THE BIGGEST CONTRADICTION IN SCRIPTURE | PASTOR LUKE LEZON

All right. All right. Well, welcome to

Lifeford Church, everybody. How's

everyone feeling? We doing all right.

Happy Mother's Day to all of the moms

that are in the room. Can we give it up

for the mothers that are in this house

right

now? Would be remiss if I didn't say

happy Mother's Day to my own wife

Lindsay and my mom Tanya who are in the

room right now. anything that you like

that I do is a direct result of their

care for me because otherwise I would be

in prison. And so, uh, I think we all

have a testimony that goes that way on

some level. Uh, and let me just can I

hold like a couple things in tension

here just for a moment. Um, I think

Mother's Day uh is is a day of

celebration for lots of reasons, but I

think it's also a difficult day for

other reasons, you know. Uh, and one of

the unique responsibilities and joys of

my life is to be able to walk with

people going through really different

circumstances. There are a lot of women

in here uh or that could be tuning in

online or or go to other gatherings that

that have a desire to be a mother and

that's something that's not yet been

realized and yet is something that they

still pray for. Or there could also be

individuals in here where you've

experienced uh loss on some level of a

child. And so this day is somewhat

difficult for you. And so I I just want

to acknowledge you. I want to let you

know that the Lord sees you. I I think

about the many names of God. And one of

those names is Elroy, the God who sees.

And I just want you to know the Lord

sees you on this day. Uh and we are so

grateful for you and are continuing to

press in and pray with you for all of

the things that you'd love to see God

do. And so how many of us know like we

we're coming around all of those

different women in this church? Can I

get an amen today? Like we we're so

grateful. And I also want to acknowledge

that at the same time we can celebrate

all of uh the moms that that do have

children and and have raised up

incredible sons and daughters in the

faith. And so I'll tell you, I mean, how

many you have the mom I know when my mom

wakes up to pray, hell sends

reinforcements. You know what I'm

saying? So like you you like some of

y'all know what it's like to have those

moms in your life. It's the it's the

early mornings. It's the late nights.

It's the unseen, unseleelebrated things

that you do that though it might feel

like that, it's on this day that we

acknowledge we do see those things and

you don't get enough credit. But we are

so grateful for the way that you formed

us as people, but maybe more importantly

for our context here today, the way that

you formed our faith. So, can we give it

up for moms one more time here today

this morning?

Unfortunately, I don't know uh what your

church background is, and I'm not

shaming churches that do this, but I'm

not the pastor that's like, "It's

Mother's Day. We should talk about an

obscure female figure in the script."

Like, uh we're going to talk about

theology this morning. Uh because I

think that's what we should do. Like,

hey, uh Father's Day, we're going to do

the same thing, just for the record.

Spoiler alert. Uh and so, we're going to

be continuing in our collection of

conversations that we've been in over

the course of the past several weeks

that we have been calling Walk the Walk.

Walk the walk is a collection and a

discussion that has us living and

lingering in the book of James. And

James wants to make sure that we

practice what we preach. We've taken

this title from a famed phrase that

says, "Don't just talk the talk, but

rather walk the walk." And so, we know

that James understands what the

Christian walk looks like, right? James

understands we live in a broken and a

fallen world that is sick with sin. Sin

which separates us from a holy and a

perfect God. In fact, Romans chapter 6

Romans 6:23

verse 23 would say, "For the wages of

sin is death." And not just a physical

death, but a spiritual death. eternal

separation from a holy and a perfect God

who cannot allow sin in the camp if he's

going to be holy, perfect, or just. And

so, we had no hope. We needed someone to

radically rescue and intervene on our

behalf. Otherwise, we had no way to God.

And the good news of the gospel is that

in a merciful demonstration of

sacrificial love and grace, we see that

in Jesus Christ there is salvation. Yes,

that Ephesians 1:7 would say in him is

Ephesians 1:7

redemption and the forgiveness of sin.

And so we understand that as a people we

are not here to try to figure out how we

can achieve salvation, but rather we

understand that we receive salvation as

a free gift in Jesus Christ. that we

repent of our sins and put our faith in

him. And that is the hope that we have

in the gospel. The gospel is not that

all of a sudden you have an opportunity

to climb your way to God. The good news

of the gospel is that God came down to

us in his son Jesus Christ. And so we

are not saved by our works. And yet the

saved will demonstrate works. And that

much is clear in the text that we have

renewed and regenerated hearts but

engaged heads and hands in all that God

is doing. building his kingdom here on

earth in Orlando or whatever city it is

that you are visiting from as it is in

heaven. And so we want to read today a

fairly lengthy uh and really dense

passage. James chapter 2 if you will uh

James 2 · chapter mention

verses 14- 26. Get there in the

scriptures if you have a copy of them

with you uh if if you're still uh trying

to figure out how committed you are to

the Lord. They'll be on the screen. Uh

and what I want to do is I'm messing.

I'm messing. I'm messing. All right.

If you have a Bible, hold it up. Uh like

you

know everybody else, there will be a

moment of altar call and repentance at

the end of this gathering. Y'all ready

for the word? Says this, "What good is

it, my brothers and sisters, if someone

claims to have faith but does not have

works? Can such faith save him?" If a

brother or sister is without clothes and

lacks daily food, and one of you says to

them, "Go in peace. Stay warm and be

wellfed." But you don't give them what

the body needs, what good is it? In the

same way, faith, if it doesn't have

works, is dead by itself. But some will

say, "You have faith and I have works.

Show me your faith without your works,

and I will show you faith by my works."

You believe that God is one. Good. Even

the demons believe and they shudder, you

senseless person. Thank you, James. Are

you willing to learn that faith without

works is useless? Wasn't Abraham our

father justified by works and offering

Isaac his son on the altar? You see that

faith was active together with his works

and by works faith was made complete.

And the scripture was fulfilled that

says Abraham believed God and it was

credited to him as righteousness and he

was called God's friend. You see that a

person is justified by works and not by

faith alone. In the same way, wasn't

Rahab the prostitute also justified by

works in receiving the messengers and

sending them out by a different route?

For just as the body without the spirit

is dead, so also faith without works is

dead. Let's pray. Uh Lord, so grateful

to uh to be able to

operate not just as a person but as a

believer out of your word that we are

not aimlessly trying to figure out what

it looks like we should be doing here

but rather we are here guided by your

word and your spirit that we might be a

people that are walking in accordance

with you. Not that we would be

restricted from all of these great

things that we feel like the world has

to offer that we would have to spurn you

in order to gather, but rather because

we're a people that understand you

created us. You created the world that

we live in and the designer knows the

best way in which we function within

that design. And so Lord, I'm just

asking you that right now in this moment

that you would just specifically uh just

just would you just move in the hearts

and the minds of of those mothers that

are in this room right now that have

helped families operate in this way.

Lord, would you just bless them and keep

them? Would your face shine upon them?

would you just give them an extra dose

of peace or maybe even understanding of

the work that they've done and the way

that it has compounded into the way that

we see people operating in your world

today. Lord, I ask that as we move

through this text, though it's dense,

Lord, that you would make it crystal

clear what it is that your word says and

that we would be a people that dig

deeper into these truths rather than

feel intimidated by them. Lord, we love

you. We praise you and we thank you and

we ask these things in Jesus name. Amen.

Well, on July 23rd,

1983, there was a serious

miscalculation that led to Air Canada

flight number 143 becoming known as the

Gimly Glider. Uh, Captain Robert Pearson

along with his first officer, Maurice

Quintinl, were traveling with 61

passengers and they had reached a

cruising altitude of 41,000 ft. As they

did, they noticed that the fuel pressure

pump gauge was being a little bit odd.

Like it it would kind of look like

things were broken and messed up as they

were observing the gauge, but then it

would kind of course correct and it

would look like things were fine. And so

as they were observing this, they

thought, well, maybe there's just

something wrong with the gauge itself

and so we'll just continue our flight

and it'll just kind of course correct as

we go. But they started to find out very

quickly that that was a super wrong

assumption. Uh because very shortly

after they realized that there was

something off with the gauge, the left

engine died and then the right engine

died. And in that moment, they realized,

oh, it's not that the gauge was a little

bit off, it's that we've got a major

problem. And they would call for an

emergency landing as a result of this.

And so previously where that gauge

wasn't sounding like things were too

off, when the engines died, it looked

like there was a circus going on in the

plane because every light was blinking

and flashing and was super problematic.

And as they started to descend against

their will, they started to aim for a

decommissioned airport that was within

their path and trajectory that was known

as the Gimy Industrial Park Airport. And

they were able to glide the aircraft

from 41,000 ft safely to where every

passenger was unharmed and unscathed,

which is incredible if you think about

it. I don't know how you would handle

that situation, but I will speak freely

for myself and say it would go

unbelievably poor even if I were a

passenger. Dual engine

failure. And they handled that very

calm, very cool, under pressure. They

performed an aviation miracle that is

still today considered to be the supreme

example of how it is that you handle a

very difficult situation and yet still

can be able to glide your aircraft

safely. And so still, while all of

that's great and you're like, "Yay,

nobody was unharmed." You would kind of

be like, "Hey, what happened?" Like,

"How did we even get to this point? If

I'm a passenger on board, I'm trying to

make some money the oldfashioned way,

right? Like, I'm going to sue this

airline because I'm afraid for my life.

I could have died and it is by the grace

of God that I lived. What did you do

wrong that I had to hope and pray for

things to work out from 41,000 ft? And

I'll tell you, while the circumstance

was really dire, the answer is pretty

funny. Canada as a nation has

traditionally used the imperial system

of measurement. In America, we use the

imperial system of measurement, right?

We measure things in like feet, pounds,

inches, that sort of thing. But what we

see is that Canada at the date of this

flight recently in their past had

decided to move from the imperial system

of measurement to the metric system of

measurement. And so where we measure

things in like feet and pounds, they now

measure things in like kilograms and

meters and other things that are clearly

incorrect. And so we see we have some

English people in here and I love and

appreciate y'all a lot. But man, that is

just a weird thing. I'm moving if if we

do that, right? And so we see that that

left them in a very difficult situation.

To make matters worse, the very first

aircraft in Canada that would move from

measuring things in an imperial system

to a metric system was a Boeing 767,

which just so happened to be Air Canada

Flight 143 being flown on a Boeing 767.

And so the individual that was calling

for measurement in fuel called for it in

kilograms, but the individual that was

measuring it out had done it his whole

career in

pounds, which left them with an

unbelievable shortage of fuel. And thus

the Gimly glider exists. And what's

interesting about that is this that you

have both clear communication and clear

miscommunication. Right? Like if you

were to say, "Hey, what was the number?"

And I don't know what it was. Call it a

100. say they called for

100, we'd both agree on the number. But

then if you said, "But what was the

system? Was it kilograms or pounds?"

That's where things start to go haywire.

We agreed on the same number, but the

system in the context in which that

number exists changed everything. Do you

see that? And I'm saying that to you

this morning for this reason. What we

just read in James is going to present

something very similar. And to be honest

with you, there's some major confusion

that should have been caused by what

James just said. Like if you spend any

time in your life in the scriptures, you

should look at what James just said, you

should measure it up against the New

Testament, and you should feel like

you're in a crisis of faith if you don't

already have answers. Because what James

just said seems very, very, very, very

odd to the point where even historically

theologians and individuals have really

wrestled with what is James saying here?

How can he say this? He said, "Faith

without works is

dead." That's a theological

contradiction. There's a reason that

I've gotten up here every single week

that we've been in James and I've

rehearsed the same monologue over and

over that some of you are like, "Oh my

gosh, I know what he's going to say at

this point. I'm really sick of this guy

talking about this." And I keep saying

the same thing that we do not achieve

salvation, we receive it. that we do not

earn salvation, but it is a free gift

that is available to us in Jesus Christ.

That we've repented of our sins and put

our faith in him. And as a result of

that, we know we don't work our way to

God, but God came down to us that he's

the one who gets the glory. That we

can't boast in and of ourselves at all.

And I keep saying that because what we

just read right now would seem like,

hey, man, that's not true because James

just said faith without works is dead.

And that's incredibly problematic to the

point where I think we actually need to

even go further and address just how off

things seem here. I want to show you

what James says and what Paul says. I

I'm going to read this. Are y'all with

me right now? I want to read this and

and I want you to listen to what's being

said. James says, "You see that a person

is justified how? By works and not by

faith alone."

Paul would say in Romans chapter 3, "For

Romans 3 · chapter mention

we conclude that a person is justified

by faith apart from the works of the

law." Are we seeing the problem

here? Like that's a problem. So what are

the heretics and the critics, right? And

every just like, "Hey, like like look at

that." Like that's what Christians do.

They just sweep everything under the

rug. Like like you have a major issue

right there. You want to go ahead and

address that? You gonna do something

about that? No. You're just going to cry

about it and keep going to church and

act like that's not that's a problem.

Like, did I just end Christianity in a

slideshow? I might have. Is it over?

Should we just never gather again? And

it's been like, "Hey, really great

seeing y'all here. See you never. Maybe

run into you at Epcot." Like I like I

don't But like has it been fun? Like is

that what we

do? No.

James and Paul are saying the same word.

They are not disagreeing. They're saying

the same word, but they're not using the

same system of measurement, if that

makes sense. The calculation is

different. And we're going to go into

why. But what I'd like to do before that

is just acknowledge that it's funny to

me that often times as generations

continue on, we continually get more and

more

arrogant about the way that things are

now and the knowledge that we have. as

if generations before us just had no

idea what they were doing. And I don't

just mean that for like the next

generation. That's not like a shot at

Gen Z or Gen Alpha or is the next one

Gen Beta. That's a that's not a fun

name. Like or whatever you are like like

I'm not saying that like the oldest

generation in the room. You thought you

were more brilliant than your

grandfather's

generation. And we can go throughout

history feeling like well look at what

we know now. And is there to some degree

like there's advancements that would be

weird to other generations? Sure. Like

if you if you dug up like someone that

was born in the 1600s and you were like,

"Hey, I'd like to introduce you to AI."

They wouldn't know what you're talking

about, right? There's been advancement

in that way. But so far as wisdom is

concerned, there are things that we

could learn from generations past that

would be unbelievably applicable and

useful in a generation today. Uh and CS

Lewis had a term for this. He called it

chronological snobbery.

He said this chronological snobbery is

the uncritical acceptance of the

intellectual climate today common in our

age assuming that whatever has gone out

of date is on that account

discredited. Why am I saying this?

Because I think there's a lot of people

that have like I I I I honestly at some

point can we put like restrictions on

who can have any like voice online? It's

just not helpful. And and anybody that

just wants to say whatever they want to

say can act like it's just new

revelation and they'll make a video that

has a slide like I just put and was

like, "Look, you you people don't even

know what you're talking about." Do you

think in 2,000 years of church history,

nobody's looked at

this? They have. James and Paul knew

what each other were teaching and what

they were saying. And you go, "Well, how

do you know that? You have a time

machine?" "No, but I do have Acts

Acts 15 · chapter mention

chapter 15." And in Acts chapter 15, the

Acts 15 · chapter mention

Jerusalem Council happens. And at the

Jerusalem Council, we see that all of

these faith leaders are gathered because

Jesus Christ has been crucified, raised

from the dead, eaten all these meals

with these people. He's been spending

time with his disciples. He ascends into

heaven. And they're like,

"Okay, okay." Like, how do we make sense

of what it is that we know to be true?

And the main subject matter at the

Jerusalem Council was

salvation and how works and faith are at

play in that. And so what we see is that

James and Paul knew what each other were

teaching, knew what each other were

saying. But what we see here and the

crux of what we're trying to get at is

how do you make sense of their use of

the word justified? One says you're

justified by faith. One says that you're

not justified by faith alone, but that

works are incorporated in there as well.

How do we make sense of that? Well, the

first thing we need to do is understand

this that the same word in different

contexts means different stuff, right?

the same word. And that's true in

English, right? Like if someone came up

to me and we were having a conversation

and all of a sudden I said,

"Wow, that is an insane rock." I could

be talking about

this or I could be talking about a

ring. Someone said, "Wow, my husband's

got work to do." Like, I mean,

That was the wrong picture. Um, that's

on

me. If I were to

say talking to someone in the lobby and

they're just like, "Man, I'm like really

looking for like the perfect match.

Like, I just haven't been able to find

one." They could be talking about a

dating relationship that they're looking

for. Or they could be looking for

something flammable to light their last

relationship on

fire.

Right? in both of those contexts either

one of those things work and it wouldn't

be like what are you talking about they

both work and so you have to understand

the context in which things are being

said that what we understand happening

here is that James and Paul they're

they're not contradicting one another

that they're actually complenting one

another what's interesting is that

justified the the word that is being

examined here justified in the original

language can and does mean two different

things justified can mean causing

someone to be in right standing with

another, which is what we see Paul is

talking about. He's saying, "Hey, you've

received the imputed righteousness of

Jesus Christ. You repented of your sins.

You put your faith in him, and you were

clothed in righteousness that Jesus got

the cross, and you got a crown. And so

now you have the righteousness of God

that covers your life. It has caused you

to be in good standing with God the

Father. That you have been put in a

different place as a result of having

faith in the finished work of Jesus

Christ. But then what we see is that

there's another way that justified can

be used. You can be justified and it can

literally be defined as demonstrating or

showing works that declare your

righteousness. that that would say, hey,

yes, there are there is a way to

actually know like, hey, I'm I'm

justified in the sense that I'm in a

different place with someone, but then I

can also be justified because there are

things that I do as a result of being in

a different place that say, hey, look at

what's different about my life. And

that's what James is saying. Does that

make sense? Do we see how these are

working together? Paul, for clarity

sake, we're going to spend a lot of time

on clarity. Paul is saying, what we look

at this is they work together. Paul is

saying, "Hey, you have been saved by

grace alone through faith alone in Jesus

Christ alone." And that is incredible

news this morning that we are a people

that can know you have been justified.

You find yourself in a different

positional place as a result of faith in

Jesus and repentance of your sins. So

now we've moved to a different place and

James is saying, "Yes, there's been a

positional move. You've been justified,

but also you've been justified that

because you're in a different place

positionally, there is a practical and a

functional manner in which you will live

and the things that you see grow in your

life because you're in different soil.

How do you know if a tree is dead or

alive? Look at the branches. Is there

fruit? If there is, it's alive. If not,

it's either not in season or it's dead.

And what we see is that Paul and James

are saying, "We're both talking about

trees." Paul's saying, "I'm talking

about the roots." James is talking about

the fruits. And whenever you find

yourself in a place where you have moved

into the saving soil of Jesus Christ,

the root of faith will end up being

revealed by the fruit of works. That

there are different things on this tree

because you are in different soil. And

you can't brag about what your trees

grow. And you got to brag about where

your trees planted. And it is in what

Jesus Christ has done on our behalf.

That's the difference, right? And you

see that James isn't going to let up

here. He's going to keep going and he's

going to be pretty brutal. And we see

that he says in verse 18, "But someone

will say, you have faith and I have

works. Show me your faith without works

and I'll show you faith by my works." I

always think of James being like really

sassy like when he's saying this. So

like everybody watch my tone here. Uh

but he's making a logical appeal. Like

he's it sounds like he's being

sarcastic. He says, "I can't see your

faith." Like you don't walk in and be

like,

"Oh, love that faith." You'd be like,

"What?" Like I mean that that you don't

see that, but you can see works. You can

see what someone is doing. And so if you

were to go and look at a tree, you can't

necessarily see the roots of the tree,

but you can see the fruits on it. It's

like one theologian and commentator

said, "Faith alone

saves, but faith that saves is never

alone." Faith alone saves, but faith

that saves is never alone. Are y'all

with me here? So, let's let's be crystal

clear because if we're not crystal clear

here, well, then that's where things

like uh heresy enter the conversation.

And so, to be a million% clear on what's

happening here, Paul and James are not

fighting handto hand. They are standing

back to back and fighting the same

fight. That we see that faith alone

saves but faith that saves is never

alone. You have been justified and

justified. Where previously in your life

before you repented of your sins and put

your faith in Jesus, you found yourself

in a place where you were living in

opposition to God. But after you

repented of your sin and put your faith

in Jesus, you went from being in

opposition to God to experiencing

adoption into God's family. And when you

joined the family of God, you ended up

taking on the values of the house. Does

anybody know you couldn't get away with

nothing in that house growing up without

there being a swift paddle?

I I know there are some moms that are

like like I'm just I'm just I'm just

telling y'all there used to be a

generation of men that went to fight

wars and and and like that ain't the

thing anymore. Like we we got a whole

different set of circumstances going on

now. You take on different values in the

house. you do and as a result you find

yourself in a place where now you're

living in a way to where people go I see

that there are unseen roots here because

I see fruits here there are things that

you are doing that are different right

and so the good news about that for you

and I in this place is that we can know

this we are a people that did not

contribute anything to our

salvation nothing other than the sin

that we need saving from we didn't

contribute anything to it so that we

can't boast in ourselves. And the good

news about all this, for some of you

that are like, "Well, I feel like I'm

getting beat up." You got rescued and

you got rescued out of being beat up.

And so, the good news is you're not

trying to live for your father's

approval. You're living from it. You're

not trying to live for your father's

love. You're living from it. You're not

trying to earn a room in the house or a

seat at the table. You already have one

because your father brought you in and

he's given you a room. And some of you

go, "Well, that just seems like it's too

good to be true. It's too good to be

true by any circumstances that you find

in this world." But if God is

involved, then he could do it. And he

has in his son. He has in his son. And

so, we're a people that understand that.

And that's why James is going to make it

really crystal clear. He's not going to

give us any wiggle room to try to figure

out, well, how am I the one that makes

this happen? And no, no, no, no. He he

says there are two things that are true.

Number one is that we are a people that

have to understand that we can't boast

in and of ourselves. But the other thing

is because we find ourselves in the

saving soil of Jesus, there are some

beautiful things that we do that are

going to be distinct from the world. And

you see it here in James 2:es 14-17. He

says, "What good is it, my brothers and

sisters, if someone claims to have faith

but does not have works? Can such faith

save him? If a brother or sister is

without clothes and lacks daily food,

and one of you says to them, "Go in

peace. Stay warm and be wellfed, but

don't give them what the body needs,

what good is that?" In the same way,

faith, if it doesn't have works, is dead

by itself. How many of us know that

faith is not just seeing that person has

needs? It's to actually do the work of

meeting that need, right? Uh I have a

group of pastors that I'll get with in

November every year. uh and I'll go to

this retreat in Colorado in the

mountains and you couldn't get in touch

with me if you had to like the family

just prays that I come back. A and so as

you go out to this place, there's a

group of us that have been meeting for

10 years that just when we were very

young, we were just like, "This is what

we feel like God's called us to do." And

we had some older saints that came

around us and said, "Hey, let us speak

wisdom into your life that you would

live well and finish well in ministry."

Uh and so I do that every November. And

so, as you can imagine, there's this

group of guys that you're like sharing

all the burdens on your heart with and

all the wins and victories and things

that you quite frankly feel like you

can't say anywhere else, you are sharing

it there. And so, there's deep

camaraderie that is built. Well, after

one November, this is probably seven

years ago now, there was an individual

uh who probably in February of that

following year, he ended up reaching out

to a group of us via text and he just

said, "Hey, I just need y'all's prayers

right now. I am on my way to a crash

site. My wife was just in a head-on

collision with this guy. I just got a

picture of the car. It's clearly

totaled. I don't know how the other guy

is. My wife is somehow miraculously

fine. And yet, at the same time, she

just delivered a child like four weeks

ago. And so, we don't really know what

is going on from here. I just need your

prayers. And so, one of the guys in that

group text ended up putting together a

Zoom call with all of us that were in

that text outside of this guy's

knowledge. And we ended up getting on

there and we prayed heaven down over

this family. But then I'll never forget

the guy at the end of this call that

organized everything. He said, "Guys,

I'm so glad that we prayed

here." He said, "But you know what they

need? Maybe as much as they need prayer

right now?

Money. Any money." And so we all are

scraping together whatever we can find

under our couch cushions. You know, it's

like, "I got 37 cents. What do you have

a buck 15? How did you get that?" like,

you know, I mean that we're calling our

networks like just just anybody that

like loves us and it's like, hey, would

you consider contributing to this? And a

couple of people like really went crazy

on their gift. And what we see is we

were able to not only help them purchase

a new car with cash, but that also they

were able to meet a couple of different

needs and bills over the course of their

life to where it was like, hey, we have

to deal with some emotional things that

happened as a result of this, but we

don't have a single financial burden as

a result of this. And

so I I say that because what I'm about

to say uh might sound controversial, but

to be a million percent with you, I

don't care. Um like faith is offering

more than your thoughts and prayers.

There's a tragedy. Thoughts and prayers.

Are you really thinking and praying?

I'm not. Just be honest with

you. Like like from the moment that I

see it, like I I got a million things

going on in my life. But when you engage

the work, of course we're offering

prayer. Nobody's making light of prayer.

But like that's the bottom line. It's

like saying, "Hey, I'm going to breathe

today." Like if you're a believer, of

course you're praying. And when you see

that there's a need, of course we pray.

That's what we do. But the beautiful

thing about the church is we don't just

pray. We're an answer to prayer. A lot

of times people will be like, "Man, I

just don't understand like why why

aren't Christian like I mean, why isn't

God just doing something about that?"

Because he's sending you. because he's

sending you and you're too busy griping

about it to not actually do something

about

it. You wonder why someone's not meeting

that need. Where are you at? You you

want God to just like throw pixie dust

on top of this thing and it's good. The

beautiful work of what God has us do is

he has us engage it. We are the body of

Christ. We're the hands and feet of

Jesus. And so we actually engage the

work of what's going on. And because of

that, we don't shy away from pain. We

step into it. We're not passive and

offering up empty phrases that we're not

even really willing to keep. Of course,

we're going to pray, but we want to do

more than that. What is the need? And

that's why I love all of the different

things that Pastor Brandon mentioned a

couple weeks ago that we are involved in

from a local, national, and even global

level of the way we're trying to meet

needs as best as we can. And here's the

thing, if you think I'm being brutal on

it, well, you just wait till you read

verse 19 and see how brutal James is on

it. You're like, I don't like this.

Well, James doesn't like us because of

the way that we're not living. James

says this. He says, "You believe God is

one. Good. The demons believe that." And

they

shudder. I mean, that should have

us. James says, "Oh, you intellectually

understand that God exists. Good for

you. Good for you. You You have answers

when someone asks you like a moderately

difficult theological question. Good for

you. Is that is that what your faith is

made up

of? He he says the demons do that and

they do it better than you. Like the

demons know who God is. Have never

doubted that Jesus Christ is Lord.

They've known that and they will say it.

They understand it. Like the demons

believe good for you. But he says you've

got demonic faith. Your demonic faith is

that you believe in God's existence and

you neglect the Lord in practice.

That's what James says. He He says,

"Wait a minute. You know God

exists and you live like he doesn't.

That's demonic faith. Demons do that."

The difference between us and a demon is

not that we are someone that's going to

believe a whole lot differently. It's

that we're going to live differently.

And so you see that that's even true. In

Mark 1:23 and 24, it says, "A man with

Mark 1:23

an unclean spirit was in the synagogue

and he cried out, "What have you to do

with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you

come to destroy us? I know who you are,

the Holy One of

God." Even the demons

believe. There's a lot of Christians

with a

Facebook, but there's not a lot of

Christians that are out there actually

doing the work that they're griping

about on Facebook.

You got to be about it. And as I say

that, some of us are like, "Okay, well,

that's a really difficult word." Trust

me, I know. I mean, I'm not looking at

my life and going like, "I'm killing it.

I'm killing it. I'm killing it. I'm just

like, you know, I mean, this is

hard." But this is a deep and a slow

work that happens within a person. I

don't know many people where it's like

you take that first step with Jesus and

it's just like all of a sudden you are

just killing it. Like you don't plant a

tree and all of a sudden there's roots

and fruits the next day.

takes time. Any y'all ever seen Fix

Herup? Y'all know what I mean? Like Chip

and Joan are like a national treasure at

this point. Like, y'all know y'all know

what I'm talking about. And I love this

show because it blows my mind. Like

truly blows my mind. And here's the

thing. This is going to shock everybody

in the room. If something's broke in the

house, I'm not your guy. I'm just like,

I'm just so not your guy. I mean, it's

so funny. I mean, like, we can have a

light bulb go out and I'm just like, I

got it. And Lindsay's like, "Hey, hey,

hey, hey. Uh you you want maybe call

Scott Art. Call call somebody like um

because because it's it's not Babe, it's

not that I don't think you could do it.

It's just actually it is. I don't think

that you can do it. And so

um and so we're working on our marriage

and

um but Fix Her Up is crazy. You ever

seen like the beginning of it is uh Demo

Day where Chip will do demo day. Y'all

tracking with me here? And Chip goes in

with like a bunch of angry high

schoolers and they're just like beating

stuff up in the house just getting their

testosterone out there and they're just

like, "Yeah, this like just ripping

apart islands and any loadbearing wall

like they're avoiding kind of." But then

everything else they're like wrecking

and and at the end of demo day you're

looking you're just like this

is this is worse than it was

before. You took like a dilapidated home

and you've wrecked it. Now it's not just

an ugly home, it's a busted up ugly

home. And then slowly you're like, I

can't even identify like the kitchen

from the living room from the but you

know, little backsplash here, little

shiplap there, you know, renovate,

decorate. Joanna comes in with this

vision that you're just like, how do you

like the what? How do I is that? I

didn't even know that was

possible. And slowly you start to

realize like the living room comes alive

and the kitchen comes alive and it

starts making its way

outside and you see that all of a sudden

it's like there's a new coat of paint

outside and even like the front yard

looks amazing and people from the

neighborhood start to come over because

they're like, "Hey, there's clearly new

residents in this

place." And that's the work that God

does in us. You might feel like you're

in demo

day. Am I saying like run home and like

empty your bank account for the nations

and like calling that good stewardship?

Yeah. No, I'm kidding. Of course not.

Like just making sure you're with me.

Like

no, be a good steward. But there's a

there's a deep work that happens here,

right? And you might feel like

everything feels like a mess. I'm trying

and and it just feels like I can't get

it right. And I'm not here to say

anything to you other than this today.

Keep on.

Keep on. Let those roots go deep. It's

okay if you feel like you're in demo

day. And maybe you're in here and you're

like, I don't feel like I'm in demo day,

but I've been following the Lord for 40

years and I feel like the rooms are are

shaping up, but I don't I don't know

what to do next. Is gather some of those

other individuals around you that don't

and be like, "This is the way. This is

how we move in our community." Wouldn't

it be great if people passed by our our

church, our house, and

said, "There's something different about

the residents in that place. They just

keep meeting needs. They keep doing

different

things." You see that James 2:es 21- 26

is very practical. He says, "Wasn't

Abraham our father justified by works in

offering Isaac his son on the

altar?" which like on a mother's day

like I just have to say this like what

was that conversation like when he came

back with that boy like what did that

look like? How was your walk with your

dad? Well, it was weird you know

like do we hear about Abraham after

that? I don't know. She might have

killed him.

You see that faith was active together

with his works and by works faith was

made complete and the scripture was

fulfilled that says Abraham believed God

and it was credited to him as

righteousness and he was called God's

friend. Wasn't Rahab the prostitute also

justified by works in receiving the

messengers and sending them out by a

different route? Just as the body

without the spirit is dead, so also

faith without works is

dead.

Obedience is not required for

salvation. Repentance and faith are.

Have you repented of your sins and put

your faith in Jesus? But when you're

planted in the saving soil of Jesus

Christ, there will be fruit if you are

really planted

there. And we see that there is

obedience that is woven into all of

these different heroes that you'll see

in things like Hebrews 11 in the Hall of

Faith. So, if you're in here and you're

like, "Well, I don't know now. I'm

starting to analyze like like the fruits

in my life and what's not there. And

this is why I don't like coming to

church and I'm really scared. I don't

know if I'm saved. I don't know what's

going on. Do do you want to know how

you're

saved? Where you don't have to be like

on a scale of 1 to 10, like a five or a

seven, but you can be a 10. It is this

simple. Have you repented of your sins

and put your faith in the finished work

of Jesus Christ on the cross and believe

that he rose again and that he's the son

of God and he's interceding for you

right now and he's coming back

again? You're in the family. You're in

the family. A and here's the You can

clap for Jesus Christ saving us on the

cross. Yeah. like

um and and sometimes you might feel like

I just don't know that I'm I'm I'm don't

let anyone shame you into what you're if

you're doing enough. It's are you

letting that root take and are you

seeing things slowly start to bloom in

your

life? Because God's doing a beautiful

thing in a

people that are just saying,

"Hey, no matter what's going

on, I'm staying planted right here where

he has me. I'm going to keep on." And I

know that that root is going to produce

fruit as I continue to follow him.

And so Lord, would that land on us

today? Would we be a

people that are doing that that this

isn't this is not this is not mere

intellectual

exercise and we're just talking about

original languages and context and all

these things that are good and necessary

and and

needed. But Lord, would we be a people

that walk this out in the smallest of

ways? Bring a meal to a neighbor that's

struggling. Seek out individuals that

are even just walking the lobby, taking

a moment to

pray, to help with a flat tire, to help

in whatever ways seem so minuscule to us

sometimes, but are huge.

Lord, if there's anyone in here that

just feels like, you know what, I don't

know if I don't know where I stand with

God. We're talking about positional

moves and practical functions and I

don't know where I stand.

And if there's anyone in here that's

never put their faith in Jesus or to be

honest with you is just like, I I don't

know that I've really considered all of

this, but I want to put my faith in him.

Would you raise your hand if that's you?

If you'd like to spend eternity with

Jesus and walk with him all the days of

your life, I want to ask that you would

pray with me and say, "Father, I'm a

sinner in need of a

savior. I I believe that you live the

perfect life that I could

not. That Jesus died the death that I

deserved upon the cross. That he

willingly went to and shed his perfect

innocent blood that took away my sins,

past, present, and future. I believe he

was buried in the tomb for three days

and that he rose to life again.

because of his life, I can have life in

his

name. Lord, for the rest of us that are

in this room, would we be a people that

are just

committed to seeing through the eyes of

faith what it is that is going on right

in front of

us that that we

would see your kingdom come on earth as

it is in

heaven. Lord, we love you, praise you,

and we thank you. We ask this in Jesus

name. Amen.