The Good Life

The Good Life 9/02/07

For the past 2 weeks we have been in the book of James and today we will finish up ch 3 13-18, so if you have brought your bible turn with me to James.

    But while we are finding ch 3, I was given a joke last week by Brandon that I liked, but if you find it offensive or just do not like it please see Brandon.

   A pastor of a local church wanted to use several props in his sermon about fertile soil, so he brought in 4 worms and put them into 4 jars—the 1st jar was filled half full of whisky—the 2nd jar was filled with smoke---- the 3rd jar was filled half full of chocolate and the 4th had fertile soil in it.

    Now at the end of his sermon the pastor took the jars and found out that the jars with whisky, smoke and chocolate in them all had dead worms but the jar with fertile soil had a healthy active worm.

    Now the pastor asked  his church what they had learned from this sermon and the worms. A voice spoke up in the back of the church, the man stood up and said, “well If we drink whisky, smoke and eat junk food we won’t have worms”!!!!!!!!!!!   

 Now sometimes we just miss out on what God is trying to tell us don’t we? We need to listen a little harder for God’s whisper.

I hope you have found the scripture ( James 3:13-18)

So read along with me so we can hear and understand what God is saying to us.

JAMES 3:13-18

13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.

 14 But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth.

 15 Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil.

 16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.

 18 Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.

PRAYER

In ch 3 James has left in a desperate state. When he asked us “who can control our tongue?”

  So how can we free ourselves from the evils of words and come to Gods perfection? Or better yet find the good life.

If you have been keeping notes which I would recommend. I have titled this sermon the GOOD LIFE.

When we look back on our life we see that we have been trained or brainwashed by the world. You and I live in the Burger King generation( have it your way) or if it’s gonna be it’s up to me, or If you want it done right you must do it your self.

   I heard a well know motivational preacher of a huge church in Texas,( I won’t mention any names) say “WE NEED A CHECK UP FROM THE NECK UP.” This simply means we need a new attitude.

   Church listen to what I’m going to say, your attitude will not change until we have open heart surgery. We need the Great Physician to reach in and take out our heart and put His heart in. We need not our own power, but Gods divine wisdom!!!!

Physician: A person skilled in the art of healing; one whose profession is to prescribe remedies for diseases.

  In a spiritual sense, one that heals moral diseases; a physician of the soul.

         James starts out in v13 by showing us the difference between a person  who has divine wisdom and one who does not.

V13 Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.

Wise :greek {sophos}so-fos: Skillful, enlightened or a fear of God and a understanding of His ways.

Proverbs 3:7

 7 Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.

        Proverbs 13:20

20 He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.

        Proverbs 11:30

30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.

Proverbs 16:23

 23  A wise man’s heart guides his mouth, and his lips promote instruction. 

Understanding: GREEK-{epistemon}-[epi-sta-mon]:intelligent perception

Proverbs 3:5

        5Trust in the Lord with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding;

Proverbs 4:5-7

      5  Get wisdom, get understanding;

do not forget my words or swerve from them.

     6  Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you;

love her, and she will watch over you.

      7  Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom.

Though it cost all you have, get understanding.

 James is talking about the original “show and tell”

Wisdom is not measured by degrees but by deed. It does not matter what you hear in church, what James wants to know is do you apply it to your life.

   The Good life is best reached or achieved through humility and wisdom. James is saying and truly wise man will be humble.

v14 But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth.

True wisdom makes no room for bitter envy: [Zelos] Jealous: We are envy or jealous of those who have the good life.

Selfish ambition: (Air-t-they-a): Motive of self interest or scheming.

As a follower of Christ or a Christian we are not to be Jealous of others or have motives that glorify self. We should pray for others and seek to give God all the Glory not us. We shouldn’t brag and most of all we should not lie against the truth even though it may hurt.

  Last night My family and I watched a movie called the sin eater.

( a must see) but the moral of the movie was that the “truth will set you free”. If we pray and have faith God will always meet our needs, but you will be blessed more when we pray and do for others. As a church we need to be a church we need to pray and do for others constantly. Doing Gods work is contagious.

v15 Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil.

 16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

Is just explaining that envy, jealousy and selfishness do not come from Heaven but are earthly, unspiritual and demonic. They always cause confusion and disorder and very evil actions and thinking. To sum it up we need to be a giving people or church and not selfish.

v17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.

In today’s churches the major downfall is we tend to relay on man’s wisdom instead of the wisdom of the Lord. With all the battles in churches today, lack of purity, split and so on we can see that the church is sick and needs to be healed. We need to go back to the pure word of God, we need to go back to being submissive, a peace-loving body of believers full of good fruit and good deeds. We need to remember God gave us this church as a gift, He can also take it away. We need WISDOM FROM HEAVEN NOT MEN

V18 Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.

There is a big difference between man made results and God given Fruit. But how do we get fruit, we:

 1st must sow or plant seeds,

2nd  as we sow seeds we make the fruit

3rd and as we make fruit we share the fruit of God with others.

 4th the others are fed and satisfied so in turn they bear fruit and so on.

The Christian life is a life of sowing and reaping, and you know we reap just what we sow.

  If we obey Gods wisdom we sow righteousness, not sin, God sows peace not war, and we reap Gods blessing.

  If we so in mans worldly wisdom we reap sin, war and confusion with evil deeds.

It is a serious matter to be a trouble maker in Gods family. The one thing God have is sowing discord among fellow believers

Proverbs 6:16-19

     16   There are six things which the Lord hates,

Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him:

     17      Haughty eyes, a lying tongue,

And hands that shed innocent blood,

     18     A heart that devises wicked plans,

Feet that run rapidly to evil,

     19     A false witness who utters lies,

And one who spreads strife among brothers.

Proverbs 3:13

            13 How blessed is the man who finds wisdom

And the man who gains understanding.

James finishes the chapter by reemphasizing the importance of peace. Apparently he is very much concerned about discord and rivalry in the Christian community created by those who do not have the wisdom from above. And so, in concluding the discussion of true wisdom, he wants to deal with the chaotic and quarrelsome situation by emphasizing the need for peace and harmony.

In closing I want to ask, Do you have peace and wisdom in your life? Have you gained understanding yet?

Do you see the Harvest is ripe?

Matthew  9:37

Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.

Rev 14:15

15     And another angel  came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, “Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe.”

Can you God Crying out with a loud voice The harvest is ripe but He needs workers.

 Are you willing to be one of those workers. As we stand with our heads bow I will say a prayer and if God is pressing on your heart you repeat after me.   PRAY

  If you are being lead or moved to be a worker for the Lord  come up front and make a covenant with God , That He will use you in mighty ways to reach the lost. Come up front, bow down at the cross and just pray, what a awesome place to pray at the foot of the cross. If you do not know Jesus and God is pressing on your heart to step out,

Then come to the alter and let The almighty God change your life and set you free. As we sing you come today.

YOU COME.

AMEN