Living a Faith That Acts: Embracing Love, Community, and Service

Discover the transformative power of a church community that reaches out with love and action. In our latest installment of the 'Connect' series, we delve deeply into the balance between nurturing our internal church family and embracing the wider world with open arms. Inspired by Thomas Reiner's "Autopsy of a Deceased Church," we uncover the dangers of becoming too inwardly focused and how such an approach can signal a church's downfall. We take a chapter from the book of James, examining how trials can strengthen our unity and faith, pushing us to forge connections that extend far beyond church walls.

As our conversation progresses, we confront the sin of favoritism head-on, guided by the profound wisdom found in James 2. The 'royal law' of loving our neighbors as ourselves isn't just a lofty ideal; it's a practical call to action for every believer. We dissect the Good Samaritan parable, becoming increasingly aware of the breadth of who our neighbors truly are and the depth of love we are called to show them. This episode isn't just about understanding Jesus' sacrifice and love; it's about reflecting it in our own lives, creating a ripple effect of kindness and compassion across our communities.

Finally, we demonstrate that faith is not just a feeling but a force for good when combined with decisive action. Through the inspiring stories of Abraham and Rahab, the Brown Bag Diner initiative, and personal reflections, we reveal how leadership and service are intertwined. Whether you're a long-time churchgoer or just curious about the impact a faith community can have, this episode is an invitation to not only believe passionately but to also live out those beliefs in ways that can truly transform lives, including our own. Join us for a heartfelt and challenging exploration into the essence of what it means to live a faith that breathes and acts.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:03

It's funny because it really does fit perfectly, and one of the things that I love about what God does is how he does that. He makes things just make sense and one of the things coming into. So this is week two of this series called Connect, and last week we talked about the importance of kind of how we handle things from an internal perspective. Right that there's a church. We are designed, we're created for community. It's part of who we are. It's not just the church, it's everywhere, and nine times out of ten the average person wants to feel like they belong somewhere, and the church is a place where I believe they should find that. And it doesn't matter where they've come from. The beauty of the church is we all come from different walks of life. We're all in different phases of life. I know I've talked about this before, but the church currently is the largest generational gap in the history of the church, almost five generations deep. But in that we have this shared experience in Christ, this shared idea that you and I are called to something bigger than ourselves, so much so that what we do here should naturally outflow into everything we do once we leave this place.

Speaker 1: 2:57

There was a book that our leadership read about two years ago. It was a really short book by Thomas Reiner called the Autopsy of a Deceased Church. I know that I've talked about it before, but basically they went through and interviewed a bunch of churches that were on the verge of closing their doors or had closed their doors, and out of all the research, one of the things that they found and there was a lot of different factors here, but one of the factors that they found in churches that were dying is, as they died they became more internally focused, so it just became about them and their people and their environment. So that inward focus created this kind of vacuum of well, this is ours and we have to protect it. And so it was really hard for people to get from the outside in because there was like this little circle that formed, and so, as these churches continue to remain internally focused, they lost more and more people or people would die. So eventually what happens is these churches would close their doors, never to open again. And in Tom Reiner writes this book as a wake up call to the churches in America to say listen, here are some key things that if you want to try to keep from dying, you should work on, and one of those is how do we get outside of ourselves? So this morning we're going to be in James, chapter two, just to kind of go back.

Speaker 1: 4:47

This is a letter being written to the early believers that have been scattered throughout the area. These are younger Christians, new Christ followers, who have lost access to maybe their families or maybe their faith community. Some of them weren't participating in synagogue worship anymore. They were kind of on the outside looking, in which, if you pay attention, jesus came and showed them a new way and some people responded well to it and others ignored it. And so James is writing to these early believers and in chapter one he's encouraging them. He says listen, trials are going to come, temptations are going to come, but that perseverance in you, you know, persevere, fight through this, it'll produce faith. And he goes on and talk about how they're, you know, come together, you know, focus on being together and helping those who are weaker. He talks about the rich and the poor and the shared idea that you know, we're no one's rich, no one's poor, but we're all in this for the kingdom of God. And so he encourages this this early, these early churches to to really just kind of stick together. He says listen, don't, don't give up. It's hard, it's hard, but if you continue to work together, you're gonna see that you're gonna be okay, you're gonna. You're gonna come through the other side.

Speaker 1: 6:23

And so now we're jumping into James 2 and we're gonna skip a couple verses, but we're gonna head down to James, chapter stu 2, starting in verse 8, and and once again you're dealing with, james is writing to early Christians. They're still trying to figure it out. There's still a lot of struggles with the law. A lot of them are still dealing with the law of Moses and not how that's impacted them. And so he writes to them and and just kind of gets right to the point.

Speaker 1: 6:56

So if you keep, if you really keep, the royal law found in scripture, he says love your neighbor as yourself. He said, you're doing it right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law's lawbreakers Forever. Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. For he who said you shall not commit adultery Also said you shall not murder if you don't. If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you're a lawbreaker Speaking act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy. We've shown to anyone who has not been merciful, mercy triumphs over judgment. So in the very Verse 8 it says if you really keep the royal law found in scripture, love your neighbor as yourself, you're doing it right. And and once again he he's speaking to a crowd of believers that that's their wealth is getting in the way. There's some rich that are some poor, there's some favoritism being shown, there's some internal struggles that that are happening, and and James is saying, if, if you can love your neighbor as yourself, you're doing something right.

Speaker 1: 8:20

You know Jesus addresses this question when he's talking To some early believers in a parable and he talks about so there's a couple different ways he addresses it. But the Luke, chapter 10, verses 25 to 37, is the parable known as the good Samaritan, and if you've never heard it, I'm just gonna kind of summarize it. But. But Jesus tells this story of a man who's been injured and and you know, a Jewish leader walks by and they see this man who's been beat on the road and they kind of ignore him and and they actually move over. Even then, another person comes along and they see the injured man and, and they essentially ignore him and they just kind of you know this is funny, but it's not they offer him some prayer as they walk by, right, they send him love as he's beaten on the ground and bleeding out, and then you have a Samaritan who comes along.

Speaker 1: 9:19

And in, a Samaritan was culturally like the enemy of the Jew. They hated each other. Yeah, it was probably more. One way, I think the Jews hated them more For whatever reason. There's some separation there, old testament things we could dive into but but the Samaritan is that the natural enemy Of the so on, who's Jewish? And so the Samaritan comes along and he sees this man who's been injured and he picks them up, he throws upon his donkey and he takes him and he helps him get better and then he provides for his needs and, and so Jesus actually tells his parable in response to the question Well, who's my neighbor?

Speaker 1: 9:59

And and so Jesus really does that. He sets this incredible, incredible contrast of here you have someone who you would consider your worst enemy, has come alongside, has picked you up, has loved you, has provided for you and has taken care of you. And so he sets this tone, that that your neighbor is anyone who's in need, not just your next door neighbor, and but he does this, that to help them, to help them in you and I to understand that that loving someone sometimes means we have to go out of our way To make it happen. Listen, what happened with the good Samaritan was not, it was an inconvenience to the Samaritan. The guy had to put his whole trip on hold, wherever he was headed. He, he, he gave money to this Jewish man that he had no idea who he was, he had no idea what he was able to do and he didn't even know who's gonna be able to give it back to him.

Speaker 1: 11:09

But but the point is is when you genuinely love someone, you see the humanity, and that I like what Rico said as his role as a chaplain. You're faced with people from all walks of life, but you still love them anyway. Right, that's what you and I are supposed to do. That's what should make the church unique. There's so many clubs, there's so many things, that there's organizations out there and they all have some kind of bent and they're trying to accomplish something. And I'm not going too far into this, but we're coming into the political world and it's an election year and everyone has an opinion and there's a side and everyone is after everyone else who doesn't agree. But the church is not supposed to be like that. The church is supposed to love people as they are where they are, and we do that because of what Jesus did for us, that while you and I were yet sinners, that he died on the cross for those that he loved. That's why he did what he did. So James continuing on, and James, chapter two, jumping down to 17.

Speaker 1: 12:40

So, in the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accomplished or accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say you have faith, I have deeds. Show me your faith without deeds and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God good. Even the demons believe that in shutter. You, foolish person. You want evidence that faith without deeds is useless.

Speaker 1: 13:05

What's done our father Abraham? Consider righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar. You see that his faith and his actions were working together and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled. That says Abraham believed God and was credited to him as righteousness and he was called God's friend. You see, the person is considered righteous by what they do, not by faith alone. In the same way, it was not even may have the prostitute consider righteous for what she did, which he gave, lodging to the spies. Send them off in a different direction, as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

Speaker 1: 13:46

There's a, there's a, there's a call to action from James and and he's talking to these early Christians he's saying listen, it is so good that you have faith and that you believe in God Great, even the demons do that. Right. So he acknowledges that the belief that God is amazing. But but it's what comes with that belief and it's what, it's what comes out of that faith that makes us unique, it's what transforms us. I've said this before and I'll probably say it again that that sitting in a church on Sunday morning makes you about as much as a Christian as me standing in my garage makes me.

Speaker 1: 14:36

A car Doesn't work that way, because it's not about this, just coming together and being together, but but it's actually taking what we have. It's taking what God has given us. It's taking the power of the Holy Spirit in us to take this faith and do something with it. These words and best build, multiply our action steps, all of them in faith. We invest in our own lives and the way that we worship, the way that we study, the way that we read the Bible. We invest in each other's lives through community groups and coming together and praying together. We invest in the community around us by serving the community and meeting people where they are through somewhere, like Brown Bag Diner, like those are. Just those are steps of investing and then we build right. We take our faith and we build upon it and we study the word of God and we spend time with each other, we spend time discussing it, we spend time coming into collective worship and we worship together and it builds our spirit and it equips us. And then we go out and we multiply it and we take it.

Speaker 1: 15:50

We take this message to anyone who's willing to listen and we tell anyone we could possibly come across about this Jesus who has changed my life. All of these things require you and I to do something. There are no bench warmers in Christianity. You can't. We are called to action. We are called to love people that the world might consider unlovable. You and I, we don't get to pick and choose who. We share the message of the gospel with. You and I are just told to go and teach them. Jesus says it at the end of his time, in nearing his time on earth. Just go into all the world, go to the ends of the earth and tell them of who I am, tell them of what I've shown you. And Jesus did this so well that he was criticized for it Luke 19, verses one and 10.

Speaker 1: 17:11

You know what? What makes a good leader is a good leader is someone who will never do something. They'll never ask you to do something they aren't willing to do themselves. And maybe you believe that, maybe you don't, but I can tell you that most times the people that I've followed the most in my life were leading the charge. I've worked at places where I've had bosses ask me to do something. They can't even do it. I'm like, why do I have to do it? And when I was in positions where I was a boss, I was never willing to ask anyone who worked under me to do something that I couldn't do. There was one time that I was loading a truck up when I worked at Abercrombie and Fitch, and one of the guys who was working there comes up to me and say, listen, it's like I love you, you're a great guy and I'm so glad that you're willing to do this, but you're slow, can you get out of the truck? And I was like, yeah, it's fine, like I get it, and but I've been saying like it. To me the idea was I'm just trying to help, right, and so why would Jesus ask us to do something that he himself is not willing to do? So? Luke 19, verses one through 10,.

Speaker 1: 18:32

The Jesus entered Jericho who was passing through, and a man was there by the name of Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and he was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, because he was short, he cannot see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up to him and said Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today. So he came down at once and he welcomed him gladly. Although people saw this, he began to mutter he has gone to be with a guest of the center. But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord look, lord, here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount Jesus said to him. Today's salvation has come to this house because this man too was the son of Abraham, for the son of man came to seek and save the lost, and in this I love the story of the Good Samaritan. But I love this encounter more because Jesus did exactly what he said should be done.

Speaker 1: 19:48

The tax collectors were like the worst of the worst people. You didn't really associate with them, you just assume they were all crooked. And so Jesus comes and he sits among Zacchaeus and the crowds start to murmur and they're like he's gone to be with sinners. Jesus didn't care what the crowd thought about him, if he wasn't concerned with whether or not he was sitting at the table of a sinner. What he was concerned about is whether or not Zacchaeus was gonna get a chance to have an encounter with him. And I love what happens because Zacchaeus has this moment, and I don't know how long it happened or what kind of conversations happened, but Zacchaeus has this realization that I'm gonna give what I have to the poor and if I've made any mistakes, I'm gonna make them right to the point. I'm gonna do it four times better. Right, because when people have a genuine encounter with Jesus, transformation happens. We talked about that all of January. All of the different people that interacted with Christ. Their life was forever changed.

Speaker 1: 21:06

You and I have a responsibility to show people as genuine of a representation as Jesus as we can. That means that we're supposed to find ourselves among sinners and people that we might consider undesirable. That means that we're supposed to go into the world and live in such a way that people look at us and think man, there's something that I want that they have, and it's supposed to be in a loving, non-judgmental way. I had a friend of mine on Facebook earlier this week asked the question. I said you're talking about how we're supposed to eat with sinners. And he says if that's true, if we believe that, not only are we called to do that, but Jesus modeled that he's like, why do you think as Christians we have such a hard time doing that? And it started to make me think about the dinner table Because, especially a lot of the interactions we see with Jesus, a lot of them were sitting around tables with people.

Speaker 1: 22:28

He would go into their homes and he would be part of their life and he would kind of get to see what it looked like. You know, I can imagine when Jesus told Zach Kias, hey, I'm coming to your house. He's probably like, wait, did I sweep the floor? Are the dishes clean? Do I have enough table settings for him? Wait, wait, jesus is coming over. I don't think I'm ready for this. I mean, that's how we are right.

Speaker 1: 23:04

Whenever we invite people over and I tell you guys this, all the time you guys come into our house on community like for our community group, and you think our house is clean, all the time it's not. We did that in the hour before you showed up and then by the time you leave, my house is a mess. My kids are amazing at this. It is phenomenal. Like within an hour, the entire living room will look like no one has cleaned in a year and a half and I'm like I don't know what just happened. Right, but the beauty of Jesus is when he shows up, he's not worried about that. He's not worried about what your house looks like. What he's worried about is whether or not your reaction with him is going to change something on your inside If the transformation is going to happen here. I love what Zacchaeus does. He's convicted and he says God, if I've wronged anyone, I'm going to make it right, because when we actually encounter Jesus, when people actually see Jesus in us, there's this realization that I could probably do better, and that's why it's so important for you and I to be in the community around us. This is our community, these are our people, some of you from Fowlands Beach, some of you from Stonerville. You guys are from Richmond, people from Wellsburg, weirton, wherever you are, that's the community that God has placed you in and you are called, you are challenged with your faith to go into that community and to make an impact, to be a light in a dark place.

Speaker 1: 24:59

We're gonna jump back to Jeremiah and and I love this passage out of Jeremiah he's writing to what are we would call exiles, as Jerusalem once through a lot of challenges in the Old Testament. And they were. They were taken over by a lot of kings. A Lot of times they were scattered. It's actually, it's beautiful how James in the beginning, chapter one, and that's when he talks about the 12 tribes that have been scattered, scattered he's kind of doing the call back to this idea that, listen, you guys know what exiles are. You've been an exile, you've lived in countries that are not your own.

Speaker 1: 25:45

And so Jeremiah writes to these exiles who are living not in their country but in Babylon, says this is with the Lord Almighty. The God of Israel says to all those I Carried in exile from Jerusalem to Babylon build houses and settle down, plant gardens, need what they produce, mary, and have sons and daughters. Find wise for your sons and gives your dog, give your daughters and marriage so that they too, they have sons and daughters. Increase in number there, do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.

Speaker 1: 26:30

And and so he's having this conversation and and he's dealing with with these exiles who are I'm sure they're struggling right, they've been removed from their homes there, they're under the rule of a foreign king. And Jeremiah says to the word of God Build houses, plant trees, mary, multiply and Also pray for the good of the city that you're part of. Pray that it would prosper, because if it prospers, you too shall prosper. Listen, you, you and I, we're exiles. This is not our home. I Cannot wait till the day that Jesus come back and all this is made Perfect, whatever that looks like I there are days more than others where I long for that. We are waiting patiently.

Speaker 1: 27:38

So we are exiles because we we I was talking to Cody about this earlier we believe and have a hope and something that's coming, but it doesn't mean we can't be that hope here. It doesn't mean that we can't pray for that peace, pray for that kind of hope, pray for a culture that can be changed, pray for our friends and our neighbors in our community. Jesus, because we should be so invested, and those around us, that, even if we're the only light in the community we're part of, we are so bright and no one can ignore it and and that's that's what we are supposed to do this idea of being Connected. First, peter 2, 12 says this live such good lives among the pagans but, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God On the day that he visits us. That that was a common theme is wherever you are, god is there. Bring God to the people around you. Bring God to your neighbor. Who's my neighbor, anyone who you come across there is.

Speaker 1: 29:09

So there is so much brokenness in this world, rico, I know can attest to things that you've seen, and I can tell you from my limited experience that there's so many people outside of us that are just lost. They wake up every day with no hope. They're battling addiction. They're battling, you know, marriages that are falling apart. They're battling broken relationships at work there. They hate their job. They're battling broken relationships with their children. Some of them don't have food to eat. Some of them are living in their cars, like there are so many people Just around us.

Speaker 1: 29:59

If you, if you walk outside of this building, there are so many people that are broken and beaten down by the world. But they shouldn't feel that from us. They shouldn't come to church to feel broken and beaten down more they. They shouldn't come across someone who calls themselves a Christian just to feel like, no matter what they do, they'll never be good enough. When they encounter us, when they encounter our church, they should feel hope. They should feel like, no matter where they've come from now, matter what they've done, no matter they are, that this is a place that they can belong, because if not here, if they can't find it here, they will not find it anywhere else, and that makes what we do inside and outside these walls Incredibly important. We, collectively, we have been given something incredible to the knowledge of Christ. We, collectively, we have been given something incredible to the knowledge of Christ we are hope in a world that feels hopeless. We are light in a world that is surrounded by darkness. And if they don't find it here, they're not gonna find it anywhere.

Speaker 1: 32:01

The invest, build, multiplies listen, man, there, I Love it. I love the three words it's easy to say, kind of rolls off the tongue, it's great. But if all it is is a bunch of banners on our walls and we haven't done anything, if we can walk around all day and say, well, I invest, build, multiply, then we've done nothing. And I love what Rico said. If someone has a need and so I'll pray for you, by the way, I'm not discounting praying for them but if you have a chance or the ability to meet someone's need beyond prayer, then you should do it Right. We should come alongside each other. We should do everything we can to not only support and rally around each other, but every person we meet, we have a chance to give them something different and better. By the way, I love kids, man. I just want to say that, like I don't want to, if there are no kids in your church, you have no future. I don't want to be very clear, so I'm just.

Speaker 1: 33:07

I laugh because this is the fourth week. I think Miles is in the nursery, for he's finally staying, and I'm kind of bummed because I don't hear him making little noises back there. But but I just. This is what we are called to do To take everything we have to take whatever you gather, whatever you gain on a Sunday morning, to go into the world and make a difference. And when people come across us, my hope and my prayers, they, they meet Jesus in such a way that their life can't help but be transformed. But it takes all of us doing it together. The world needs it. I need you and they need us. If they can't find hope here, then they won't find it anywhere. Alright, let's pray.