WEBVTT 00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:07.280 Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast. 00:00:07.519 --> 00:00:11.599 We exist to awaken this generation to new life in Christ. 00:00:11.839 --> 00:00:13.039 Thanks for tuning in. 00:00:13.199 --> 00:00:16.399 To find out more, go to awakeningchurch.com. 00:00:18.079 --> 00:00:19.280 Thank you for joining us. 00:00:19.359 --> 00:00:21.359 If you haven't we haven't met yet, my name is Chris. 00:00:21.440 --> 00:00:33.600 I'm one of the pastors on staff, and I want to invite you to reflect a little bit with me and to look at God's word in what he might have to say with us, uh say to us during this kind of chaotic time. 00:00:33.920 --> 00:00:39.359 I think one of the unique things about this season is we're all experiencing time so differently. 00:00:39.520 --> 00:00:44.240 You know, maybe your day feels longer than it's ever felt before in your life, stuck at home. 00:00:44.399 --> 00:00:47.359 Or maybe it's feeling faster than it's ever felt before. 00:00:47.520 --> 00:00:49.119 I think it kind of feels like both. 00:00:49.280 --> 00:00:52.719 It's strange that this is only our second live stream right now. 00:00:52.880 --> 00:00:57.200 You know, before we uh we were meeting in Del Mar High School just two weeks ago today. 00:00:57.280 --> 00:00:59.039 It's crazy to think about that. 00:00:59.200 --> 00:01:07.280 But it was really only like 10 or 12 days ago that our nation started to really reckon with this virus and all of the changes that went on. 00:01:07.439 --> 00:01:17.040 When we started to see celebrities be diagnosed, the NBA season canceled, March Madness canceled, the Masters is canceled, South by Southwest, celebrities getting diagnosed. 00:01:17.200 --> 00:01:18.959 Like that's when we started to reckon with it. 00:01:19.040 --> 00:01:20.719 And it was really only 10 or 12 days ago. 00:01:20.799 --> 00:01:24.239 Some of those things I mentioned even happened within a half hour. 00:01:24.560 --> 00:01:30.239 All of this happening so quickly, um, things started to kind of cascade from there. 00:01:30.400 --> 00:01:31.840 Those were kind of the luxuries, right? 00:01:31.920 --> 00:01:34.879 And you know, sports and watching sports and stuff like that. 00:01:34.959 --> 00:01:37.519 But then necessity started to affect us, right? 00:01:37.760 --> 00:01:50.079 School closures, social distancing, and now this shelter-in-place ordinance, which has left many people without work and with possible economic situations that are dire. 00:01:51.040 --> 00:01:55.439 No school, no job, no future is really certain. 00:01:55.599 --> 00:02:02.000 And it's interesting the things we usually use to cope when things are bad are also somewhat gone. 00:02:02.319 --> 00:02:06.000 Travel, we used to just escape to another place, right? 00:02:06.239 --> 00:02:11.759 Uh, sporting events often allowed us to kind of escape our own existential worries. 00:02:12.080 --> 00:02:20.560 Well, now we don't have those things to escape, and we're kind of stuck in our homes, and we're stuck to reckon with what do you do with a world that is disappearing? 00:02:20.719 --> 00:02:26.479 What do you do when life has the kind of the rug's been pulled out from under your life? 00:02:26.960 --> 00:02:28.639 This is what we have to face with. 00:02:28.800 --> 00:02:36.240 And what's so beautiful, I believe, is God has answers that God actually has a word into your life. 00:02:36.400 --> 00:02:44.479 I think right now we're kind of scrolling through our phones and our laptops and stuff, looking for answers, looking for something. 00:02:44.719 --> 00:02:45.759 It's so cool. 00:02:46.080 --> 00:02:49.919 God, He doesn't offer an opinion on our existence. 00:02:50.159 --> 00:02:54.719 He offers a word into our existence, a word, a transcendent word. 00:02:54.879 --> 00:02:56.800 And that's what we get today. 00:02:57.759 --> 00:03:00.560 It's kind of funny but providential. 00:03:00.800 --> 00:03:03.840 This series that we're in right now is called The Holy Contradiction. 00:03:03.919 --> 00:03:05.680 And we planned this months ago. 00:03:05.840 --> 00:03:15.840 And as we reflected as pastors, man, we we realized we got to keep going with this series because it really matters to where our world is at. 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:21.360 The series is called A Holy Contradiction, and it's actually going through just the first part of James chapter one. 00:03:21.680 --> 00:03:24.400 If you've got a Bible, I'd invite you to turn there with me. 00:03:24.719 --> 00:03:25.680 James chapter one. 00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:30.639 There's even a Bible tab uh on the online experience that you can click over to. 00:03:30.800 --> 00:03:37.599 In addition to prayer, if you want prayer right now, you could hit that tab and ask for live prayer, get a prayer request. 00:03:37.680 --> 00:03:42.400 Some of our trusted, amazing volunteers and pastors will be there to meet you and to pray for you. 00:03:42.800 --> 00:03:58.080 James chapter one, we've said it's providential because this series is kind of looking at how we live beautifully contradictory lives as Christians, how actually God's word offers us a window into a life that is possible when everything seems impossible. 00:03:58.400 --> 00:04:02.000 Week one, the title of the message was Joy in a World of Pain. 00:04:02.159 --> 00:04:03.919 That seems contradictory, right? 00:04:04.080 --> 00:04:06.400 How can you have joy when things are terrible? 00:04:06.639 --> 00:04:11.439 James says, consider it pure joy when you experience trials of many kinds. 00:04:11.680 --> 00:04:16.800 And then the next week, we talked about wisdom in an age of chaotic information. 00:04:17.040 --> 00:04:21.120 In other words, we were all getting just a cascade of info, right? 00:04:21.279 --> 00:04:23.920 Tons on our Twitter feed and emails left and right. 00:04:24.079 --> 00:04:27.519 And is wisdom possible when we're inundated with so much information? 00:04:27.759 --> 00:04:34.079 James says, actually, if you lack wisdom, you should just ask God for it and he will generously and graciously give it to you. 00:04:34.160 --> 00:04:34.800 That was last week. 00:04:34.959 --> 00:04:40.319 Well, this week, James is gonna turn in his audience to this idea of eternity. 00:04:40.560 --> 00:04:44.959 He's gonna start talking about what lasts and what doesn't last. 00:04:45.199 --> 00:04:47.759 Isn't this a really important word right now? 00:04:48.079 --> 00:05:02.639 As so many things are not lasting, as our economy seems to be failing, as our schools close, as our job future could be uncertain, we're starting to look at what's gonna last in this age where everything's kind of seeming to disappear. 00:05:02.959 --> 00:05:08.720 James chapter 1, verse 9 is where we're gonna be, where God's word can give us answers. 00:05:08.800 --> 00:05:09.120 Look at this. 00:05:09.279 --> 00:05:10.639 James 1, verse 9. 00:05:10.959 --> 00:05:17.360 Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation. 00:05:17.680 --> 00:05:21.360 Because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. 00:05:21.600 --> 00:05:31.600 For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass, its flower falls and its beauty perishes, so will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits. 00:05:32.000 --> 00:05:43.279 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. 00:05:43.839 --> 00:05:46.800 This is a kind of two-sided passage. 00:05:46.879 --> 00:05:53.199 Actually, a lot of the passages in James, it's like half really hard to hear and half filled with hope. 00:05:53.360 --> 00:05:58.800 Let's look at this idea of eternity in a transient time. 00:05:59.040 --> 00:06:01.120 Like eternity is an interesting word. 00:06:04.240 --> 00:06:07.600 In the Bible, the image of the world is really large. 00:06:07.759 --> 00:06:09.040 It's a big, big world. 00:06:09.199 --> 00:06:12.639 In fact, when the Bible talks about the world, it doesn't mean planet Earth. 00:06:12.720 --> 00:06:15.519 It means the cosmos of God's existence. 00:06:15.839 --> 00:06:20.160 God is talked about in Scripture as the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. 00:06:20.240 --> 00:06:25.920 He's talked about as the one who was there before creation, which is impossible to imagine. 00:06:26.319 --> 00:06:28.720 In our world, it's very small. 00:06:28.879 --> 00:06:33.839 We see the world as what Charles Taylor, a philosopher, says, is an imminent frame. 00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:44.800 What he means by that is everything we experience as modern people is inside a tight-knit frame that is material, consumeristic, and temporal. 00:06:45.040 --> 00:06:46.079 Doesn't last very long. 00:06:46.160 --> 00:06:56.079 It's filled with like reason, consumer products, the things that matter to our life, the 70 or 80 years if we're lucky to get them, and that's all quote-unquote existence really is. 00:06:56.240 --> 00:06:57.839 It's an imminent frame. 00:06:58.079 --> 00:07:01.839 And see, right now we're realizing that frame is kind of shattering. 00:07:02.000 --> 00:07:07.120 We're realizing our life is not certain, our future is not certain, we don't really know. 00:07:07.279 --> 00:07:08.319 We're confused. 00:07:08.720 --> 00:07:11.120 But the Bible doesn't see it that way. 00:07:11.360 --> 00:07:20.240 The Bible pulls back, it almost zooms out of that imminent frame into a vast picture of creation and God and what it calls eternity. 00:07:20.399 --> 00:07:24.000 You might have hear eternity and think that's just time going on forever. 00:07:24.160 --> 00:07:26.160 Well, sort of, but not really. 00:07:26.399 --> 00:07:32.000 When the Bible talks about eternity, it actually talks about life just unconfined from time. 00:07:32.240 --> 00:07:40.240 It talks about it in relationship to the eternal one, to God, that actually eternity is life with God forever. 00:07:40.399 --> 00:07:42.639 That's when the Bible talks about eternal life. 00:07:43.519 --> 00:07:45.439 Eternity, it's beyond existence. 00:07:45.519 --> 00:07:49.040 It's beyond human function, it's beyond the imminent frame. 00:07:49.199 --> 00:07:50.560 It's a zooming out. 00:07:50.639 --> 00:07:52.399 And that's what James does here. 00:07:52.639 --> 00:08:02.000 He talks about rich people kind of fading away and life being like grass, but he says, stay steadfast because a crown of life is coming. 00:08:02.319 --> 00:08:05.920 So there's a word of hope for us in this moment right now. 00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:13.600 And what I want us to do is to look at James in this way, looking at this passage to gain an eternal perspective. 00:08:13.920 --> 00:08:22.480 How can we, as Scripture zooms out, how can we zoom out of the imminent frame and look at life the way that God wants us to look at life? 00:08:22.639 --> 00:08:24.480 I think James gives us three things. 00:08:24.639 --> 00:08:26.240 How do we gain an eternal perspective? 00:08:26.399 --> 00:08:30.000 First, we have to embrace an upside-down reality. 00:08:30.480 --> 00:08:33.279 Embrace an upside down reality. 00:08:33.759 --> 00:08:37.919 You might be thinking, Chris, that's exactly what my life is right now. 00:08:38.080 --> 00:08:40.159 It is an upside down reality. 00:08:40.320 --> 00:08:44.960 It's like everything I thought was sure and certain is not sure and certain. 00:08:45.120 --> 00:08:49.679 And everything I was kind of like uncertain about is now becoming so certain, right? 00:08:49.759 --> 00:08:54.240 Like I was uncertain about certain things that now are becoming so apparent. 00:08:54.720 --> 00:08:58.480 How about all these powerful things we banked on are now weakened, right? 00:08:58.639 --> 00:09:01.440 And all the weak things we're wondering what to do with. 00:09:01.759 --> 00:09:04.639 We panic when things turn upside down. 00:09:04.879 --> 00:09:05.759 It's interesting though. 00:09:05.919 --> 00:09:09.679 Scripture seems to say that's the way life always is. 00:09:09.919 --> 00:09:19.279 It's just that we create illusions of control, don't we, around certain things like economic structures, our job, our future, our career, our education. 00:09:19.519 --> 00:09:21.039 We bank on those things. 00:09:21.120 --> 00:09:27.519 And Scripture always says, be careful what you prize and what you bank on, because the world is not what it seems. 00:09:27.600 --> 00:09:29.440 It's kind of upside down. 00:09:30.159 --> 00:09:33.360 These things are the eternal perspective. 00:09:33.519 --> 00:09:41.840 James in verse 9 says, Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation and the rich in his humiliation. 00:09:42.000 --> 00:09:43.840 That's an upside down view. 00:09:44.399 --> 00:09:50.960 We think in the modern West, we're like the rich should be boasting and the lowly should be humiliated. 00:09:51.200 --> 00:09:55.440 But scripture says actually the way it always is is that the lowly should boast. 00:09:55.600 --> 00:09:56.240 What does that mean? 00:09:56.399 --> 00:09:57.840 How can he say that? 00:09:58.080 --> 00:10:01.360 How can you say that right now if you're lowly? 00:10:01.600 --> 00:10:03.679 James is giving us just new lenses, right? 00:10:03.759 --> 00:10:12.960 Or like I said, a new perspective, kind of zooming out of the imminent frame to view reality from eternity with eternal perspective and eternal lenses. 00:10:13.200 --> 00:10:22.480 When Jesus talked this way, he talked about the kingdom of God as a way to see what we can't really see, to see that which is unseen. 00:10:22.960 --> 00:10:25.519 The kingdom of God is a world within a world. 00:10:25.679 --> 00:10:27.519 It's a kingdom within a kingdom. 00:10:27.679 --> 00:10:30.879 It's like America is a nation and a kingdom, let's say. 00:10:31.039 --> 00:10:36.559 But the kingdom of God is like this nation within the nation, the kingdom within the kingdom, the world within the world. 00:10:36.720 --> 00:10:46.159 And when Jesus talked about this, he said, in order to see the kingdom and to have this eternal perspective, you're going to need to have eyes to see and ears to hear. 00:10:46.320 --> 00:10:51.919 What he meant by that is your normal sight will not be able to be like, oh, there's the kingdom of God. 00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:55.200 Or your normal ears won't be able to go, oh, that sounds like the kingdom of God. 00:10:55.360 --> 00:11:01.519 You're actually going to need God in your life to see this eternal perspective, to see what you can't see. 00:11:01.840 --> 00:11:09.679 So a prayer for you today in the midst of the madness is very simply this: God, help me see what I cannot see. 00:11:10.080 --> 00:11:17.519 God, help me hear what I cannot hear, because the kingdom of God is right in that space. 00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:23.919 Jesus likened the kingdom of God to things that were hidden in plain sight. 00:11:24.159 --> 00:11:26.240 That's how I've often described the kingdom of God. 00:11:26.320 --> 00:11:28.399 It's the things that are hidden in plain sight. 00:11:28.720 --> 00:11:32.240 He said, the kingdom of God is like seed that's planted in soil. 00:11:32.399 --> 00:11:36.159 It's like you can't see it beneath the soil, but you do see its effects. 00:11:36.320 --> 00:11:37.840 He says the kingdom of God's gonna be like that. 00:11:37.919 --> 00:11:40.720 It's gonna be like a seed that goes in the ground, it breaks, it dies. 00:11:41.039 --> 00:11:42.639 You don't see what's going on. 00:11:42.799 --> 00:11:47.120 You know there's death happening there, but then you see the effects of the seed through the soil. 00:11:47.279 --> 00:11:48.639 Life is beginning to produce. 00:11:48.799 --> 00:11:51.759 Or, like he says, it's like yeast in bread, right? 00:11:51.919 --> 00:11:54.080 You don't see yeast in bread. 00:11:54.240 --> 00:11:56.480 You see the effects of yeast in bread. 00:11:56.639 --> 00:12:00.480 You see the rising of the bread as the yeast goes into the lump. 00:12:00.639 --> 00:12:02.480 And that's the way the kingdom is working. 00:12:02.559 --> 00:12:05.519 It's like you're not gonna see it, you're gonna see its effects. 00:12:05.759 --> 00:12:10.480 And the prayers that we need to be praying now is God, help me see the effects of your kingdom. 00:12:10.639 --> 00:12:12.480 Help me see what I cannot see. 00:12:12.639 --> 00:12:16.000 When Jesus talked about the kingdom, he used James's language. 00:12:16.080 --> 00:12:17.679 And in fact, I should put it the other way, right? 00:12:17.840 --> 00:12:19.759 James is using Jesus' language. 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:24.240 James was actually Jesus' brother, and he called his brother his Lord. 00:12:24.399 --> 00:12:29.519 His he said he served this brother of his, who wasn't just his brother, but was God. 00:12:29.759 --> 00:12:38.559 When Jesus was there in Matthew 23, 12, he said, Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. 00:12:38.799 --> 00:12:43.200 See, that's a way of viewing the world, not just in the imminent frame. 00:12:43.519 --> 00:12:45.679 How do we see what we cannot see? 00:12:45.840 --> 00:12:49.039 Well, we see the lowly and the humble be exalted. 00:12:49.120 --> 00:12:54.159 All of Scripture beckons us towards this kingdom lens, this eternal perspective. 00:12:54.399 --> 00:12:57.440 The things you and I prize are fragile. 00:12:57.679 --> 00:12:59.840 The exalted things are fragile. 00:13:00.080 --> 00:13:04.399 And God says, beware of prizing those exalted things, money, riches. 00:13:04.559 --> 00:13:11.440 And you might be in that time where you're like, man, Chris, I thought I prized the godly things. 00:13:11.840 --> 00:13:22.480 But I'm in this season now where I'm realizing I banked so much on the earthly things, on the things that Jesus said, man, if you're exalting yourself, you'll be humbled. 00:13:22.799 --> 00:13:25.360 As Christians, we have to prize what lasts. 00:13:25.519 --> 00:13:29.759 And oftentimes God prizes what the world despises. 00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:36.080 Like the world doesn't see lowliness, humility, poverty as something to be prized. 00:13:36.240 --> 00:13:42.159 But God looks at those things and says, they will be exalted because they will last. 00:13:42.320 --> 00:13:51.200 There's something in the character of those people, the heart of those people, that when we're humbled, we actually know God and are connected to this eternal perspective in a fresh way. 00:13:51.440 --> 00:13:53.039 And maybe you've been humbled. 00:13:53.200 --> 00:13:55.279 Maybe you are lowly right now. 00:13:55.519 --> 00:14:02.559 You have the good news that God will exalt you, and I believe right now is exalting you as you are humbled. 00:14:02.879 --> 00:14:04.559 Because that's what's going to last. 00:14:04.879 --> 00:14:08.399 Most certainly, James is actually quoting from the Old Testament here. 00:14:08.639 --> 00:14:12.639 Isaiah 40, verse 6 says that all people are like grass. 00:14:12.879 --> 00:14:13.600 Sound familiar? 00:14:13.759 --> 00:14:15.919 Yeah, that sounds like James's language, right? 00:14:16.159 --> 00:14:17.279 All people are like grass. 00:14:17.440 --> 00:14:19.759 Verse 7, the grass withers, the flower falls. 00:14:19.840 --> 00:14:21.679 This is Isaiah 40. 00:14:21.840 --> 00:14:23.759 Because the breath of the Lord blows on them. 00:14:23.919 --> 00:14:26.000 Surely the people are grass. 00:14:26.240 --> 00:14:33.039 The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever. 00:14:33.279 --> 00:14:42.000 I think some of you need to hold on to that verse this morning, that the word of God is going to last through this time, that the kingdom is going to last. 00:14:42.080 --> 00:14:46.720 And right now, I really believe we're in a crisis of what lasts. 00:14:46.879 --> 00:14:51.279 We're in a crisis of what's going to last through this whole virus. 00:14:51.679 --> 00:14:56.080 An eternal perspective is essential for understanding what will last. 00:14:56.399 --> 00:14:58.799 Because we don't see life in the imminent frame. 00:14:58.960 --> 00:15:02.720 We see life beyond the frame in eternity and go. 00:15:03.039 --> 00:15:13.759 Some of these things, they're going to come and go like grass, but there's going to be things like the word of God, the gospel, the message of Jesus, the hope found in this book will last. 00:15:14.159 --> 00:15:25.440 Our culture has told you and told me our economy will remain, everything will be okay, the housing market will increase, your future career is just at your fingertips, you can achieve it. 00:15:25.919 --> 00:15:27.759 But then we have seasons like this. 00:15:28.480 --> 00:15:31.279 And we realize those things are not so sure. 00:15:31.519 --> 00:15:37.039 And we panic, but the Bible goes, James says, that's the way it's always been. 00:15:37.759 --> 00:15:39.440 Those things are transient. 00:15:39.600 --> 00:15:41.120 Those things are temporal. 00:15:41.600 --> 00:15:43.519 There's things that are gonna last. 00:15:44.240 --> 00:15:45.919 Are you lowly right now? 00:15:46.559 --> 00:15:50.559 Are you feeling depressed and depleted? 00:15:51.519 --> 00:15:53.440 You know, the Bible has good news for you. 00:15:53.679 --> 00:15:57.039 It says actually the lowly of heart will probably be the ones who last. 00:15:57.120 --> 00:15:58.720 Jesus says, Blessed are the meek. 00:15:58.960 --> 00:16:00.639 You know, I don't know why he blesses the meek. 00:16:00.720 --> 00:16:03.360 He says, they will inherit the earth. 00:16:04.320 --> 00:16:05.440 And are you meek? 00:16:05.600 --> 00:16:06.399 Are you mild? 00:16:06.559 --> 00:16:07.440 Are you low? 00:16:08.240 --> 00:16:11.039 Jesus is bringing his life and blessing to you. 00:16:11.120 --> 00:16:14.480 And I I know this is so much easier said than done. 00:16:15.600 --> 00:16:19.039 I still have to say it because it's the truth of the Bible. 00:16:19.679 --> 00:16:38.879 But this is so much harder sometimes in this place because as much as I want to tell you exactly how the kingdom's breaking in right now, as much as I want to tell you, hey, here's what we can see in the midst of what's unseen, all those things, you know, I don't know exactly how this is going to go out and work. 00:16:39.039 --> 00:16:41.120 I mean, my wife works in healthcare, okay? 00:16:41.200 --> 00:16:43.679 She's a doctor, she's in the hospitals every day. 00:16:43.919 --> 00:16:53.120 And and our childcare is day-to-day at this point, and we're working from home, and our whole church has been flipped into a live studio, and we don't get to see you on a weekly basis. 00:16:53.279 --> 00:16:59.440 And man, phone calls and Zoom meetings and uncertainty left and right, I'm with you. 00:17:00.320 --> 00:17:12.400 This is a hard time to be sure of these things, but it doesn't mean we waver because we don't land where the world lands, and we don't just see the imminent frame. 00:17:12.559 --> 00:17:19.839 We pull back, we see the script what the scriptures say, and we trust that the Lord is working his will through these things. 00:17:20.079 --> 00:17:21.440 Because it's actually a gift. 00:17:21.519 --> 00:17:35.119 An eternal perspective is a gift right now, because it not only helps you see that the world is upside down always, that the rich are not always as secure as they think that they are, that money is not always as you as secure as you think it is. 00:17:35.599 --> 00:17:37.599 You know, that's the way it always is. 00:17:37.839 --> 00:17:47.279 And it not only gives us this upside down vision, but secondly, the other reason, the other way to gain an eternal perspective is to understand the fleeting nature of life. 00:17:47.440 --> 00:17:49.839 Is what James says in verse 11. 00:17:50.079 --> 00:17:51.519 Look back at verse 11. 00:17:51.759 --> 00:18:05.039 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. 00:18:06.160 --> 00:18:12.319 One major reason you and I need an eternal perspective is you and I need reality. 00:18:12.640 --> 00:18:26.319 Like it's easy to get caught up in this life that reality is the imminent frame, that reality is our economic status, reality is our health, reality is our kids in school. 00:18:26.640 --> 00:18:28.400 That becomes our reality. 00:18:28.559 --> 00:18:33.039 But scripture says be careful of banking on those things because these things are fleeting. 00:18:33.279 --> 00:18:33.839 I love it. 00:18:34.319 --> 00:18:37.519 So also will the rich man fade away in his pursuits. 00:18:37.680 --> 00:18:39.519 Like, what are you pursuing? 00:18:39.680 --> 00:18:41.200 What reality are you pursuing? 00:18:41.359 --> 00:18:47.039 Are you pursuing the temporary, imminent frame, or are you pursuing the eternal things? 00:18:47.359 --> 00:18:49.359 We need a dose of reality. 00:18:49.519 --> 00:18:56.000 Reality for many Americans is a secure, growing economy with a job and an education and a future. 00:18:56.559 --> 00:19:01.359 James says, a lot of that is a flower in the field. 00:19:01.519 --> 00:19:04.240 Even our life is a flower in the field. 00:19:04.480 --> 00:19:11.039 James, later, we're in chapter one, in chapter four, verse 14, he says, What is your life? 00:19:11.279 --> 00:19:15.039 You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 00:19:15.200 --> 00:19:17.759 You might think, well, Chris, that's pretty depressing. 00:19:17.920 --> 00:19:20.400 And I actually find that very freeing. 00:19:20.720 --> 00:19:23.279 Like life is not about you or me. 00:19:23.440 --> 00:19:29.519 Life is not restricted to the imminent frame, to the 70 or 80 years we may be fortunate to live, right? 00:19:29.759 --> 00:19:31.839 Life is not limited to your life. 00:19:32.000 --> 00:19:33.839 Life comes and goes goes. 00:19:34.079 --> 00:19:38.480 God and heaven and eternity exists forever. 00:19:38.960 --> 00:19:40.960 But we need that dose of reality. 00:19:41.200 --> 00:19:48.720 I think when James's early audience, when they were getting this dose of reality, they certainly were thinking of Solomon. 00:19:48.880 --> 00:19:53.759 I told you last week when James was saying, if you lack wisdom, ask for it. 00:19:53.920 --> 00:19:55.920 They most certainly were thinking of Solomon. 00:19:56.079 --> 00:20:06.720 When James is talking about the passing of life being like flowers in the field, Isaiah's popping in the minds of these believers in the early first century, but so is the life of Solomon. 00:20:06.880 --> 00:20:09.119 Because Solomon had a dose of reality. 00:20:09.279 --> 00:20:11.279 Solomon was David's son. 00:20:11.519 --> 00:20:19.440 David, one of the most profound characters in the Old Testament, his son Solomon, an heir to the throne, became king. 00:20:19.599 --> 00:20:22.319 And when he became king, he got everything he wanted. 00:20:22.480 --> 00:20:26.400 He got wisdom, he got fame, he got money. 00:20:26.640 --> 00:20:31.279 But he also, in the midst of his success, he got an eternal perspective. 00:20:31.440 --> 00:20:38.000 And he started to see that life without this eternal perspective is really, really lacking. 00:20:38.240 --> 00:20:41.359 I think for some of us right now, that's where we're at. 00:20:41.599 --> 00:20:45.680 We don't have the eternal perspective, and we're feeling the cavity of existence. 00:20:45.839 --> 00:20:48.640 We're feeling, man, without God, what do I have? 00:20:48.799 --> 00:20:54.559 I don't have sports, I don't have kids, kids in school, I don't have any activities, I have no plans for travel. 00:20:54.799 --> 00:20:55.759 So now what? 00:20:56.319 --> 00:20:59.440 Ecclesiastes was a book that Solomon wrote. 00:20:59.680 --> 00:21:01.599 That kind of goes on this thought experiment. 00:21:01.680 --> 00:21:07.119 And it's a weird thought experiment, but I think it's beneficial for us to take it, a small journey into it. 00:21:07.359 --> 00:21:12.319 The thought experiment is this what happens with in the life without eternity? 00:21:12.480 --> 00:21:15.839 What happens when we just limit it to the imminent frame? 00:21:16.160 --> 00:21:20.000 He opens his book with this, these words, Ecclesiastes 1 verse 2. 00:21:20.079 --> 00:21:22.799 He says, meaningless, meaningless, says the teacher. 00:21:22.960 --> 00:21:23.759 That's him. 00:21:24.079 --> 00:21:26.160 Utterly meaningless. 00:21:26.480 --> 00:21:28.960 Everything is meaningless. 00:21:29.279 --> 00:21:32.880 That's a depressing verse in your Bible, but you know what? 00:21:32.960 --> 00:21:45.119 It's a person who's considering life without God, considering life without an internal perspective, considering life in a fake reality, life restricted to the imminent frame. 00:21:45.279 --> 00:21:48.480 And the word there, meaningless, is probably not the best translation. 00:21:48.720 --> 00:21:51.599 Some of your Bibles might actually say vapor. 00:21:51.759 --> 00:21:54.400 It's because it's the Hebrew word heavel. 00:21:54.559 --> 00:21:57.279 And this word literally means smoke. 00:21:57.519 --> 00:21:59.680 And what the teacher is saying is without God. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:01.680 God, life is smoke. 00:22:02.160 --> 00:22:02.880 What is smoke? 00:22:03.039 --> 00:22:05.519 The moment I see it is the moment it's gone. 00:22:05.680 --> 00:22:06.960 That's kind of like life. 00:22:07.119 --> 00:22:12.079 The moment it presents itself and you try to grab it is the moment you cannot possess it. 00:22:12.319 --> 00:22:17.200 The moment you try to make sense of the smoke is the moment it starts to disappear. 00:22:17.920 --> 00:22:25.920 And this writer of Ecclesiastes, Solomon, who got all the wisdom and all the riches, he's looking at life and he says, you know what, without God, that is life. 00:22:26.160 --> 00:22:27.599 Life is like smoke. 00:22:27.759 --> 00:22:29.119 It's like heavy. 00:22:29.359 --> 00:22:32.799 And inside the frame, that's all we've got. 00:22:33.519 --> 00:22:37.039 What's left when we don't have God is very, very little. 00:22:37.680 --> 00:22:50.880 And you know, James, pulling off of this language back in verse 11 of chapter 1 in the book of James, he says, the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass, beauty perishes. 00:22:51.279 --> 00:22:59.119 You know, these are two writers considering if you don't have God, you're facing kind of a fading and dying world. 00:22:59.440 --> 00:23:02.960 Live life just in the imminent frame and you don't see the whole picture. 00:23:03.039 --> 00:23:04.319 And it's depressing. 00:23:04.559 --> 00:23:08.480 Consider only your economic situation and you'll be filled with dread. 00:23:08.720 --> 00:23:15.599 But the beautiful part of these books in Ecclesiastes and in James is they do not end in that thought experiment. 00:23:15.839 --> 00:23:18.559 They take that journey down that dark rabbit hole. 00:23:18.720 --> 00:23:22.559 James says, man, the rich man fades like a flower in the field. 00:23:22.720 --> 00:23:25.920 Ecclesiastes says, life is like a mist, vapor. 00:23:26.240 --> 00:23:31.200 But the end of Ecclesiastes in chapter 12, it's 12 long, crazy chapters. 00:23:31.359 --> 00:23:38.160 But at the end of it, he says, now, Ecclesiastes 12, 13, now all has been heard. 00:23:38.240 --> 00:23:40.400 And here's the conclusion of the matter. 00:23:40.640 --> 00:23:43.519 Fear God and keep his commandments. 00:23:43.759 --> 00:23:47.039 Fear God and keep his commandments. 00:23:47.359 --> 00:23:55.920 James ends in verse 12 by saying, Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial, having stood the test of time. 00:23:56.559 --> 00:24:00.240 Having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life. 00:24:00.480 --> 00:24:07.200 Both of these writers realize when God's out of the picture, life is vapor, life is hard, life is difficult. 00:24:07.440 --> 00:24:10.880 But with God in the picture, there's hope. 00:24:11.119 --> 00:24:17.839 Which is the reason you and I need this perspective right now is you might be in the Ecclesiastes world right now. 00:24:18.000 --> 00:24:20.799 You might be in James chapter 1, 9, 10, 11. 00:24:20.880 --> 00:24:21.920 Man, things are fading. 00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:26.799 It's like flowers in the field, grass, and all this stuff is just dying before me. 00:24:27.039 --> 00:24:32.319 And the Bible says there's actually hope when you have the eternal perspective. 00:24:32.559 --> 00:24:34.559 That's what James 1.12 says. 00:24:34.720 --> 00:24:37.039 Blessed is the one who perseveres. 00:24:37.440 --> 00:24:42.640 Once again, we need this eternal perspective because we need hope in order to persevere. 00:24:42.799 --> 00:24:49.200 Both Ecclesiastes 12 and James 1.12 says life is not limited to the frame. 00:24:49.440 --> 00:24:53.200 Life is not limited to your 70 or 80 years. 00:24:53.359 --> 00:24:57.200 Life is not limited to this coronavirus season. 00:24:57.359 --> 00:25:02.559 Life is not limited to your personal experience within the frame. 00:25:02.880 --> 00:25:09.519 Life is the expansive experience of the love of God across all time and space. 00:25:09.680 --> 00:25:14.799 It's life is so much bigger than what you and I experience on a day-to-day basis. 00:25:15.200 --> 00:25:18.240 James concludes this section by a call to perseverance. 00:25:18.400 --> 00:25:20.880 He actually calls us back to a couple verses earlier. 00:25:21.039 --> 00:25:21.920 Do you remember week one? 00:25:22.240 --> 00:25:30.319 James chapter one, verse two, where he says, consider it joy, pure joy, when you face trials of many kinds. 00:25:30.880 --> 00:25:35.359 Because we know the testing of our faith produces perseverance. 00:25:36.160 --> 00:25:37.759 It produces perseverance. 00:25:37.920 --> 00:25:39.599 We talked about this word in week one. 00:25:39.759 --> 00:25:43.119 Perseverance, it literally means to remain under. 00:25:43.200 --> 00:25:45.200 It's the Greek word hoopamenoi. 00:25:45.359 --> 00:25:48.480 It just means to stand under and remain under. 00:25:49.119 --> 00:25:56.480 To use Ecclesiastes' language, it means to fear God and keep his commandments, like it says at the end of Ecclesiastes. 00:25:56.640 --> 00:26:03.839 To use James's language, it means to be steadfast, to persevere, to hoopamenoi, to remain under God. 00:26:04.319 --> 00:26:16.799 In other words, the best thing you and I can do when we are tempted to just view life in the imminent frame is to actually view life under God, which is not life just in this frame. 00:26:17.039 --> 00:26:19.119 It's life in eternity. 00:26:19.279 --> 00:26:21.440 It's life beyond the frame. 00:26:21.759 --> 00:26:26.960 And when we do this, James actually calls this person who is steadfast. 00:26:27.200 --> 00:26:28.720 He calls them blessed. 00:26:28.960 --> 00:26:30.319 It's a very churchy word. 00:26:30.400 --> 00:26:31.519 Maybe you've heard it before. 00:26:31.680 --> 00:26:35.279 About a year and a half ago, when we talked through the Sermon on the Mount, that word is used a ton. 00:26:35.440 --> 00:26:37.119 We unpacked it a little bit. 00:26:37.440 --> 00:26:40.799 Blessed is the Greek word makarios. 00:26:41.359 --> 00:26:44.799 And it actually can be translated flourishing. 00:26:45.359 --> 00:26:46.400 I put it this way once. 00:26:46.480 --> 00:26:49.279 I said it's kind of like you're headed in the right direction. 00:26:49.519 --> 00:26:53.839 Like good things are happening in your life, and God is active in your life. 00:26:53.920 --> 00:26:55.200 That's what it means to be blessed. 00:26:55.279 --> 00:26:56.480 You're flourishing. 00:26:56.720 --> 00:27:07.680 And notice that James equates that language, headed in the right direction and blessing, with perseverance, with just hanging in there, with remaining under. 00:27:08.240 --> 00:27:10.720 Talk about a holy contradiction. 00:27:11.279 --> 00:27:14.960 This is a holy contradiction, a contradictory way to live. 00:27:15.200 --> 00:27:17.680 To live and equate these two things. 00:27:17.920 --> 00:27:22.319 I'm hanging on to God and you're headed in the right direction. 00:27:22.559 --> 00:27:24.160 A lot of us think, maybe, maybe you're there. 00:27:24.240 --> 00:27:26.480 You're thinking, man, Chris, I'm barely hanging on. 00:27:26.640 --> 00:27:32.240 And you think that's equated with like not a strong faith or a weak relationship with God. 00:27:32.400 --> 00:27:35.440 Maybe you're feeling judged or you're feeling accused. 00:27:35.599 --> 00:27:37.680 I just want to say that's not of God. 00:27:38.079 --> 00:27:42.400 Of God is to say, are you remaining under God in any way? 00:27:42.720 --> 00:27:44.240 Man, you are blessed. 00:27:44.480 --> 00:27:49.519 You see, we often think that it's the quality of our faith that's going to save us. 00:27:49.680 --> 00:27:51.599 Like, man, I got to have a good faith. 00:27:51.759 --> 00:27:54.720 It's not really the quality of our faith that saves us, friends. 00:27:54.880 --> 00:27:56.640 It's what we put our faith in. 00:27:56.799 --> 00:28:00.400 Or to use James's language, where we place our faith under. 00:28:00.799 --> 00:28:09.759 If you're under God, the strength of his word and his character is what lasts through eternity, not just the strength of your faith. 00:28:10.079 --> 00:28:13.519 That's what it means to flourish, to be blessed. 00:28:13.680 --> 00:28:15.839 That's the life of a holy contradiction. 00:28:16.000 --> 00:28:21.039 God, I'm hanging in there, I'm steadfast with you, but I'm also blessed. 00:28:21.359 --> 00:28:27.759 We know this blessing and flourishing comes because James says we will receive what he calls the crown of life. 00:28:28.000 --> 00:28:29.839 The crown of life is coming. 00:28:30.079 --> 00:28:34.400 1 Peter 5, 1 Thessalonians 2 talks about this thing, the crown of life. 00:28:34.480 --> 00:28:37.119 It's kind of a strange phrase, is it not? 00:28:37.440 --> 00:28:44.799 And the reward or the crown, the crown of life, really biblically speaking, it's actually just life itself. 00:28:45.359 --> 00:28:49.599 That actually you will receive life as you persevere. 00:28:49.839 --> 00:28:58.960 You will receive this crown of life, this almost like an injection of livelihood will happen in your life as you persevere. 00:28:59.440 --> 00:29:01.680 Life in the midst of dying. 00:29:01.920 --> 00:29:03.680 That's what the crown is. 00:29:03.920 --> 00:29:06.319 The enjoyment of God's presence in eternity. 00:29:06.400 --> 00:29:07.680 And here's why. 00:29:08.000 --> 00:29:11.680 Because when we know God, we step outside of the frame. 00:29:11.839 --> 00:29:18.079 We step outside of the limited frame we've always been experiencing, and we see life for what it is. 00:29:18.240 --> 00:29:22.559 We see life for much larger than it really seems to be. 00:29:22.960 --> 00:29:27.519 And I know I always get to these points in the sermon where you're like, how can I be sure? 00:29:27.759 --> 00:29:34.880 How can I be certain that I will get life in the midst of my persevering when I feel like I'm one of those flowers fading? 00:29:34.960 --> 00:29:39.200 And I feel like I'm the rich person who James says will be humbled. 00:29:39.440 --> 00:29:45.759 Like, how do I know that I will receive life in the midst of a world that seems to be dying? 00:29:46.240 --> 00:29:51.359 Well, we need not look any further than another man who wore another crown. 00:29:51.599 --> 00:29:58.880 The crown of life is mentioned in the book of James, but in the Gospels, a crown of thorns is mentioned. 00:29:59.200 --> 00:30:05.119 Jesus, upon his death, was given a crown of thorns to wear, to mock him as a king. 00:30:05.359 --> 00:30:14.000 Jesus, the eternal one, stepping into the temporary, pulling himself into the imminent frame, and experiencing death. 00:30:14.160 --> 00:30:19.200 He was beaten, mocked, betrayed, whipped, scorned, and nailed to a cross. 00:30:19.359 --> 00:30:21.839 He was treated like vapor. 00:30:22.319 --> 00:30:24.880 Here for 33 years and murdered. 00:30:25.119 --> 00:30:27.839 The Roman government figured he's done. 00:30:28.079 --> 00:30:37.599 There's no person who, in our whole historical record of the hundreds of thousands of people crucified, there is no name of any person remembered to be crucified. 00:30:37.759 --> 00:30:39.119 The Romans planned on that. 00:30:39.279 --> 00:30:50.319 We could just stamp out everybody, crucify everyone we don't want, and they treated God, the eternal one, as heavel, as smoke, as vapor, disappearing from the earth. 00:30:50.559 --> 00:30:54.559 Jesus was executed and the crown of thorns was on his head. 00:30:55.440 --> 00:30:58.319 And yet we know what the cross did, do we not? 00:30:58.640 --> 00:31:05.519 It's here that we realize Jesus wore the crown of thorns so that we can receive the crown of life. 00:31:06.000 --> 00:31:15.599 Because we, on this side of the cross, do not see the crown of thorns as a defeat the way that the Roman government saw it as a defeat and a mockery. 00:31:15.839 --> 00:31:17.839 We see it as a victory. 00:31:20.720 --> 00:31:22.319 The cross is the victory. 00:31:22.559 --> 00:31:26.480 We don't sit looking at Jesus on the cross and just cross our fingers. 00:31:26.640 --> 00:31:40.559 We actually see in Jesus on the cross the eternal one stepping into the temporary, taking on the heaven and the weight and the smoke of life and coming victorious in resurrection. 00:31:40.799 --> 00:31:42.000 That's the gospel. 00:31:42.240 --> 00:31:47.839 The gospel is that the very moment of dying is the moment of life. 00:31:48.160 --> 00:31:50.319 Do you feel your life disappearing? 00:31:50.480 --> 00:31:53.599 Do you feel like you're being treated like vapor, like smoke? 00:31:53.759 --> 00:31:55.839 Do you feel like this is all passing away? 00:31:56.319 --> 00:31:58.240 Jesus is the one we can hope in. 00:31:58.400 --> 00:32:05.519 Revelation 14, 14 actually says that Jesus, he doesn't, when he returns, he doesn't return with a crown of thorns. 00:32:05.759 --> 00:32:09.039 He returns with a crown of gold. 00:32:09.279 --> 00:32:13.599 You know, we don't talk all that much about Jesus coming again, but we should. 00:32:13.920 --> 00:32:19.200 In Jesus coming again, we have certainty that life will come with him. 00:32:19.680 --> 00:32:23.599 In fact, the apostle John got a vision of Jesus returning. 00:32:23.839 --> 00:32:27.440 He was actually quarantined of all things in the island of Patmos. 00:32:27.599 --> 00:32:32.880 He was alone in the first century, and he received this vision. 00:32:33.119 --> 00:32:40.240 And in this vision, Jesus says this in Revelation 2.10 Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer, he tells John. 00:32:40.799 --> 00:32:44.480 Be faithful even to the point of death. 00:32:44.799 --> 00:32:49.119 And I will give you life as your victor's crown. 00:32:49.680 --> 00:32:58.000 To John, suffering on Patmos, stuck in quarantine, alone and isolated, Jesus says, do not be afraid what you're about to suffer. 00:32:58.319 --> 00:33:05.359 Be faithful even to the point of death, because I, the king of the world, the eternal one, will give you life. 00:33:05.680 --> 00:33:10.160 And life is the victor's crown that I have purchased through the cross. 00:33:10.319 --> 00:33:15.200 And this is where we see beautifully, in Christ, we do not just get the eternal perspective. 00:33:15.279 --> 00:33:16.559 I've been talking about this whole time. 00:33:16.720 --> 00:33:19.599 We actually get an eternal life. 00:33:19.920 --> 00:33:22.640 Through Jesus, you receive eternal life. 00:33:22.720 --> 00:33:26.240 And from eternal life, you receive an eternal perspective. 00:33:26.480 --> 00:33:29.359 And today it's about focusing on Jesus. 00:33:29.519 --> 00:33:34.640 Today it's about looking to Jesus and crying out to Jesus that will find your salvation. 00:33:34.960 --> 00:33:35.359 C.S. 00:33:35.519 --> 00:33:38.079 Lewis put it this way in his book, Mere Christianity. 00:33:38.240 --> 00:33:47.279 He said a continual looking forward to the eternal world is not, as some modern people think, a form of escapism or wishful thinking. 00:33:47.680 --> 00:33:53.920 But one of the things a Christian is meant to do, it does not mean that we are to leave the present world as it is. 00:33:54.079 --> 00:34:01.680 If you read history, you will find that the Christians who did the most for the present world were just those who thought the most of the next. 00:34:01.920 --> 00:34:08.000 It is since Christians have largely ceased to think about the other world that they have become so effective in this one. 00:34:08.320 --> 00:34:11.679 Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. 00:34:11.920 --> 00:34:14.800 Aim at earth and you will get neither. 00:34:15.440 --> 00:34:27.360 Today, the call of James, the call of the Bible, man, my call to you is to take your eyes off the imminent frame and to put your eyes on the eternal one. 00:34:27.840 --> 00:34:37.360 To look towards Jesus, the one who has died and who will live, who has lived again, who is now alive, with you, present, calling to you. 00:34:37.599 --> 00:34:47.920 Your time today is to look to Jesus and say, Jesus, I trust you, I believe in you, give me eternal life and with it an eternal perspective. 00:34:48.159 --> 00:34:49.840 Let me pray for us now. 00:34:50.400 --> 00:34:56.159 Jesus, we ask you to bring eternal life across those that are listening in today. 00:34:56.400 --> 00:35:14.400 Father, I don't know the stories that are happening in various living rooms and houses and dorm rooms, apartment buildings, across the world as people are live streaming in, God, but I ask you to speak your word to them and provide for them eternal life. 00:35:14.960 --> 00:35:30.960 God, we trust you in the midst of this madness, but we constantly need you, Lord, to show us what we cannot see and to give us ears to hear what we are not hearing, so that we may be able to see life from where you see it from eternity. 00:35:31.440 --> 00:35:33.599 We pray this in Jesus' name. 00:35:33.920 --> 00:35:34.559 Amen.