WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:21.839 If you turn back to James chapter 1, that would be great. Page 1011. So our modern ears, or post-modern ears, whatever kind of ears we have in this culture, there are many parts of the Bible that just sound utterly ludicrous, aren't they? 00:00:21.839 --> 00:00:36.620 For to ask our neighbours. And I suspect we're going to put them in our top ten of statements. I think this statement of James, as he starts his letter, will be pretty near the top, wouldn't it? In our consumer culture. James chapter 1 verse 2. 00:00:36.619 --> 00:00:49.179 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds. Can you imagine going to the camps in Calais? Oh, consider it all joy, my brothers, as I get back in my nice car to go home. Consider it all joy, your suffering. 00:00:50.259 --> 00:01:04.620 Wandering the streets of Aleppo, or somewhere in Syria, bombed smithereens. Consider it all joy, my brothers. To the prisoner, who hasn't got out for years, political prisoner in Iraq, or Iran rather. 00:01:04.620 --> 00:01:16.000 Count it all joy, my brother. Or to the child who blew it at school. To my child or your child when he comes home. Consider it all joy. It's counterintuitive, isn't it? 00:01:16.900 --> 00:01:25.340 As I was preparing this this week, I was so struck by even the trials I know that are going on in the church family, let alone the ones I do not know about. 00:01:26.020 --> 00:01:34.600 So I'm sure there are many I do not know. So many trials, trials at work, trials without work, trials of health. 00:01:35.180 --> 00:01:46.439 Difficulties in relationships, trials in marriages, trials with not being married, trials of physical health, with mental health, struggles with relationships, elderly parents to look after, young children to care for. 00:01:46.780 --> 00:01:52.060 So many pressures. We all know there are various trials, don't we? 00:01:52.060 --> 00:02:02.659 And yet, what worldview, what religion actually enables people to cope with trials? 00:02:02.659 --> 00:02:07.219 21st century consumerism certainly doesn't, does it? 00:02:07.219 --> 00:02:09.219 What's the solution? 00:02:09.219 --> 00:02:10.219 What's the solution? 00:02:10.219 --> 00:02:11.219 What's the solution? 00:02:11.219 --> 00:02:14.219 Well, you either anesthetize the pain or you escape it somewhere. 00:02:14.219 --> 00:02:16.219 Buddhism. 00:02:16.219 --> 00:02:17.219 What's the solution? 00:02:17.219 --> 00:02:18.219 Buddhism. 00:02:18.219 --> 00:02:20.219 Suffering is just an illusion. 00:02:20.219 --> 00:02:21.219 Islam. 00:02:21.219 --> 00:02:25.219 Well, it's the will of Allah, we just get on. 00:02:25.219 --> 00:02:28.219 The Bible is far more real, isn't it? 00:02:28.219 --> 00:02:31.219 About dealing with the trials that come. 00:02:31.219 --> 00:02:38.219 So no wonder James starts straight away, without any much to do, straight in with this message. 00:02:38.219 --> 00:02:42.219 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds. 00:02:42.219 --> 00:02:44.219 So who on earth is James to say this? 00:02:44.219 --> 00:02:47.219 Well, he's inspired by the Holy Spirit, that's why he's writing. 00:02:47.219 --> 00:02:52.219 He is almost certainly, or most probably, the half-brother of our Lord Jesus Christ, 00:02:52.219 --> 00:02:55.219 who'd rejected all Jesus' claims in his life. 00:02:55.219 --> 00:03:00.219 Here, 1 Corinthians 15, we find the resurrected Lord appeared to him. 00:03:01.219 --> 00:03:05.219 And so he becomes a believer and a pillar of the church in Jerusalem, as Galatians 2 puts it. 00:03:06.219 --> 00:03:10.219 And who is James making this outrageous command to? 00:03:10.219 --> 00:03:15.219 Well, he tells us it's the 12 tribes in the dispersion. 00:03:16.219 --> 00:03:21.219 Probably, people from his church in Jerusalem, who had fled the persecution in Jerusalem, 00:03:21.219 --> 00:03:23.219 that we read about in Acts chapter 8. 00:03:24.219 --> 00:03:27.219 And now establishing a new life somewhere outside Israel. 00:03:28.219 --> 00:03:30.219 So he's writing to people he knows. 00:03:31.219 --> 00:03:33.219 He's had enough afflictions in his own life, 00:03:33.219 --> 00:03:35.219 and he knows enough of the details of their lives, 00:03:35.219 --> 00:03:38.219 to be able to write to them about sufferings and trials. 00:03:38.219 --> 00:03:41.219 And do you notice what he's saying here? 00:03:42.219 --> 00:03:44.219 It's a command, isn't it? 00:03:44.219 --> 00:03:46.219 Count it all joy, my brothers. 00:03:46.219 --> 00:03:51.219 This is what you're to do as a command addressed to our minds and our wills. 00:03:52.219 --> 00:03:54.219 He doesn't say feel happy. 00:03:55.219 --> 00:03:57.219 He says count it, consider it, reckon it. 00:03:57.219 --> 00:04:00.219 Estimate these trials as joy. 00:04:00.219 --> 00:04:03.219 Now, joy is not the same as happiness, of course. 00:04:03.219 --> 00:04:06.219 But how on earth can we consider trials joy? 00:04:07.219 --> 00:04:12.219 How can we consider it joy when we get the bad diagnosis? 00:04:13.219 --> 00:04:14.219 Or whatever it is in your life. 00:04:15.219 --> 00:04:17.220 Well, James gives us the rationale for his command, 00:04:17.220 --> 00:04:20.220 the resources for keeping it, 00:04:20.220 --> 00:04:22.220 real life examples, so you see what it means. 00:04:23.220 --> 00:04:24.220 And finally mentions the reward. 00:04:25.220 --> 00:04:25.220 00:04:25.220 --> 00:04:26.220 First of all, the rationale. 00:04:26.220 --> 00:04:27.220 What is the rationale? 00:04:28.220 --> 00:04:30.220 Well, it's there in verses 3 and 4, isn't it? 00:04:30.220 --> 00:04:34.220 For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 00:04:35.220 --> 00:04:37.220 And that steadfastness have its full effect. 00:04:38.220 --> 00:04:41.220 That you may be perfect and complete, lucky and nothing. 00:04:41.220 --> 00:04:44.220 I have taken to looking at the Brentford FC website. 00:04:45.220 --> 00:04:47.220 It's part of my new calling as a church plant at Brentford. 00:04:48.220 --> 00:04:49.220 And a couple of weeks ago, after a particularly awful result, 00:04:50.220 --> 00:04:51.220 they won yesterday, hopefully they'll be getting well. 00:04:52.220 --> 00:04:53.220 But after a particularly bad result, 00:04:54.220 --> 00:04:56.220 one of the players in the blog had said how 00:04:57.220 --> 00:04:59.220 they had a really good week in training, working really hard, 00:05:00.220 --> 00:05:01.220 they'd all had a lot of pain, but it's going to be worth it. 00:05:02.220 --> 00:05:03.220 What was he saying? 00:05:04.220 --> 00:05:07.220 Yes, we suffered, but it's worthwhile for the result. 00:05:07.220 --> 00:05:11.220 We want to become more complete, more mature, more perfect footballers. 00:05:12.220 --> 00:05:14.220 So we don't want to be propping up the bottom of the table 00:05:15.220 --> 00:05:16.220 of the championship at the end of the season. 00:05:17.220 --> 00:05:18.220 See, knowing where they're going, 00:05:19.220 --> 00:05:20.220 or knowing where they want to go, 00:05:21.220 --> 00:05:23.220 makes the suffering and pain worthwhile. 00:05:24.220 --> 00:05:26.220 And that's really what James is saying, isn't it? 00:05:27.220 --> 00:05:28.220 These trials are not going to be accidental. 00:05:29.220 --> 00:05:31.220 They have a good purpose in your life. 00:05:32.220 --> 00:05:34.220 And that is that you may be, verse 4, 00:05:34.220 --> 00:05:37.220 verse 4, perfect and complete, wacky and nothing. 00:05:38.220 --> 00:05:40.220 It talks, verse 4, in verse 3 about the testing of faith, 00:05:41.220 --> 00:05:42.220 producing steadfastness. 00:05:43.220 --> 00:05:46.220 The word translated steadfastness there has this idea 00:05:47.220 --> 00:05:48.220 of bearing up under a weight. 00:05:49.220 --> 00:05:52.220 It's the kind of idea of someone staggering along under a big weight, 00:05:53.220 --> 00:05:54.220 holding it up for a long time. 00:05:55.220 --> 00:05:57.220 That they're steadfast to stay there with their arms aloft doing it. 00:05:59.220 --> 00:06:01.220 And muscles, of course, if you're going to be like that, 00:06:01.220 --> 00:06:03.220 you need to exercise your muscles, don't you? 00:06:04.220 --> 00:06:05.220 There is a reason I'm a 10-7 weekling. 00:06:06.220 --> 00:06:07.220 I don't actually exercise my muscles enough. 00:06:08.220 --> 00:06:10.220 If I want to be stronger, I need to get down to the gym 00:06:11.220 --> 00:06:12.220 and do some bench pressing or something. 00:06:13.220 --> 00:06:14.220 Well, James says your faith works like that. 00:06:15.220 --> 00:06:18.220 As your faith is tested, as it is exercised, 00:06:19.220 --> 00:06:20.220 so it produces steadfastness. 00:06:21.220 --> 00:06:23.220 But steadfastness isn't even the final goal, is it? 00:06:24.220 --> 00:06:26.220 The final goal, verse 4, is to be perfect and complete, 00:06:27.220 --> 00:06:28.220 lacking in nothing. 00:06:28.220 --> 00:06:30.220 But you see the second command there? 00:06:31.220 --> 00:06:35.220 Let steadfastness have its full effect. 00:06:36.220 --> 00:06:38.220 You need to cooperate with this testing. 00:06:39.220 --> 00:06:41.220 In effect, James is saying, don't waste your pain. 00:06:42.220 --> 00:06:44.220 Yes, your trials might be painful, but they've got a purpose. 00:06:45.220 --> 00:06:46.220 They can be useful. 00:06:47.220 --> 00:06:49.220 And James is assuming here the great biblical truth 00:06:50.220 --> 00:06:53.220 that every event in our life, no matter how sad, 00:06:53.220 --> 00:06:57.220 comes from the hand of a loving Father, 00:06:58.220 --> 00:06:59.220 the Father of the heavenly lights, 00:07:00.220 --> 00:07:01.220 who gives good gifts, as he says later on, 00:07:02.220 --> 00:07:02.220 00:07:03.220 --> 00:07:06.220 So James is saying, don't waste your pain. 00:07:07.220 --> 00:07:08.220 Count it joy when you meet those trials, 00:07:09.220 --> 00:07:12.220 because if you let that steadfastness have its work, 00:07:13.220 --> 00:07:14.220 you will be mature and complete. 00:07:15.220 --> 00:07:16.220 Now, if you think for a moment, 00:07:17.220 --> 00:07:19.220 who is the most mature Christian you look up to 00:07:19.220 --> 00:07:21.220 you've come across in your life? 00:07:22.220 --> 00:07:23.220 What is he or she like? 00:07:26.220 --> 00:07:27.220 If I think about that, 00:07:28.220 --> 00:07:29.220 I think of a man who for over 20 years 00:07:30.220 --> 00:07:31.220 was fighting cancer. 00:07:33.220 --> 00:07:34.220 And yet he's a man of incredible godliness 00:07:35.220 --> 00:07:36.220 and gentleness and wisdom. 00:07:37.220 --> 00:07:38.220 A man who even in his late 70s 00:07:39.220 --> 00:07:42.220 is always interested in meeting other people 00:07:42.220 --> 00:07:44.220 and learning about their cultures 00:07:45.220 --> 00:07:46.220 and meeting young people 00:07:46.220 --> 00:07:47.220 and learning about what they're up to 00:07:48.220 --> 00:07:49.220 and getting into their music. 00:07:50.220 --> 00:07:53.220 He's just incredibly godly and patient. 00:07:57.220 --> 00:07:58.220 Could he be like that 00:07:59.220 --> 00:08:00.220 if he hadn't been for cancer? 00:08:01.220 --> 00:08:02.220 I guess not. 00:08:03.220 --> 00:08:04.220 As John Piper once said, 00:08:05.220 --> 00:08:06.220 the greener grass is greener, 00:08:07.220 --> 00:08:08.220 but it has no nutritional value. 00:08:09.220 --> 00:08:10.220 The greener grass is greener, 00:08:10.220 --> 00:08:11.220 but it has no nutritional value. 00:08:12.220 --> 00:08:13.220 And we all long for green grass, don't we? 00:08:14.220 --> 00:08:15.220 We all long for a nice holiday in the summer, 00:08:16.220 --> 00:08:17.220 whatever it is that floats your boat. 00:08:18.220 --> 00:08:19.220 But the greener grass is greener, 00:08:20.220 --> 00:08:21.220 but it has no nutritional value. 00:08:22.220 --> 00:08:24.220 If we're going to work towards godliness, 00:08:25.220 --> 00:08:26.220 if we're going to become godly and perfect 00:08:27.220 --> 00:08:28.220 and mature, 00:08:29.220 --> 00:08:30.220 as the Lord wants for us, 00:08:31.220 --> 00:08:32.220 then it will be hard on its way. 00:08:33.220 --> 00:08:34.220 If we want to be mature believers, 00:08:35.220 --> 00:08:36.220 we need to cooperate with trials the Lord says. 00:08:37.220 --> 00:08:38.220 Now this isn't stoicism. 00:08:38.220 --> 00:08:39.220 It's stoicism. 00:08:39.220 --> 00:08:40.220 It's not British stiff upper lip. 00:08:41.220 --> 00:08:41.220 00:08:41.220 --> 00:08:42.220 oh, I'm going to do my best here. 00:08:43.220 --> 00:08:46.220 No, because James is going to talk about the resources 00:08:47.220 --> 00:08:48.220 we need to be able to do this. 00:08:51.220 --> 00:08:54.220 But it is the truth that we can, 00:08:55.220 --> 00:08:55.220 00:08:56.220 --> 00:08:58.220 we're commanded to rejoice in trials 00:08:59.220 --> 00:09:00.220 and to cooperate with them 00:09:01.220 --> 00:09:03.220 that we might become perfect and mature 00:09:04.220 --> 00:09:06.220 and complete, lacking nothing. 00:09:06.220 --> 00:09:08.220 Now if we truly grasp this, 00:09:09.220 --> 00:09:10.220 how might it change the way we talk to each other? 00:09:11.220 --> 00:09:12.220 Do you think? 00:09:13.220 --> 00:09:14.220 I don't know about you, but I'm often given to whinging. 00:09:15.220 --> 00:09:15.220 00:09:16.220 --> 00:09:16.220 00:09:17.220 --> 00:09:18.220 How are you? 00:09:19.220 --> 00:09:19.220 00:09:20.220 --> 00:09:21.220 But I was going to hospital again last week. 00:09:22.220 --> 00:09:23.220 It's so easy to whinge, isn't it? 00:09:23.220 --> 00:09:24.220 It's a very British characteristic. 00:09:25.220 --> 00:09:26.220 It is a great Scottish characteristic. 00:09:27.220 --> 00:09:28.220 We're good at whinging. 00:09:29.220 --> 00:09:30.220 Apologies, Will, then, if you think I'm wrong on that, 00:09:31.220 --> 00:09:32.220 but you can correct me afterwards. 00:09:32.220 --> 00:09:37.220 But if we really grasped that every hard thing in our life, 00:09:38.220 --> 00:09:39.220 every triumph, every disappointment, 00:09:40.220 --> 00:09:41.220 every sadness, 00:09:42.220 --> 00:09:45.220 every complicated situation that's too difficult for us, 00:09:46.220 --> 00:09:49.220 is actually something the living God can use in our lives 00:09:50.220 --> 00:09:52.220 so we might be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. 00:09:53.220 --> 00:09:55.220 Wouldn't that change the way we talk to each other? 00:09:55.220 --> 00:09:59.220 Wouldn't it change the way we pray for each other? 00:10:00.220 --> 00:10:02.220 I mean, yes, it's right to pray for good health. 00:10:03.220 --> 00:10:05.220 It's right to pray for jobs to be provided, and so on and so forth. 00:10:06.220 --> 00:10:07.220 It's good to pray those things. 00:10:08.220 --> 00:10:09.220 The Lord Jesus teaches us, doesn't he? 00:10:10.220 --> 00:10:11.220 He can pray for our daily bread, 00:10:12.220 --> 00:10:13.220 and all of that is incorporated in it. 00:10:14.220 --> 00:10:15.220 But shouldn't we go a bit further as well, 00:10:16.220 --> 00:10:18.220 and pray that the treasure of the trial 00:10:19.220 --> 00:10:20.220 will be formed within us as we go? 00:10:20.220 --> 00:10:24.220 That actually, our friends who are suffering 00:10:25.220 --> 00:10:27.220 will become more complete and perfect through it. 00:10:28.220 --> 00:10:31.220 That we as a church will become more complete through it. 00:10:33.220 --> 00:10:35.220 This is the rationale James gives 00:10:36.220 --> 00:10:38.220 for us to consider trials all joy. 00:10:39.220 --> 00:10:40.220 But it's one thing to know that, 00:10:41.220 --> 00:10:42.220 it's another thing to do it, isn't it? 00:10:42.220 --> 00:10:44.220 I mean, I know I ought to do more stretching exercises 00:10:45.220 --> 00:10:46.220 so that actually I can move more easily 00:10:47.220 --> 00:10:49.220 and run after Zoe when she goes running in the park or something. 00:10:50.220 --> 00:10:51.220 But I'm really bad at doing it. 00:10:52.220 --> 00:10:53.220 I need some kind of resource to help me do it. 00:10:54.220 --> 00:10:55.220 So where are the resources 00:10:56.220 --> 00:10:58.220 that we can actually count trials pure joy? 00:10:59.220 --> 00:11:01.220 Well, James comes on to them. 00:11:02.220 --> 00:11:03.220 What would you expect the main resource to be? 00:11:04.220 --> 00:11:05.220 Count it all joy, brothers. 00:11:06.220 --> 00:11:08.220 So, pray the Lord will give you strength and stamina. 00:11:09.220 --> 00:11:11.220 So pray the Lord will fill you with the sense of his love. 00:11:11.220 --> 00:11:14.220 Pray the Lord will give you his spirit so that you can endure. 00:11:15.220 --> 00:11:17.220 Well, James, that's actually not where James goes. 00:11:18.220 --> 00:11:19.220 He goes to a more profound level. 00:11:20.220 --> 00:11:20.220 00:11:21.220 --> 00:11:22.220 Here we get in, having seen the rationale, we get the resources. 00:11:23.220 --> 00:11:24.220 Look at verse 5. 00:11:25.220 --> 00:11:26.220 If any of you lacks wisdom, 00:11:27.220 --> 00:11:30.220 let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach. 00:11:31.220 --> 00:11:32.220 And it will be given him. 00:11:33.220 --> 00:11:34.220 Now, James hasn't changed the subject here. 00:11:35.220 --> 00:11:36.220 If you look down to verse 12, he's still talking about trials. 00:11:37.220 --> 00:11:39.220 But here's the resources we need 00:11:39.220 --> 00:11:42.220 so that we can count trials of pure joy. 00:11:43.220 --> 00:11:44.220 We need wisdom. 00:11:44.220 --> 00:11:45.220 Now, what is wisdom? 00:11:46.220 --> 00:11:48.220 Well, wisdom is not information. 00:11:49.220 --> 00:11:52.220 I'm sure you all know, I've heard the old humorous definition 00:11:52.220 --> 00:11:54.220 of the difference between wisdom and knowledge. 00:11:55.220 --> 00:11:58.220 So knowledge is knowing that tomato is a fruit, not a vegetable. 00:11:58.220 --> 00:12:01.220 Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad. 00:12:02.220 --> 00:12:06.220 And wisdom in the Bible is skill in the art of godly living, is one put it. 00:12:07.220 --> 00:12:10.220 It's not just information, it's not just knowing what's going to happen. 00:12:11.220 --> 00:12:14.220 It's rather, it's skill in the art of godly living. 00:12:15.220 --> 00:12:17.220 It's knowing how the world is. 00:12:18.220 --> 00:12:20.220 Knowing this is God's world and who we are in it. 00:12:20.220 --> 00:12:25.220 So it's not information, it's reorientation, if I can put it like that. 00:12:26.220 --> 00:12:31.220 Not information, but being reorientated to God's view on the world, to God's view of life. 00:12:32.220 --> 00:12:34.220 I've lost track of how many Christian meetings I've been in 00:12:35.220 --> 00:12:37.220 where we've prayed that God would give us wisdom over a particular decision. 00:12:38.220 --> 00:12:39.220 I think often we'll be looking for information. 00:12:40.220 --> 00:12:41.220 Who should we appoint for this task? 00:12:42.220 --> 00:12:45.220 How should we go about this ministry? 00:12:45.220 --> 00:12:49.220 Now it's not bad to pray that, we should pray the Lord's will be done, shouldn't we? 00:12:50.220 --> 00:12:52.220 But I don't think that's what James is really telling us to pray for here. 00:12:53.220 --> 00:12:57.220 He's telling us to pray for wisdom, to be reorientated. 00:12:58.220 --> 00:13:03.220 So our minds and our hearts are shaped to look at the world God's way. 00:13:04.220 --> 00:13:06.220 To live properly in the light of God's truth. 00:13:07.220 --> 00:13:09.220 That's why we read in the Old Testament, don't we? 00:13:10.220 --> 00:13:11.220 What's the beginning of wisdom? 00:13:11.220 --> 00:13:14.220 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. 00:13:15.220 --> 00:13:16.220 Psalm 111 verse 10. 00:13:18.220 --> 00:13:20.220 So as we're praying the Lord would give us wisdom, 00:13:21.220 --> 00:13:24.220 what we're looking for is the Lord to reorientate us. 00:13:25.220 --> 00:13:27.220 So that we really fear Him more and more. 00:13:28.220 --> 00:13:29.220 And start to see the world as He sees it. 00:13:30.220 --> 00:13:31.220 See ourselves as He sees it. 00:13:32.220 --> 00:13:34.220 So we start to live properly in God's world. 00:13:35.220 --> 00:13:37.220 He would give us skill in the art of godly living. 00:13:37.220 --> 00:13:41.220 And that begins with the fear of the Lord. 00:13:42.220 --> 00:13:47.220 Back in the 4th century, St. Augustine described wisdom as a reordering of our affections. 00:13:48.220 --> 00:13:51.220 Sin in our lives means we don't love the things we should love. 00:13:52.220 --> 00:13:53.220 We should love God first, but we don't. 00:13:54.220 --> 00:13:57.220 We love our job, we love our money, we love other things. 00:13:58.220 --> 00:13:59.220 Everything's out of kilter. 00:13:59.220 --> 00:14:02.220 So Augustine referred to wisdom as being the reordering of our affections. 00:14:03.220 --> 00:14:07.220 The reorientating of our lives around what is true and right and what is truly valuable. 00:14:08.220 --> 00:14:10.220 And that's why we need to pray for wisdom, isn't it? 00:14:11.220 --> 00:14:19.220 Because if we have wisdom from God, that is the resource we need to start valuing trials as they are. 00:14:19.220 --> 00:14:22.220 And not as our culture sees trials. 00:14:23.220 --> 00:14:26.220 See naturally in our own selves, we want comfort, don't we? 00:14:27.220 --> 00:14:28.220 We want ease. 00:14:29.220 --> 00:14:30.220 We want life to be nice. 00:14:31.220 --> 00:14:33.220 Add on to that the consumer culture we live in. 00:14:34.220 --> 00:14:40.220 Everything's sold in the prospect, the premise of it will make life happier, make life easier, make life nicer for you. 00:14:40.220 --> 00:14:54.220 The complete person in our culture is the person who has the latest phone, the latest car, or the great job, or the woman who has four perfectly behaved children and also a great career and keeps it all held down at once. 00:14:55.220 --> 00:14:57.220 That's the complete person in our culture, isn't it? 00:14:58.220 --> 00:15:00.220 But that's not the complete person God is making. 00:15:01.220 --> 00:15:03.220 See, we need reorientation. 00:15:04.220 --> 00:15:05.220 We need to pray for God's wisdom. 00:15:05.220 --> 00:15:07.220 And you see the good news when we do pray about it? 00:15:08.220 --> 00:15:10.220 What's the promise attached to this resource in verse 5? 00:15:11.220 --> 00:15:18.220 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God he gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him. 00:15:19.220 --> 00:15:22.220 I don't know about you, but I get really hesitant in asking people to do things for me. 00:15:23.220 --> 00:15:25.220 We have neighbours who will sometimes babysit for us. 00:15:26.220 --> 00:15:29.220 I often don't really want to ask again, are we inconveniencing them? 00:15:30.220 --> 00:15:33.220 They don't have the same problem, they ask us to feed their cat on a regular basis, which we're doing right now. 00:15:33.220 --> 00:15:36.220 So hopefully we'll get another babysitting night out of here. 00:15:36.220 --> 00:15:38.220 But sometimes we have that reticence, don't we? 00:15:39.220 --> 00:15:41.220 To ask people for things, because we think, oh, we don't want to bother them. 00:15:42.220 --> 00:15:44.220 Maybe we've asked too much, maybe we haven't done enough. 00:15:46.220 --> 00:15:48.220 Yet that is not the case with the Lord, is it? 00:15:49.220 --> 00:15:52.220 He gives generously to all without reproach. 00:15:54.220 --> 00:15:57.220 He won't sit there and say, you haven't done enough for me, you've asked me too often. 00:15:58.220 --> 00:16:00.220 He won't. He will give wisdom to those who ask us. 00:16:00.220 --> 00:16:04.220 He will reorientate us. He will reorder our affections. 00:16:05.220 --> 00:16:07.220 So we love what he loves, if we will ask. 00:16:08.220 --> 00:16:09.220 He gives without reproach. 00:16:10.220 --> 00:16:11.220 He will give generously. 00:16:12.220 --> 00:16:13.220 So here is the great resource. 00:16:14.220 --> 00:16:15.220 So we can face trials. 00:16:16.220 --> 00:16:18.220 We've got the rationale, but here is the resource. 00:16:19.220 --> 00:16:21.220 Wisdom is God's gift to reorientate us. 00:16:21.220 --> 00:16:24.220 But there's a little caveat here, isn't there? 00:16:25.220 --> 00:16:27.220 Verse 6 and 7. 00:16:28.220 --> 00:16:29.220 There's a little caveat. 00:16:30.220 --> 00:16:32.220 Not everyone will receive this gift. 00:16:33.220 --> 00:16:34.220 Look at verse 6. 00:16:34.220 --> 00:16:37.220 But those who ask, let him ask in faith with no doubting. 00:16:37.220 --> 00:16:42.220 For the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 00:16:43.220 --> 00:16:49.220 That person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord, for he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. 00:16:50.220 --> 00:16:52.220 What does it mean to be a double-minded person? 00:16:53.220 --> 00:16:54.220 What does that look like? 00:16:54.220 --> 00:16:56.220 Well, first of all, let me explain what it doesn't look like. 00:16:57.220 --> 00:17:00.220 James says here that the way we're to ask is with faith, believing. 00:17:01.220 --> 00:17:07.220 Years ago, I was given a two-volume biography of Hudson Taylor, a 19th century pioneer missionary to China. 00:17:08.220 --> 00:17:11.220 Now, I can remember virtually nothing of the details of that biography but this. 00:17:12.220 --> 00:17:15.220 There's one little phrase that kept cropping up again and again. 00:17:16.220 --> 00:17:19.220 When there was some financial catastrophe, when there was an uprising in the area, 00:17:19.220 --> 00:17:23.220 you would read that the missionaries met together for believing prayer. 00:17:24.220 --> 00:17:26.220 That was a phrase, believing prayer. 00:17:27.220 --> 00:17:28.220 Now, that's not double-mindedness. 00:17:29.220 --> 00:17:34.220 That's people who are meeting together, believing, relying on the Lord to answer their prayers, 00:17:35.220 --> 00:17:44.220 to provide the money, to provide the safety, to provide the conversions of people leaving the Chinese religions and coming into faith. 00:17:45.220 --> 00:17:46.220 That was believing prayer. 00:17:46.220 --> 00:17:49.220 So, the double-minded man is the opposite of that. 00:17:49.220 --> 00:17:51.220 He's happy to pray but doesn't really believe. 00:17:52.220 --> 00:17:53.220 This is perhaps a superstitious thing. 00:17:54.220 --> 00:17:56.220 He knows he ought to pray so he goes through the motions of praying. 00:17:57.220 --> 00:18:01.220 Or, he has a sort of view of God that isn't actually a biblical view. 00:18:02.220 --> 00:18:03.220 It's a deist view of God. 00:18:04.220 --> 00:18:08.220 The idea that there's a God there who kind of wound up the universe and let it running out now. 00:18:09.220 --> 00:18:12.220 So, he kind of believes there's a God but doesn't believe this God interferes in daily life. 00:18:12.220 --> 00:18:15.220 He's a double-minded person, not expecting anything. 00:18:16.220 --> 00:18:19.220 Or, maybe he's double-minded in the sense that he's saying, 00:18:20.220 --> 00:18:22.220 Lord, I'd love wisdom to be able to count trials to your joy. 00:18:23.220 --> 00:18:27.220 But, as soon as he said that, actually, he's really longing for comfort again. 00:18:28.220 --> 00:18:31.220 He's really going out and doing whatever he can to make life comfortable and easy. 00:18:31.220 --> 00:18:33.220 And not cooperating with the trial. 00:18:34.220 --> 00:18:38.220 It's a bit like Augustine's famous prayer by believers in confession somewhere. 00:18:39.220 --> 00:18:40.220 Lord, make me chaste but not yet. 00:18:41.220 --> 00:18:44.220 I kind of want you what you want, God, but not totally. 00:18:45.220 --> 00:18:46.220 Well, that's a double-minded person. 00:18:47.220 --> 00:18:51.220 He doesn't necessarily really want the maturity and perfection God is working in his life. 00:18:52.220 --> 00:18:54.220 Rather, he or she still wants the comfort. 00:18:55.220 --> 00:18:59.220 As we go through this letter of James, we'll see he's writing to double-minded Christians. 00:18:59.220 --> 00:19:03.220 In chapter 4, verse 8, he mentions the double-minded specifically. 00:19:04.220 --> 00:19:08.220 Those who have friendship with the world, which is enmity towards God, he puts it there. 00:19:09.220 --> 00:19:11.220 We see this double-mindedness in other places in the letter. 00:19:12.220 --> 00:19:14.220 People who are hearers of God's word but not doers. 00:19:15.220 --> 00:19:19.220 People who speak praises to God and yet curse their brothers and sisters. 00:19:20.220 --> 00:19:24.220 People who love to be teachers because they love the sound of their own voice, but they're very slow to listen to others. 00:19:24.220 --> 00:19:30.220 People who talk about their faith but never demonstrate their faith in any actions. 00:19:31.220 --> 00:19:32.220 They're double-minded believers. 00:19:33.220 --> 00:19:40.220 But as I've read through James, as I think about what he says here, I see this so often. 00:19:41.220 --> 00:19:42.220 I'm a double-minded believer as well. 00:19:43.220 --> 00:19:44.220 Aren't we all? 00:19:44.220 --> 00:19:45.220 Don't we all? 00:19:45.220 --> 00:19:48.220 Don't we all suffer from spiritual schizophrenia sometimes? 00:19:49.220 --> 00:19:56.220 Where we think we long to be mature and yet actually we're quite happy living with a foot in this world. 00:19:57.220 --> 00:19:58.220 Thank you very much. 00:19:59.220 --> 00:20:01.220 See, James is like a careful doctor. 00:20:02.220 --> 00:20:06.220 As he looks at these believers he knows, he's pointing out the symptoms of double-mindedness. 00:20:07.220 --> 00:20:10.220 The division in their church, the judging one another, the half-hearted praying. 00:20:10.220 --> 00:20:14.220 The symptom here is the lack of calm, isn't it? Verse 6. 00:20:15.220 --> 00:20:20.220 This person will pray but doesn't really believe and so therefore they're just tossed around like a wave of the sea. 00:20:21.220 --> 00:20:23.220 No calm, no peace, no maturity. 00:20:24.220 --> 00:20:27.220 Now how often do I pray? 00:20:28.220 --> 00:20:33.220 They're not really necessarily believe the Lord will answer, not necessarily look for him or ask him, answering. 00:20:33.220 --> 00:20:37.220 How unlike the psalmist I am. 00:20:37.220 --> 00:20:39.220 Psalm 130 verses 5 and 6. 00:20:40.220 --> 00:20:41.220 I wait for the Lord. 00:20:42.220 --> 00:20:43.220 My soul waits. 00:20:44.220 --> 00:20:45.220 And in his word I hope. 00:20:45.220 --> 00:20:48.220 My soul waits for the Lord more than the watchman for the morning. 00:20:49.220 --> 00:20:50.220 More than the watchman for the morning. 00:20:51.220 --> 00:20:53.220 Is that how we are when we're praying? 00:20:53.220 --> 00:20:57.220 When we're praying for the building? 00:20:57.220 --> 00:20:59.220 Praying for our friends? 00:21:00.220 --> 00:21:03.220 Praying for the event coming up on the 17th of November? 00:21:04.220 --> 00:21:09.220 See James puts his finger on some double-mindedness here. 00:21:10.220 --> 00:21:13.220 And through this letter not only does he point out the symptoms, he also gives the prognosis for double-mindedness. 00:21:14.220 --> 00:21:16.220 Here, he will not perceive anything from the Lord. 00:21:17.220 --> 00:21:19.220 Ultimately he wants the judgment to come. 00:21:19.220 --> 00:21:23.220 But thankfully James also points us to the cure for double-mindedness. 00:21:24.220 --> 00:21:29.220 And the cure here, in verse 5, is to ask believing. 00:21:30.220 --> 00:21:34.220 Believing that this great God who gives generously without finding fault will indeed give. 00:21:35.220 --> 00:21:40.220 While we've seen the rationale for counting trials of pure joy, 00:21:41.220 --> 00:21:44.220 we've seen the resources, the prayer of faith. 00:21:45.220 --> 00:21:48.220 Thirdly, we've come on more briefly to the real life example. 00:21:48.220 --> 00:21:51.220 So James is a great teacher, he knows this can sound abstract, 00:21:51.220 --> 00:21:53.220 so he gives us a real life example of trials 00:21:53.220 --> 00:21:56.220 and how it works out when we have wisdom in those trials. 00:21:57.220 --> 00:22:00.220 We see those there in verses 9 and 10. 00:22:01.220 --> 00:22:07.220 Let the lowly brother boast in his exultation, and the rich in his humiliation. 00:22:08.220 --> 00:22:11.220 They're two separate trials that different believers can face, aren't they? 00:22:12.220 --> 00:22:15.220 The trial of lowliness, the trial of financial insecurity, 00:22:15.220 --> 00:22:17.220 the trial of having very little. 00:22:18.220 --> 00:22:24.220 The trial of being out of work and not knowing whether you're getting work before the next bill is due. 00:22:25.220 --> 00:22:28.220 James says you have God-given wisdom, you can rejoice in that trial. 00:22:29.220 --> 00:22:32.220 Because you know God will one day lift you up from that. 00:22:32.220 --> 00:22:35.220 You know that in the world's eyes you are lowly and discarded and despised, 00:22:36.220 --> 00:22:37.220 yet God has chosen you. 00:22:37.220 --> 00:22:39.220 You are, in a sense, exalted already, a part of his kingdom. 00:22:39.220 --> 00:22:42.220 And one day you'll be exalted and lifted up completely 00:22:43.220 --> 00:22:45.220 and receive the crown of righteousness, he talks about in verse 12. 00:22:46.220 --> 00:22:48.220 But there's another trial. 00:22:49.220 --> 00:22:51.220 Actually a more difficult trial. 00:22:52.220 --> 00:22:53.220 Which he spends more time talking about. 00:22:54.220 --> 00:22:57.220 Verse 10, let the rich boast in his humiliation. 00:22:58.220 --> 00:23:03.220 Now however many people in our culture would think that wealth is a trial. 00:23:03.220 --> 00:23:07.220 And yet the Bible's clear, isn't it? 00:23:07.220 --> 00:23:09.220 Think of Jesus' own teaching. 00:23:09.220 --> 00:23:12.220 In Mark chapter 4, in the parable of the sower, 00:23:13.220 --> 00:23:15.220 you get the seed sown among thorns and Jesus says, 00:23:15.220 --> 00:23:17.220 Those people are the people who hear the word, 00:23:18.220 --> 00:23:20.220 but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches 00:23:21.220 --> 00:23:24.220 and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word 00:23:25.220 --> 00:23:26.220 and it proves unfruitful. 00:23:27.220 --> 00:23:29.220 Wealth is such trial, isn't it? 00:23:29.220 --> 00:23:32.220 It can easily make us unfruitful, 00:23:32.220 --> 00:23:33.220 it can easily hinder us 00:23:34.220 --> 00:23:35.220 rejoicing in trials 00:23:35.220 --> 00:23:38.220 and getting to the maturity and completeness 00:23:38.220 --> 00:23:39.220 that God wants for us. 00:23:41.220 --> 00:23:45.220 See, wealth is a trial that can divert us from our first loyalty, 00:23:46.220 --> 00:23:49.220 can deceive us into self-importance and self-reliance. 00:23:50.220 --> 00:23:51.220 It is a trial. 00:23:52.220 --> 00:23:54.220 We need God's wisdom to overcome it. 00:23:55.220 --> 00:23:57.220 So for the lowly, having God's wisdom means they can rejoice 00:23:57.220 --> 00:24:00.220 as those who know they're exalted by God. 00:24:00.220 --> 00:24:01.220 How does it work out for the wealthy? 00:24:02.220 --> 00:24:03.220 I'll read on, verse 11. 00:24:04.220 --> 00:24:06.220 For the sun rises with its scorching heat 00:24:06.220 --> 00:24:07.220 and withers the grass. 00:24:08.220 --> 00:24:10.220 Its flower falls and its beauty perishes. 00:24:11.220 --> 00:24:14.220 So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits. 00:24:16.220 --> 00:24:17.220 What's the picture? 00:24:18.220 --> 00:24:20.220 That flower in the field, that flower in the meadow. 00:24:21.220 --> 00:24:22.220 It looks beautiful, doesn't it? 00:24:22.220 --> 00:24:23.220 But it's insignificant, isn't it? 00:24:23.220 --> 00:24:24.220 It's unimportant. 00:24:26.220 --> 00:24:27.220 And it's transient. 00:24:27.220 --> 00:24:28.220 It's going to be gone. 00:24:29.220 --> 00:24:31.220 So it is with wealth in this life. 00:24:32.220 --> 00:24:33.220 For the rich Christian who has wealth, 00:24:34.220 --> 00:24:35.220 great, but it's beautiful for a time, 00:24:35.220 --> 00:24:36.220 and it's not wrong in itself to have it. 00:24:37.220 --> 00:24:40.220 But James is saying to those wealthy businessmen in his congregation, 00:24:41.220 --> 00:24:43.220 remember it's all passing. 00:24:44.220 --> 00:24:45.220 It's all going. 00:24:45.220 --> 00:24:46.220 Rejoice in your humiliation. 00:24:48.220 --> 00:24:49.220 What is that humiliation? 00:24:51.220 --> 00:24:54.220 That's the humiliation of being identified with the Son of God. 00:24:55.220 --> 00:24:57.220 Being identified with the one who died on a cross. 00:24:58.220 --> 00:25:00.220 The most despicable way of dying in the Roman Empire. 00:25:01.220 --> 00:25:04.220 Cicero wrote that a Roman citizen shouldn't even think for a moment about the cross. 00:25:05.220 --> 00:25:07.220 Well that's the humiliation, isn't it? 00:25:08.220 --> 00:25:12.220 To be identified with the crucified king and with his people. 00:25:12.220 --> 00:25:18.220 To be identified with those who the world mock and scorn as being of no value. 00:25:19.220 --> 00:25:21.220 In the church I served in for many years. 00:25:22.220 --> 00:25:24.220 We often had a homeless man called Fred, 00:25:25.220 --> 00:25:26.220 who you could smell before you could see him. 00:25:27.220 --> 00:25:30.220 He'd often been sitting a row in front or next to, 00:25:31.220 --> 00:25:32.220 or a row behind, a High Court judge. 00:25:33.220 --> 00:25:35.220 A man who's quite often all in the newspapers. 00:25:36.220 --> 00:25:39.220 It's beautiful to see how that's what the cross had done. 00:25:39.220 --> 00:25:43.220 He brought people together from two different parts of society completely. 00:25:44.220 --> 00:25:45.220 United in Christ. 00:25:46.220 --> 00:25:50.220 James says that's the way we should view our polity and our riches. 00:25:51.220 --> 00:25:55.220 That's the real life example to help us to see how we should respond to trials. 00:25:56.220 --> 00:26:00.220 Well we've got the rationale, we've got the resources, we've got the real life example. 00:26:00.220 --> 00:26:02.220 Finally, James doesn't leave it there. 00:26:03.220 --> 00:26:05.220 He comes to the reward that we have. 00:26:05.220 --> 00:26:08.220 The reward that enables us to count these trials as pure joy. 00:26:09.220 --> 00:26:09.220 00:26:10.220 --> 00:26:12.220 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial. 00:26:13.220 --> 00:26:17.220 For when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, 00:26:18.220 --> 00:26:20.220 which God has promised to those who love him. 00:26:21.220 --> 00:26:23.220 That's the reward that's coming. 00:26:23.220 --> 00:26:29.220 And how do we stand fast under trial, whether it's a trial of poverty or a trial of wealth? 00:26:30.220 --> 00:26:34.220 A trial of sickness or a trial of unemployment? 00:26:35.220 --> 00:26:36.220 A trial of relational problems? 00:26:37.220 --> 00:26:38.220 A trial of loneliness? 00:26:39.220 --> 00:26:41.220 How do we really stand firm in that? 00:26:42.220 --> 00:26:43.220 Is it through our anger and determination? 00:26:44.220 --> 00:26:49.220 Is it through some abstract kind of hope that one day everything will work out right? 00:26:49.220 --> 00:26:54.220 No, it's through God's wisdom, and even more than that, 00:26:55.220 --> 00:26:56.220 through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:26:57.220 --> 00:27:02.220 Because we can know, can't we, that trials will one day end in a crown of life. 00:27:03.220 --> 00:27:04.220 Why? 00:27:05.220 --> 00:27:07.220 Because we see how that worked out in Jesus' life, don't we? 00:27:08.220 --> 00:27:10.220 We see how it worked out in his life. 00:27:10.220 --> 00:27:15.220 What could be worse suffering than for a perfectly innocent man, 00:27:16.220 --> 00:27:18.220 to be condemned to death for a crime he had not committed, 00:27:19.220 --> 00:27:22.220 to hang on a cross, not just enduring the pain of the cross, 00:27:23.220 --> 00:27:27.220 but enduring the wrath of his Father at the same time for us. 00:27:28.220 --> 00:27:33.220 See, God continues that trial to work incredible good. 00:27:33.220 --> 00:27:38.220 So can't he do that in trials in our own lives? 00:27:39.220 --> 00:27:40.220 Where is Jesus now, seated at God's right hand, 00:27:41.220 --> 00:27:42.220 ruling over everything, 00:27:43.220 --> 00:27:47.220 guaranteeing the crown of life for those who trust in him and follow him? 00:27:48.220 --> 00:27:51.220 If God can use even Jesus' suffering for eternal good for so many, 00:27:52.220 --> 00:27:57.220 then he is certainly powerful enough to use the suffering we experience for our good. 00:27:57.220 --> 00:28:01.220 And in Jesus we have a high priest who understands us. 00:28:03.220 --> 00:28:07.220 Hebrews 2 verse 10 tells us that Jesus was made perfect through suffering, 00:28:08.220 --> 00:28:10.220 perfectly qualified to be our Saviour through his suffering. 00:28:11.220 --> 00:28:15.220 And as our high priest, he is able to help those who are being suffered. 00:28:16.220 --> 00:28:17.220 We read in Hebrews 2. 00:28:18.220 --> 00:28:20.220 And he endured that suffering, Hebrews 12, 00:28:20.220 --> 00:28:21.220 because he was, 00:28:21.220 --> 00:28:26.220 he endured the cross, 00:28:27.220 --> 00:28:28.220 despising the shame, 00:28:29.220 --> 00:28:30.220 for the joy that was set before him. 00:28:30.220 --> 00:28:32.220 And so he can help us to do that too. 00:28:33.220 --> 00:28:35.220 Whatever suffering we're going through, 00:28:36.220 --> 00:28:37.220 whatever trials, whatever difficulties, 00:28:38.220 --> 00:28:40.220 the Lord Jesus is on our side. 00:28:41.220 --> 00:28:42.220 He has died for us, 00:28:42.220 --> 00:28:43.220 he prays for us, 00:28:44.220 --> 00:28:45.220 and 1 Peter 5 verse 4, 00:28:45.220 --> 00:28:46.220 where he appears, 00:28:46.220 --> 00:28:51.220 those who will receive an unfading crown of glory from him. 00:28:55.220 --> 00:28:57.220 I don't know what trials you're suffering at the moment. 00:28:59.220 --> 00:29:01.220 Do you see how you can count them pure joy? 00:29:05.220 --> 00:29:07.220 Because Jesus is working good for us in them. 00:29:08.220 --> 00:29:09.220 He will make us perfect and complete through them. 00:29:10.220 --> 00:29:11.220 If we ask for wisdom, 00:29:12.220 --> 00:29:13.220 the Lord God will give it, 00:29:13.220 --> 00:29:14.220 that we can see things as he sees them. 00:29:14.220 --> 00:29:17.220 And in Jesus we have a high priest who prays for us. 00:29:18.220 --> 00:29:20.220 I'm sure many of you know Johnny Oaks and Tada, 00:29:21.220 --> 00:29:21.220 00:29:22.220 --> 00:29:25.220 very into horses and riding and outdoor activities, 00:29:26.220 --> 00:29:27.220 dives into a lake, age 17, 00:29:28.220 --> 00:29:29.220 broke her back so badly, 00:29:30.220 --> 00:29:31.220 she's in a wheelchair, 00:29:32.220 --> 00:29:33.220 paralyzed from the neck downwards. 00:29:34.220 --> 00:29:35.220 She went through suicidal periods. 00:29:36.220 --> 00:29:38.220 She had many people to tell her to pray for healing. 00:29:39.220 --> 00:29:40.220 But through it all, she knew the Lord was at work. 00:29:41.220 --> 00:29:42.220 She was able to write, 00:29:42.220 --> 00:29:44.220 I sit here in my wheelchair, 00:29:44.220 --> 00:29:46.220 glad that I have not been healed on the outside, 00:29:47.220 --> 00:29:49.220 but glad that I have been healed on the inside, 00:29:50.220 --> 00:29:53.220 healed from my own self-centered wants and wishes. 00:29:55.220 --> 00:29:57.220 God has used that suffering in her life 00:29:58.220 --> 00:29:59.220 to make her complete. 00:30:00.220 --> 00:30:02.220 He can do that in my life and your life as well. 00:30:02.220 --> 00:30:03.220 He gives us that reward. 00:30:03.220 --> 00:30:07.220 We can remember the resources that he gives us. 00:30:08.220 --> 00:30:12.220 So let's pray for one another to count our trials as pure joy. 00:30:13.220 --> 00:30:13.220 00:30:13.220 --> 00:30:14.220 Let's pray together. 00:30:26.220 --> 00:30:27.220 Heavenly Father, 00:30:28.220 --> 00:30:30.220 thank you that you are a loving Father, 00:30:31.220 --> 00:30:32.220 that you are good, 00:30:33.220 --> 00:30:34.220 that you do not destroy us 00:30:34.220 --> 00:30:35.220 with the things you send into our lives. 00:30:35.220 --> 00:30:35.779 lives. 00:30:37.640 --> 00:30:38.759 Father, you know 00:30:38.759 --> 00:30:41.279 the trials that each 00:30:41.279 --> 00:30:42.420 one here is facing 00:30:42.420 --> 00:30:44.960 and going through and enduring. 00:30:45.079 --> 00:30:45.880 You know the difficulties. 00:30:47.819 --> 00:30:49.279 So Father, I know this is not 00:30:49.279 --> 00:30:50.259 an easy message. 00:30:52.059 --> 00:30:53.380 And yet I know, we know, 00:30:53.680 --> 00:30:55.200 you're a good and loving God. 00:30:55.880 --> 00:30:57.319 So we pray you'll give us the 00:30:57.319 --> 00:30:59.299 wisdom we need. Give us 00:30:59.299 --> 00:31:01.140 wisdom to see this world as you see it. 00:31:01.759 --> 00:31:03.860 Reorder our affections, reorientate 00:31:03.859 --> 00:31:05.559 us to live as we should in your world. 00:31:06.699 --> 00:31:07.619 May we know 00:31:07.619 --> 00:31:09.679 the help of our great 00:31:09.679 --> 00:31:11.619 high priest who is there 00:31:11.619 --> 00:31:12.740 interceding for us. 00:31:13.659 --> 00:31:15.359 Grant us grace that you may work 00:31:15.359 --> 00:31:17.179 your purposes in our lives. 00:31:17.740 --> 00:31:19.459 That we may be perfect, lacking 00:31:19.459 --> 00:31:19.899 nothing. 00:31:21.279 --> 00:31:23.740 We ask this so that glory may go to you. 00:31:24.579 --> 00:31:26.000 We ask it in Jesus' name. 00:31:26.899 --> 00:31:27.299 Amen.