WEBVTT 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:04.160 Um yeah, Tina just kind of showed up in our church. 00:00:04.400 --> 00:00:05.839 Actually, I'm gonna tell the story. 00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:08.560 I'll read the scripture and then you can sit down. 00:00:10.560 --> 00:00:14.400 This is reading from James chapter one, verses 19 to 27. 00:00:14.800 --> 00:00:24.000 Know this, my beloved brothers, let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger, for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 00:00:24.320 --> 00:00:32.719 Therefore, put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls. 00:00:33.119 --> 00:00:37.679 But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 00:00:37.920 --> 00:00:49.920 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror, for he looks at himself and goes away, and at once forgets what he was like. 00:00:50.159 --> 00:01:00.880 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets, but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. 00:01:01.119 --> 00:01:08.400 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. 00:01:08.719 --> 00:01:18.000 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. 00:01:18.239 --> 00:01:19.280 This is the word of the Lord. 00:01:19.359 --> 00:01:20.560 Please be seated. 00:01:21.359 --> 00:01:26.719 It's still so wonderful to look out and see humans that I get to preach to. 00:01:26.799 --> 00:01:33.920 And it's not just the camera, uh, but we also want to say welcome to all of you who are joining us online on the live stream right now. 00:01:34.079 --> 00:01:41.439 Uh you are here, uh, we are together in spirit, and we thank you for uh participating with us uh in time with us here. 00:01:41.519 --> 00:01:42.400 So welcome. 00:01:42.560 --> 00:01:44.959 Um and also welcome to everybody that's here. 00:01:45.200 --> 00:01:49.040 So I was having coffee at a place called Rivers and Roads. 00:01:49.200 --> 00:01:51.200 Does anybody know that coffee shop? 00:01:51.760 --> 00:01:52.719 Two people. 00:01:52.959 --> 00:01:54.319 And one of them I met there. 00:01:54.480 --> 00:01:55.599 Okay, two other people. 00:01:55.840 --> 00:02:05.040 So and I was sitting next to Tina and I was working on a sermon, um, and which you'll you'll hear one soon. 00:02:05.280 --> 00:02:19.840 And the uh uh and Tina, you were meeting with someone, and uh she was like uh just she was I I was listening in and I was like, oh no, like people talking about the Bible at a coffee shop. 00:02:19.919 --> 00:02:23.199 This is there's gonna be like some hippie nonsense in this conversation. 00:02:23.280 --> 00:02:31.599 And and then Tina was like, but what Tim Keller says about how art integrates with our faith is that, and I was like, hmm, interesting. 00:02:31.919 --> 00:02:33.759 Tim Keller is the Protestant Pope. 00:02:33.840 --> 00:02:40.400 And so uh uh I just intervened into the conversation and was like, hey, what are you guys talking about? 00:02:40.479 --> 00:02:42.080 I like Jesus too. 00:02:42.400 --> 00:02:59.439 And Tina described this uh program that she was starting called QRZ, which is a fellowship for artists, uh Christian artists and non-Christian artists, to uh help artists integrate their faith and their art. 00:02:59.840 --> 00:03:07.439 Um so that one of the key aspects of changing culture is that there's good Christian art out there. 00:03:07.680 --> 00:03:16.240 Um and it's so much of the of the Christian uh art, we put a heavy emphasis on the Christian part and a really weak emphasis on the art part. 00:03:16.719 --> 00:03:19.520 Um God's not dead. 00:03:20.639 --> 00:03:29.759 Um and uh it she's done a great job of uh gathering this group of people together to really for Christians to be able to really take their art seriously. 00:03:29.840 --> 00:03:32.159 So anyway, I was like, you've got to meet my friend Zach. 00:03:32.240 --> 00:03:33.680 He loves Christian art. 00:03:33.919 --> 00:03:38.479 Um and Zach's our normally our worship pastor, you guys will meet him. 00:03:38.719 --> 00:03:45.680 And uh yeah, so they met and then this friendship developed, and now uh she's a part of our church. 00:03:45.840 --> 00:03:51.520 Our church actually uh partners with QRZ to support the movement of Christian art in our city. 00:03:51.599 --> 00:03:54.560 So if you tithe, congratulations, you're a part of that. 00:03:54.800 --> 00:04:08.960 Um and uh yeah, so Tina is here and was able to lead us in worship this morning because uh Zach, who's hiding in the back, uh in Claire brought their new baby, uh which we want to. 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:13.280 Which is so exciting. 00:04:13.520 --> 00:04:14.159 All right. 00:04:14.479 --> 00:04:17.600 Um so thanks for joining us this morning. 00:04:17.680 --> 00:04:18.800 My name is James Rathman. 00:04:18.959 --> 00:04:21.360 I'm the pastor here at Redemption Church Denver. 00:04:21.519 --> 00:04:26.720 Thanks for registering and jumping through all the hoops to uh be with us in service. 00:04:26.959 --> 00:04:30.720 Um let's uh I've got a couple of announcements. 00:04:30.800 --> 00:04:34.959 Uh one is that uh next week continue the same process as this week. 00:04:35.040 --> 00:04:37.360 You register in the app to be at service. 00:04:37.519 --> 00:04:39.519 Registration opens on Tuesday. 00:04:39.839 --> 00:04:44.240 And uh also this week VBS is rolling out. 00:04:44.319 --> 00:04:47.279 So VB uh vacation Bible school will not be in person. 00:04:47.519 --> 00:04:50.959 It will be in person for you with your child and your home. 00:04:51.040 --> 00:04:53.439 Um but we aren't gathering together for VBS. 00:04:53.600 --> 00:05:04.560 Instead, we've partnered with several other churches in the area and put together kits that if you sign up, a bunch of crafts and things will be dropped off, and there'll be an hour-long video released each day this week. 00:05:04.639 --> 00:05:09.439 So you can go through those crafts with your kids at home, um, or maybe get together with some other kids. 00:05:09.519 --> 00:05:12.480 Uh, but you can register for that as well in our app. 00:05:12.800 --> 00:05:18.399 Um let's pray, and then we're going to get into our sermon today, going through this text. 00:05:18.480 --> 00:05:22.319 And the sermon is titled How to Stop Deceiving Yourself. 00:05:22.959 --> 00:05:26.399 I know you hear a title like that, and it's like, well, why would I want to do that? 00:05:27.279 --> 00:05:29.759 So uh hopefully we'll we'll learn why. 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:31.279 Let's pray. 00:05:31.839 --> 00:05:45.120 Father, we just praise you for the assembled congregation, Lord, that you meet us here and we pray that you would be glorified by our song and by uh your word. 00:05:45.680 --> 00:05:57.759 Lord, we pray that you would make it known in our hearts and that what you have for us in your word today would be transformative and that we might see you as you speak to us. 00:05:58.079 --> 00:06:11.040 Father, uh, I ask that you would give us soft hearts that are able to receive, that you would um uh allow us to just enjoy the refreshment that we gain by just seeing other people together. 00:06:11.279 --> 00:06:19.040 Um And we also pray that you would you would continue as you have so far to keep our congregation healthy amidst this. 00:06:19.199 --> 00:06:23.199 And we just pray for the continued healing of our country, Lord. 00:06:23.439 --> 00:06:28.959 Uh and uh yeah, Father, that you would guide us, guide us through this season, Lord. 00:06:29.040 --> 00:06:31.199 Lift us up in Jesus' name, amen. 00:06:32.480 --> 00:06:57.680 So self-deception is one of the most terrifying abilities that we have as humans, because what it means is that you know something is true, but at the very same time, about the exact same thing, you can act, think, uh, and behave in ways that demonstrate that the thing that you know is true isn't true. 00:06:58.000 --> 00:07:01.680 So that that creates this incredible dissonance in our hearts. 00:07:01.920 --> 00:07:08.160 Um self-deception is a is a total problem uh in the philosophical community. 00:07:08.399 --> 00:07:09.439 Like, what do we do with this? 00:07:09.680 --> 00:07:11.759 Is self-deception legitimately possible? 00:07:11.920 --> 00:07:17.360 And if it is, uh, what does that mean for our ability to really know anything? 00:07:17.680 --> 00:07:24.000 Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, which I really love, um, it's my favorite Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 00:07:24.240 --> 00:07:52.160 It says uh uh they say this in the article on self-deception, it is a problem of existential concern, since it suggests that there is a distinct possibility that we live with distorted views of ourselves, others, and the world that may make us strangers to ourselves and blind to the nature of our significant moral engagements. 00:07:52.879 --> 00:08:21.920 So you're saying that that what they're saying is that self-deception means that it's likely that we will become alienated from others, from the significance of our moral engagements, so we won't be able to tell if uh something that we engage in is actually right or wrong, and we'll become alienated strangers from ourselves, that we find ourselves to be untrustworthy things. 00:08:22.160 --> 00:08:32.320 You know, like how you'll read a book with an untrustworthy narrator, uh, like Catcher in the Rye, and then about halfway through you realize, oh, uh Holden, right? 00:08:32.639 --> 00:08:35.279 Caulfield is lying to me. 00:08:35.440 --> 00:08:40.399 And he's the only one that's telling me the story, and he's the only character that I have access to. 00:08:40.639 --> 00:08:43.919 Imagine that same sort of discovery in your own mind. 00:08:44.320 --> 00:08:46.799 I'm only looking out my own eyes. 00:08:47.120 --> 00:08:50.720 And I I'm the only one interpreting my life for me. 00:08:50.879 --> 00:08:53.120 And even that's not trustworthy. 00:08:53.279 --> 00:08:55.120 That's an existential threat. 00:08:55.200 --> 00:08:57.279 It's incredibly alienating. 00:08:58.559 --> 00:09:21.519 So, in uh the section of the letter that we're looking at today, in the letter from James, he is describing to us how we can live in a way where we're not self-deceived, how to overcome our self-deception, so that we don't find ourselves alienated from one another and ourselves, but we can rest in honesty and truth in our souls. 00:09:21.759 --> 00:09:32.799 So imagine that dissonance that you feel so often in uh decision making where it's like, what I can't even tell what the right thing to do is here, or if it's just something that I want to do. 00:09:33.039 --> 00:09:39.759 Imagine being able to rest in the truth to relieve that type of dissonance in our souls. 00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:45.679 I think that James is aiming at that today for uh uh this section of the letter. 00:09:46.000 --> 00:09:48.559 He gives us three things, if you can believe it. 00:09:48.879 --> 00:09:53.279 He calls us to listen, to act, and to assess. 00:09:54.159 --> 00:09:59.759 That's the way forward to eliminate self-deception in our lives. 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:02.799 Listen, act, assess. 00:10:03.200 --> 00:10:04.639 So, first, listen. 00:10:04.799 --> 00:10:12.799 Now, this is the order that James goes in in the letter, but this first point, I bet, will be the most helpful today. 00:10:13.200 --> 00:10:15.600 Um, so this point is listening. 00:10:15.679 --> 00:10:34.879 I think it's so relevant for this time in our country where we're wrestling through so many things, um, but especially through dialogue around Black Lives Matter and how to come to terms with sins that are in our cultures, uh, and how to work through those at a personal level. 00:10:35.440 --> 00:10:36.960 Begins with listening. 00:10:37.120 --> 00:10:38.320 I think this is gonna be really helpful. 00:10:38.480 --> 00:10:40.240 James 1, 19 to 21. 00:10:40.879 --> 00:10:54.559 He writes, know this, my beloved brothers, let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger, for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 00:10:55.279 --> 00:11:06.799 Therefore, put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls. 00:11:07.679 --> 00:11:14.320 So James give us gives us two flows of thought here that are back to back, this kind of binary construction. 00:11:14.720 --> 00:11:21.039 And the first one, he says this does not produce the righteousness of God. 00:11:21.279 --> 00:11:26.480 But the second one, he says this can lead to your soul being saved. 00:11:26.720 --> 00:11:30.879 So, just with that, if you had to choose which one, what do you think you'd want to go with? 00:11:31.120 --> 00:11:34.720 Doesn't produce the righteousness of God or leads to your soul being saved? 00:11:34.960 --> 00:11:37.919 You're all here, so you don't you're not talking to your TV. 00:11:38.399 --> 00:11:39.440 Souls being saved. 00:11:39.600 --> 00:11:40.720 So we're all on the same page. 00:11:40.879 --> 00:11:41.120 Good. 00:11:41.360 --> 00:11:43.679 Want to make sure our incentives are aligned. 00:11:44.399 --> 00:11:51.519 Uh so uh, but the way that it's constructed is they're not just perfect opposites. 00:11:51.679 --> 00:11:59.360 There's there's a nuance here that's really important for us to grasp in order to live well as Christians in the world. 00:11:59.600 --> 00:12:01.120 So let's look at this first part. 00:12:01.360 --> 00:12:05.440 He says, be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. 00:12:05.600 --> 00:12:07.919 And that is a command for everyone. 00:12:08.159 --> 00:12:15.279 Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger. 00:12:15.519 --> 00:12:20.080 This is a disposition of your heart towards everyone. 00:12:20.320 --> 00:12:23.440 He's not saying be quick to hear Christians. 00:12:23.840 --> 00:12:32.159 He's not saying be quick to hear the whatever everybody has some podcaster that you go to to reinforce what you already think. 00:12:33.120 --> 00:12:33.759 Right? 00:12:34.240 --> 00:12:35.200 Just me. 00:12:37.120 --> 00:12:39.840 Be quick to hear, that's general. 00:12:40.159 --> 00:12:49.840 He's calling you towards a general listening and engagement with whoever you happen to find yourself in dialogue with. 00:12:50.080 --> 00:12:55.200 And the opposite of that is uh being quick to talk. 00:12:55.440 --> 00:13:11.840 So that means you don't receive new information, you just reinforce what you're already thinking, and quick to anger, which shuts down your ability to actually hear and receive any information from someone else that would be contrary to what you already thought. 00:13:12.080 --> 00:13:16.720 So he's calling us towards everyone having this disposition of listening. 00:13:16.879 --> 00:13:35.279 And the opposite of that, which is if you live in such a way that cultivates anger in your heart and cultivates the ending of conversations with people who disagree with you, then you're producing an anger which does not lead to the righteousness of God. 00:13:35.600 --> 00:13:42.159 It may feel in your heart like you're just protecting and advocating for the righteousness of God. 00:13:42.320 --> 00:13:43.440 But look, this is the Bible. 00:13:43.519 --> 00:13:44.639 I'm pulling it right out of here. 00:13:44.799 --> 00:14:01.120 So if you're interested in advocating for the Bible, then a part of that requirement, part of your submission to the truth of the word, is that you're called to listen without getting angry to those who disagree with you, to everyone. 00:14:01.600 --> 00:14:07.200 He James is imagining this disposition of openness that's almost almost unimaginable to think. 00:14:07.440 --> 00:14:11.919 It's, I think for many of us as Christians, we think that's just too risky to even assume. 00:14:12.080 --> 00:14:14.559 I'll lose my footing and I'll just get caught up in the world. 00:14:14.720 --> 00:14:16.480 But no, this is submission to the word. 00:14:16.639 --> 00:14:19.919 He's calling you to be quick to listen. 00:14:21.840 --> 00:14:29.200 Now, the next thing that he says that does lead to the righteousness of God, which isn't uh a cutting out the listening. 00:14:30.559 --> 00:14:40.080 So he says, therefore, put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls. 00:14:40.240 --> 00:14:42.639 So this one is the one that's able to save your souls. 00:14:42.720 --> 00:14:49.039 It's a disposition of meekness that puts away filthiness and wickedness. 00:14:51.360 --> 00:15:10.240 Now, what we would expect if I were writing, if I were the if it was me, James, instead of James, James, then uh what we would ex what I would write is something like be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger, because the anger doesn't lead to the righteousness of God. 00:15:10.399 --> 00:15:13.360 But you know what does lead to the righteousness of God? 00:15:13.679 --> 00:15:18.879 By the way, righteousness of God and salvation of your souls, those are referring to the same thing. 00:15:19.120 --> 00:15:21.840 This is the righteousness of God that's received by faith. 00:15:21.919 --> 00:15:23.440 It's given to Christians. 00:15:23.600 --> 00:15:26.559 We are given God's own righteousness. 00:15:26.720 --> 00:15:29.519 If you would like to have God's own righteousness, stick around. 00:15:29.679 --> 00:15:31.600 We I can give it to you for free. 00:15:31.759 --> 00:15:34.240 Not that I can give it to you, but I can tell you who can. 00:15:35.279 --> 00:15:40.240 Uh if you'd like to hear more after the service, I'd love to talk with you about that. 00:15:40.399 --> 00:15:44.000 But there's uh uh this those are interchangeable terms. 00:15:44.080 --> 00:15:46.799 So if I were writing this, sorry, I'm taking forever on this point. 00:15:49.200 --> 00:15:51.279 I would say, listen. 00:15:51.519 --> 00:15:53.759 You need to listen to others. 00:15:53.919 --> 00:15:59.200 Uh if you don't listen to others, it will produce an anger that doesn't produce the righteousness of God. 00:15:59.440 --> 00:16:04.559 If you do listen to others, it will produce a humility which will save your souls. 00:16:04.960 --> 00:16:06.480 But that's not what he says. 00:16:07.759 --> 00:16:15.600 He says, listen to others, because if you don't, that anger will not produce the righteousness of God. 00:16:17.039 --> 00:16:21.360 Listen to the word of God implanted in your hearts. 00:16:21.919 --> 00:16:28.000 And the word of God implanted in your hearts will save your souls. 00:16:29.039 --> 00:16:37.360 You see, they're not opposite things, but he's calling you to do two things at once in your life. 00:16:37.679 --> 00:16:43.039 Welcome to the difficulty of being a Christian in the world. 00:16:43.279 --> 00:16:46.000 This is the challenge of being a Christian in the world. 00:16:46.159 --> 00:16:47.519 Here's our temptations. 00:16:47.679 --> 00:16:53.200 One is to say, okay, so my call is just to listen and be empathetic. 00:16:53.440 --> 00:16:54.960 And that's my highest calling. 00:16:55.039 --> 00:16:58.879 I can see it in the world, be in the word, be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. 00:16:59.039 --> 00:17:02.799 I just need to listen and be empathetic with those that I engage with in the world. 00:17:02.960 --> 00:17:04.160 And then that's that's it. 00:17:04.240 --> 00:17:04.880 That's the end. 00:17:05.119 --> 00:17:11.759 I've achieved a level of transcendence because I'm an empathetic type of human who can then relate to other humans. 00:17:11.839 --> 00:17:13.920 And that's my highest calling. 00:17:14.400 --> 00:17:16.240 But you aren't allowed to do that. 00:17:16.640 --> 00:17:29.519 You aren't allowed to say that's your highest calling because you have another higher calling, which is that the ultimate listening that you're doing is to the word of God. 00:17:31.119 --> 00:17:40.799 So the other temptation on the other side is I'm just gonna focus on the word of God, and I'm gonna make sure that I get my premises right, and I'm gonna make sure that I get my theology straight, and that I get my points straight. 00:17:40.960 --> 00:17:47.599 And then anyone who doesn't do just that, I'm able to cut off out of my life so that I don't have to engage with them. 00:17:47.759 --> 00:17:56.480 And then whatever preacher I really like who always agrees with me, I'm just gonna be like mainlining them on whatever podcast they happen to release. 00:17:56.720 --> 00:18:05.759 Or whenever I feel threatened by somebody saying an alternative worldview, then I'm just gonna read more Tanahassi codes. 00:18:05.920 --> 00:18:12.000 And if you're on the other side, whenever I feel threatened by somebody who has another worldview, then I'm just gonna keep mainlining Ben Shapiro. 00:18:13.359 --> 00:18:13.680 See? 00:18:14.319 --> 00:18:16.400 I can be pretty bespoke with my sermons. 00:18:16.559 --> 00:18:17.839 I know you guys. 00:18:20.799 --> 00:18:24.319 Uh and those are the two most opposite humans I can think of. 00:18:26.640 --> 00:18:30.799 So we don't just get to settle into one of those. 00:18:31.920 --> 00:18:42.880 Instead, we have to listen, really listen, but we don't get to lose our wits because we're grounded in the word of God. 00:18:43.279 --> 00:18:46.640 Our highest this is this is the difficulty of Christianity. 00:18:46.880 --> 00:18:52.880 Christianity is most often not rights and wrongs, it's proportion. 00:18:53.920 --> 00:18:56.640 Life is hard by getting the proportions right. 00:18:57.599 --> 00:19:11.359 We need to have a proportion of our lives that is really listening to others in ways that that's a true dialogue, and we need to have a proportion in our lives, the greater proportion, which is I'm grounded in the truth of the word of God. 00:19:12.079 --> 00:19:16.720 So we're engaged, but we're engaged as Christians. 00:19:18.480 --> 00:19:24.480 Our highest calling is not just empathy, but we have to be real listeners. 00:19:25.920 --> 00:19:28.079 But our highest calling is to be grounded in the word. 00:19:30.160 --> 00:19:40.559 Uh Leslie Nubigan, who I'm just loving lately, he's uh uh in his book Foolishness to the Greeks, uh, he says this. 00:19:40.799 --> 00:20:04.640 He says, a true understanding of the gospel itself ought to enable Christians to be firm in their allegiance to Christ as the way, the truth, and the life, and also to be ready to enter into a genuinely listening dialogue with those who do not give this allegiance, but from whom they know that they have to be ready to learn. 00:20:04.880 --> 00:20:12.559 So we have an allegiance and we're called to enter into dialogue with people who don't hold that allegiance and we still expect to learn from. 00:20:12.799 --> 00:20:14.640 Isn't Christianity weird? 00:20:15.599 --> 00:20:25.920 This is the foundation on which a true tolerance, not indifference to the truth, which says the only thing that matters is empathy, can be founded. 00:20:26.000 --> 00:20:29.599 Uh uh not indifference to the truth can be founded. 00:20:29.759 --> 00:20:35.200 True dialogue is as far as possible from neutrality or indifference. 00:20:36.160 --> 00:20:37.359 True dialogue. 00:20:39.359 --> 00:20:46.400 That's uh Christians in our church. 00:20:46.559 --> 00:20:56.160 You know, if you're like a if you consider yourself a part of Redemption Church Denver, let me ask you through this season, can you can you do this really hard thing? 00:20:56.720 --> 00:21:00.240 Let's ask the Spirit to let us do this really hard thing. 00:21:00.880 --> 00:21:03.119 Let's not disengage. 00:21:04.079 --> 00:21:08.559 Let's be a part of conversations with people who don't think like us. 00:21:10.799 --> 00:21:15.519 And while we do it, let's not lose our footing in the word. 00:21:16.559 --> 00:21:20.160 Let's move into the world as Christians. 00:21:21.440 --> 00:21:22.400 Do both. 00:21:22.799 --> 00:21:30.400 The Bible calls us to do both, and we'll trust that when we get in over our heads, that Jesus will help bail us out. 00:21:30.640 --> 00:21:32.480 That's like the whole story. 00:21:32.880 --> 00:21:36.960 That's the in that's the inside the leaf of the Bible. 00:21:37.279 --> 00:21:38.799 They got in over their heads. 00:21:39.119 --> 00:21:42.000 Now the story of the one son who had to keep them all together. 00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:53.759 Okay, this creates a posture of listening in our hearts. 00:21:53.920 --> 00:22:02.960 And now, James, after creating this posture of listening, and it's Christian listening, so it's not like the world's listening, and it's not like Like we're Christians, we've got to stay away over here listening. 00:22:03.039 --> 00:22:05.119 It's Christian listening, it's engaged. 00:22:05.359 --> 00:22:09.200 Um creates this posture of listening in our hearts. 00:22:09.440 --> 00:22:13.039 But then James immediately he's like, but don't just listen. 00:22:13.279 --> 00:22:18.480 Because if you're just listening, you're in the perfect position to be deceiving yourself. 00:22:18.720 --> 00:22:21.839 Because you'll think you know something that you don't really know. 00:22:22.160 --> 00:22:25.359 This is James 1, verses 22, and this is our call to act. 00:22:25.519 --> 00:22:28.240 We listen and then we act. 00:22:28.720 --> 00:22:34.960 But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 00:22:35.599 --> 00:22:56.960 If you are just listening to the word and not considering this is a movement of my whole life to understand the God of the Bible, something that I have to experience both in uh or in three ways at least, intellectually, so that I know the content of what God is saying in his word. 00:22:57.119 --> 00:23:05.279 I need to know this emotionally so that I'm feeling the things that God calls me to be feeling about the word. 00:23:05.680 --> 00:23:12.880 If you look out and see tragedy in the world and find a hardness of heart in yourself, then we're not knowing God well. 00:23:14.160 --> 00:23:24.079 And lastly, situationally, we need to be able to live out our knowledge and understanding of God and practical means in the world. 00:23:24.240 --> 00:23:32.319 And if we if we're just saying, look, we're hearing the right things, then James is saying, you're deceiving yourself. 00:23:32.640 --> 00:23:36.319 You're thinking you know God and you don't. 00:23:36.799 --> 00:23:38.319 You really don't. 00:23:38.720 --> 00:23:46.079 That's because a part of this is understanding that God's word to us, when God speaks to us, that's an action. 00:23:46.400 --> 00:23:51.039 God is doing something to us with his word. 00:23:51.440 --> 00:24:05.680 And when God does this action to us, it requires a reciprocal, responsive reaction from us in order for us to be able to understand what he is really calling us into by his word. 00:24:06.079 --> 00:24:08.319 Here's uh here's an example. 00:24:08.640 --> 00:24:12.720 Oftentimes we think of words as just things that just deliver information. 00:24:13.039 --> 00:24:15.119 But words don't just deliver information. 00:24:15.279 --> 00:24:17.279 Words do things to each other. 00:24:17.440 --> 00:24:20.720 We can make things with just our words. 00:24:20.960 --> 00:24:24.319 So one day, uh Megan loves to day hike. 00:24:24.400 --> 00:24:25.519 Megan's my wife. 00:24:25.680 --> 00:24:26.880 She's waving. 00:24:27.039 --> 00:24:28.960 Uh she's the one with the mask on. 00:24:29.279 --> 00:24:34.240 And we're uh uh Megan loves to day hike. 00:24:34.480 --> 00:24:35.680 I don't like to. 00:24:37.440 --> 00:24:44.079 I like uh I like to have I like to feel like I accomplished something, so I like to go to the top of something. 00:24:44.240 --> 00:24:45.599 That I'll be really interested in that. 00:24:45.680 --> 00:24:50.319 But if it's like we're gonna walk around the circle, I'm like, I don't want to walk around the circle, I want to watch TV. 00:24:50.559 --> 00:24:55.440 And uh but one day I told Megan I was like, look, we're going on this hike. 00:24:55.599 --> 00:25:01.920 We woke up and we were, I was like, we're definitely going on this hike, like I really want to, and it was rainy, and she's like, that's weird, why would you want to? 00:25:02.079 --> 00:25:05.680 Well, it's because my plan was to hike to this place, and I was gonna ask her to marry me. 00:25:05.839 --> 00:25:08.480 So for the first time ever, I wanted to go on a day hike. 00:25:08.880 --> 00:25:15.519 We got up there and I walked weird and I like peed like six times on the trail. 00:25:15.759 --> 00:25:17.279 I don't know why. 00:25:18.000 --> 00:25:30.640 Uh and knelt down at once we got to like this beautiful scenery, and I knelt down and I said, read her like a beautiful thing is amazing, and said, Will you marry me? 00:25:30.880 --> 00:25:33.359 Now, when I said, Will you marry me? 00:25:33.759 --> 00:25:36.799 It she wasn't just like, Yes, I hear you. 00:25:37.119 --> 00:25:40.400 I understand the content of this of these words. 00:25:41.200 --> 00:25:47.119 You know, for for her to treat it like that is like you don't get it. 00:25:47.440 --> 00:25:49.519 You don't get what I'm saying. 00:25:50.160 --> 00:25:55.279 What God does with his words is he establishes a covenant with us. 00:25:56.079 --> 00:26:02.079 He's saying, look, uh, by my word, I'm calling you into relationship with me. 00:26:02.240 --> 00:26:05.279 I'm saying, I will be your God. 00:26:06.160 --> 00:26:12.400 And if there's nothing in your heart that says, I'm gonna be your people, you know what? 00:26:14.400 --> 00:26:16.480 I'll be your people then. 00:26:17.039 --> 00:26:18.880 Then you haven't heard it. 00:26:19.839 --> 00:26:21.839 That hearing is false. 00:26:22.000 --> 00:26:25.759 It's a useless hearing for that to have taken place. 00:26:26.000 --> 00:26:31.759 And then how much more if if we, well, I'll I'll continue on. 00:26:31.839 --> 00:26:33.039 I think that you get the point. 00:26:33.279 --> 00:26:35.359 God's word is doing something. 00:26:35.519 --> 00:26:40.720 And if we aren't responding to it in real actions in our lives, then you aren't really hearing it. 00:26:41.599 --> 00:26:55.680 In James 1.23, he continues if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror, for he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 00:26:56.160 --> 00:27:02.240 Now, imagine if uh Megan had said, Yes, uh, I'll let's do this. 00:27:02.319 --> 00:27:03.519 I want to marry you. 00:27:03.759 --> 00:27:05.680 And we high-fived. 00:27:11.359 --> 00:27:17.680 Then on the drive home, I'm like, yeah, so like what what do you think we should do for dinner tonight? 00:27:17.839 --> 00:27:22.160 And she's like, Oh, I'm actually meeting up with Dan tonight for dinner. 00:27:22.319 --> 00:27:23.119 And I was like, what? 00:27:23.200 --> 00:27:24.079 We're engaged. 00:27:24.319 --> 00:27:27.599 You know, and she's like, Yeah, I heard you, I said it, I did this stuff. 00:27:28.000 --> 00:27:34.400 But also, like, I figured like I wanted to hang out, I wanted to hang out with this other dude, you know. 00:27:36.000 --> 00:27:47.759 The sorry, Megan, that never that didn't happen at all. 00:27:50.720 --> 00:27:52.000 Thanks, buddy. 00:27:55.039 --> 00:28:14.240 Uh but the the point being, when we're talking about a when we're talking about a covenant and God is calling us to act in a way that is meaningful to our response to the covenant, we're recognizing that we're entering into a new reality that that legitimately affects our identity. 00:28:14.720 --> 00:28:18.400 It's like, look, you responded in this way to God's call. 00:28:18.640 --> 00:28:21.279 He named you, he called you his people by his word. 00:28:21.599 --> 00:28:25.200 And then you go out and act like you're not his people. 00:28:26.000 --> 00:28:28.799 You know, that requires a repentance. 00:28:28.960 --> 00:28:34.480 It's a misunderstanding of the reality of your identity that's been given to you in your word. 00:28:34.640 --> 00:28:38.240 It's like you look in a mirror and you walk away and you forget who you are. 00:28:38.960 --> 00:28:51.599 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets, but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. 00:28:54.319 --> 00:29:07.920 If instead of looking into the mirror, you look into the law of God, you consider that this is the highest truth about me, this is the highest good of who I am, and you seek to act. 00:29:08.880 --> 00:29:16.160 That means, you know what, I'm gonna have to listen, and I'm going to have to engage as a Christian in this. 00:29:17.119 --> 00:29:33.039 One who lives in that tension, which will require suffering, which means it requires perseverance, then you're beginning to know God, know who he really is. 00:29:34.079 --> 00:29:39.200 Like Paul describes, you know, I'm starting to understand the fellowship of his suffering. 00:29:39.759 --> 00:29:44.400 You know, this is a thin example just from my limited experience. 00:29:44.559 --> 00:29:52.400 But I was I was talking with an another pastor this week, and I was, I was like, you know, my personality is like I just want to bring people together. 00:29:52.559 --> 00:29:53.680 Like that's it. 00:29:53.920 --> 00:30:07.119 I I love I love to do that, but this job so often requires me to say truths that will divide people and will pull people apart. 00:30:07.359 --> 00:30:12.079 And that's just a painful reality of what it means to speak the truth as a Christian. 00:30:12.319 --> 00:30:14.480 I was like, it's just a hard part of this job. 00:30:14.559 --> 00:30:20.319 And he was like, Yeah, man, it's like the hardest part of the job uh is finding yourself having to do that. 00:30:21.119 --> 00:30:28.880 And that's because I don't want to experience the rejection that the truth of Christ requires us to experience. 00:30:30.240 --> 00:30:37.279 But when I do, in the small ways that I do, mostly it's just like people that I thought I was close with ghost us. 00:30:38.319 --> 00:30:40.000 That's not that bad. 00:30:40.480 --> 00:30:57.359 Um but but when that small experience, I'm learning the fellowship of Christ's sufferings, that it was me who rejected him, and he stayed and remained loving. 00:30:58.079 --> 00:31:11.440 You know, putting yourself in situations where you're going to be legitimately engaging in the world, listening in a true dialogue, but as a Christian, you must experience rejection. 00:31:12.799 --> 00:31:21.119 But what we're being called into is a consistency of identity with who God has called us in Christ. 00:31:21.839 --> 00:31:30.559 Okay, so we act, and then next, as part of not deceiving ourselves to thinking that we are something we're not, we assess. 00:31:31.359 --> 00:31:35.359 So James gives us two assessments for our faith. 00:31:36.480 --> 00:31:46.880 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. 00:31:47.440 --> 00:31:51.839 So this first thing, the first little, he's like, you know, what can I think of? 00:31:52.240 --> 00:31:54.079 How about just what you say? 00:31:55.359 --> 00:32:10.160 If what you say doesn't line up with what you really claim to think, what you would tell yourself you thought about Christ, then you're deceiving yourself that you're in Christ. 00:32:16.960 --> 00:32:23.039 A bridled tongue is not a tongue that says nothing. 00:32:26.079 --> 00:32:32.400 You don't put a bridle on a horse to tie it to, well, maybe to a hitchin post. 00:32:34.880 --> 00:32:41.039 But you put a bridle on a horse so that you can ride the horse and the horse goes where you want. 00:32:42.400 --> 00:32:49.279 So when it says bridled tongue, it's not saying tongue that it doesn't say anything and knows how to hold back. 00:32:49.519 --> 00:33:02.799 Sometimes it means a tongue that says a hard thing when it needs to be said, that that it intervenes and brings truth into an area, clarity into an area that's just full of gray. 00:33:04.799 --> 00:33:10.079 Sometimes it means not saying anything. 00:33:10.400 --> 00:33:21.759 You know, sometimes when you when you you're the type of person that can't resist jumping into some argument to bring something somewhere, and you realize, you know what, this person just needs compassion right now because there's real hurting here. 00:33:21.920 --> 00:33:23.200 So what do I need to do? 00:33:23.279 --> 00:33:30.640 Just sit here and observe the the hurt, do my part to let them know their hurting is is holy before God. 00:33:32.400 --> 00:33:35.440 Uh, then a bridled tongue needs to do that too. 00:33:35.599 --> 00:33:42.720 But you need to consider how is your tongue different in the different situations that you're in? 00:33:43.519 --> 00:33:45.279 Who would you not bring truth to? 00:33:45.440 --> 00:33:47.599 Who'd you remain silent before? 00:33:48.240 --> 00:33:51.200 Uh, who can you not stop arguing with? 00:33:52.079 --> 00:33:55.440 In both instances, it's an unbridled tongue. 00:33:56.400 --> 00:34:04.480 So uh let's not deceive ourselves or deceive our hearts, because that that type of religion is worthless. 00:34:05.119 --> 00:34:15.199 And finally, religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world. 00:34:17.360 --> 00:34:19.119 Isn't that a beautiful verse? 00:34:19.280 --> 00:34:21.519 That's like a bumper sticker verse. 00:34:24.159 --> 00:34:26.559 But it's also pretty horrifying. 00:34:27.840 --> 00:34:31.199 He uses these words, pure and undefiled. 00:34:31.760 --> 00:34:42.639 And what he means is a heart that's unmixed, one that isn't self-deceived, one that doesn't say, I'm a Christian, but you know what that means? 00:34:42.719 --> 00:34:45.119 I can actually do and think whatever I want. 00:34:48.159 --> 00:34:56.400 There may be a temptation after hearing a verse like this to plunge yourself into a further self-deception, which is, you know what, I'm a Christian. 00:34:56.800 --> 00:35:09.679 So I I'm just gonna uh kind of try and like ignore what whatever qualms I have with Christianity and just bury those things to try and engage with my faith in a deeper way. 00:35:09.920 --> 00:35:12.639 It may be a temptation for some of you. 00:35:13.440 --> 00:35:20.639 But instead, I want you to consider what if I tried to resolve those doubts in the word? 00:35:22.000 --> 00:35:29.440 And what if I trusted God to meet me in those places so that he would lead me into the truth? 00:35:29.679 --> 00:35:39.440 So that you would no longer live in self-deception of, you know, sure, there are these things that I don't really think and could never really defend about Christianity. 00:35:40.239 --> 00:35:52.800 But instead, you were able to, like James in this, have a whole life faith, which views helping, loving those who can never help you in return. 00:35:53.440 --> 00:35:55.679 You know, that's why it's widows and orphans. 00:35:56.079 --> 00:35:58.800 You know what you get for helping widows and orphans? 00:35:59.119 --> 00:35:59.599 Cost. 00:36:00.800 --> 00:36:03.679 You just it just costs you. 00:36:05.199 --> 00:36:20.480 You can help those who would never help you in return, and consider just as much a part of your faith that you would remain undefiled in the word, in the world, that you would be holding to Christ legitimately. 00:36:21.039 --> 00:36:31.679 Not just, there's a moth, not just uh sacrificing the truth of the word on the altar of empathy, and not sacrificing empathy on the altar of the word of the truth. 00:36:31.760 --> 00:36:35.119 You're called to live in a deeper tension than that. 00:36:38.159 --> 00:36:39.119 Final word. 00:36:41.760 --> 00:36:42.960 You can't. 00:36:44.400 --> 00:36:48.800 You're gonna mess up all the time, almost constantly. 00:36:49.039 --> 00:36:54.960 And I think especially if you're doing it right, you're gonna feel like you're always getting your proportions wrong. 00:36:56.400 --> 00:37:02.320 So how could we move in a way like this, so in a way that's sustainable at all? 00:37:03.920 --> 00:37:06.400 Because we know the one who did it. 00:37:07.199 --> 00:37:13.920 We know the one who perfectly listened and identified with us, with you. 00:37:15.679 --> 00:37:19.920 Jesus, who is God, is the truth. 00:37:20.239 --> 00:37:21.679 He is the truth. 00:37:23.920 --> 00:37:34.400 And yet he became us, taking on our flesh, listened to the depth of pain that's really in us. 00:37:35.679 --> 00:37:41.199 And then by doing that, we can know that we are atoned for by him. 00:37:41.599 --> 00:37:44.719 Our identity is secure in him. 00:37:45.760 --> 00:37:58.559 And it's our love for him that drives us to be empathetic towards others like he was with us, and then to hold to the truth that is him. 00:37:59.840 --> 00:38:01.519 Let's embrace that tension. 00:38:01.760 --> 00:38:07.840 The world so desperately needs people that are embracing that tension right now. 00:38:09.519 --> 00:38:14.639 There's so much to celebrate in changes that are that are long overdue in our country. 00:38:14.960 --> 00:38:16.559 We can celebrate those. 00:38:18.159 --> 00:38:19.760 Keep your wits about you. 00:38:20.880 --> 00:38:22.800 Christ is the one. 00:38:23.360 --> 00:38:24.800 Christ is the victor. 00:38:25.360 --> 00:38:27.360 Christ is the true hope of the world. 00:38:27.840 --> 00:38:28.400 All right. 00:38:32.239 --> 00:38:34.639 Oh, I forgot my communion thing. 00:38:35.039 --> 00:38:36.639 Can you toss me one? 00:38:38.880 --> 00:38:40.079 Look at that. 00:38:46.719 --> 00:38:56.559 In Luke 22, verse 17, it says, And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he said, Take this and divide it among yourselves. 00:38:56.880 --> 00:39:01.760 For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes. 00:39:02.000 --> 00:39:08.719 And he took bread, when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, This is my body which is given for you. 00:39:08.960 --> 00:39:11.039 Do this in remembrance of me. 00:39:11.280 --> 00:39:17.679 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. 00:39:17.920 --> 00:39:29.119 We rest in the covenant that he has accomplished, and we hope that by his power working in us, we might be able to make it manifest more in the world, that he listened with the truth. 00:39:29.440 --> 00:39:34.800 Um, Holy Father, pray that you would bless this taking of communion together. 00:39:35.039 --> 00:39:44.320 Uh, and we ask that you would you would attend it by your grace, that we might know that this is the new covenant which nourishes us in your blood. 00:39:44.559 --> 00:39:46.000 Lift this up in Jesus' name. 00:39:46.159 --> 00:39:46.559 Amen.