WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.480 You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama. 00:00:06.980 --> 00:00:10.620 Our passion is to experience and express grace. Join us. 00:00:11.900 --> 00:00:18.580 It's our great privilege to have with us to open God's Word for us this morning, John Medlock. 00:00:19.199 --> 00:00:24.460 Some of you know John. John used to live in Huntsville. He was an attorney here, 00:00:24.460 --> 00:00:29.920 and he sat in the pews you're sitting in right now, many a Sunday, for several years. 00:00:30.379 --> 00:00:36.920 And worshipped here as a part of this congregation. He and his wife, Laura Beth, were here for, I think, five years. 00:00:36.960 --> 00:00:45.600 Is that right, John? John then felt a call into vocational ministry, which took him from Huntsville to St. Louis for seminary, 00:00:45.740 --> 00:00:53.760 and on now to where he is in California, pastoring a church in San Luis Obispo, a beautiful, beautiful place. 00:00:53.879 --> 00:00:58.420 And he's back here this morning. It's a real treat for us to have him back in Huntsville. 00:00:58.420 --> 00:01:01.859 So, John, we're looking forward to having you open God's Word for us this morning. 00:01:02.859 --> 00:01:03.480 Thank you. 00:01:05.060 --> 00:01:05.960 Thank you, Will. 00:01:07.180 --> 00:01:15.240 As Will told you, I live in California, but I arrived there by way a long time ago of Huntsville and Southwood. 00:01:15.439 --> 00:01:18.620 And this feels a lot like coming home. 00:01:18.620 --> 00:01:22.920 My family were members here before we had any kids. 00:01:24.020 --> 00:01:31.180 Mike Honeycutt, who many of you know and remember, his very first baptism in this church as pastor was my oldest son. 00:01:32.060 --> 00:01:35.260 And that was 15 years ago, just for a little perspective. 00:01:35.260 --> 00:01:46.020 And in a lot of ways, my journey to seminary and eventually into formal church ministry starts here. 00:01:46.080 --> 00:01:49.420 When I tell my story, it often starts here. 00:01:49.420 --> 00:02:02.379 And I'm grateful to be here and would ask you all if you would join me in reading and hearing God's Word this morning from the book of James. 00:02:03.040 --> 00:02:08.259 This is the very last few verses of James' letter. 00:02:09.340 --> 00:02:11.639 I'm going to read James 5, verses 12 to 20. 00:02:12.300 --> 00:02:16.719 You can feel free to join in along with me with the Word of the Lord this morning. 00:02:17.340 --> 00:02:18.460 James says this. 00:02:19.419 --> 00:02:25.699 But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, 00:02:26.519 --> 00:02:33.419 but let your yes be yes and your no be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation. 00:02:34.819 --> 00:02:36.439 Is anyone among you suffering? 00:02:37.500 --> 00:02:38.119 Let him pray. 00:02:38.719 --> 00:02:39.739 Is anyone cheerful? 00:02:40.799 --> 00:02:41.919 Let him sing praise. 00:02:42.519 --> 00:02:43.959 Is anyone among you sick? 00:02:44.279 --> 00:02:48.000 Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:50.639 anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 00:02:51.240 --> 00:02:55.680 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. 00:02:56.159 --> 00:02:58.080 And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 00:02:58.740 --> 00:03:04.020 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. 00:03:04.020 --> 00:03:09.159 The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. 00:03:09.159 --> 00:03:15.840 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, 00:03:15.900 --> 00:03:19.120 and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 00:03:19.120 --> 00:03:23.960 Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit. 00:03:25.480 --> 00:03:31.640 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 00:03:32.460 --> 00:03:37.500 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death 00:03:37.500 --> 00:03:40.140 and will cover a multitude of sins. 00:03:40.480 --> 00:03:42.480 This is the word of the Lord for us this morning. 00:03:42.580 --> 00:03:47.020 Will you all pray with me, and let's ask God to open our hearts so that we can learn and grow from it. 00:03:47.020 --> 00:03:55.400 And Heavenly Father, we ask you this morning to give us your spirit to illuminate and open our hearts 00:03:55.400 --> 00:04:01.700 so that we can see the glorious riches of your grace that are stored up for us in this portion of your gospel. 00:04:01.860 --> 00:04:08.460 God, clear away our distractions and the barriers that we build up to hearing the truth about ourself and about you. 00:04:08.460 --> 00:04:19.360 God, clear away our hearts to honest confession and restore our confidence in the finished work of Jesus 00:04:19.360 --> 00:04:21.699 as the basis of our life together. 00:04:21.800 --> 00:04:23.939 We pray these things in the strong name of Jesus. 00:04:24.860 --> 00:04:25.120 Amen. 00:04:26.519 --> 00:04:30.240 Will mentioned earlier that before I went to seminary, I practiced law, 00:04:30.240 --> 00:04:37.740 and one of the things that I learned when giving a persuasive speech 00:04:37.740 --> 00:04:41.960 or trying to convince somebody to adopt your point of view 00:04:41.960 --> 00:04:47.699 is that the beginning and the end of what you say is probably the most important 00:04:47.699 --> 00:04:50.519 because that's what people remember, right? 00:04:50.540 --> 00:04:52.460 That's just common sense, really. 00:04:52.960 --> 00:04:55.780 All that stuff in the middle may be good, 00:04:55.779 --> 00:05:00.559 but what you start with and what you leave them with is often what sticks in people's mind. 00:05:00.639 --> 00:05:07.979 And that's apt for today because these verses that I read to you are the very end of James' letter out to this church. 00:05:09.419 --> 00:05:14.979 And to be honest, you wonder if James failed the rhetoric class 00:05:14.979 --> 00:05:21.399 because these verses don't feel like a neat and tidy summing up of this book. 00:05:21.479 --> 00:05:24.159 If you've read the book in the past or are familiar with what's in it, 00:05:24.160 --> 00:05:27.160 you may agree with me, this feels a little scattershot. 00:05:27.240 --> 00:05:28.560 It's almost like he's saying, 00:05:28.860 --> 00:05:31.260 okay, I'm almost done, so I'm going to give you some bullet points. 00:05:31.360 --> 00:05:33.860 Do this and remember that, but don't do that. 00:05:34.420 --> 00:05:37.400 And don't forget this and okay, I'm done. 00:05:38.500 --> 00:05:40.240 That's a little bit the way it reads to me. 00:05:42.240 --> 00:05:44.720 But as I've read these verses, 00:05:44.720 --> 00:05:48.600 and I'm convinced that they are a unit that go together in Scripture, 00:05:49.600 --> 00:05:52.879 I think there is a thread holding them together. 00:05:52.879 --> 00:05:57.839 And that thread is the issue of integrity. 00:05:59.680 --> 00:06:01.719 Now, integrity means a couple of things. 00:06:02.839 --> 00:06:04.980 It means honesty, right? 00:06:05.139 --> 00:06:05.620 Truthfulness. 00:06:07.139 --> 00:06:08.680 James certainly has that in view. 00:06:10.180 --> 00:06:11.879 But I know a number of you are engineers, 00:06:12.620 --> 00:06:15.000 and you're concerned about integrity in a different way, 00:06:15.040 --> 00:06:16.680 and that is the way things hold together. 00:06:17.159 --> 00:06:18.680 Something's integrated. 00:06:18.879 --> 00:06:20.480 It's not fragmented, right? 00:06:20.480 --> 00:06:21.400 It's unified. 00:06:22.939 --> 00:06:26.280 And James has that in view as well. 00:06:27.340 --> 00:06:30.439 But he starts with the issue of honesty. 00:06:32.120 --> 00:06:33.120 Verse 12, he says, 00:06:33.220 --> 00:06:34.879 Above all, my brothers, do not swear. 00:06:35.879 --> 00:06:36.120 Right? 00:06:36.280 --> 00:06:37.319 Let your yes be yes. 00:06:37.379 --> 00:06:38.980 Let your no be no. 00:06:39.060 --> 00:06:41.220 Now, James is not talking here about bad language. 00:06:41.319 --> 00:06:42.160 I think that's clear. 00:06:42.160 --> 00:06:49.620 He's also not talking about a prohibition on taking a lawful oath or making a promise. 00:06:49.760 --> 00:06:51.920 He understands that promises are part of life. 00:06:53.160 --> 00:07:02.800 This is certainly not any rule against swearing in court or taking an oath of office to serve as a police officer in the military. 00:07:02.800 --> 00:07:04.300 Or even you saw it up here this morning. 00:07:04.379 --> 00:07:07.720 Down here, when Will introduced the new members, what did he ask them to do? 00:07:08.379 --> 00:07:10.139 To take vows, right? 00:07:10.240 --> 00:07:11.000 To make promises. 00:07:11.079 --> 00:07:19.420 So even part of our worship services are, in a sense, the making of promises, the swearing of oaths before God and before one another. 00:07:19.600 --> 00:07:21.160 This is not what he's talking about. 00:07:21.160 --> 00:07:36.940 Now, what James is talking about when he says do not swear is don't live your life in such a way that you have to make a special promise just so people will believe you. 00:07:39.280 --> 00:07:49.100 A seminary professor of mine said that the meaning of this verse dawned on him one day when he was leaving for work in the morning 00:07:49.100 --> 00:07:51.700 and he told one of his little girls, 00:07:52.340 --> 00:07:56.560 Sweetie, tonight when I get home, we'll go for ice cream. 00:07:57.680 --> 00:08:03.280 And she said, Daddy, do you promise? 00:08:04.939 --> 00:08:13.780 And he said he remembered at that moment all the other times that he had told her that when he got home from work, 00:08:13.980 --> 00:08:17.220 he would take her for ice cream and something came up. 00:08:17.220 --> 00:08:29.380 And she had learned by the way he lived his life that she needed to extract a special promise for him just so she could trust him. 00:08:31.260 --> 00:08:33.460 And he said that's what that verse means. 00:08:37.600 --> 00:08:38.840 Don't do that. 00:08:39.480 --> 00:08:40.840 Don't live your life like that. 00:08:41.080 --> 00:08:42.040 That's a problem. 00:08:42.039 --> 00:08:52.240 What James is encouraging the body of Christ to in this verse is relational trust, sincerity, honesty, following through with what you say, keeping your word. 00:08:52.559 --> 00:08:57.419 In other words, the first kind of honesty, and that is honesty of speech. 00:08:57.419 --> 00:09:05.599 But there's more in verses 13 to 16, which I'm going to just skim really quickly here. 00:09:06.539 --> 00:09:09.519 He shifts from honesty of speech to honesty of life. 00:09:11.699 --> 00:09:17.979 What I think I would describe as an honest response to the varied experiences of life. 00:09:17.980 --> 00:09:22.100 So, he says, if you're suffering, what do you do? 00:09:22.259 --> 00:09:22.899 You pray. 00:09:24.060 --> 00:09:26.539 If you're cheerful, give praise. 00:09:27.139 --> 00:09:28.539 If you've sinned, confess. 00:09:28.820 --> 00:09:30.759 If someone sins against you, pray for them. 00:09:30.879 --> 00:09:31.519 Forgive them. 00:09:31.899 --> 00:09:34.080 Bring them back into the fold. 00:09:36.480 --> 00:09:41.500 If someone's sick, don't keep it to yourself. 00:09:41.659 --> 00:09:42.539 Go to the church. 00:09:42.639 --> 00:09:43.399 Call the elders. 00:09:43.399 --> 00:09:48.039 Have them pray for you and anoint you with oil. 00:09:48.120 --> 00:09:50.220 Now, it's probably worth pausing at this point. 00:09:50.360 --> 00:09:52.659 This is an unusual practice to many of us. 00:09:52.720 --> 00:09:54.199 It sounds odd to our ears. 00:09:54.639 --> 00:09:58.699 But it was perfectly normal to them because of the significance that oil had. 00:10:00.559 --> 00:10:04.319 First and foremost, oil in the ancient Near East was considered medicinal. 00:10:06.059 --> 00:10:10.439 So, think, for instance, if you're familiar with Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan. 00:10:10.440 --> 00:10:15.440 And the poor fellow gets attacked by robbers on the road and beaten and injured and left 00:10:15.440 --> 00:10:15.880 for dead. 00:10:16.080 --> 00:10:20.460 And the Good Samaritan who finally finds him to treat him does what? 00:10:21.680 --> 00:10:22.800 Pours oil in his wounds. 00:10:24.440 --> 00:10:25.880 So, there's the medicinal purpose. 00:10:25.960 --> 00:10:31.240 But oil also carried a spiritual significance, a sort of symbolic spiritual significance in 00:10:31.240 --> 00:10:34.160 the early church and in the Old Testament as well. 00:10:35.260 --> 00:10:39.120 And that is, it was a symbol of God's spirit at work. 00:10:39.120 --> 00:10:45.799 So, when a new priest was consecrated and ordained or when a new king took office, there was an 00:10:45.799 --> 00:10:46.899 anointing with oil. 00:10:48.120 --> 00:10:52.539 And this was a picture that God's spirit was coming down and working. 00:10:52.779 --> 00:11:00.279 And so, to come to the elders of the church, the ruling, overseeing shepherds of the church 00:11:00.279 --> 00:11:04.620 and ask for prayer and anointing with oil when you're sick is an admission that you need 00:11:04.620 --> 00:11:09.399 all of the spiritual and physical resources that can be brought to bear on your situation. 00:11:09.919 --> 00:11:13.960 It's an acknowledgement that God is the Lord of all of life. 00:11:15.899 --> 00:11:18.539 The physical, the spiritual, the emotional, the social. 00:11:18.539 --> 00:11:24.519 If you were here early in the service, you saw that the meditation that prepared us for 00:11:24.519 --> 00:11:26.659 worship this morning was from the Heidelberg Catechism. 00:11:27.259 --> 00:11:32.779 The first question and answer, what is your only comfort in life and in death? 00:11:33.480 --> 00:11:35.839 And the answer to that great catechism question is what? 00:11:35.959 --> 00:11:45.099 That I am not my own, but I belong body and soul in life and in death to my faithful Savior, 00:11:45.240 --> 00:11:46.019 Jesus Christ, right? 00:11:46.019 --> 00:11:51.519 But this is, the anointing with oil is the church is acting out of that, that we belong 00:11:51.519 --> 00:11:53.480 to Jesus, body and soul. 00:11:56.240 --> 00:11:59.879 In other words, we are not the agents of our own healing. 00:12:04.379 --> 00:12:06.699 So, I think you see what I'm talking about. 00:12:06.939 --> 00:12:10.039 Integrity, honesty is James' first point. 00:12:10.039 --> 00:12:17.219 Honesty of words, honesty of responses to the varied circumstances of life. 00:12:22.899 --> 00:12:25.019 Now, this is easy to say and hard to do. 00:12:29.599 --> 00:12:32.500 I had coffee with a friend a few weeks ago. 00:12:32.500 --> 00:12:39.600 Back in California, and we were sitting and talking, and we turned to some things he'd been 00:12:39.600 --> 00:12:46.639 struggling with, and he told me how he's been really wrestling with anxiety and wakes up 00:12:46.639 --> 00:12:49.679 some mornings unsure how he's even going to get through the day. 00:12:49.799 --> 00:12:51.220 How does he hold it all together? 00:12:51.320 --> 00:12:58.820 The pressures of work and family and finances and the stresses of marriage and the uncertainties 00:12:58.820 --> 00:13:02.720 of raising kids, and this was really troubling to him. 00:13:02.780 --> 00:13:09.340 And so, we talked for a while, and we prayed together, and then I told him that I get it, 00:13:09.400 --> 00:13:11.140 that I feel the same way sometimes. 00:13:11.340 --> 00:13:12.920 And we were able to enter into that discussion. 00:13:13.060 --> 00:13:23.420 And when we ended, we kind of lamented that so often the church isn't a place where we can 00:13:23.419 --> 00:13:32.599 be honest about these things, that it's often difficult in the church to own these sorts 00:13:32.599 --> 00:13:35.819 of realities about ourselves, to bring them into the light. 00:13:38.620 --> 00:13:46.019 I heard Will earlier encouraging you all in that direction, and I believe that this is a place 00:13:46.019 --> 00:13:51.039 where you probably can do that pretty well, but I think you all still recognize the difficulty, 00:13:51.039 --> 00:13:55.019 right, the pressure to look like you've got it all together. 00:13:58.120 --> 00:13:59.799 Which raises the question, why? 00:13:59.939 --> 00:14:00.759 Why is it like that? 00:14:00.819 --> 00:14:07.740 Why can't we admit and walk together through the real difficulties of life? 00:14:07.860 --> 00:14:08.199 Why? 00:14:08.459 --> 00:14:12.339 I mean, it's interesting to me that James says, hey, if you're cheerful, give praise. 00:14:12.620 --> 00:14:14.980 Sometimes it's hard to admit you're really joyful. 00:14:17.319 --> 00:14:20.299 In a strange way, that's an acknowledgement of need as well, right? 00:14:20.299 --> 00:14:23.359 If you're super happy about something, that means you needed something and you weren't 00:14:23.359 --> 00:14:24.959 sure how you were going to get it, and it happened. 00:14:28.759 --> 00:14:29.740 Why is it so hard? 00:14:29.839 --> 00:14:39.979 Well, I think the answer is that our fragile hearts crave acceptance and the approval of 00:14:39.979 --> 00:14:40.539 other people. 00:14:40.539 --> 00:14:49.480 And we live so often in fear that if we are truly known, we will be rejected. 00:14:50.500 --> 00:14:57.019 And so we wear masks, and we make ourselves look better, and we hide our flaws, and we inflate 00:14:57.019 --> 00:15:03.779 our assets and our achievements, and we bury our struggles and our sins deep underground so 00:15:03.779 --> 00:15:04.779 that they never see the light of day. 00:15:04.779 --> 00:15:05.779 And we will be so hard. 00:15:05.779 --> 00:15:13.819 Because if you knew what was really in there, if you knew the places that my mind went, if 00:15:13.819 --> 00:15:21.860 you knew the hidden motives that drive so much of my activities, what would you think 00:15:21.860 --> 00:15:22.339 of me? 00:15:23.939 --> 00:15:25.539 You couldn't love me. 00:15:26.220 --> 00:15:27.419 You couldn't accept me. 00:15:27.419 --> 00:15:27.459 Okay? 00:15:30.899 --> 00:15:32.339 So we play act. 00:15:33.579 --> 00:15:35.439 We posture for approval. 00:15:37.559 --> 00:15:41.259 And there's an incentive to dishonesty, right? 00:15:41.379 --> 00:15:43.199 To dishonest words and dishonest living. 00:15:43.620 --> 00:15:46.139 And by the way, this is not a religious insight. 00:15:46.459 --> 00:15:48.879 This is a common humanity insight. 00:15:48.879 --> 00:15:49.000 Right? 00:15:50.439 --> 00:15:55.439 Everyone everywhere behaves this way, and everyone knows that everyone is doing it. 00:15:57.939 --> 00:16:04.379 The music critic, Carl Wilson, makes what I think is this very, very incisive point. 00:16:04.480 --> 00:16:12.299 Carl Wilson says, even our cultural tastes, like music or movies or art or cultural products 00:16:12.299 --> 00:16:18.439 or even the food we like, our tastes are so often not just our preferences. 00:16:18.659 --> 00:16:23.539 It's not merely the things we like and dislike, but our tastes and our preferences are bids for 00:16:23.539 --> 00:16:24.219 status. 00:16:26.399 --> 00:16:34.240 So, for instance, I can freely admit that I love the new Sufjan Stevens album, but I could 00:16:34.240 --> 00:16:37.779 never admit that I also like the new Taylor Swift CD. 00:16:39.639 --> 00:16:42.560 Because, why? 00:16:44.960 --> 00:16:47.419 Because those things say something about me. 00:16:48.820 --> 00:16:51.279 There's associations with both of those, right? 00:16:51.360 --> 00:16:57.860 Those are signifiers of something that I want myself to be. 00:16:57.860 --> 00:17:03.300 They're the masks that we wear. 00:17:06.240 --> 00:17:12.759 Or, to get at the issue from another way, when you think about our tendency to posture and 00:17:12.759 --> 00:17:15.599 bid for approval, take yourself back in your mind's eye. 00:17:15.640 --> 00:17:22.140 If you're old enough, take yourself back in your mind's eye and seat yourself in the middle 00:17:22.140 --> 00:17:24.400 of a middle school lunchroom. 00:17:24.400 --> 00:17:35.259 Or, remember when you were the new person on a team or at a job. 00:17:39.860 --> 00:17:46.380 Or, envision yourself as, oh, I don't know, for instance, a visiting preacher returning to 00:17:46.380 --> 00:17:51.200 a church where he spent a lot of time and really wants to be accepted. 00:17:51.200 --> 00:17:59.759 Put yourself in any of those situations and feel the craving for approval and acceptance 00:17:59.759 --> 00:18:04.299 and welcome descend on you like a fog. 00:18:05.000 --> 00:18:12.640 And watch the way we posture and play act. 00:18:12.640 --> 00:18:22.040 Or, envision yourself in a church at a time of transition. 00:18:23.560 --> 00:18:24.320 I get it. 00:18:24.360 --> 00:18:27.780 I've been through it from a number of standpoints, actually. 00:18:28.120 --> 00:18:33.980 I understand how it feels to wonder about the future and to want your church to be seen 00:18:33.980 --> 00:18:42.019 as attractive and alluring so that in God's good time the new man who's going to be your pastor 00:18:42.019 --> 00:18:45.059 will come and he'll like you and he'll want to be here. 00:18:45.059 --> 00:18:50.700 What James says is this. 00:18:52.139 --> 00:19:05.019 Church, Jesus lived and died and rose from the dead to secure God's never-ending one-way love for us. 00:19:05.019 --> 00:19:15.379 And when we build our life on him, instead of the lesser loves that this world has to offer, 00:19:17.039 --> 00:19:20.000 he says we are fully justified. 00:19:20.319 --> 00:19:27.099 And that means not merely forgiven, but esteemed. 00:19:27.099 --> 00:19:36.219 God, dearly beloved of the Father, when he sees you and me, his children, through faith in Jesus, 00:19:36.599 --> 00:19:42.139 the Bible teaches us he doesn't just tolerate us or, as C.S. Lewis reminds us, doesn't just pity us, 00:19:42.279 --> 00:19:44.379 but he rejoices over us. 00:19:46.639 --> 00:19:48.399 He bursts into song. 00:19:48.400 --> 00:19:54.740 And that means we don't have to hide. 00:19:55.920 --> 00:19:57.280 And we don't have to fear. 00:19:58.759 --> 00:20:00.420 And we don't have to wear a mask. 00:20:01.700 --> 00:20:02.780 But we can be honest. 00:20:02.880 --> 00:20:07.620 We don't have to make ourselves look better or live up to the unwritten rules of a judgmental culture. 00:20:08.120 --> 00:20:13.540 Or we don't have to perform for acceptance or earn love or work for dignity. 00:20:13.539 --> 00:20:18.899 But in Christ, all of these are ours. 00:20:19.599 --> 00:20:20.819 Free of charge. 00:20:22.399 --> 00:20:24.759 Gifts of unmerited grace and mercy. 00:20:28.740 --> 00:20:29.500 Do me a favor. 00:20:29.579 --> 00:20:31.480 Look around at one another. 00:20:31.680 --> 00:20:33.539 Just... 00:20:33.539 --> 00:20:35.440 What do you see? 00:20:39.920 --> 00:20:43.180 What do you think of the people that you worship with every Sunday morning? 00:20:43.180 --> 00:20:44.860 What do you think they think of you? 00:20:48.720 --> 00:20:50.000 We look pretty good. 00:20:52.299 --> 00:20:54.160 We have good jobs, most of us. 00:20:54.279 --> 00:20:54.900 We're well-dressed. 00:20:55.039 --> 00:21:00.120 We have, by the world's standards, not only plenty of money, but an excess of money. 00:21:03.620 --> 00:21:07.680 I see stable families and moral, upright people. 00:21:07.680 --> 00:21:14.160 And even our rough spots, which we'll admit, we have our rough spots, but even those are under control, right? 00:21:14.160 --> 00:21:23.360 Friends, the reality is all of us are here because we are broken and we cannot fix ourselves. 00:21:24.880 --> 00:21:26.980 We're sick and we cannot cure ourselves. 00:21:27.800 --> 00:21:32.500 We're enslaved to something and we cannot free ourselves. 00:21:32.500 --> 00:21:38.339 And those are just ways of saying that we're sinners who cannot save ourselves. 00:21:38.339 --> 00:21:46.980 And what James is telling the church is that the gospel, what Jesus has done on our behalf, 00:21:47.059 --> 00:21:53.539 the good news that God has entered this broken world and set about on a mission to set things to rights 00:21:53.539 --> 00:21:55.480 and is catching us up in that. 00:21:55.480 --> 00:22:04.460 That good news frees us right here and right now to speak and live honestly. 00:22:09.480 --> 00:22:10.519 That's what James wants. 00:22:10.559 --> 00:22:15.360 He wants the honesty that's both truth-telling but that transcends that and gets to the place of truth-living. 00:22:15.799 --> 00:22:17.960 And that's the first point that he makes. 00:22:18.039 --> 00:22:18.819 The second is this. 00:22:18.819 --> 00:22:26.119 The second type of integrity that he urges the church to is the integrity of community, unity, holding things together. 00:22:26.679 --> 00:22:30.639 This is implied very strongly in verses 13 and 14 and 15. 00:22:31.700 --> 00:22:35.759 Prayer and praise and calling on the elders of the church are things that are not done alone. 00:22:35.859 --> 00:22:36.919 They are done in community. 00:22:38.179 --> 00:22:41.639 In the context of a church, a gathered body of people. 00:22:44.500 --> 00:22:46.039 In verse 16, he gets explicit. 00:22:46.039 --> 00:22:48.019 Therefore, he says, confess your sins. 00:22:49.179 --> 00:22:49.859 To who? 00:22:50.240 --> 00:22:50.939 Into the air? 00:22:51.539 --> 00:22:52.619 Quietly in your closet? 00:22:52.759 --> 00:22:53.559 No, to one another. 00:22:53.899 --> 00:22:55.460 Do it, confess your sins to one another. 00:22:55.599 --> 00:22:56.980 Pray for one another. 00:22:57.079 --> 00:23:01.720 This is one instance among many in the New Testament of those one another's. 00:23:02.299 --> 00:23:07.740 The apostles who wrote the Bible just never intended this to be a solitary activity. 00:23:07.899 --> 00:23:08.639 This is community. 00:23:10.659 --> 00:23:12.279 Verses 19 to 20, he says this. 00:23:12.319 --> 00:23:13.659 He kind of amps it up a notch. 00:23:13.660 --> 00:23:21.560 If someone wanders away from trusting God, he says, that's more than just his or her problem. 00:23:21.759 --> 00:23:22.980 That's our problem. 00:23:22.980 --> 00:23:31.500 And we bear a responsibility to do the hard and risky thing of entering into their life and drawing them back to faithfulness and trust in God. 00:23:31.500 --> 00:24:00.200 This is a vision of community and accountability and mutual responsibility that completely inverts the narrative of individuality and individual freedom and the pursuit of personal rights that our late modern American culture socializes us into every day of our lives. 00:24:00.200 --> 00:24:05.259 The poet, novelist Wendell Berry says this. 00:24:06.620 --> 00:24:09.700 There is, in practice, no such thing as autonomy. 00:24:11.299 --> 00:24:15.660 There is only responsible or irresponsible dependency. 00:24:15.660 --> 00:24:18.220 Do you hear that? 00:24:18.259 --> 00:24:19.820 There's no such thing as autonomy. 00:24:19.980 --> 00:24:23.680 Only responsible or irresponsible dependency. 00:24:24.040 --> 00:24:31.100 What James is encouraging the church towards, what he encourages us towards today, is an act of responsible dependency. 00:24:31.099 --> 00:24:40.959 And he gives us, in these verses, the practices that will, in a sense, disciple us into such a community. 00:24:41.240 --> 00:24:47.240 And so it's worth looping back around and pausing for just a minute to consider what he tells us to do. 00:24:47.240 --> 00:24:52.519 He says, confess your sins to one another. 00:24:56.460 --> 00:24:58.180 I think there's two ways that can happen. 00:24:58.299 --> 00:24:59.059 One is generally. 00:24:59.220 --> 00:25:00.440 Confess your sins generally. 00:25:01.519 --> 00:25:09.059 That's why, ordinarily, I know if you've worshipped here before, you know that in the order of service, we almost always have a confession of sin. 00:25:09.059 --> 00:25:09.460 Right? 00:25:09.799 --> 00:25:17.339 Where Will and the other pastors and worship leaders will lead you all in a verbalization of your sin. 00:25:17.460 --> 00:25:17.639 Right? 00:25:18.019 --> 00:25:18.980 You know what they're doing? 00:25:19.039 --> 00:25:20.419 They're putting words in your mouth. 00:25:22.079 --> 00:25:30.980 They're making you speak out loud ways that you or someone in this group may have sinned against God or against your neighbor this week. 00:25:31.700 --> 00:25:31.940 Right? 00:25:31.940 --> 00:25:33.700 That's why we do that. 00:25:34.779 --> 00:25:37.440 To make it part of the public conversation. 00:25:37.840 --> 00:25:51.460 And that's intended to provide a language or a grammar of confession to teach us from the Bible and the trusted creeds of the church how it's supposed to sound when we bring the reality of our sin into the conversation. 00:25:57.559 --> 00:25:59.100 So confess your sin. 00:25:59.400 --> 00:26:00.420 Confess your sin generally. 00:26:00.420 --> 00:26:00.620 Right? 00:26:00.619 --> 00:26:02.439 Make it a part of the things that you talk about. 00:26:04.039 --> 00:26:06.019 Admit your struggles. 00:26:06.259 --> 00:26:07.759 Admit your sinful tendencies. 00:26:08.199 --> 00:26:17.639 Learn your idols, those things that you are tempted to substitute for God as the source of meaning and joy in your life. 00:26:19.859 --> 00:26:20.839 Talk about your struggles. 00:26:20.979 --> 00:26:22.139 Let your guard down. 00:26:22.539 --> 00:26:24.959 Give people permission to know you. 00:26:25.039 --> 00:26:26.219 So let's confess your sins generally. 00:26:26.220 --> 00:26:36.480 But I'm more and more convinced that in most churches that believe the gospel, that is pretty reasonably done. 00:26:36.559 --> 00:26:39.480 People are fairly willing to admit, I'm a sinner. 00:26:39.480 --> 00:26:42.779 The next thing you've got to do is confess your sins specifically. 00:26:44.220 --> 00:26:45.079 Oh, I'm a sinner. 00:26:45.220 --> 00:26:45.799 Yeah, how? 00:26:47.339 --> 00:26:49.920 Oh, well, I break God's law. 00:26:50.240 --> 00:26:51.539 Well, specifically which one? 00:26:51.539 --> 00:26:52.539 What have you done? 00:26:52.539 --> 00:26:54.599 What have you done? 00:26:54.599 --> 00:26:55.619 Who have you done it to? 00:26:56.079 --> 00:26:57.579 What harm have you caused? 00:26:57.859 --> 00:26:58.899 Who have you damaged? 00:26:58.900 --> 00:27:04.460 That's a little harder to do. 00:27:06.980 --> 00:27:09.100 It's one thing to say I am such a sinner. 00:27:10.120 --> 00:27:21.900 It's another thing to say last night in the middle of an argument, I said some words to my wife that were hurtful and that stole her dignity and that were dehumanizing. 00:27:21.900 --> 00:27:27.060 And I'm not sure she's forgiven me yet. 00:27:27.120 --> 00:27:28.259 And I'm not sure I blame her. 00:27:32.259 --> 00:27:33.660 Confess your sins specifically. 00:27:34.200 --> 00:27:36.180 Admit to others how you have hurt them. 00:27:37.080 --> 00:27:40.240 Acknowledge the cost and the damage that you have done. 00:27:40.800 --> 00:27:43.640 Listen to understand. 00:27:43.640 --> 00:27:49.460 Without defensiveness and without minimizing what you have done or explaining it away or blame shifting. 00:27:51.700 --> 00:27:55.080 Oh, well, I know that I did that, but you should have seen what she did. 00:27:58.360 --> 00:27:59.960 No, it's a confession there. 00:28:03.060 --> 00:28:05.340 That's the first practice of an integrated community. 00:28:05.460 --> 00:28:06.280 The second one is this. 00:28:06.580 --> 00:28:06.880 Prayer. 00:28:07.080 --> 00:28:08.280 Pray for one another, he says. 00:28:12.000 --> 00:28:13.480 Now, this assumes a couple of things. 00:28:13.480 --> 00:28:16.059 This assumes the honesty of speech that we talked about earlier. 00:28:16.180 --> 00:28:19.539 I can't pray for you unless I know what's really going on. 00:28:19.940 --> 00:28:26.519 I can't lament with you, grieve with you, pray for your struggles, or celebrate with you unless I know what's going on in your life. 00:28:29.819 --> 00:28:31.720 So pray for one another, he says. 00:28:35.480 --> 00:28:36.539 Pray for the church. 00:28:36.700 --> 00:28:37.480 Pray for its welfare. 00:28:37.480 --> 00:28:44.799 Pray for our growth in faith and trust in the gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:28:44.940 --> 00:28:50.099 Pray for the vulnerability and safety that we need to move into the kind of community he's describing. 00:28:52.259 --> 00:28:53.140 Prayer matters. 00:28:53.299 --> 00:28:53.940 Prayer works. 00:28:54.019 --> 00:28:55.180 That's the point of the digression. 00:28:56.480 --> 00:28:57.259 About Elijah? 00:28:57.259 --> 00:28:57.339 Elijah? 00:28:59.140 --> 00:28:59.940 What does he say? 00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:04.960 Elijah was a man with a nature just like ours, and he prayed, and God did amazing things. 00:29:05.259 --> 00:29:11.000 Now, the point here is not that, oh, if we pray enough, God would do some sort of a nature miracle. 00:29:11.160 --> 00:29:11.940 That's not the point at all. 00:29:12.119 --> 00:29:14.960 The point is, this is a regular guy. 00:29:15.140 --> 00:29:16.839 This is not a spiritual superhero. 00:29:16.839 --> 00:29:24.799 He was a man, a person just like us. 00:29:25.500 --> 00:29:30.919 He was fearful and anxious, and yes, he was a prophet of God. 00:29:31.000 --> 00:29:40.859 He had a calling to fulfill, but he was a regular guy just like us, and he prayed, and God did these things through him. 00:29:41.259 --> 00:29:42.099 God heard him. 00:29:42.339 --> 00:29:45.039 The point here is that prayer matters. 00:29:45.039 --> 00:29:48.220 It's an integral part of the life of the church. 00:29:51.119 --> 00:29:53.420 It's another practice of an integrated community. 00:29:53.599 --> 00:29:59.079 Finally, in verses 19 to 20, the issue of mutual accountability. 00:30:01.059 --> 00:30:08.720 If anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, that is a redemptive thing. 00:30:08.720 --> 00:30:24.740 If we see someone going down a harmful road, James says it's not only our right, but it's our responsibility to walk along with them and gently, lovingly bring them back. 00:30:24.740 --> 00:30:34.740 Now, I think that we can only do this if we've done the first two previously. 00:30:34.740 --> 00:30:52.960 We can only enter into someone's life and have any kind of credibility at all to bring them back to faithfulness unless we are people of honesty, who confess our sins, and who pray. 00:30:52.960 --> 00:30:54.960 Think of it. 00:30:54.960 --> 00:30:55.460 Think of it. 00:30:59.960 --> 00:31:04.140 You know, there's a tendency to be hands-off, right? 00:31:04.519 --> 00:31:06.340 Again, we're fairly laissez-faire. 00:31:07.980 --> 00:31:09.279 Keep your nose out of my business. 00:31:09.380 --> 00:31:10.259 Don't judge me. 00:31:10.259 --> 00:31:13.799 Someone might say, you don't have the right to do that. 00:31:14.099 --> 00:31:23.180 But if we are known and formed by confession and prayer, if we're characterized by the honesty and humility and spiritual sensitivity that these kinds of things cultivate, 00:31:23.779 --> 00:31:35.480 then we can love others enough to exercise this kind of mutual accountability without being harsh and judgmental and scolding and condemning. 00:31:35.480 --> 00:31:44.700 And also without the sort of hands-off, libertarian, that's none of my business attitude. 00:31:50.519 --> 00:31:55.519 So, confession, prayer, mutual accountability. 00:31:55.519 --> 00:32:03.160 These are the characteristics of a community that believes deeply in the finished work of Jesus, 00:32:03.400 --> 00:32:10.859 and they are the practices that form us into a community that deeply cherishes the finished work of Jesus. 00:32:17.200 --> 00:32:19.960 Earlier I mentioned the tendency we have to wear masks. 00:32:19.960 --> 00:32:30.259 Soren Kierkegaard, the philosopher, compares life to a costume ball, a masquerade party, 00:32:31.299 --> 00:32:37.140 where everyone wears a mask with the purpose of concealing their identities. 00:32:38.140 --> 00:32:45.480 And they spend the evening hidden away, eating, drinking, dancing, 00:32:45.480 --> 00:32:49.079 hiding who they really are. 00:32:51.420 --> 00:32:54.980 Now, this looks like community, right? 00:32:55.019 --> 00:32:57.440 There's a bunch of people in the room doing a bunch of stuff together. 00:32:58.900 --> 00:33:01.120 But he says, really, they're just freelancing. 00:33:02.339 --> 00:33:04.160 Everybody's out for their own interests, 00:33:04.819 --> 00:33:08.700 because nobody's revealed and nobody's known. 00:33:12.339 --> 00:33:13.860 Kierkegaard says, this is a warning. 00:33:15.480 --> 00:33:21.720 Because eventually, if we live this way, we will become unable to sustain real relationships. 00:33:23.579 --> 00:33:24.599 He says this, 00:33:24.640 --> 00:33:32.680 I have seen men in real life who so long deceived others by wearing a mask that their true nature could not reveal itself. 00:33:35.259 --> 00:33:36.740 But he goes on and says this, 00:33:36.740 --> 00:33:38.880 He who cannot reveal himself cannot love. 00:33:38.880 --> 00:33:44.960 And he who cannot love is the most happy, is the most unhappy man of all. 00:33:44.960 --> 00:33:52.920 And that is the irony of wearing a mask. 00:33:54.200 --> 00:34:00.100 The thing that is meant to create an illusion of happiness destroys happiness, 00:34:00.100 --> 00:34:03.680 because it cuts off the possibility of love. 00:34:04.079 --> 00:34:07.380 And the thing that looks like community erodes community, 00:34:07.559 --> 00:34:09.960 because nobody can really relate. 00:34:09.960 --> 00:34:17.199 What James is urging us to do as he finishes his letter, 00:34:18.199 --> 00:34:22.659 is take off the mask and live honestly, 00:34:22.659 --> 00:34:28.420 so that we can become the community that God wants us to be. 00:34:28.420 --> 00:34:33.579 That is my hope and prayer for the church at large. 00:34:33.700 --> 00:34:39.800 We routinely think about this and talk about this and pray for it in my church in California. 00:34:39.800 --> 00:34:41.320 And it is my prayer for you, 00:34:42.139 --> 00:34:48.320 especially when you're in this weird and uncertain time of transition. 00:34:48.320 --> 00:34:54.019 I'm going to leave you with a couple of questions and then be done. 00:34:55.340 --> 00:34:56.820 What mask do you wear? 00:35:01.240 --> 00:35:04.100 Both what are you hiding and what are you using to hide it? 00:35:05.559 --> 00:35:07.440 What would it look like to take it off? 00:35:10.880 --> 00:35:12.100 What would it cost? 00:35:14.940 --> 00:35:15.920 What would it gain? 00:35:18.320 --> 00:35:22.480 Let's pray together and ask God to help us learn how to do this. 00:35:24.340 --> 00:35:25.080 Join me, please. 00:35:25.160 --> 00:35:35.260 Almighty God, we confess to you that it is so easy for us to live our lives inauthentically and dishonestly, 00:35:38.080 --> 00:35:40.300 pretending things are great when they're not, 00:35:40.360 --> 00:35:43.920 acting as though things are under control when we really know that they are not. 00:35:43.920 --> 00:35:51.880 relying on the externals of life, 00:35:52.880 --> 00:35:57.720 whether it's money or success or achievement or our reputation or the behavior of our children or 00:35:57.720 --> 00:35:59.700 our status in life, 00:35:59.860 --> 00:36:00.860 whatever it is, 00:36:00.900 --> 00:36:02.159 relying on something to 00:36:02.159 --> 00:36:04.960 make us look good, 00:36:05.019 --> 00:36:06.039 when in reality, 00:36:06.440 --> 00:36:07.800 we desperately need a Savior. 00:36:07.800 --> 00:36:15.640 Lord, help us to trust in your work so much that we have the courage and the humility to take off the mask, 00:36:16.760 --> 00:36:17.720 to live honestly, 00:36:17.960 --> 00:36:19.019 to speak honestly, 00:36:19.640 --> 00:36:23.620 and to push into community with prayer and confession 00:36:23.620 --> 00:36:26.900 and the hard work of mutual accountability. 00:36:26.900 --> 00:36:31.099 God, these can only be done because Jesus is Lord. 00:36:32.300 --> 00:36:35.720 Lord, but we celebrate and praise that he is. 00:36:35.960 --> 00:36:36.900 And thank you for that. 00:36:37.420 --> 00:36:38.740 And pray these things in his name. 00:36:39.240 --> 00:36:39.460 Amen. 00:36:39.460 --> 00:36:39.639 Amen. 00:36:44.139 --> 00:36:48.260 For more information, visit us online at southwood.org.