James 1: Under Pressure

Pressure reveals what we trust, and James 1 gives us a better framework than cynicism or blame. We walk through how God uses trials to mature us, how wisdom stabilizes us, and how temptation starts in our own desires before it ever becomes an action. 

Transcript

rayer For War And Wisdom

ames 1 Reading And Theme

hat Pressure Reveals About Faith

rials As Tools For Maturity

isdom And The Danger Of Double Minds

emptation Comes From Our Desires

ction Steps For Growth Under Pressure

top Blaming Satan Own Temptation

nchor In God’s Unchanging Goodness

aster Invitations And Closing Prayer

SPEAKER_00 0:21

This is a while ago now, but I was bivocational in uh northern New England, working revitalization in that little church in Vermont. And um they said if you are a bivocational pastor in New England, we're going to give you a full ride scholarship to go to Union. And so I took advantage of that. So and God worked through that. I mean, when we started in that little church, uh, it was about ready to close the doors. I think that's the only reason they hired me because they had nothing to lose. There was like six people there, and by the time we moved to Connecticut five years later, there was about 85. And we baptized, amen. Yeah, glory to God. That's a mega church in where we were. But we baptized, I think about 30 people in that time frame, people that have been going to that church for years. Um, so the long before you met Florida man, long before you met the Yankee, you were blessing us through the Annie Armstrong offering for the North American Mission Board. And so uh Mick mentioned the Annie's Diner, which is gonna happen today, right after, uh, right after we're done in here. It's down in the fellowship hall. Everyone is invited to go. You can have lunch, it's by donation, and every all all the money that comes in is just going straight into the pond for that offering this year. So uh we're really excited about that and uh supporting that work. Uh also before we pray, I just want to recognize somebody. I heard uh there was a couple that is back from Florida, they're all well tanned. Uh, but today they mark 58 years of marriage. Tommy and Debbie Gary. Now I've met Tommy, so that is an accomplishment. I mean, glory to God. Amen. Debbie's going, yes, amen. We love you guys, and we're really thankful for you. Uh let's pray together before we go to the Word. Lord God, this morning we are so worshipful and so hopeful, and at the same time, our hearts are heavy with conflict in our world. And although this conflict, Father, is it's half a world away, this morning we pray for the protection of American service members who are and allied forces standing in harm's way. We pray for the safety of civilians in the Middle East. We pray for the innocents who didn't choose to be in a war but have lived in this place for their whole lives, and for some they only know conflict. But we pray for wisdom and discernment for our president and leaders and making impossible decisions. And Lord, we pray for the least amount of casualties as possible and for a swift end to the conflict in Iran. And this morning, Lord, we pray for your wisdom, for your guidance. As we open your word, we pray that your spirit would be our teacher. In Jesus' name. Amen. James chapter 1. I'm going to read verses 1 through 18. James, a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes in the dispersions, greeting, Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness, and let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. And if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person might not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord, he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and let the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass, its flower falls, and its beauty perishes, so also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits. Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life which God has promised to those who love him. Let no one say, when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire, when it is conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown, gives forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruit of his creatures. This is God's word. They collaborated on a song called Under Pressure. Anyone remember that song? If you're Gen X, it's you're thinking Vanilla Ice, it's he just stole the track from it. But the song, uh the Bowie and Queen song, talks about when the weight and pressures of this world bear down on us. What happens? Relationships fracture, people break, society cracks. It reminded me of the saying that the adults used to say to me in the 90s when I was coming into adulthood myself, they would often say, Hey, you know what? Life is awful and then you die. Of course, they would say it in a much more colorful way with a lot more sentence enhancers than that. But that's how most people deal with pain. Just toil and suffering of life. So even the unconverted, even the godless, see and experience the pressures of life and they know something's wrong. But the problem is they have no context in which to frame it. How do I know that? Because that was me for a long time. I thought it was just, okay, hey, this is awful, and then I get to die. But James instead tells us something radical. He tells us that the pressures of life is not proof that God has abandoned you. It is the very tool that God is using to mature you in Christ. Sadly, a whole generation of Christians who, even if mildly inconvenienced in a church, for instance, will drop out of the life of the church completely, proving they were following their own preferences and not the living Christ. Too many today don't realize that the gospel doesn't remove the weight of life, it redeems it for God's glory and our good. You see, true saving faith is proven under pressure. That's the theme of the whole book of James. It's real faith works. And if I could add a byline to that, it's that real faith continues to work under pressure. Real faith works, and real faith continues to work under pressure. It perseveres under trial, it resists sinful desire, it seeks divine wisdom, it produces a stable, God-centered life. You see, James in his book is not correcting justification by faith. He's correcting a shallow profession of faith. James wants a wholehearted, undivided allegiance to Christ. You see, this whole book is about mature, complete, and whole Christianity. And so that's why I love the book of James. It's about maturity in Christ. And we're going to do a series through the book. It's going to take us a few months with Easter in the middle there. But it's going to be a bit different than others in the past because James is so practical, it's going to be a lot of concrete steps that you can take to mature in Christ. Now, I do offer implication each week when I'm in this spot, but James is all about application, not just theology. So, in that sense, if you are a note-taker, and I see some of you diligently note-taking already, get limbered up. Or if you're part of a life group, get ready for your discussion questions tonight. Oh, I want to so I want to take this passage and I want to break it down into two big pieces today. Let's start. I'll just call this first one table of contents. This passage through verse 18 functions as a theological table of contents for the entire letter. And it sets both the tone and the trajectory of what James is trying to say here. See, James is writing to pressured believers that are scattered among the nations. And the first thesis that James has is that faith is proven under pressure. How you act or react when you're facing trials or temptations, that is who you are. Charles Spurgeon said that trials teach us what we are, they dig up the soil, and they let us see what we are made of. James didn't treat, teach uh look at trials as interruptions to the Christian life. No, in fact, he doesn't claim that they're signs of God's displeasure with us. He says that the trials of our life are instruments in the hand of a sovereign God. And James, of course, is writing to Jewish Christians. They're scattered outside of Jerusalem and Judea. In Acts chapter 7, Stephen is martyred. The persecution follows in Acts chapter 8, and many of the Jewish believers are forced to leave that area. Their confession that Jesus is the Messiah put them at odds with both the synagogue and the surrounding culture. You see, in Jewish communities throughout the Roman world, loyalty to Jesus would mean exclusion from the religious community, from the synagogue life. And it also could have economic consequences as well. When pressure rises, now listen, when pressure rises in our life, we instinctively run somewhere for reassurance. That's human nature. When pressure rises, we instinctively run somewhere for reassurance. Some run to distraction, some run to outrage, some run to a tribe, some run to national identity. See, the heart that is under pressure is looks for a rock. Give me a foundation. James says that the trials expose what we're made of. Pressure in your life, listen, Christian, pressure in your life doesn't create your foundation, it reveals it. If our deepest comfort is in our political tribe or our cultural identity or national nostalgia, trials will drive us there. But if our comfort is in Christ, trials will drive us to Christ. The question is not whether or not we're going to seek comfort. The question is where are we going to seek it? James is also writing them because the this pressure from the outside often produces friction inside. Under stress, churches can fracture. Worldliness creeps in. Believers look for security in cultural acceptance. And I've heard this more than once in my pastoral career. People have said to me, you know what we need? We need more wealthy people to come to our church. I've heard it in almost every church I've been at. And in the old days, it was typically at the ugly church business meetings when budget time rolls around. How? I go down to the country club and I'm like, hey, have you heard of First Baptist Church? Would you like to know what we can offer you today? Hogwash. We don't need more money, we need more holiness. James is writing to stabilize a community, tempted to compromise with the surrounding world while still professing allegiance to Christ. Like many believers today, they may have wondered whether trials indicated God's displeasure, but James corrects that assumption. Trials are not signs of abandonment, they are instruments of maturity. God tests for growth. He doesn't tempt for destruction. That distinction would have been crucial for these believers who had put faith in the Messiah and now their life was not full of ease. See, testing produces steadfastness, steadfastness, maturity, maturity, completeness. And so from the outset, James reframes this suffering as purposeful. The opening verses anticipate the entire letter: Faith under pressure, chapters one and two, speech under pressure in chapter three, worldliness under pressure in chapter four, and then patience under pressure in chapter five. Everything that James commands will flow from the theology of endurance. And wisdom in this first setting, this is the second foundational theme of the book. James introduces because pressure without wisdom leads to despair or compromise. If trials are inevitable, wisdom is essential. But biblical wisdom is not just intelligence or experience or technique. It's relational. Wisdom requires faith, trust, and spiritual stability. The one who doubts is divided in allegiance. That's what James is saying here. He says they're double-minded, unstable in all his ways. He's exposing what will later, he'll he'll he'll confront this directly later a heart that wants God's benefits without God's lordship. There are many who are in places like this today that want the benefits that God provides without God's lordship over their life. Pressure reveals whether a believer's trust is whole or fractured. Wisdom is not then simply knowing what choice to make, it's knowing God well enough to trust him when circumstances shake every visible support that we have. James then levels these social distinctions. He talks about wealth and poverty. And he immediately subverts the world's value system. The lowly are called to boast in their exaltation in Christ and the rich their humiliation before God. You see, earthly status, success, security are temporary and fragile. James is reorienting perspective around eternity, reminding suffering believers that identity is not grounded in economic standing. It's not grounded in our social influence or cultural power. It is grounded in belonging to Christ. So the early correction prepares the way for his condemnation of partiality towards wealthy in chapter 2. See in a scattered, pressured church, James insists that true worth is measured by grace, not by your status. And a crucial theological distinction emerges when James turns to temptation. God tests, but God does not tempt. This distinction is essential. It's absolutely essential for a faithful understanding of suffering and sin. You see, external pressure is not the ultimate problem. Internal desire is. Let me say that again. External pressure is not the ultimate problem that we have. Internal desire is our ultimate problem. Every person is lured and enticed by their own sinful longing, and sin, when fully grown, brings forth death. James finds the root of sinful behavior, if you will, and it's our affections. See, the tongue is not reckless because circumstances are difficult, but because the heart is disordered. Worldliness is not merely environmental, it is internal. So this diagnosis really shapes the entire letter and calls believers to heart-level repentance, not just uh surface surface-level moral reform. And so this introduction, and of course, the balance of the book is just saturated in gospel assumptions, if you will. James presupposes human sinfulness, desires that lead to death, verse 14 and 15. He presupposes divine goodness, the unchanging generosity of God. He presupposes the promise of eternal life, the crown of life promised to those who love God. James doesn't rehearse the cross in detail here, but it stands behind every promise that he makes, if you will. The crown of life rests upon Christ's perfect obedience, his atoning death, his victorious resurrection. The new birth that James describes flows from the gospel being proclaimed. And as we learn on Wednesday night in our Acts class, which takes place right in here at 6 p.m., if you're an adult, you're invited to come. There's kids' classes as well. We know that the gospel must be proclaimed because that is the purpose and plan of God. How do men and women get saved? They hear the gospel and respond. The gospel is good news about who Jesus is, that he is holy and righteous and unchanging, and he saves sinners who are ruled by sinful desires and destined for death. We don't merely need encouragement, we don't need instruction, we need to be rescued. Because left to ourselves, our desires lead to sin, sin leads to death. But God in his mercy sent his son, Jesus Christ, to live the perfect life of obedience that we could not live, to die the death that we deserve, and under God's righteous judgment, and then of course to rise again in victory over Satan's sin and death. And through the proclamation of this word of truth, God brings dead people back to life. He unites believers to Christ by faith. This is not earned, it is given, it says here, of his own will. In other words, we don't endure trials to become Christians. We endure trials because we are Christians. See, the steadfastness of James, this is not self-manufactured resilience, or it is, it's not just, hey, just try harder. It is spirit-produced perseverance that is rooted in the finished work of Christ. Pressure does not produce salvation, pressure reveals salvation. I was talking to a young man years ago. He had just come to known Christ. I had the blessing of being able to baptize him, and he says, Hey, how do I know this is real? And I said, Let's talk in five years. Because you want to know how I know it's gonna be real? Five years from now, you'll you'll have grown in Christ, you'll still be walking with Christ, and no matter what life throws at you, you're gonna be singing and worshiping Christ. That's how I know your salvation's real. Oh, go lay, that sounds judgy. Good. Why did we lose discernment all of a sudden in the church? Okay, I'm not gonna go down that road. But it's so uh see the yeah, this the introduction really sets the trajectory for the entire letter. Let's let's end with that. Let's go into our second heading then. So this is this is action steps for growth. James sets up this idea that faith is proven, faith is shown under trial. That's the theme of the book. Real faith works, and real faith continues to work under pressure. And so this passage and the balance of the letter really, every time we're in the book of James, it should take us to the question what does this look like when I get up from this spot? What does this look like when I get up from this spot? Will said it very eloquently last week, didn't he? If you never get up out of your pew, you'll know why they call it a pew. Or something like that. I don't know. I can't remember the exact quote. But in other words, Christians were not destined to sit, we're destined to serve. What does it look like when I get up from this spot? And that's where James brings us into the practical lived obedience. Now, if we don't ask this, if we don't ask this question, and we're gonna get to this uh in a couple weeks, we're like the man in verse 23. We hear the word, we're like, mm, yes, hallelujah, Jesus, and then we get up and we completely forgot what we looked at, and we check the box for the week, and we make sure we beat the other Baptists to the Mexican restaurant. That's our only priority. Friends, listen to me. Most Christians aren't thinking holiness when they leave. They're thinking about nachos. We shouldn't, it should not be that way. I got nothing against nachos. But when we hear the word proclaimed, it should make us think, what is this doing in me? You need to ask yourself, how does God, how does what God speaks through James change how I act or react or think? So here's a few practical steps you can take today to grow your faith. The first, I think is the most obvious one, we we need to reframe our suffering. We need to reframe our suffering. Think about a just take a moment and think about a current trial in your life. Something's going on. I mean, something's going on with everyone in here. You get a trial going on in your life. If you're taking notes, just write it down. It could be health, could be relationship, could be money, it could be ministry, it could be work. And as you look at what you just wrote down, I want you to stop asking, why is this happening? And I want you to ask, what is God producing in me? So instead of why is this happening, we should ask, what is God producing? So if James is right, then trials are not random disruptions, they're instruments in the hands of a sovereign God. We need to ask God to produce maturity more than just relief. And then you could do something even more challenging. When you look at that and you say, all right, Lord, what are you producing? You can say, Thank you, Lord, for what you're shaping in me. Because you're gonna get on the other side of it and you're gonna be more patient, you're gonna have more humility, you're gonna have deeper dependence on Him. It doesn't minimize pain, it redeems it. James isn't calling us to smile through the suffering. Everything's fine. He's calling us to see purpose in our suffering. Second, we need to ask for wisdom. James doesn't say figure it out. He says, ask God. I heard a giggle over here because I say that to my family all the time. That's that was my dad's favorite saying to me when I was a kid, and so now I say it to my grown children. Figure it out. Handle it, man up. Whenever they ask me, what's for dinner? Figure it out. What do you need me for? Anyone's dad ever say that to you? Dad, what do we need? Figure it out. It's a loving, fatherly thing to do. I mean, here's the reality, right? Nobody is coming to rescue you. You get a bad job, no one's coming to rescue you. You got a tough life, no one's coming to rescue you. Not in the practical sense. Instead, we need to ask for wisdom. Because our Heavenly Father will give us wisdom. He will give us wisdom to figure it out, to handle it, to persevere. That means prayer that is concrete and not vague. And before you think I'm a bad dad, when I tell him to figure out what's for dinner, I'm usually walking out to cook it for him anyway. Figure it out. I mean, you can, as you're writing down, write down one a situation that you you need clarity about. What's a situation in your life that you need clarity about? Could be the same thing you wrote down just a minute ago. It could be parenting, it could be career, it could be conflict resolution. Pray about it daily, not casually. Pray in faith, meaning you're not simultaneously planning a distrustful escape route because James says that's double-mindedness, that's spiritual instability. It's saying, God, I'm going to trust you, and then somehow secretly leaning on your own self-sufficiency. Stability comes from settled trust. When we pray, when we open the word, we seek counsel from mature believers. Wisdom is not mystical, wisdom is relational. It flows from knowing and trusting the unchanging God. So we reframe our suffering, we ask for wisdom, and then the third is that we need to know what destabilizes you. What do you do? What knocks you off balance? Financial stuff, social media outrage, your own emotional swings, maybe not getting your way. There's always stuff that destabilizes us. James equates that instability with a divided allegiance. You see, double-mindedness is not confusion about data, it's confusion about loyalty. Double-mindedness is not confusion about data. It's not confusion about what's going on. It's confusion about what you're loyal to or who you're loyal to. It's wanting God and wanting the world at the same time. We need to ask ourselves honestly, where am I spiritually split? Where do I profess Christ but functionally rely on something else for identity or security or worth? James wants a stable, single-hearted believer whose identity is anchored in Christ rather than circumstances. The phrase, not today, Satan. I hear that. I hear that a lot. I mean, it's become a kind of a Christian catch-all phrase. I'm not mad at it. If you say it, that's fine. But it's kind of become a catch-all response for temptation and inconvenience and awkward moments or even minor frustrations. It's humorous, but sometimes I think its overuse reveals a deeper theological issue. So if my life is just a bag of cats that's Yankee for a mess. If my life is just a bag of cats, then I can say, oh, not today, Satan. And it can shift responsibility away from my own sinful desires and put the blame somewhere else. James says that temptation arises when we're lured and enticed by our own desire. Not every struggle, not every struggle in your life, not everything that's going on in your life is a direct satanic assault. I had a man and I loved him, this guy I knew up north, and every, every, around every corner was Satan. I said, Man, you gotta stop. He had a flat tire. Satan was trying to get me today. I said, Not today, Satan. No, you ran over a nail, my man. I mean, that's what it came to. Sometimes the enemy is not external opposition. Sometimes the enemy is the person who's looking at us in the mirror when we're brushing our teeth. Not today, Satan. What'd you call me? Nothing. It's just me. When we overuse that phrase, we kind of foster a habit of blaming Satan for what's actually our own flesh. And that leads to the fourth year is that we need to take ownership of temptation. James removes every single excuse. We can't blame our upbringing or our stress or our culture or coworkers or our spouse or even God. Now listen, here's the reality of life. Your past can explain some things about you. Your present can explain some things about you. But neither one defines who you are. If you're in Christ, your past doesn't define you. Jesus does. He can explain some things. External pressure exposes internal desire. Beneath every sinful pattern, there's a ruling love. It's approval, comfort, control, power, security. So when temptation surfaces, we need to learn how to hit the pause button and ask ourselves a question: what do I really want right now? James gives us the progression. Desire conceives, gives birth to sin. Sin, when fully grown, brings forth death. You see, the battle against sin, against temptation, has to be fought way upstream. Because if you wait until sin is fully matured into action, you're already downstream from where the problem is. Let me give you an example. If your great temptation is getting intoxicated with booze, the battle is not fought sitting at a bar. The battle's not fought pulling into the liquor store parking lot. The temptation is already won. The battle has to be fought way upstream. The upstream battle for booze, with it, for instance, is who's my circle? Who's my circle? Who are the people that I allow to be my inner circle in my life? And what are they encouraging me to do? Are the people that I trust and love most dearly and spend the most time with, are they encouraging me to get blasted or to get holy? That's the upstream battle. The upstream battle is what places am I going to exclude from my life even before I get out of bed? Where am I going to seek comfort today? From Jesus or from Jack? Daniels. James traces the progression. Desire, giving birth, sin fully grown, brings forth death. That means the real battleground is not just behavior, it is affection. So before the harsh word leaves your mouth, before the click, before the compromise, before the outburst, there's desire, a craving for approval or control or for comfort or for recognition. And the life that is captured by the Holy Spirit learns to slow down and ask, what am I really wanting right now more than Jesus? The upstream question exposes the idol before it becomes an action. It allows you to interrupt the process before conception turns into consequence. When you fight the battle upstream, you're learning not to negotiate with sin. Listen, don't negotiate with temptation. Kill it. I love the old Puritan John Owen. He said, be killing sin, or it'll be killing you. Sin is like mold. It dies in the sunshine. Bring it into the light. First before God in honest repentance, and when necessary, before a well-trusted brother or sister. You see, sin thrives in isolation. Sin thrives in secrecy, but it withers under exposure. When you expose it, you weaken it. When you confess it, you rob it of its deception. And you don't remove a just remove a sinful affection, you replace it. You consciously turn your heart toward a greater affection in Christ. And you remind yourself that Jesus is better than approval that you crave or the control that you want or the comfort you're seeking. You see, repentance is not just subtraction, it's it's redirection, it's redirecting toward Christ. Sin loses strength when the heart finds satisfaction in Jesus Christ. And then finally, we need to anchor ourselves. Anchor ourselves intentionally in the character of God. Anchor yourself intentionally in the character of God. Verse 17 is one of my favorite verses in the book. It's gold. Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights, with whom listen, there is no variation or shadow due to change. Our world fluctuates all the time. God does not fluctuate. When trials come and life is unstable, God is stable. When circumstances and temptations come up, God is good. My advice for you this morning, memorize verse 17. When the circumstances kind of whisper to you that God is withholding something from you, preach yourself what is true. There's no variation or shadow due to change. You see, our feelings change. Stability in our life is not found in controlling the outcomes, but it's in trusting the unchanging Father. And I think a lot of the anxiety that people face today comes from the illusion that peace, internal peace will come when we can manage when you can manage every variable. When you can secure the finances, when you can fix the relationship, when you can secure the future, when you can anticipate every risk. Some of you already got an elbow in the side because that's you. You need to control every variable. That makes you miserable, doesn't it? Biblical stability is rooted somewhere deeper. It flows from the settled conviction that the character of God does not fluctuate with the headlines or the economy or our emotions. I heard a good phrase the other day, and I'm gonna steal it and say I came up with it. This guy said that his new phrase in life is Semper Gumby. Anyone remember Gumby? Anyone here that old? I think everyone knows who Gumby is, the thing that's kind of all rubbery and semper means always, always gumby, always flexible. That's a good motto for the Christian life. We need to always be flexible. Because as soon as we think we can control every single variable, what happens when we can't control that one last variable? When we anchor our heart in sovereign God, the good God, the wise God, the faithful God, we're not tossed around by every change in circumstance. So let me let me end this way. Did you know Easter is like a month away? And Easter morning here, it's a party. It is a party. Because Easter is not just sentimental tradition, it is the proclamation that the crucified Jesus is risen. That's why it's a party. The resurrection proves that sin's penalty has been paid and death's power has been broken. It guarantees the crown of life that James promises. And this is why this season is such a natural time to invite other people to church. What was the statistic you said? There's uh probably two-thirds of people in the United States are not believers. Christian nation. I don't think the statistic's much different for Christian County. When I first got here, everyone told me, oh, everyone here's a Christian. Mm-mm. Mm-mm-mm-mm-mm. Just drive up and down the roads a little bit, you'll figure that out quick. A lot of people here belong to churches, but that makes you a Christian as much as standing in your garage makes you a car. Somebody. This is such a natural time to invite other people to church. People already feel the pressure. They complain about the pressure, they scroll through the pressure, but many have no framework to understand it. And Easter opens the doors for conversations about suffering and guilt and hope and eternity. Next Sunday is another fantastic opportunity. We have Ken Freeman's gonna be here. He's gonna be preaching D now, and he's gonna be here on Sunday. He's an evangelist. That's what he does. I'm a teacher, I'm not an evangelist. If you're saved already, you come listen to Ken, you're probably gonna get saved again. That's that's what an evangelist does. That was a joke for the Baptist got really mad at me for saying that. Yeah, bring a lost friend next Sunday, invite a lost friend on Easter because it's all gospel. Not with pressure, but with sincerity. I would love for you to join me. I think it would encourage you. Now, here's the thing. Now, listen to me. You are not responsible for their response. You are responsible for your obedience. The same gospel that brought you forth by the word of truth is powerful enough to bring others forth as well. Let's pray together, and then we'll take the Lord's table. Father, we are grateful for your word and for your salvation, and now, Lord, we come not as spectators, but as needy sinners saved by grace. Your word has searched us, it has exposed what is shallow, what is divided, what is fearful, what is proud and self-reliant, and yet it's also shown us Christ. Faithful where we have failed, obedient where we have wandered and steadfast under pressure. And Lord, I confess that I do not deserve a seat at this table. By nature, we are all rebels. By choice we have sinned. By your mercy, we have been brought near through the blood of Christ. I'm so thankful that the gospel does not invite the worthy. I'm thankful that the gospel creates the worthy through Christ. And as we come to the bread and the cup, guard us from cold ritual and empty tradition. Give us true repentance, give us renewed faith, give us gratitude that trembles and joy that rests upon you. And we love you through Christ. Amen. Now, the reality of worshiping a living Savior.