Worthy Sermon Week 1 - A Life Worthy

Welcome/Intro

We made it to 2021!

Name, good to be back

Had a nice trip up to Ohio with my family.

I know we are all praying for a better year than 2020.

But of course that depends on your definition of better.

The way God works in the world and they way we work in the world is often very different.

Isn’t it interesting when we open the book of james the first the we read is this:

James 1:2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,

Well 2020 was certainly full of trials

so that begs the question

Was this your experience?

James 1:3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.

The testing of our faith produces steadfastness.

Well 2020 was certainly full of trials

so that begs the question

Was this your experience?

Did your faith produce steadfastness? endurance? perseverance?

Or did you have another experience?

Perhaps we should be praying for a deeper faith in God rather than an on the surface ‘better year’

As we open begin 2021

We are going to spend a few weeks look at what a worthy life is and what it looks like

What is human worth to God?

What does a life lived worthy of the gospel look like? (Phil 1:27)

To do this we are going to be in the book of James and it will serve as a foundation and backdrop for this series.

Today we simple ask this:

What is a worthy life for you?

What does a life worth living look like for you?

Next week: Widows and Orphans

Final week: The Sin of Partiality.

Next Exodus Series

Let me pray for our time.

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James

Why did James write this letter?

James is perhaps the earliest of all the New Testament letters.

He’s writing it because

You matter to God

It matters to God how you live.

1. You matter to God

James 4:5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”?

Matthew 10:31 ESV

31 Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.

God is jealous (in a godly way) / perhaps a better word is zealous for you.

God wants all of you.

You were made for him.

Your greatest joy is found in Him, so that you will be full and complete, lacking nothing (James 1:4)

This is perhaps the first and greatest lie we believe: You don’t matter to God, but you do.

John 3:16 ESV

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

2. It matters to God how you live.

Because God loves you, it matters then how you live

Now this is true of any of our loving relationships.

If you love your kids, it matters the decision the make

If you love your friends, you will be concerned when they are making unwise decisions.

All the more so with God.

This whole letter is written to help God’s people discern the genuineness of their faith,

of their trusting relationship with Jesus.

The genuineness of their walk with Jesus.

James says how we are living our lives is indicative of where our hearts lie

James 3:11-12 Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? 12 Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.

James is concerned that those who call themselves Christians are not just Christians by name.

That we don’t just come to listen to sermons and do nothing in response.

That we don’t just talk about Jesus, but that we would walk like Jesus as well.

In fact, he tells us to stop talking so much, and rather listen (James 1:19)

James 1:19 ESV

19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;

He basically calls us to live as disciples of Christ.

and disciples of Christ are those who are becoming more like Him.

In his words we are to be “not just hearers of the word, but doers”

He says that our ‘faith devoid of good works’ is a dead faith

example: GroupServe - Ben and MelI group

In fact, doing good works is as integral to faith as breathing is to the body (James 2:26)

James 2:26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

James is writing all of this becuase it matters how you live

If your life is not changing as a result of your faith in Jesus then we need to examine whether our faith in Jesus is real

why?

Because James wants you to live

to live a life worthy of the gospel

to live a life full of the grace and presence of God

This is how he ends his letter

James 5:19-20 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

Why this is so important?

Why is this so important?

God’s plan for the redemption and restoration of the world is through the church.

1. Your life is a witness to the world of the God you love and serve.

What is your life revealing about the God you worship?

Are people being attracted to God b/c of your life?

2. It affirms and strengthens the faith you already have.

It is only through trial that we can know the genuineness of our faith.

As James stated in James 1:2

James 1:2–4 ESV

2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

This is the point of the trials and testing of our faith.

He reveals what we really are trusting in.

Did God reveal anything to you in 2020?

How to we live a life worthy to God?

Gospel Power.

1. We are freed from the penalty, power and presence of Sin.

This is what James calls the Law of Freedom (Liberty)

James 2:12, 1:25

James 2:10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.

In other words, we are all law breakers.

In your attempt to live for God, you will fail

but that failure cannot define you

James 2:12-13 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. 13 For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

What james is saying here is that there is no mercy for those who do not show mercy.

It’s what we say weeks ago when we looked at the beatitudes.

Those who show mercy and the ones who have experienced mercy.

In fact, God’s mercy (at the cross) triumphs over judgment (due to sin)

If you have believed in Jesus you have recieved mercy for your sins

all your failings

all your transgression of the law

thus you are free!

Paul simply puts it this way:

Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

This is the law of freedom.

Because you are free, live from the freedom!

You have been free to love and serve others!

These are ‘good works”

In fact,

The whole next section of james is making this point.

Those who have a trusting Faith in Jesus and the mercy offered at the Cross will live a transformed life

A life for the love of others — becuase of their love for God — becuase of his love for them.

These are what ‘good works’ are.

It’s not something we do to earn love, it is the evidenced that we have recieved the of Christ.

Paul says it this way:

Romans 3:31 Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.

It is just his person who looks into the Law of Freedom and perseveres who will be a ‘doer who acts’ in faith, rather than a hearer who forgets (James 1:25) and in this he will be ‘blessed’!

James 1:25 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.

2. We are filled with the presence of God

Col 2:9-19 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.

It is the presence of God in our lives through our union with christ that frees us from the power of sin and progressively form the presence of sin in our life.

though sin won’t be finally and fully absent until Christ returns.

This is why james tell us to

James 4:8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

why?

because even in our sin, selfish ambition, jealously and love of worldly things

God gives more grace.

James 4:6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

Therefore:

James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

It is God who works in us through his word:

It all comes from God and his Word

Listen to this:

James 1:18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

James 1:21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

We live a life more like Jesus by spending more time with Jesus.

This is God’s plan for the world.

a bunch of Jesus-like people running around the world.

In fact, this is why believers were first called Christians in Antioch (Acts 11:26)

literally it means ‘little christ’s’ and was originally and insult.

therefore to live a life worthy of Jesus is to live a life with Jesus

in constant, daily contact

filled and led by his spirit

worshipping in grace and truth

What this means for One Hope in 2021

So One Hope, will we, will you draw near to God this year.

Will you let him fill you up and overflow through you to bless the city, nations and generations?

That is a life worth living

How will you do this in 2021?

what we sow we will reap.

we are reaping now what we’ve sown in the past.

What does it mean for you to draw near to God?

The secret of walking with God is that we already know what to do, the real question is will we do it?

Will we not be deceived by the pleasures of the world, the cult of busyness and production?

The false promises of satisfaction and fulfillment?

We are called to become like Him, by his grace, through his Spirit at work within us.

Make your life count, becuase it does

It all starts with Prayer.

Here is what I’m praying for One Hope in 2021

A greater Passion for God and the things of God

A greater sense of God’s presence in our lives

A greater godly presence in east Orlando.

A great realization of God’s plan and purposes through One Hope Church to bless the city, nations and generations.

Let’s Pray