Signs of an unhealthy church

James 1:18-20

“In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures. This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.”

성경전서 개역개정판 (1장)

18 그가 그 피조물 중에 우리로 한 첫 열매가 되게 하시려고 자기의 뜻을 따라 진리의 말씀으로 우리를 낳으셨느니라

19 내 사랑하는 형제들아 너희가 알지니 사람마다 듣기는 속히 하고 말하기는 더디 하며 성내기도 더디 하라

20 사람이 성내는 것이 하나님의 의를 이루지 못함이라

1. INTRODUCTION

a. When we think about the topic of an unhealthy church, we are not talking about a certain church. We are not talking about Valley Bible Church, but rather, believers who make up a church. It can be about people in our church. It can even be about our church. I am sure there are some overlap. But the point I wanted to preach on is to help us understand that if we see these things even at our church, we must be quick to fix these things.

b. Now how does this sermon apply to us? Well the big thing I want everyone to think about is, what is our church’s identity? (신분) What that means is more personally is, what is our foundation? What is the foundation that brings everyone in this church together? We all know it is Christ, but do we practically, is it true? Do we rejoice in what Christ has done and is doing in our lives? Do we share that practically? If we don’t, we have to question our identity. How is Christ working in your life? We must know our identity.

2. BODY

a. The church doesn't know its identity (1:18)

i. Verse 16 gives us the context for what we must consider. If the church is to know its identity, it must understand that we must not be deceived. What will Satan try to deceive the church? Through trials and tribulations in verse 2, God is not tempting us as James writes in verse 14. Through these trials, God is not evil verse 17, but rather, building perseverance in us verse 3-4.

ii. And when you doubt and struggle to see what God is doing in your life when you struggle, James tells us in verse 5-6 go to God in prayer and seek Him. If we lack wisdom, if we are struggling to understand God’s goodness in all the events of our life, ask God. Seek Him. This is why James echoes this sentiment again in James 4:8 by saying draw near to God and He will draw near to you. In James 4:7, it gives us the context. Resist the devil, because he will try to deceive you. He will try to tempt you and cause you to not trust in God.

iii. Satan always tries to deceive God’s people through trials to tell us one thing. Satan tries to tell us that God is absent or that this trial is too great for God to help us. But in the words of James in 1:17, every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above. You see, every good thing, everything that helps us to grow is from God.

iv. I think about it in terms of food. If you know, all the foods that taste good are usually bad for you. And all the foods that taste bad, are good for you. So when we think about every good thing, all our struggles, are good for us. Why? Why are struggles good for us? Because it helps us to see what we are standing on. It helps us to see what is our anchor. Trials are the best things to gauge in our lives who we are submitting ourselves to.

v. Well this context help us to see what James is writing in verse 18. We must understand verse 17 correctly to understand verse 18. Verse 17 is big because it speaks of God’s goodness and faithfulness. God is the father of lights, which speaks of God and the stars are alike. Every night, when we look up in the sky, we can see the stars in the universe. If we look up into space, we know that there are billions of stars. God is the creator of all these stars. And although they are constant and always there, they change unlike God. Even through the stars constancy, there are variations. But with God, He is constant and never changing. He is always good. He does all things perfectly.

vi. With this in mind, in verse 18, James writes in the exercise of His will. According to His will, this helps us understand the church’s identity. If we forget this phrase, it helps us understand a big problem in the church. In the same time, we must understand that people’s struggles are real. They are an actual thing. At the same time, we must reflect and think about who God is.

vii. According to His will is important to understand not only in verse 17, but in contrast to verse 14-16. Standing opposite the unplanned pregnancy and birth of sin in 1:14–15 is the deliberate and intentional reproductive activity of God in 1:18: it is “according to his purpose.” This sets the foundation for the life of the church. When we forget about this, we deter from God’s footprint of the church.

viii. This is the clearest sign of an unhealthy Church. You see, practically speaking, I think most churches will say we believe in God’s will. Every church says we preach the Gospel, we teach the Bible. But what happens. The problem is not in our statements. The problem lies in our practical application of that. What do I mean? Well, let’s think about our church. Is it strange for us to talk about what God is doing in our lives? Do we share the things that God is doing in our lives? How intentional are we speaking about God in the lives of others? I am not saying that we must talk about God all the time. What I am saying is, do we feel comfortable about talking about God with others? Do we feel comfortable sharing with others how God is working in our lives?

ix. God brought us forth by the word of truth, through His Gospel, according to His will not so that we can remain dead in our sins. He brought us forth to give us our identity. He brought us forth to help us see how God has saved us and to share with others how God is working in our lives. This is what the church is supposed to do. We are supposed to share how God is working in our lives. We are supposed to glory and worship God through how He is working in other people’s lives. The way we glorify God is hearing how God is working in our lives. We were not saved with no identity. We were saved for a purpose. But for us to understand our purpose, we must first understand our identity. The church’s identity is to know the word of truth. We were brought forth by the word of truth. We must first know about who Christ is, and what He has done. Once the church forgets this, it’s a dead church.

x. What is the word of truth? It is regarding the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the truth that Christ came to the world to save sinners, sinners like you and I, sinners who in the words of James are tempted and carried away and enticed by our own lusts. One of the most astounding things I’ve been seeing in my Bible readings is how easy it is for us to read about sins in the Bible as if it were about other people. This is why we can say things like We are sinners and yet not think much about it. But when the Bible talks about sin, it is not talking about sin generally. It is talking about YOUR sin, MY sin. This is why many people don’t understand the significance of our salvation. Because we don’t see how wretched we are, how dead we were apart from Christ. The Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is great because it tells us how far we were apart from God, and yet, through Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection, we have been brought near. We are no longer separated from Him, but rather, we have been brought into His family. It is when we understand this identity, that we are children of God, that we were bought with His blood, that we will share with others the greatness of God in salvation. When we don’t realize this, we won’t share this. We will talk about other things, things we feel are more important. This is the sign of an unhealthy Church.

b. The church doesn't know its purpose (1:19-20)

i. The first sign of an unhealthy church is that they don’t know their identity. But the second thing is, if we don’t understand our identity, we won’t understand our vision or purpose. Simply put, we won’t understand why we do what we do. Why do we come to church on Sunday? What is the reason, purpose we come?

ii. Now we can say all the generic answers. We come to worship God, we come to learn more about God. My question is, is there joy? Are we thinking about it the night before? Are we excited to learn about God? I think about this in the way I understand relationships. When I was dating, there was an excitement. If we dated someone in the past without marrying them, we can admit that there is always excitement in the new reality of being in a relationship. But as time has gone by, we admit that it becomes different. We can say things like we mature but the question is, what happened? Why has the newness of the relationship gone? Why is the joy and excitement gone? This is the same questions we have to raise about coming to church. Where is our excitement when we think about Sunday worship? Are we excited to come and worship God? If we aren’t, it shows in our worship. It shows in our dedication. It shows in our actions. This is what James is telling us. If we don’t understand our identity, it will show in the way we live. It will affect our purpose.

iii. At the end of verse 18, God created us for a purpose. It was that we would be the first fruits among His creatures. According to Exodus 23:19, firstfruits were the first harvest or finest produce that was set apart as an offering to God and was considered God’s special possession. It’s the same idea with tithing. When we tithe, it is the first fruits of our salary. It is money we set aside to give back to God in worship. Well, what James is telling us, God saved us for a reason. He saved us to be first fruits. What does this mean in context.

iv. In verse 19, James writes by saying, Be aware of these things. In context, though, James is not just giving good advice for living; he has something specific in mind: being quick to hear “the word of truth,” which is synonymous with believing it. And it is not just hearing, but a hearing that results in slowness to speak and slowness to anger. As we will see in 1:26; 3:10; 4:11, control of the tongue is a major component of true faith, and the problem of anger is brought up again in 4:1.

v. Why is this important? Because a person who doesn’t understand their identity, that they were purchased with the blood of Christ, will live in this way. You see our identity in Christ has everything with how we live. Our purpose in life is altered in a completely different direction when we don’t understand our identity. If we are drawing near to the things of the world, than we don’t need to do these things.

vi. I think its common sense that James writes in verse 18, that everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger. We should always be willing to listen to what people are saying and the things they are going through. At the same time, we must be slow to speak because we should be listening. And if we are listening, then, we won’t be angry. Why? Because we are listening to what the other person is saying and if we understand what they are saying, even if they did something wrong, we wouldn’t get angry. It’s when we are not listening, that we are speaking over them and getting angry.

vii. But what does this have to do with the purpose of the church? You see if our identity is found in Christ and His death and resurrection, than we must always seek to live according to His will. We must set in our lives the priority to live according to His purpose. Our purpose must be to glorify God and James tells us exactly what that is. In verse 20, James writes, that the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. Why should we do away with anger? Because this does not achieve the righteousness of God.

viii. The righteousness of God can refer to not pleasing God. When we are angry with others, yes it does not accomplish the righteousness of God. We are not pleasing God when we are angry with others. But it’s more than that. The righteousness of God here is referring to when you are confronted with others, it does not mean to get even with them. When we are angry, and we respond to them in anger, it does not reveal to them the righteous character of who God is. This is why James writes that it does not achieve the righteousness of God. When we simply respond to others who are angry with us in anger, we are the same as these people. I was doing homework with the kids and one of the verses they had to read was Exodus 34:6-7 and it reminded me of this is who God is. He is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness and truth. He forgives iniquity, yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. This is the righteousness of God. He is gracious and loving and patient, but will also be just. You see if the intent is to honor God, to do what He sees as righteous, to display the righteousness of God, than we will be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger.

ix. This is why James writes in verse 21, Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and worldly passions, in humility receive the word implanted. Instead of responding to others by paying back what is right in our eyes, we must in humility submit to God. It is when we know our identity that we understand our purpose. We must not simply say we know our identity. We must respond by living according to God’s will and His purpose for us. This is why James follows in verse 22, to prove yourselves as doers of the word. James is not interested in us knowing our identity. We must know our identity and that has to give life, it must bear fruit in our lives.

x. This is what gives life in the church. This is the sign of a healthy Church. An unhealthy church simply knows truth and does not apply it. A healthy church knows the truth and applies it.

3. CONCLUSION