Witnessing Outside the Church

Introduction

Greet and endear

Talking about living for Christ outside of church - witnessing

We know this - why do we struggle with it?

See I don’t think it has anything to do with KNOWING what to do. We all know what to do and how to be a good witness, but we just struggle to do it.

So I think it becomes less an issue of the head and more an issue of the heart.

Take a look at the heart today

Pray

The Word is a call to action

James 1:22–27 (ESV)

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 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. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 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.

26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. 27 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.

v22 immediately stands out as a confronting statement.

A person who ONLY hears the word of God is deceiving themselves

The Word was never meant to only be heard - it was meant to be done

the Word is a call to action

We hear the Word everywhere, it’s all around us

Pulpit, online sermons, songs, daily verses

everyone from regular church attenders to seminary students and professors and even unbelievers hear the Word

but this does NOT mean that we “do” it.

The greatest danger is the deception of thinking that merely hearing the word is sufficient for our Christian walk

Just reading your bible, just sitting in a sermon, just coming to church, just having a daily verse app

If someone wants the benefits of its power to save and transform - then one must also embrace the Word as a guide for one’s ENTIRE life.

I do wonder if this is the real reason behind the ineffective faith

We have this ability to dissociate between hearing the Word and doing it

it’s like we are so ok with hearing the Word that we have become so unaware of how confronting and absolute it is?

This ability to dissociate hearing and action is a poison to our faith - it literally renders our faith ineffective. That’s why James calls it a deception - it is a deceptive form of religion that is completely ineffective.

You know how we’ve been mentioning reverence a lot recently? I still think it comes down to that.

If we can listen to the Word and not be utterly confronted by much of what is contained within it, then the only conclusion is that we don’t believe God is worthy of being listened to

We simply don’t see God - as God. We don’t believe He has the answers, we don’t believe in His power to save, to change, to transform.

And therefore the Bible - His Word - has no REAL power over our lives, rather it simply presents us with some holy options.

If that is what we believe - then we truly are deceived.

If God is God - then His Word is absolute.

If God is God - then we have no right to dissociate hearing the Word and doing it

If God is God - then the bible doesn’t just enter and exit our heads. It enters our heads, changes our hearts and moves our hands.

The value we ascribe to God in our lives necessarily affects the way we perceive the authority of His Word

The ultimate question that affects our relationship with the Word is this: Who is God to You?

ILLUSTRATION: Ascribing value in you

When I was a leader in an old youth group - we used to get kids up to preach every now and again to raise the next generation of preachers. One of the kids that I called up told me that he really wanted to preach on holiness. So I was like great, all about that stuff. So the week came and he got up to preach and man - I didn’t realise it was one of THOSE messages on holiness; he blasted the crap out of everyone. Like YOURE ALL SINNERS, TURN AND REPENT. This was like one of the kids, and he was preaching this to the whole group. Like he was a kid, like someone had to drive him home later you know what I mean? It was just a harsh message. In the end nobody responded, and it was just kind of this awkward response where people wanted to be supportive but didn’t really want to support that. After the message one of my leaders came up to me and just made a side comment “he tried to preach a Jon message and didn’t get away with it.” I was like - wait a WHAT message? “he was like..yeah a Jon message, you know how you always scold us and stuff? one of those” I was so offended. But I was also intrigued to see whether he was right. So 3 months later, I literally took his same passage and redid the point slightly and I preached - EXACTLY the same message with all the shouty scoldy bits and everything and then ended with exactly the same altar call. Boom. Full response. I went to debrief with that same leader who actually responded to the message. “Why did you respond to this message and not to the kid’s message? It was exactly the same message.” The leader said to me - well because I value what you say. You know what they meant? They value what I have to say because they value ME as a person. The more value I have to them - the more valuable my input into their life is.

In EXACTLY the same way - if we view God as some teenager who hasn’t even got their own stuff sorted out, then sure it becomes easy to hear the world and not respond to it at all.

BUT if God is in His rightful place as God - the being of ULTIMATE value in our lives. Then His input is no optional listening, it’s essential action.

The Word reveals our natural face

James goes on to say in James 1:23-24

James 1:23–24 (ESV)

23 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. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.

I like this term “Natural face” - hearing the Word is like seeing your face in the mirror with all the imperfections, blemishes, pimples. And then going out in public without changing anything to your appearance.

But the point is NOT about the shame of walking outside without having fixed your face and hair - plenty of people here probably rocked up here with one quick glance in the mirror.

The point is that a hearer goes and FORGETS what he was like. Like it matters so little to him what he actually looks like, he cares so little that he just forgets it.

This is not mere stupidity. The malicious thing here is that there is intention involved - this is an intentional level of ignorance. And it strips the faith of its power.

We have to be aware of this, we have to call this out in ourselves

Do we listen to the Word - and intentionally ignore what it says over our lives?

See the Word reveals our natural face - it reveals our true nature, the imperfections, the distance from God

That’s why we squirm a little when a solid message is being preached or something within our soul jumps when we hear something that resonates with us.

We know that there’s truth being spoken - something is being revealed about ourselves.

The Word of God is living and active - it is God speaking to you exactly what you may need to hear.

When the Word is spoken, how do you receive it?

Do you take notes, go back and meditate on it, contemplate it in such a way that it makes a lasting impression on your heart and mind? Do you plan to action it out and intentionally follow through so that it really DOES result in the changing of your life?

Or do you hear it - and kind of just hope for the best afterwards with no real intention for it to make any difference in your life?

That’s why James 1:25

James 1:25 (ESV)

25 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.

What’s the difference here? There is a perseverance - an intent looking into the law (James drops the simile at this point). And that perseverance in looking into the law results in the doing.

The word “perseveres” indicates that it’s hard work - it’s hard to see your flaws and to live up to where God wants you to be. It requires perseverance, intention.

But ALSO notice something - this second person who does it is not looking at his face, he is looking into the law! He is looking into the Word.

His faith is not about him, instead of looking in the mirror (self), he’s looking at the Word and praying that’s what he BECOMES like.

I think the issue with our culture nowadays is that we look into the mirror too much. We’re so self-absorbed we almost want to go into the world with all our blemishes and force people to love us for our ‘natural face’

Or we get so obsessed with our blemishes and imperfections that it turns into a form of self-hatred.

And that self-focus leaks into faith too. It’s just about becoming better people, becoming nicer, kinder etc.

You know what? That’s still self worship - self glorification.

Our faith needs to move past a mirror type faith where we only want to become a better version of ourselves into a Word type faith where all we want is Christ and His likeness.

He doesn’t want you to have a better version of your heart, He wants you to take on His heart. He doesn’t want you to have a better version of your spirit, He wants you to take on His Spirit. He doesn’t want you to have a better version of your dreams, He wants you to take on His dreams

Faith is about SURRENDERING our natural face to Christ, that is when our natural face begins to radiate His SUPERNATURAL beauty

That is when people see the beauty of Christ in us. (Jars of Clay)

I have a small issue with us telling people to “invite Jesus into your life.” But Jesus doesn’t want your life. Our lives are a mess, we’re a wreck. He wants you to have His life.

We become do-ers of the word when we realise this. It’s not about becoming more like you - the Word won’t help you with that. It’s about becoming more like Him - and the Word is essential for that.

ILLUSTRATION: Mother Teresa’s Deformed Feet

Shane Claiborne, who spent a summer in the slums of Calcutta with Mother Teresa, wrote the following about one of his experiences there:

People often ask me what Mother Teresa was like. Sometimes it's like they wonder if she glowed in the dark or had a halo. She was short, wrinkled, and precious, maybe even a little ornery—like a beautiful, wise old granny. But there is one thing I will never forget—her feet. Her feet were deformed. Each morning in Mass, I would stare at them. I wondered if she had contracted leprosy. But I wasn't going to ask, of course. "Hey Mother, what's wrong with your feet?"

One day a sister said to us, "Have you noticed her feet?" We nodded, curious. She said: "Her feet are deformed because we get just enough donated shoes for everyone, and Mother does not want anyone to get stuck with the worst pair, so she digs through and finds them. And years of doing that have deformed her feet." Years of loving her neighbor as herself deformed her feet.

You know, That’s a woman who prays “more of You, and less of me.”

As far as I’m concerned, she sounds like one of the most beautiful people in the world.

Character and Conduct

This passage ends with a punch in James 1:26-27

James 1:26–27 (ESV)

26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. 27 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.

I love this: we are a DOING faith - not a “DO NOT” faith. So much of the world knows what we DON’T stand for - James is saying show them what we DO stand for

Religion that is pure is two part: To visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

It talks about our Conduct AND our Character

There is a tension to be borne here - outward action and inner character and it is BOTH WORKING TOGETHER that build us towards a faith that is pure.

We have a preference for the rich and famous - as humans we may naturally be drawn to these kinds of people.

But God has a preference for the poor and needy

This isn’t one of those sermons that’s like there’s needy people in the church, go find them. That should go without saying.

If you can’t love the body of Christ, the bible says don’t even bother thinking that you can love God.

This is talking about the truly needy people in this world.

This is about the church having a mark OUTSIDE the four walls of our building

This is about BEING the church, not GOING to church

The purest form of religion - the purest form of our faith is found in two things that are related to life OUTSIDE in the world.

That’s where the church is meant to be!

The church may start here but it ends out there

James said that this kind of religion is pure and undefiled. I’ve always found that curious.

It means that even our service here in church can be for our own gain, and our own selfish reasons.

But Faith that is actively involved in loving and serving those who are in genuine need is always clean before God.

ILLUSTRATION: Dan and the difficult member

You know I was speaking to Dan about a particularly rough and difficult member in church the other day when he said something that really stuck with me. He said, “you know what - I think the fact that someone like that can walk into our church and feel loved - means that we’re doing something right.” What a way to view things. We all want the church with fun, great, happy people inside, with the great culture and everything - but you know what? That’s not even the mark of a church doing well. Dan was right. How do the needy, the unloved, the orphaned and widowed feel when they walk in here? Because if it isn’t love - then we are doing something wrong.

You know I’m really proud of the fact that HFTC is a church that has a call to the needy

There are many things that define our culture, there are many elements of culture which we are building and that I love sincerely. But this part is not only something I love, it’s something necessary for any disciple

Have you caught this aspect of our heart?

ILLUSTRATION: Love Radius

Bombs have what's called a "blast-radius," defined as the distance from the source that will be affected when an explosion occurs. Churches should have love-radiuses—anyone within twenty miles of a church should know it and be positively affected by the church's love.

People should look at our church and just instinctively know - that’s the church that cares for the poor. That’s the church that will house the homeless, that’s the church that loves the loveless - there’s something different about that church. The God they worship cares about people.