It would be the job you wanted to outsource to hire out, but you couldn't outsource and hire it out. 00:02:54.560 --> 00:02:56.240 You just couldn't afford it. 00:02:56.879 --> 00:03:05.599 Now, to support a tree that reaches 380 feet high, uh it requires an immense uh foundation. 00:03:06.319 --> 00:03:13.120 Uh the trunk of Hyperion, then, it's actually almost 16 feet in circumference. 00:03:13.759 --> 00:03:31.039 To help you kind of put that into perspective, a trunk that is 16 feet in circumference and 380 feet high, if you took that trunk and sent it to the mill, you would have enough lumber to build 35 five-bedroom houses. 00:03:31.520 --> 00:03:34.560 That's how enormous that trunk is. 00:03:35.680 --> 00:03:40.400 And a tree that tall and that massive, listen, it doesn't just appear overnight. 00:03:40.719 --> 00:03:46.159 Doesn't grow up over the course of a few months or a year or a decade or even a century. 00:03:46.319 --> 00:03:58.960 Scientists estimate for Hyperion to have reached 380 feet with a trunk 16 feet in circumference, it took anywhere between seven and eight hundred years. 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:01.199 Think about that. 00:04:01.680 --> 00:04:14.800 Around the same time that King John signed the Magna Carta, around the same time that Marco Polo set out to go to China, a tiny seed was planted in the soil. 00:04:15.520 --> 00:04:23.759 That seed uh spread and got roots that went down into the soil and then it sprung up out of the soil, and now it has a crown. 00:04:23.920 --> 00:04:27.920 The very top of that tree is some 380 feet in the air. 00:04:28.319 --> 00:04:33.040 That's the life cycle of this tallest of tall trees. 00:04:33.839 --> 00:04:44.720 Last week we began our study of the book of James called Authentic Faith, and we defined authentic faith this way: authentic faith is actionable. 00:04:45.519 --> 00:04:51.279 It's why James says, I will show you my faith by my deeds. 00:04:52.639 --> 00:04:58.959 As we pointed out last week, a person doesn't just wake up one morning and possess authentic faith. 00:04:59.199 --> 00:05:07.759 Authentic faith, just like that towering tree, has a life cycle that starts with a seed. 00:05:08.560 --> 00:05:14.319 In last week's message, we focused on sowing that seed of authentic faith. 00:05:14.800 --> 00:05:20.399 And it begins when a person has an encounter with the resurrected Jesus. 00:05:20.800 --> 00:05:29.439 A person encounters the resurrected Jesus, and like James before us, we believe that Jesus is who he says that he is. 00:05:30.639 --> 00:05:34.319 For James, remember, he's the half-brother of Jesus. 00:05:34.720 --> 00:05:39.439 It meant that he no longer viewed Jesus as the son of Joseph. 00:05:39.759 --> 00:05:42.639 He viewed Jesus as the son of God. 00:05:43.759 --> 00:05:48.240 And now then his relationship with his brother is transformed. 00:05:48.399 --> 00:05:52.319 No longer is brother the first word he thinks of when he sees Jesus. 00:05:52.399 --> 00:06:00.079 Now the first word he thinks of is master because James sees himself as a servant of Jesus Christ. 00:06:00.959 --> 00:06:10.319 So we concluded last week's message with this challenge to fill in the blank, to replace the name James with your name. 00:06:10.560 --> 00:06:14.399 Jonathan, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:06:14.560 --> 00:06:20.319 And we wanted you to put your name in the blank to replace James with your name. 00:06:21.279 --> 00:06:28.639 Because a saving faith in Jesus Christ requires everyone then to say, I am a servant of Jesus Christ. 00:06:28.800 --> 00:06:44.800 I am acting on behalf of Jesus in the world, that God and Jesus has a plan for my life, certain things they want to fulfill in my life every single day, ways they want me to act in this world because authentic faith is actionable. 00:06:45.920 --> 00:06:49.839 Jesus saves us so we can be his servant in the world. 00:06:50.879 --> 00:06:56.639 The life cycle of faith, however, is only just begun when that seed of faith is sown. 00:06:56.720 --> 00:07:01.279 And so in today's message, it's really a follow-up to week one. 00:07:01.519 --> 00:07:07.600 We're going to look at the next three phases of this life cycle of authentic faith. 00:07:07.759 --> 00:07:12.000 We're going to talk about the soil, the roots, and the crown. 00:07:12.240 --> 00:07:14.879 So listen carefully to what James says next. 00:07:15.120 --> 00:07:18.240 James chapter 1, verses 2 through 4 says this. 00:07:27.600 --> 00:07:33.600 Because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 00:07:34.160 --> 00:07:44.560 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 00:07:46.000 --> 00:07:50.000 Standing before you each Sunday is such a great joy. 00:07:50.079 --> 00:07:51.600 I get to open God's word. 00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:57.519 We get to share in it together, learn from the Holy Spirit, teaching us from the Word of God. 00:07:58.480 --> 00:08:04.160 But there are some words that are found in the Bible that I wish God had left unsaid. 00:08:04.800 --> 00:08:11.920 There are certain things that God says in Holy Scripture that I wish were left on the cutting room floor. 00:08:12.399 --> 00:08:16.079 It's words like these of Jesus in Matthew chapter 6. 00:08:16.240 --> 00:08:20.480 Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life. 00:08:21.519 --> 00:08:25.519 How many of you wish Jesus said, it's okay to worry? 00:08:26.319 --> 00:08:27.920 I like to worry. 00:08:38.559 --> 00:08:40.639 Then come follow me. 00:08:41.200 --> 00:08:44.559 How many of us wish Jesus said, go sell some of it? 00:08:44.799 --> 00:08:46.320 Keep part of it. 00:08:47.039 --> 00:08:48.559 You deserve it. 00:08:49.919 --> 00:08:56.720 Or Matthew chapter 5, verse 44, to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. 00:08:57.519 --> 00:09:03.440 How many of us wish Jesus just said, hey, if you're going to talk about enemies, it should be forget your enemies. 00:09:03.840 --> 00:09:05.600 Move on past your enemies. 00:09:05.759 --> 00:09:07.600 Never look at your enemies. 00:09:07.840 --> 00:09:09.840 Wish the worst upon them. 00:09:12.639 --> 00:09:15.679 I bet you've got your own verse you'd like to add to that list. 00:09:17.039 --> 00:09:25.039 A verse in the Bible that is difficult to hear, hard to comprehend, and seemingly impossible to apply. 00:09:25.919 --> 00:09:32.399 Each of those verses, as I said, they were first said by Jesus, our Lord and Savior. 00:09:32.879 --> 00:09:36.559 And remember that Jesus is this older brother of James. 00:09:37.440 --> 00:09:39.600 And younger brothers, what do they want to do? 00:09:39.679 --> 00:09:42.879 They always want to emulate their older brother. 00:09:43.759 --> 00:09:53.600 So could it be then that one of the ways that James emulates his older brother Jesus is he decides, I'm going to begin the substance of my letter. 00:09:53.759 --> 00:09:57.519 I'm going to begin by saying something I know my brother would want to say. 00:09:57.679 --> 00:10:05.600 I'm going to begin by saying a word that is difficult to hear and hard to comprehend and seemingly impossible to apply. 00:10:06.799 --> 00:10:08.879 Consider it pure joy. 00:10:10.159 --> 00:10:14.480 Whenever you face trials of many kinds. 00:10:21.840 --> 00:10:24.240 At first or even a second glance. 00:10:25.679 --> 00:10:31.200 James's observation can strike me as a little insensitive, a little impersonal. 00:10:32.000 --> 00:10:49.279 Or maybe on a first or second hearing of those words from James chapter 1, you just think to yourself, James, he is only able to say something such as this because he has never experienced true pain or tragedy or trials in his life. 00:10:49.519 --> 00:10:59.679 He has never experienced the sort of pain or tragedy or trial that rips out your heart and leaves everything that you held dear that you knew to be certain in question. 00:11:01.039 --> 00:11:04.720 But that's where we would get James absolutely wrong. 00:11:05.360 --> 00:11:13.840 James, when he writes, consider it pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds, he is not writing from a position of privilege. 00:11:15.200 --> 00:11:19.600 James writes those words out of his own pain. 00:11:21.679 --> 00:11:32.559 After James meets the resurrected Jesus, we learn in the book of Acts and in the book of Galatians that he becomes a leader in the church of Jerusalem. 00:11:33.039 --> 00:11:34.559 He leads that church. 00:11:38.720 --> 00:11:46.559 And for those two decades that he's in leadership, that church faces persecution and ostracism. 00:11:46.879 --> 00:11:47.759 Persecution. 00:11:48.080 --> 00:11:53.440 Literally, the Jewish religious leaders are out to get the members of that church. 00:11:53.759 --> 00:11:55.600 They are seeking reasons. 00:11:55.759 --> 00:12:01.279 They don't even have to be good reasons to arrest members of that church. 00:12:01.600 --> 00:12:02.559 Ostracism. 00:12:02.720 --> 00:12:07.840 Think about it this way: that the members of this church are kind of operating on the margins of society. 00:12:08.000 --> 00:12:12.639 Some of them own their own kind of like small mom and pop shops or they're tradesmen. 00:12:13.279 --> 00:12:18.799 But those Jewish men and women, they wouldn't be patrons of their shops. 00:12:19.360 --> 00:12:22.320 So they'd have fewer and fewer customers. 00:12:22.879 --> 00:12:30.559 Like their businesses, because of that ostracism, that isolation, they were always on the brink of collapse. 00:12:32.879 --> 00:12:37.279 But that's not the only trials faced by the Church of Jerusalem. 00:12:37.759 --> 00:12:43.279 Also, during those 20 years, an intense famine breaks out in the land. 00:12:43.519 --> 00:12:52.639 Rain doesn't fall, crops don't grow, the animals die, and when famine ravages a land in the ancient world, it means poverty is rampant. 00:12:53.679 --> 00:13:07.840 James, in fact, I think he recognizes that trial in the life of his local church when later on in chapter 1 he says that believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. 00:13:08.240 --> 00:13:14.720 But the rich should take pride in their humiliation, since they will pass away like a wild flower. 00:13:15.120 --> 00:13:20.399 James writes those words because he wants to put the pain of poverty into perspective. 00:13:20.559 --> 00:13:22.159 He doesn't deny his reality. 00:13:22.320 --> 00:13:25.840 He doesn't say it's not actually all that hard or all that difficult. 00:13:25.919 --> 00:13:27.759 You're making it worse than it actually is. 00:13:27.919 --> 00:13:31.279 No, James admits it's hard to go to bed when you're hungry. 00:13:31.440 --> 00:13:34.879 It's hard to think that your business may collapse. 00:13:35.679 --> 00:13:39.120 But let me put it into perspective. 00:13:40.480 --> 00:13:48.000 And here's James's perspective on that trial and every trial that a church that a Christian will face. 00:13:49.200 --> 00:13:54.960 Trials are the soil of authentic faith. 00:13:56.879 --> 00:14:07.919 In other words, if you desire to possess authentic faith, it can only emerge from the soil of a trial. 00:14:09.360 --> 00:14:18.240 This sort of faith, it will not grow up if life is nothing more than sunshine and smooth sailing. 00:14:20.080 --> 00:14:27.279 Andy Stanley is a pastor in the Atlanta area, and he describes the relationship between trials and faith this way. 00:14:27.519 --> 00:14:33.039 He says that trials expose the authenticity of our faith. 00:14:35.440 --> 00:14:40.080 Trials expose the authenticity of our faith. 00:14:40.240 --> 00:14:47.759 Whenever you face a trial, you immediately discover something about the faith that you hold. 00:14:48.639 --> 00:14:59.679 So this time last year, one of the trials that parents around the United States attempted to navigate was balancing working from home and schooling from home. 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:02.000 Like, how do I work from home? 00:15:02.159 --> 00:15:08.080 How do I hop on a Zoom call when my kids are supposed to be on Google Classroom at the exact same time? 00:15:08.399 --> 00:15:18.320 We have one computer, we have one tablet, and we have one phone, and I've got more than those number of children or people who need to be in front of a screen at that moment. 00:15:19.200 --> 00:15:23.679 One young boy, his name is Ben, he described that uh trial this way. 00:15:23.840 --> 00:15:25.519 Listen to what he wrote. 00:15:26.320 --> 00:15:28.240 It is not going good. 00:15:30.080 --> 00:15:32.639 My mom's getting stressed out. 00:15:33.039 --> 00:15:35.840 My mom is really getting confused. 00:15:36.480 --> 00:15:40.399 We took a break so my mom can figure this stuff out. 00:15:40.960 --> 00:15:45.840 And I'm telling you, it is not going good. 00:15:49.679 --> 00:15:52.799 Listen, there's a lot of wisdom in those words. 00:15:56.000 --> 00:15:59.200 There's a lot of wisdom in what young Ben says. 00:15:59.519 --> 00:16:08.159 Listen, it's okay to admit that a trial is stressful, confusing, and exhausting. 00:16:09.279 --> 00:16:13.840 It's okay to say that a trial is not good. 00:16:16.399 --> 00:16:27.840 Sometimes, in an effort to say that we are people of faith, we think that that means we must call every trial good. 00:16:30.480 --> 00:16:37.360 This diagnosis is good, this loss of employment is good, this broken relationship is in fact good. 00:16:39.360 --> 00:16:47.519 The only thing we do when we um call bad things good is we forget what truly good things actually are. 00:16:48.399 --> 00:16:54.960 When we call bad things good, we're denying real pain in the world. 00:16:55.919 --> 00:17:00.399 We are distancing ourselves from a world that is truly hurting. 00:17:00.639 --> 00:17:09.119 We're actually avoiding the process where we can heal through painful, um, gut-riching moments of life. 00:17:09.759 --> 00:17:15.680 Authentic faith does not require us to call the bad good. 00:17:16.799 --> 00:17:19.039 But authentic faith does give us something. 00:17:19.200 --> 00:17:27.759 It gives us the eyes to see in the moments of the trial that we name as confusing, exhausting, and difficult and painful. 00:17:27.920 --> 00:17:32.640 When we say all of those things about the trials that we face, authentic faith says this. 00:17:32.880 --> 00:17:35.200 Open your eyes and just see this. 00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:38.240 God is good. 00:17:41.039 --> 00:17:58.160 You see, it's only when you're in the midst of a trial that you begin to grasp that God's love is beyond comprehension, that God's faithfulness is without peer. 00:17:58.720 --> 00:18:03.759 That God's mercy, it truly is new every morning. 00:18:04.640 --> 00:18:14.240 Because in the midst of the trial, when we come to the end of ourselves, we fall face first, flat on the ground at the feet of God. 00:18:15.359 --> 00:18:25.440 In the midst of the trial that we cannot solve on our own, we discover how weak that we are and how strong God truly is. 00:18:27.039 --> 00:18:39.599 And listen, it's from that perspective, flat on the ground, face first at the feet of God, that then we can consider it pure joy. 00:18:39.839 --> 00:18:42.640 Consider pure joy, it's this, you're gonna have to think about it. 00:18:42.720 --> 00:18:48.640 It's not going to be secondhand nature to consider this trial a moment of pure joy. 00:18:49.680 --> 00:18:52.079 You're gonna have to reflect on it. 00:18:53.039 --> 00:18:56.480 But here's where the pure joy comes into play. 00:18:57.680 --> 00:19:06.880 We begin to see that everything we sing about God, everything we read about God, everything we believe about God is 100% true. 00:19:08.400 --> 00:19:12.559 He is better than we can describe and greater than we can believe. 00:19:13.839 --> 00:19:21.440 And we, listen, we we consider it pure joy when in the midst of the trial we catch our breath. 00:19:25.279 --> 00:19:31.200 And we realize that God is closer to us than we could ever imagine. 00:19:32.640 --> 00:19:36.640 You are in a trial, but you are not alone in the trial. 00:19:37.839 --> 00:19:43.519 God is closer to us, and that just proves to us who God is. 00:19:46.640 --> 00:19:49.359 And when we know who God is, listen. 00:19:51.440 --> 00:19:56.960 It actually is this summons to then go out into the world and tell people about who God is. 00:19:57.519 --> 00:20:03.680 Because listen, people inside the church and outside the church, all of them face trials. 00:20:04.640 --> 00:20:09.599 Trials are inevitable and unavoidable for every one of us. 00:20:10.720 --> 00:20:24.559 No matter what's in your bank account, no matter what job you have, no matter your family situation, every one of us faces trials on a regular basis. 00:20:26.400 --> 00:20:29.440 And as the body of Christ, it's our calling. 00:20:29.599 --> 00:20:40.640 As people who know how to take a trial and consider it pure joy, because we know that God is like right here, He's at my hip, He is right there with me in the middle of it all. 00:20:41.759 --> 00:20:48.640 We can actually go in, be the body of Christ to people outside of our church when they are in a trial. 00:20:49.599 --> 00:20:56.400 Standing in solidarity with those who are experiencing pain, deep tragedy. 00:20:57.519 --> 00:21:13.039 We want to be the body of Christ in those moments and in those places, because then we can point people to the presence of Christ, the goodness of Christ, the salvation of Christ, the grace of Christ, the mercy of Christ. 00:21:13.440 --> 00:21:27.279 But only if we occupy those places and spaces with them and show them the character of God and who God is. 00:21:30.240 --> 00:21:36.240 And as we recognize and declare that Christ is with us in the trial, he is right beside us. 00:21:36.400 --> 00:21:40.720 Listen, that's when the roots begin to grow into the ground. 00:21:40.960 --> 00:21:46.400 That next phrase that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 00:21:46.880 --> 00:21:49.680 Perseverance, those are that's our root. 00:21:49.839 --> 00:21:52.319 That's what holds us holds us up. 00:21:53.920 --> 00:21:58.319 Perseverance is the ability to hold up under stress or pressure. 00:21:58.880 --> 00:21:59.759 Perseverance allows. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:04.960 Allows us to move forward even when life is filled with bumps and detours and collisions. 00:22:05.119 --> 00:22:07.200 I'm just going to keep pressing forward. 00:22:07.359 --> 00:22:23.839 Perseverance in faith means this that no matter what happens in my life, I will not stop believing that God is who he says he is and pressing forward with him every day, saying, I will serve him. 00:22:25.119 --> 00:22:32.319 One of the characters in the Old Testament who learned something about perseverance is that a young boy named Joseph. 00:22:33.200 --> 00:22:40.480 Remember, he learned perseverance when he was thrown into the pit by his brothers and thrown into prison by Potiphar. 00:22:40.720 --> 00:22:46.319 Joseph learned perseverance when he sat next to Pharaoh, and as that famine ravaged the land. 00:22:47.920 --> 00:23:07.359 Joseph learned that if he had roots that were deep down in the character and in the presence of God in his life, he could continue to move forward every single day, believing and trusting that God was going to fulfill something through him in this world. 00:23:07.599 --> 00:23:09.440 He didn't have to call the pit good. 00:23:09.519 --> 00:23:11.119 He didn't have to call the prison good. 00:23:11.279 --> 00:23:13.119 He didn't have to call Egypt good. 00:23:13.359 --> 00:23:21.039 But he could see that God was with him and God was taking that pain and bringing it into his plan. 00:23:22.079 --> 00:23:26.960 So one day when those same brothers who threw him into the pit come to Egypt. 00:23:27.440 --> 00:23:30.640 They stand face to face with their brother that they wanted to kill. 00:23:30.960 --> 00:23:43.119 Joseph looks them in the eye and he says, You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. 00:23:45.039 --> 00:23:49.599 Perseverance says this, I will never give up. 00:23:49.839 --> 00:23:52.640 I'll keep going forward. 00:23:54.559 --> 00:23:58.799 And what is true of Joseph should be true of you. 00:23:59.279 --> 00:24:00.720 You're going to face trials. 00:24:00.799 --> 00:24:03.279 They are inevitable, they are unavoidable. 00:24:04.720 --> 00:24:09.680 But you got to have roots to persevere through them all. 00:24:09.920 --> 00:24:11.680 So that you don't give up. 00:24:11.920 --> 00:24:20.000 So that no matter the trial that emerges, you say, I am a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:24:23.279 --> 00:24:31.359 And with those roots entrenched in the ground, now we come to that fourth phase of that life cycle, the crown. 00:24:32.880 --> 00:24:34.079 A crown of a tree. 00:24:34.160 --> 00:24:37.119 That's the very top part of the tree. 00:24:37.680 --> 00:24:41.359 Out of the crown, that's where the branches grow when the leaves grow. 00:24:42.000 --> 00:24:46.000 The crown of a tree is the sign of maturity. 00:24:46.880 --> 00:24:52.559 That's what James talks about in chapter one that trials to perseverance to what? 00:24:52.880 --> 00:24:54.000 Maturity. 00:24:55.039 --> 00:24:58.000 Maturity in Christ, completion in Christ. 00:24:59.119 --> 00:25:04.240 The simplest way to explain what maturity in Christ is is with this simple statement. 00:25:04.319 --> 00:25:08.400 It is living, loving, and looking like Jesus. 00:25:08.559 --> 00:25:12.640 It's living and loving and looking like Jesus. 00:25:14.559 --> 00:25:21.680 That's the final phase of someone who wants to possess this authentic, actionable faith. 00:25:22.880 --> 00:25:26.799 So what does it mean to live and to love and to look like Jesus? 00:25:27.119 --> 00:25:28.799 Read the Gospels. 00:25:29.200 --> 00:25:30.799 Who does Jesus spend time with? 00:25:30.960 --> 00:25:32.480 How does he talk to him? 00:25:32.720 --> 00:25:33.839 What does he say? 00:25:34.079 --> 00:25:35.279 Who does he love? 00:25:35.839 --> 00:25:37.440 What's he look like? 00:25:38.640 --> 00:25:42.640 He looks like someone who cares for people that other people don't care for. 00:25:43.039 --> 00:25:45.920 He loves the people that people say are unlovable. 00:25:47.839 --> 00:25:50.960 He speaks really harsh words to religious folk. 00:25:51.680 --> 00:25:57.200 But to those who are suffering and in pain, he is that balm of Gilead to their soul. 00:25:57.920 --> 00:26:04.079 To the woman at the well who was forgotten and abused by men, he says, I will give you living water. 00:26:04.400 --> 00:26:06.000 I will talk to you. 00:26:06.640 --> 00:26:10.160 To the tax collectors no one wanted to do with, he will be their friend. 00:26:10.319 --> 00:26:15.759 To the man named Zacchaeus who swindles his countrymen, he says, I'm coming to your house. 00:26:16.319 --> 00:26:21.039 Jesus, he finds a way to be with people no one else wants to spend time with. 00:26:23.359 --> 00:26:27.359 He doesn't try to explain away their pain or their trials or their tragedy. 00:26:27.440 --> 00:26:28.960 He doesn't tell them it doesn't exist. 00:26:29.119 --> 00:26:32.079 He says, Let me come with you and I can give you healing. 00:26:32.720 --> 00:26:35.759 I can give you nurturing and I can give you grace. 00:26:37.519 --> 00:26:40.559 That's authentic, actionable faith. 00:26:42.799 --> 00:26:51.200 So as people who live and look and love like Jesus, we have to begin to see those stories in the gospels. 00:26:51.519 --> 00:26:57.519 I think as maybe the script for our own life. 00:26:59.039 --> 00:27:07.599 We begin to draw connections between those people and places with people and places in our own community, in our own sphere of influence. 00:27:08.480 --> 00:27:10.799 Because that's what James is driving us toward. 00:27:10.960 --> 00:27:13.440 Jesus possessed authentic faith, guys. 00:27:13.759 --> 00:27:14.400 He did. 00:27:15.440 --> 00:27:16.559 The seed of faith. 00:27:16.640 --> 00:27:19.519 Like, you're like, Jesus, Son of God, how do you sow a seed of faith? 00:27:19.680 --> 00:27:24.400 Well, that's his baptism, where Jesus identifies with his heavenly father. 00:27:25.440 --> 00:27:28.000 The trials, I don't have to tell you about the trials. 00:27:28.079 --> 00:27:33.200 There were trials with the betrayal of friends and his countrymen who want to arrest him. 00:27:33.279 --> 00:27:38.000 And there's a trial, like the literal trial, and then the crucifixion and the perseverance. 00:27:38.079 --> 00:27:39.680 That's like the garden moment. 00:27:39.920 --> 00:27:43.279 Father, not my will but yours. 00:27:45.279 --> 00:27:54.880 The maturity and the completion when the crucified Son of God on the third day comes out of the tomb and then weeks later ascends to the right hand of God the Father. 00:27:56.559 --> 00:28:06.160 Like this life cycle of authentic faith, we want to walk that journey because Jesus first walked that journey. 00:28:07.359 --> 00:28:12.160 But let me make two quick observations about this life cycle as we close. 00:28:12.400 --> 00:28:19.440 Observation number one: the life cycle of faith is not for your sake, it's for the sake of others. 00:28:20.160 --> 00:28:24.000 It's not for your sake, it's for the sake of other people. 00:28:25.759 --> 00:28:28.000 That's why it has to be actionable. 00:28:28.400 --> 00:28:30.319 It's not to make you feel good. 00:28:30.480 --> 00:28:41.920 It's not so you know more, or I know more, or I can preach a better sermon, or you can lead a better Bible study, or you can sound more intelligent in conversations with your friends about things of faith. 00:28:42.079 --> 00:28:45.279 No, it's for the sake of other people in our world. 00:28:45.519 --> 00:28:48.880 That they would know how good God truly is. 00:28:49.599 --> 00:28:52.400 And number two is this it's a life cycle. 00:28:52.720 --> 00:28:58.000 Four phases, each of them 100% necessary. 00:28:59.359 --> 00:29:08.160 We all desire the end result, we all desire the crown, we all desire the maturity and the completion, but we maybe we want to skip step one. 00:29:09.039 --> 00:29:12.240 We never want to put our faith in Jesus Christ. 00:29:12.960 --> 00:29:19.200 We never want to say, I'm a servant of Jesus Christ in the world, and you're like, why am I not reaching maturity in Christ? 00:29:19.279 --> 00:29:24.480 It's because you first don't identify and live as a servant of Jesus in the world. 00:29:25.680 --> 00:29:32.799 Or you think, well, uh, servant part, okay, but I I want to skip just phase two, I'm gonna skip the trials. 00:29:33.680 --> 00:29:36.720 Like you just look for easy ways out of everything. 00:29:36.880 --> 00:29:41.759 When anything hard emerges, you you just seek like, how can I get out of this? 00:29:42.000 --> 00:29:44.079 How can I lift the burden? 00:29:45.440 --> 00:29:55.519 When really, in that moment of the trial, God He provides us opportunities to just open our eyes and realize how close that He is. 00:29:56.640 --> 00:30:01.680 And it's the proximity of God's presence that leads us to maturity. 00:30:05.279 --> 00:30:10.400 You'll spend a couple days in the trial, but pretty soon you just give up and you walk away. 00:30:10.720 --> 00:30:14.720 No more will I be a servant of Jesus, I'll be a servant of self. 00:30:16.480 --> 00:30:29.519 Listen, if we want to experience the life cycle of faith in our church and in our homes and in the lives, our individual lives, each step is absolutely necessary. 00:30:30.559 --> 00:30:34.160 No phase can be skipped over or forgotten. 00:30:34.960 --> 00:30:40.480 So where are you in this life cycle of authentic faith? 00:30:41.759 --> 00:30:43.759 Is it time to sow the seed? 00:30:44.640 --> 00:30:49.279 Is it time to be okay with the trial and say, God's with me in the trial? 00:30:49.440 --> 00:30:54.799 Is it time to stand in solidarity with someone who's in the middle of a painful tragedy or trial? 00:30:55.279 --> 00:30:59.920 Is it time just to keep taking another step forward every single day? 00:31:02.079 --> 00:31:15.200 So that you can reach maturity and completion, so that you can possess this authentic, actionable faith that is not, listen again, for your sake. 00:31:15.599 --> 00:31:19.440 It is a faith that is for the sake of other people. 00:31:21.519 --> 00:31:22.960 Let's pray. 00:31:24.000 --> 00:31:28.640 Almighty God and everlasting Father. 00:31:32.319 --> 00:31:36.559 The words of James this morning, they they stir our hearts. 00:31:39.680 --> 00:31:43.200 None of us like a trial or a test, God. 00:31:44.640 --> 00:31:53.359 When life is hard, God, I think sometimes we all want to just say, What did I do wrong? 00:31:56.000 --> 00:32:00.480 Like it has to just be a reflection of a mistake I've made. 00:32:01.680 --> 00:32:09.599 And Holy Spirit, you reminded me this week that often in life there are trials that just happen to us. 00:32:11.759 --> 00:32:14.799 It's not the result of anything I've done wrong. 00:32:16.000 --> 00:32:18.559 We live in a trial-filled world. 00:32:18.640 --> 00:32:20.559 It's broken, it's hurting. 00:32:23.680 --> 00:32:28.720 And in the midst of that trial, God, open our eyes to know that you are with us in the trial. 00:32:28.880 --> 00:32:30.559 We don't have to avoid it. 00:32:32.880 --> 00:32:34.960 But we also don't have to call it good. 00:32:36.000 --> 00:32:38.079 But we can know you are good. 00:32:41.200 --> 00:32:50.799 Um, for the person this morning who has been in a trial for a really an extended season and it has tested their faith. 00:32:52.160 --> 00:32:57.920 Prove yourself faithful to them again today, God, and let them endure. 00:32:58.160 --> 00:33:04.640 Help them just to take one more step forward in the name of Jesus as his servant in the world. 00:33:06.559 --> 00:33:15.599 And oh God, through the power of your Holy Spirit, lead us to maturity in Jesus. 00:33:17.599 --> 00:33:24.720 May we truly be people who love and live and look like Him. 00:33:26.079 --> 00:33:27.839 In Christ's name we pray. 00:33:28.480 --> 00:33:29.119 Amen.