WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:09.000 Okay, if you have a Bible with you, we're going to look at James chapter 1, the second 00:00:09.000 --> 00:00:15.599 half of James chapter 1. A couple of weeks ago we looked at the first 18 verses and tonight 00:00:15.599 --> 00:00:21.199 we're going to look at the second section from verse 19 to the end of the chapter. So 00:00:21.199 --> 00:00:27.000 it's James chapter 1 and this will be the basis of our study next week. 00:00:27.000 --> 00:00:33.640 Know this, my beloved brothers, let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow 00:00:33.640 --> 00:00:40.000 to anger, for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness that God requires. Therefore, 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:45.719 put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word 00:00:45.719 --> 00:00:53.000 which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving 00:00:53.000 --> 00:00:58.920 yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who 00:00:58.920 --> 00:01:03.480 looks intently at his natural face in the mirror, who looks at himself and goes away 00:01:03.480 --> 00:01:09.000 and at once forgets what he looks like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the 00:01:09.000 --> 00:01:15.760 law of liberty and persevere, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be 00:01:15.760 --> 00:01:20.960 blessed in his doing. If anyone thinks he is a religious, he is religious and does not 00:01:20.959 --> 00:01:28.159 bridle his tongue but deceives his heart. This person's religion is worthless. Religion 00:01:28.159 --> 00:01:32.879 that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows 00:01:32.879 --> 00:01:41.560 in the reflection and to keep oneself unstained from the world. Okay, so it's a great passage, 00:01:41.560 --> 00:01:49.359 far too much in this passage for just 15 or 20 minutes. But as you know, James is our 00:01:49.359 --> 00:01:56.000 theme for the year, or encapsulates our theme for the year which is doers of the word but 00:01:56.000 --> 00:02:01.159 and not hearers only, to suffer well, serve well and speak well. And we're going to look 00:02:01.159 --> 00:02:06.799 again at this little section. We looked at the whole chapter a couple of weeks ago in 00:02:06.799 --> 00:02:13.920 church and then we've returned to the first chapter to look at in a little bit more detail 00:02:13.920 --> 00:02:18.319 as part of our city group studies. So you're going over familiar ground, it's well worth 00:02:18.319 --> 00:02:28.719 going over. So the theme for this passage, this section, I've taken as being responsive 00:02:28.719 --> 00:02:37.639 Christians, okay, being responsive Christians. And that's really very much interwoven into 00:02:37.639 --> 00:02:42.919 these few verses. See, in Jesus Christ as believers, we're believers here tonight. As 00:02:42.919 --> 00:02:47.879 believers we're new creations, okay, and we've been new creations ever since we became 00:02:47.879 --> 00:02:53.519 Christians. That means that not only from the moment we believed, but in an ongoing 00:02:53.519 --> 00:03:02.319 way, our lives should be different to our lives without Jesus Christ, because our whole identity, 00:03:02.319 --> 00:03:11.199 our character, our mindset has changed because we're indwelled by the Spirit and we are right 00:03:11.199 --> 00:03:19.399 with God. Now, you know what, you know when someone is unconscious, if someone's found 00:03:19.399 --> 00:03:25.119 in the street and they're unconscious, they're often referred to as being unresponsive, you 00:03:25.119 --> 00:03:30.719 know, you try and shake them and move them or shout at them, but they're unresponsive. 00:03:30.719 --> 00:03:38.759 A dead body is also unresponsive. And sometimes if someone's not listening, this is slightly 00:03:38.759 --> 00:03:45.599 less serious, but if someone's not listening, you sometimes hear the phrase used of them 00:03:45.599 --> 00:03:57.879 that the lights are on but no one's at home. Slightly derogatory term, or phrase. But that's 00:03:57.879 --> 00:04:02.039 what I want to challenge us about tonight for ourselves as Christians, one that we're 00:04:02.039 --> 00:04:09.840 not unresponsive in a sense that we're unconscious Christians, or that we're Christians who are 00:04:09.840 --> 00:04:15.919 at home but the lights are on but no one's in the house. So there's nothing really happening 00:04:15.919 --> 00:04:25.079 spiritually. And that's really what James is stirring up in these verses. And I want 00:04:25.079 --> 00:04:31.639 to look at responsive Christians, the challenge of that, by asking how do we listen in our 00:04:31.639 --> 00:04:38.959 lives, particularly to Christ, but also within the Christian, or within our community, even 00:04:38.959 --> 00:04:46.680 Christian and non Christian actually, because because we're new creations, we learn to communicate 00:04:46.680 --> 00:04:58.120 in a different way all the time. And so really tonight is focusing on being responsive Christians, 00:04:58.120 --> 00:05:02.600 but narrowing it down to being responsive listeners and what that means, how we listen 00:05:02.600 --> 00:05:09.240 in our lives, because how we listen reflects our heart, what comes out from our heart. 00:05:09.240 --> 00:05:16.840 And it reflects how much we grasp the gospel and the change the gospel brings, and actually 00:05:16.840 --> 00:05:23.399 it reflects how much we understand about the law, the law of God, which is to love God 00:05:23.399 --> 00:05:31.319 and to love one another. So how do we listen then? And I'm going to look at two areas. 00:05:31.319 --> 00:05:36.519 How do we listen to Christ in your heart? How do you how do we listen to Christ in our 00:05:36.519 --> 00:05:42.919 hearts? And then how do we listen as a Christian in the community? So first, how do we listen 00:05:42.919 --> 00:05:48.879 to Christ in our hearts? Because faith that we have is a relationship, we all know that's 00:05:48.879 --> 00:05:54.480 a relationship. And we're not to just be doers of the word, so hearers of the word, but we're 00:05:54.480 --> 00:06:02.079 to do what it says. And that's obviously the kind of core of this section. And that's 00:06:02.079 --> 00:06:10.639 simple, isn't it? Don't just listen, but be doers. But it's deeply profound as well. 00:06:10.639 --> 00:06:17.519 And we need great wisdom to put that into practice. So how do we listen to Christ in 00:06:17.519 --> 00:06:26.399 our hearts? This section, it deals with two areas that cover that. It talks about particularly 00:06:26.399 --> 00:06:38.799 verses 23, 22 to 25. It talks about listening and looking. So listening and looking are 00:06:38.799 --> 00:06:46.000 two fundamental human, basic human behaviors. You're all doing it tonight. We're all doing 00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:52.519 it. We're all listening, or maybe not, or maybe we are, maybe we're not. But we're all 00:06:52.519 --> 00:06:59.079 listening and we're all looking. We do it all the time. It's just, it's part of absolutely 00:06:59.079 --> 00:07:05.720 everything we are. And so James wants to apply being new creations, belonging to Christ, being 00:07:05.720 --> 00:07:16.880 doers of the word, to our listening and our looking. Particularly with regard to Christ 00:07:16.880 --> 00:07:24.720 and His word, applies to Christ and His word. He says, and we remind ourselves, but be doers 00:07:24.720 --> 00:07:35.000 of the word and not hearers only. And then it goes on to say, be a doer. He is like a 00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:39.879 man who looks intently as an actual face in the mirror. So there's listening and there's 00:07:39.879 --> 00:07:49.639 doing here. And that's both are very important. And our listening must be absolutely intentional. 00:07:49.639 --> 00:08:01.160 As our looking must be as well. Listening and looking, they come together in this section. 00:08:01.160 --> 00:08:07.439 That means we need to listen to God's word and look at God's word and look at Christ 00:08:07.439 --> 00:08:16.040 and listen to Christ very intentionally. In verse 25 it says, we are to be the people 00:08:16.040 --> 00:08:25.720 who, the one who looks into the perfect law, looks into the perfect law and the law of 00:08:25.720 --> 00:08:32.879 liberty and perseveres in that. And there he's talking about being intentional about 00:08:32.879 --> 00:08:41.240 what we do. The words there mean that we come close and we remain. It means that we look 00:08:41.240 --> 00:08:50.879 into the word of Christ and we persevere in that. It's not a passing glance that we give 00:08:50.879 --> 00:08:56.919 to Christ and his word. It's something that's intentionally concentrated. We reflect on 00:08:56.919 --> 00:09:02.960 it. It becomes part of our way of life. It's not the two minute fix that we so often apply 00:09:02.960 --> 00:09:10.799 to a reading of scripture. If it's important to us, we make and find the time to be intentionally 00:09:10.799 --> 00:09:21.959 looking and listening to the word of God and doing so by coming close to it and remaining 00:09:21.959 --> 00:09:29.679 in it. It's about, it's lingering. It's intentionally lingering in the company of Christ and his 00:09:29.679 --> 00:09:38.559 word. And we do so also. We listen and look not only intentionally but in such a way that 00:09:38.559 --> 00:09:45.239 understands ourselves. Verse 24 says for the man, the person who looks at himself and 00:09:45.239 --> 00:09:52.559 goes away at once forgets what he's like. And there's a real sense here that as men 00:09:52.559 --> 00:10:02.719 and as women in our lives, we examine ourselves in the light of scripture. And we know who 00:10:02.720 --> 00:10:09.040 we are as people because it talks about looking in a mirror. We know what our strengths are 00:10:09.040 --> 00:10:16.560 and our weaknesses, our temptations. We know how to apply scripture into our own lives and 00:10:16.560 --> 00:10:20.800 into our own hearts. It's not about looking at other people and being comparative. This 00:10:20.800 --> 00:10:28.000 is about self-examination and using the mirror as a scripture into our own soul. It's about 00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:38.240 self-awareness. It's about looking at ourselves and where our struggles are and comparing them 00:10:38.240 --> 00:10:44.559 with the character of God in Christ and his word. And therefore being convicted by that 00:10:46.879 --> 00:10:54.159 because he's holy as well as finding beauty and encouragement and hope. Because when we look in 00:10:54.159 --> 00:10:59.199 scripture as a mirror, we recognise it's a two-way mirror because we see ourselves but we also see 00:10:59.199 --> 00:11:09.120 Christ. And it's a great diagnostic but it's also a great cure for us and so it's a helpful 00:11:09.120 --> 00:11:20.799 and useful place to be. And that intentionality and that working and understanding and being 00:11:20.799 --> 00:11:28.879 self-aware as we come to scripture is so important as we look and listen spiritually to Christ. 00:11:30.079 --> 00:11:37.919 That's why the theme I think that we've decided of having a short and address a sermon 00:11:37.919 --> 00:11:43.120 and then following it up either from a Sunday sermon or just now on a Wednesday night and then 00:11:43.120 --> 00:11:49.199 having it the following Wednesday night is intentional on our part because it's so easy, 00:11:49.200 --> 00:11:58.240 isn't it, to listen to the word preached or to read the Bible with the lights on but nobody being at 00:11:58.240 --> 00:12:09.840 home. Unconscious, letting it just drift over our heads and away from our hearts. The intentionality 00:12:09.840 --> 00:12:18.000 is to try and encourage us to when we hear the word to meditate, to be intentional, to think 00:12:18.000 --> 00:12:25.120 about ourselves, what it's saying about us, what God is saying into our lives and what God is 00:12:25.120 --> 00:12:31.360 wanting us to learn, reflecting on maybe the week that we've had some of the sins we've committed 00:12:31.360 --> 00:12:38.080 or the character defects we're aware of and knowing that God is speaking into that so that 00:12:38.720 --> 00:12:44.480 we recognise that as we read the Bible it becomes that living and interactive reality for us. 00:12:44.480 --> 00:12:50.879 It's not like reading any other book, it's not like I read the Bible and I read history and I read 00:12:50.879 --> 00:12:55.200 novels and it's just one of the books I read and it happens to give me wisdom. 00:12:55.200 --> 00:13:03.279 This is the living word of God and so James here is encouraging us to be listening and looking 00:13:03.279 --> 00:13:20.000 to be not just hearers of the word only and that's really what looking into scripture like a mirror 00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:28.799 is so important as a picture is an illustration. So it's about looking and listening, concentrated 00:13:28.799 --> 00:13:40.000 but it also involves being reactionary. Verse 21 reminds us of that, that we are to be those 00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:47.759 who having looking and listening therefore we put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness, 00:13:47.759 --> 00:13:52.799 we are doers of the word as well as hearers. I've chosen that word reactionary deliberately 00:13:52.799 --> 00:14:02.799 because as we look at the word and we are empowered by the indwelling Holy Spirit to respond to it, 00:14:02.799 --> 00:14:09.919 to be responsive listeners, to be active. So reactionary is a good word because I want us 00:14:09.919 --> 00:14:16.799 to think about being rebels against the status quo of our hearts. We're not content with the same 00:14:16.799 --> 00:14:22.719 heart all the time, we're wanting to be rebels, we're wanting to change our hearts, we're wanting to 00:14:22.719 --> 00:14:31.599 put off sin in our lives and it's that great picture of putting off dirty clothes, changing 00:14:31.599 --> 00:14:37.519 the heart clothes that we have, recognizing from our hearts we've got a different identity, 00:14:39.279 --> 00:14:46.000 dealing in our lives with the kind of things that are not Christlike. So it talks in verse 20 00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:56.080 about being angry, it talks about lust and injustice or evil, filthiness and rampant wickedness, 00:14:57.840 --> 00:15:06.240 powerful words really but any selfishness, lust, injustice, greed, any of the things that separate 00:15:06.240 --> 00:15:15.360 us from Jesus and from one another and there needs to be that active sense of again in verse 21 00:15:15.360 --> 00:15:23.120 recognizing with meekness the implanted word, that word needs to be embedded, implanted in our 00:15:23.120 --> 00:15:31.120 lives, we need to be involved in that process of of rooting scripture in our lives and that is 00:15:32.800 --> 00:15:39.440 that's a that's a that's a spiritual, that's a miraculous act, it's not just being content with 00:15:39.440 --> 00:15:45.600 some kind of accepted decency that everyone else is happy with, we need a huge amount of wisdom, 00:15:45.600 --> 00:15:52.800 the older I get the deeper I see the need for change in my heart and the motives that need 00:15:52.800 --> 00:15:59.600 challenged and that needs great wisdom, it needs less comparison with other people and less judgment 00:16:00.720 --> 00:16:09.120 about how other people are living their lives. So that's the first thing, we listen to Christ 00:16:09.120 --> 00:16:19.600 in our hearts by active listening and looking and by reactionary response to the word but also 00:16:20.320 --> 00:16:26.000 this passage speaks not only about our relationship with the word or with Christ and him as the word 00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:39.360 but also how therefore as doers of the word we are to be listening as Christians in the community 00:16:39.919 --> 00:16:44.320 because what we are in our hearts will spill out into our life in society and then in the church 00:16:44.320 --> 00:16:51.360 community for good or for ill so you think about your life and I think about mine in the church 00:16:51.360 --> 00:16:58.240 and in the community, are we attractive or are we prickly, are we patient or are we demanding 00:16:58.240 --> 00:17:05.839 of others, are we servant hearts or are we dictators, it's a huge challenge you know and 00:17:05.839 --> 00:17:10.079 it's not good enough to just get away with saying ah but that's just what I'm like and that's just 00:17:10.079 --> 00:17:17.120 like that's my character, Jesus will not accept that, it's not good enough to be short-tempered or to 00:17:17.119 --> 00:17:25.199 be grumpy and grisly and caring about others, we have to see our hearts and our weaknesses 00:17:25.199 --> 00:17:30.559 and our failings and our lovelessness not only to Christ but to one another being challenged by the 00:17:30.559 --> 00:17:39.199 word and so there are two words here and I'll not go on, I'll try not go on here, two words 00:17:39.199 --> 00:17:46.719 that reflect how we listen and how we respond to God's word and the first is and it comes through 00:17:46.720 --> 00:17:55.440 this whole section but it's also mentioned in verse 21 is meekness you know therefore put away 00:17:55.440 --> 00:18:01.680 all phil in Islam and receive with meekness the implanted word, now that meekness it's also spoken 00:18:01.680 --> 00:18:08.559 of in James chapter 3 and James goes back to quite a lot of themes, he says who is wise and understanding 00:18:08.559 --> 00:18:14.319 among you by his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom or in the humility 00:18:14.319 --> 00:18:26.480 of wisdom, so we respond, we listen responsively by being people who are meek with others, now 00:18:26.480 --> 00:18:35.279 meekness is taken as a weak word and that's how it's been used often today but I've mentioned this 00:18:35.279 --> 00:18:42.240 quite often with you guys, it's not, it's a strong word, it's about being submissive but also strong, 00:18:42.240 --> 00:18:50.720 it's about taming the wild impulses of sin and being reliant on God, it's about being gentle but strong 00:18:51.440 --> 00:18:57.519 and resilient, it's an animal imagery, it's about the breaking of a horse primarily or breaking of 00:18:57.519 --> 00:19:04.400 a wild animal to make them tamed and useful and in fact that language is actually used in James 00:19:04.400 --> 00:19:11.200 where he talks about the person who doesn't keep a tight rein on their or a bridle on their tongue 00:19:11.200 --> 00:19:20.559 and that's exactly what's being spoken of here and therefore we have this new instinct as we 00:19:21.200 --> 00:19:27.519 responsively listen to Christ in his word that we respond in the community with meekness 00:19:29.039 --> 00:19:36.799 and that shows itself before we speak we're to think, if anyone thinks he is religious 00:19:36.799 --> 00:19:43.680 verse 26 it doesn't bridle his tongue, he deceives us that this person's religion is worthless so we've 00:19:43.680 --> 00:19:51.279 to think before we speak and therefore we're to control our tongues, we're to be careful about 00:19:51.919 --> 00:19:57.359 not just how we speak but how we communicate on text or social media on our Facebook or whatever, 00:19:57.359 --> 00:20:08.159 it's so damaging isn't it if we don't control and bridle our tongue so we, before we speak we think 00:20:09.439 --> 00:20:16.719 about being in control of what we're saying so often what we say is damaging in families and 00:20:16.719 --> 00:20:25.199 relationships, gossip, judging, mocking, hateful, hurtful, divisive, you know there's plenty of big 00:20:25.200 --> 00:20:32.880 talkers but meekness is about being controlled, keeping a tight rein in our tongue before we 00:20:32.880 --> 00:20:38.240 you know get angry it talks about that as well doesn't it earlier in that verse you know we 00:20:38.240 --> 00:20:45.440 slow to speak quite to listen slow to anger because so often we speak out of anger and it's not meek 00:20:48.559 --> 00:20:54.640 humble strength is what meekness is and Moses is regarded to be the most meek man who ever lived 00:20:54.640 --> 00:21:00.640 Exodus, a Deuteronomy 13.3 and he wasn't a weakling by any stretch of the imagination 00:21:01.840 --> 00:21:11.360 so meekness before we speak and meekness as we listen at the beginning again you know be quick 00:21:11.360 --> 00:21:22.000 to hear slow to speak listening is a really important way of responding to God's word being 00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:30.000 patient so we're always quick to jump in quick to to fire off a response but listening is is the 00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:37.759 greatest gift I think for the Christian in today's society respecting others listening to them giving 00:21:37.759 --> 00:21:45.759 others time beginning to understand them hearing people's pain by listening to them that's why 00:21:45.759 --> 00:21:54.160 the world we live in with identity politics is so damaging identity politics it makes judgment about 00:21:54.160 --> 00:22:00.400 people depending on the group they belong to it doesn't give any credence it doesn't we're not 00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:08.879 asked to listen we're not asked to care or can't be concerned it doesn't listen it's damaging for 00:22:08.879 --> 00:22:14.160 the Christian faith when people categorize Christians all in the same way as either homophobic or 00:22:14.160 --> 00:22:22.000 hateful or judgmental but it can be equally damaging to any other group and identity of people we 00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:32.640 mustn't fall into that as Christians we listen to people and we begin to hear their hearts we don't 00:22:32.640 --> 00:22:39.200 make judgments on them based on their class or their gender or their sexuality or their race 00:22:39.200 --> 00:22:46.400 or their politics or any other stereotype we see people as images broken images of the living 00:22:46.400 --> 00:22:55.920 God but made in his image just as we were and sometimes are and that's a hugely significant 00:22:55.920 --> 00:23:00.080 and important thing for us today and you know I think a lot of Christians a lot of people put 00:23:00.080 --> 00:23:04.799 pressure on churches to say we want we want the church to be a voice in society we wanted to speak 00:23:04.799 --> 00:23:13.359 loudly and to defend our position and that's you know that's that's fair enough at some levels 00:23:13.359 --> 00:23:21.039 but maybe can I ask you to consider first meekness and the church having the ability to listen 00:23:21.919 --> 00:23:30.079 and to love and bring the gospel into people's lives and hearts as we get to know them individually 00:23:30.079 --> 00:23:37.759 and that we don't engage in identity politics or what might go along with that so meekness 00:23:37.759 --> 00:23:46.559 and lastly compassion as a Christian community our active listening involves being meek that also 00:23:46.559 --> 00:23:52.480 involves being compassionate verse 27 and one of the most amazing verses in the bible religion 00:23:52.480 --> 00:23:58.799 that is pure and undefiled before god the father is this to visit orphans and widows in the reflection 00:23:58.799 --> 00:24:05.119 to keep oneself unstained from the world so we've seen that being unstained from the world and 00:24:05.759 --> 00:24:10.480 in the holiness of putting god's word into practice but here is this great 00:24:12.559 --> 00:24:19.680 again the word isn't isn't used compassion here but it reflects the the whole characteristic of 00:24:20.720 --> 00:24:26.720 compassion compassion that comes from a pure heart isn't that interesting a heart that's 00:24:26.720 --> 00:24:34.240 that is not unstained by the world that means for us as Christians this is a very challenging verse 00:24:34.880 --> 00:24:44.319 that we are we are most like Jesus Christ we are most pure the most pure religion is the most pure 00:24:44.319 --> 00:24:50.960 outworking of our christian faith is when we show care and concern towards the marginalized the weak 00:24:50.960 --> 00:24:58.319 the vulnerable the emotionally broken and the destitute because that's who the widows and the 00:24:58.319 --> 00:25:05.840 orphans represent were represented in Jesus day in the time of James's writing it represented those 00:25:05.840 --> 00:25:12.480 who society rejected or who were marginalized who had no one to stand up for them who had no rights 00:25:12.480 --> 00:25:22.799 themselves and who were enslaved into poverty and rejection why is that so important 00:25:24.799 --> 00:25:30.160 because it reflects our understanding of where we were spiritually without Jesus 00:25:31.120 --> 00:25:37.360 we were exactly the same we were lost broken marginalized destitute spiritually without 00:25:37.359 --> 00:25:44.719 Christ and that's where any of us might have been ended up in this world without Jesus any of us 00:25:44.719 --> 00:25:52.159 might have ended up on the street or destitute or emotionally broken or completely vulnerable without 00:25:52.159 --> 00:26:00.240 Christ's grace without the concern the common grace of God and also the care of other people 00:26:00.240 --> 00:26:06.880 so i think that verse challenges us i hope it does it certainly challenges me it challenges us as a 00:26:06.880 --> 00:26:15.120 church community that are educated self-sufficient professional career orientated as a people 00:26:16.240 --> 00:26:25.279 it challenges us how do we reflect pure religion in this marginalized and to this marginalized and 00:26:25.279 --> 00:26:31.759 vulnerable and weak elements of our society how do we do that that may be something worth discussing 00:26:31.759 --> 00:26:38.879 at city groups in more detail that's why i'm so excited by what's happening with sparkle sisters 00:26:38.879 --> 00:26:53.599 and the beginnings of work in that area not just ticking boxes or handing out charity but rather 00:26:53.599 --> 00:26:58.879 seeking to bring the love of Christ and the grace of Christ into these lives of people 00:27:00.719 --> 00:27:07.359 last night i was a online zoom meeting that russel phillips had organized about for internals 00:27:08.240 --> 00:27:16.079 he's involved in developing work with international internals in edinburgh who 00:27:16.079 --> 00:27:24.639 for him english is a second language and he was a meeting just finding out from them how they 00:27:25.599 --> 00:27:30.960 what their experiences were in coming to an english-speaking churches and how difficult it was for 00:27:31.759 --> 00:27:36.879 foreign nationals coming to scotland to edinburgh and to be integrated into churches and what are 00:27:36.879 --> 00:27:42.079 some of the struggles but very interestingly when they were asked you know what some of the 00:27:42.079 --> 00:27:46.240 difficulties were or what some of the things that were good were or what some of the things that 00:27:46.240 --> 00:27:52.559 they missed were it was very very basic they said things like all we were looking for was for people 00:27:52.559 --> 00:27:58.879 to speak to us when we came into the building to welcome us to not treat us as aliens or foreigners 00:27:59.439 --> 00:28:08.399 to invite us into their homes to show us hospitality to just care for us i was struck by 00:28:08.400 --> 00:28:19.280 how simple and basic their desires were and how much we should do that that's pure religion 00:28:19.280 --> 00:28:27.120 it's pure religion just caring for those who are marginalized those in the outside so when we're 00:28:27.120 --> 00:28:32.320 longing to be back together and when we are back together and when we're meeting in church 00:28:32.319 --> 00:28:39.359 and people come in that we don't know the first step is not giving them our back is giving them 00:28:39.359 --> 00:28:47.839 our face is not just retreating into our own circle of friends which is very easy to do in a 00:28:47.839 --> 00:28:52.799 transient and quickly changing church where we feel there's so many new people all the time 00:28:53.679 --> 00:28:59.200 but it's a great challenge even in simple little ways city groups small groups a great way of 00:28:59.200 --> 00:29:05.759 integrating new people or marginalized people or international people or whoever may come in our 00:29:05.759 --> 00:29:13.440 doors god's word tonight as in any word it certainly challenges me it causes me to repent 00:29:14.319 --> 00:29:20.480 it's a mirror it's a two-way mirror that exposes my darkness the blackness of my heart remaining 00:29:20.720 --> 00:29:26.880 but also the beauty of Jesus and the glory of his gospel and we should never walk away from it 00:29:26.880 --> 00:29:32.880 unchanged and just to i'm not going to say anything about this because times are now but why is it 00:29:32.880 --> 00:29:38.880 always important to remember these things well because in verse 25 and you might want to spend 00:29:38.880 --> 00:29:44.880 time with this in your groups one who looks into the perfect law the law of liberty or freedom 00:29:44.880 --> 00:29:50.640 and persevere's being no hearer who forgets but i do react he will be blessed in his doing 00:29:50.640 --> 00:29:56.560 there's freedom and there's blessing that's why we're doers of the work and we don't just 00:29:56.560 --> 00:30:04.960 close the book and forget about our lives and remain unchanged it brings freedom freedom from all 00:30:04.960 --> 00:30:17.600 the the pressures of just selfishness and sinful desires and identity issues and crisis and fear of 00:30:17.599 --> 00:30:26.079 the future and loveless and all these things are freedom forgiveness and newness of life and 00:30:26.079 --> 00:30:36.240 blessing that's true religion happiness and contentment and peace so it's i think i probably 00:30:36.240 --> 00:30:42.399 unduly complicated that simple verse by some of my headings but and i know you'll go and read it 00:30:42.400 --> 00:30:47.680 i know you'll go and read it yourselves it doesn't need it really doesn't need any explanation 00:30:47.680 --> 00:30:54.400 just rambled on for ages but there's so much great truth here and it really should challenge us 00:30:55.120 --> 00:31:02.240 to be not just doers of the word but hearers and to just think of how would you define pure religion 00:31:04.160 --> 00:31:10.720 none of us would have to find it like that i doubt that is pure religion and i'm proud that 00:31:10.720 --> 00:31:20.319 that is the case and i'm proud of jesus that he has defined it in this way for us so i'm sure you'll 00:31:20.319 --> 00:31:27.360 have a brilliant time in the city group discussing this passage there's so much in it and invite as 00:31:27.360 --> 00:31:34.480 many people as you can so that this theme that we have of allowing the word to just soak into our lives 00:31:34.480 --> 00:31:40.480 and will be important