Father, we ask that your Holy Spirit would come with might and power and deep conviction upon each of us,
that you would help us to understand who we really are, that you would grant us honesty about who we are in the real world,
in the presence of you, the real God.
And Father, as you bring us to better and truer self-knowledge,
that you would grant us first and foremost a better and truer knowledge of you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
three persons, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
So, a bit of a trigger warning, I guess, or a bit of a heads up.
I'm going to be talking about money today.
Not talking about money because of anything to do with the church finances or anything like that.
We're starting a new book in the Bible.
Well, it's not a new book. We're starting a book that was written a long time ago.
It wasn't just written and put in the Bible a few days ago.
As if, oh yeah, there's a new book to put in the Bible.
No, we're going to be studying the book of James.
We're going to go through it from beginning to the end, take a bit of a break for Easter and Holy Week.
And the reason that I'm going to talk a little bit about money is because the book of James talks about money.
If you are at all, if this is maybe one of the first times that you've watched one of these services
or entered into one of these services, we preach through books of the Bible.
And if you're a seeker, that should be a really good and important thing for you
because it shows that we don't try to hide anything.
We don't just look at the good texts.
The texts that all say that God has a wonderful plan for your life
and don't look at the texts that tell you you have to give up certain things or stop doing certain things.
Or as a friend of mine used to say, they tell you that God had a wonderful plan for your life
and not tell you that 10 years after you'd become a Christian,
you were getting killed by cannibals in some distant place.
So we look at different things.
We go from the beginning to the end.
And our text today is also going to be talking about not just about money,
but identity, life, allegiance, and hope.
But money is one of the topics.
So let's get into it.
If you have your Bibles, it's James chapter 1.
We will have the words on the screen for most of it.
But it's also very good to have a Bible of your own,
to be able to look and read it for yourself.
And I'll be using the English Standard Version for this.
And the Bible doesn't begin with talking about money.
James doesn't begin by talking about money.
It sort of gives a bit of an introduction.
But this is one of these cases where the introduction is actually really important
for the entire rest of the book.
Here's how it begins.
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
to the twelve tribes in the dispersion, greetings.
And some of you, your versions of the Bible might have begun,
James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And others of you will have a Bible that has a little footnote.
And if you go down, if it said slave, it'll say servant and vice versa.
And so James introduces himself, gives his name, a servant of God
and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the twelve tribes in the dispersion, greetings.
You just sort of have to trust me in this.
It's basically the twelve tribes of the dispersion.
It's a letter for Christians.
It's a sort of symbolic type of language, a bit of a metaphor which is used.
But some of you might be wondering right off the bat,
especially if you're trying to figure out a little bit about the Christian faith
and you've stumbled across this video,
and you might say to yourself or to the person you're with,
here we go.
It's sort of very interesting.
This is one of the reasons why I would never be a Christian.
Like, how weird is it that people in Ottawa in the year 2021
would actually sort of like the idea that somebody is a slave?
In fact, actually, I'm going to actually say that part of the significance of this text
is that the Bible is calling us to a secure identity,
a secure, true, individual identity for you and me in Jesus,
if we understand that we are his doulos, his servant slash slave.
So if you're thinking this is exactly one of the reasons why I don't like the Christian faith is,
I mean, George, gosh, some of you might even be saying,
where can I even begin to show you where this is all wrong?
Like, life should be about figuring out who you are.
Life should be all about being the captain of your own destiny.
Life should be all about not letting other people tell you what to do or what to think.
It should be all about not getting your identity from somebody else,
but making your own.
Like, George, everything about this is just wrong.
And if you're thinking that, those are, I mean, if that's what you think, that's what you think.
And it's, in fact, a very honest way.
Christians often aren't very honest when we talk about this type of language,
and it's actually very, very hard for us to try to live it.
So what's going on here with this text?
Well, first of all, I guess I want to just challenge the idea
that we actually ever create our own identity.
And the identity, if we do create our own identity,
I mean, obviously people do create their own identity,
but it's not really everybody's serving somebody,
everybody's getting their identity from somebody else.
And you say, no, that's George, that might be true of other people.
It's not.
No, no, no, no, no.
Just you think about it for a second.
One of the ways that we see this is how we think about others.
One of the things that people would say that was so terrible about Trump supporters
is they were getting their identity from terrible things.
And we don't think of that as a good example of getting your own identity.
All of a sudden we say, no, no, no, no, no, no.
There's things that can give you your identity which are very, very bad.
And the other thing that we don't necessarily,
if you just think about it for a second,
depending on whatever age you are,
or maybe if you're only eight, this won't make any sense to you.
Although even maybe at eight it will.
One of the things that we understand about how transient identity is
and how foolish it is,
is when we think not only of, let's say, Trump supporters make American great again,
but when we think of people who are younger than us.
So, you know, maybe you're a very mature 21 or 22 year old
and, you know, the orange thing happens on Tuesday,
you're actually able to see some family
and you go see, you know, maybe your next door neighbors
or maybe you go see some cousins and they're only 13 or 14
and you see what they're getting their identity around
and you think to yourself very superior,
in a very superior way, how foolish they are.
You know, how foolish you are to get your identity from a K-pop band
or this particular YouTube influencer.
But you say that because why you have a better band
or a better Instagram or social media influencer
and you don't think of the fact
that you used to actually have these different phases
and you will continue to have them.
That in fact the matter is,
is that we don't actually,
nobody actually looks inside
and gets their identity completely and utterly from themselves.
We're getting our identity from influencers
and it changes over time in all sorts of different ways
and we don't understand that.
But the fact is, we always have some type of identity.
And that identity, in a sense,
is by allowing others to speak into our lives
and have some type of control
or by putting their hope in certain things.
So it's not the case that somehow or another,
the person, if you're making this comment
about how weird Christians are,
that somehow or another,
everybody is getting their identity
from some other source.
So the issue is,
what on earth about this particular,
like why would this be the,
so part of what is so, in fact,
wise about the Christian faith
is that Christians acknowledge this.
Like we understand it.
Many people are completely blind to it.
We understand it.
Or at least the Bible understands it.
Christians can be just as foolish.
I am just as foolish.
Sorry, if I slip in and making it sound
as if somehow Christians are elite,
you all know that's not true.
We are definitely not.
In fact, the Bible even reminds us
that God chooses the weak
and the foolish of the world
to shame the wise.
But the Bible understands it.
And that's what the Bible is saying.
And so it's actually very interesting.
Look again at what it says.
James, a servant or a slave of God
and of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And whether you use the word servant or slave,
the reason that,
the actual Greek word is the word doulos,
and there's no real good English translation for it.
But if you use the word servant,
I don't know,
those of you who remember
the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
or a whole pile of movies,
the servants have snotty English accents,
actually run the house
and are smarter than the people.
On the other hand,
if you think of the slavery
as it exists,
it still exists in parts of the world
and has existed in North America,
that's sort of too harsh.
But the key idea is
that you belong to somebody else.
You're actually somebody else's property
and they can tell you what to do.
In the ancient world,
doulos could be quite powerful, actually.
They could even make money
and buy their own freedom.
So there's no perfect word in English.
But the idea that you belong to somebody else
and that they have power and authority over you
to tell you what to do,
that is definitely in the text.
But it's interesting.
Here we have James introducing himself
as a servant of God
and of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Here's what's so significant about him.
James could have introduced himself this way.
He could have been sitting,
good suit, good tie,
really expensive glass of wine right there,
some very expensive nibblies
to go along with the expensive glass of wine.
And he could be saying,
by the way, did I mention
that I'm actually the head of the church in Jerusalem?
You know?
And by the way,
if you're the head of the church in Jerusalem,
it really means you're the head of the church
in the entire world.
Oh, and by the way,
did I happen to mention
that Jesus is my brother?
I don't mean like brother in a spiritual way.
I mean actually,
after Jesus had his birth,
Mary and Joseph had other children
and I'm one of them.
I'm Jesus' half-brother.
Did I happen to mention that?
Some of you know you think you know Jesus,
but I actually,
I know what his poop smells like
because I grew up with him.
He could have said all that stuff,
but he didn't.
In fact,
this is actually one of the things
which is very, very interesting
about this text
and why,
in a sense,
it's one of those cases
where the introduction
casts a light
on the entire rest of the book.
Because if you go back
and you read any of the ancient biographies
of Jesus
and they actually exist,
if you read any of the ancient biographies
of Jesus that actually exist,
what you'll see
is that Jesus is,
that the children
that Mary and Joseph had
after Jesus was born,
that those children,
that they actually thought
Jesus was nuts.
They didn't believe him.
They thought he was an imposter.
They mocked him.
And they,
James wasn't at the crucifixion.
And what,
so what another,
what completely and utterly
changed James' life?
You see,
the fact of the matter is,
is that James knew
Jesus very well.
And James understood
that Jesus really did die,
like he really knew
that Jesus died.
And he knew that Jesus
really was buried.
And he knew the tomb
where Jesus was buried.
And he knew where that was.
And he knew
that on the third day
the tomb was empty.
And he knew
from personal experience,
like literal
personal experience,
that Jesus had risen
from the dead.
because James
was an eyewitness
of Jesus's,
of Jesus
after he was resurrected.
And the resurrection
changes everything.
Like,
you might not think
it does
because,
you know,
it's not the case
that somehow
or another history,
historians have proved
that Jesus didn't rise
from the dead.
and that it,
in fact,
actually,
it's very,
very interesting.
You can see time
and time
and time again,
Frank Morrison,
I think,
was in the 50s.
There's another fellow,
I can't remember
his name right now,
J. Warner Wallace,
who was a cold,
a detective
who specialized
in cold cases.
And he went to study
to prove
that Jesus didn't
rise from the dead.
The fellow who wrote
the book,
The Case for Christ,
he went to study
to prove
that,
in fact,
Jesus had risen from the dead.
And everybody
who studies the issue
ends up becoming
a follower of Christ.
Because,
in fact,
the historical evidence
is quite substantial.
And if,
in fact,
it is the case
that there was a man
who did actually die,
and then on the third day
he didn't just
sort of get resuscitated,
but actually defeated death,
if that has actually
happened in history
and it's happened
in history
in such a way
that it's part of
a larger story
and narrative
and that it can include
and make a difference
for you
and your life
for not only today
but for all eternity,
that changes everything.
And that truth
of the true death
of Jesus
and the true resurrection
of Jesus
and the true meaning
of what it means,
that changes everything.
See,
the fact of the matter is
Jesus knew
what James' poop
smelled like
because they grew up together.
And Jesus knew
what James thought about him.
And Jesus knew
all of the terrible things
that James would have said
about him.
And Jesus knew
all of that stuff,
but Jesus died for James.
And Jesus rose for James.
And Jesus came
to save James
just as he came
to save you.
He comes
so that ordinary people
like you and me
can put our faith
and trust in him.
And it makes a difference
for all eternity.
And you can't put
your faith and trust
in Jesus
as the one
who actually knows
the truth about God,
the truth about creation,
the truth about sin,
the truth about eternity,
the truth about you
and all your particularity.
And he loved you so much
that he died for you
and rose from the dead.
To know him
is to belong to him,
to become his doulos.
And so all the rest
of the way
through the book of James
as we read it,
you have to,
in a sense,
keep toggling back
to the beginning.
There's a couple
of other places.
I'm going to mention
one of them a little bit
in a moment
to remember,
okay,
all of this flows
out of this real
defeat of death,
the real defeat of hell,
the real defeat of judgment,
the real defeat
of the shame
and the dishonor
and everything
which is just wrong
about death
and wrong about my life.
That has been defeated,
has been dealt with
by Jesus
in a way that means
that I can be in him
and be right with God
and the end of my story
is going to be
completely and utterly different.
How on earth
should I now live?
That's what the whole book
is about.
So,
the very first thing
that we're going to look at then
after we have this
as a bit of a beginning
is some of you might say,
well, okay,
that's very interesting.
In fact,
this is a perennial mistake
made by Christians,
even Christians today.
See,
the problem we have
as Christians
is we forget the gospel,
we forget who Jesus is
and we forget his word.
It's one of the reasons
why a church like ours,
we preach through books
of the Bible
so that,
you know,
we don't just pick
and choose little verses.
We look at the things
which are going to be
very hard,
very challenging,
very frightening,
and the things
which will elicit huge hope.
We try to look at it all.
And so,
people might say,
okay,
wow,
if you actually now belong
to somebody
who's defeated death
and defeated hell,
defeated whatever whole demonic
or hostile spiritual powers
have on you,
they've all been defeated.
You now belong,
you put your faith
and trust in Jesus.
He doesn't count
how good you are.
He accepts you
and he's the one
who makes you right with God.
He now becomes,
in a sense,
your owner.
Like,
surely that means
that life will be easy.
And many,
many people make that connection.
Life will be easy.
Well,
in fact,
let's look and see
the next three verses,
verses two to four.
It goes like this.
I have to watch my time
running around out of time.
Count it all joy,
my brothers and sisters,
when you meet trials
of various kinds.
Okay,
now,
but here's,
it gets actually a bit odder.
It goes against this idea
that if you know Jesus,
life will get easier.
Look,
when you meet trials
of various kinds,
verse three,
for you know
that the testing of your faith
produces steadfastness
and let steadfastness
have its full effect
that you may be perfect
and complete,
lacking in nothing.
And the word perfect there
is a telos word.
It's an end word.
In other words,
it has this idea
that there's this proper end for you.
This,
in a sense,
if you have,
you know,
everybody,
many,
many people have this sense
that we despair
when we lose it,
right?
But when we don't lose it,
we have this sense
that there's like
a type of a destiny,
an end,
a summing up,
a completeness,
a direction,
that life isn't just
one dang thing
after another
and then you die.
You know,
and maybe
if it's during COVID-19,
you die all alone
with people
who don't even know you.
And this perfect is,
in other words,
you come to that
for which you were made.
And the implication
of the text
is that there's always
going to be things
that are trials.
And the trials
can be both
surprising things
that come out
of the Christian worldview.
They can be things
that happen
like obvious trials
like ill health,
bad finances,
loneliness,
job setbacks,
relational setbacks,
many other problems
that come with aging
if you live long enough.
But it's also
other different types
of trials,
things that reveal
who you are,
things that reveal
how you've treated people,
things that reveal
your character.
character.
It's a very, very general
and all-encompassing word.
And the Bible here says
that this is something
which is going to be
with you all of your life.
In fact,
I felt like saying
at the beginning
and I decided
I'd talk about money,
the book of James
is only 108 verses,
but there's 59 commands
in the 108 verses.
So here's the good news.
At the end of the book of James,
you have 59 new things
on your to-do list.
Nobody likes hearing that.
We like having small to-do lists.
But it's not going to be,
these to-dos aren't things
that are going to crush us.
They're things to meditate upon
to help us to make,
to reach that end
that fits with the uniqueness
that we are,
that have been woven into us
in our creation
and that have been redeemed
into us through Christ.
But here's the thing.
In self-help books,
generally what happens
in self-help books
is they'll obviously talk
about difficulties
and obstacles.
But the inherent message
often in self-help books
is that as you master
the self-help books,
these things will happen
less and less.
You know,
because you just become
smoother at seeing ahead,
you get better at
forming your own future,
you know,
you have your own
preferred future
that you move towards,
you get better at
handling comments,
at handling feedback,
you just get better
and better and better
at all of these things
if you follow
the self-help book.
And even though
you're going to have
to face things
and there'll be maybe
a lot of stuff at first
and it's going to reveal
things about you
that have to be dealt with,
but the idea is
that once you master
the things in the self-help book
that life gets better,
it gets easier,
in a sense there's fewer obstacles.
And in this sense,
the book of James
is saying,
that's the complete opposite
of what, in fact,
the Christian life is.
And the fact of the matter
is it's actually the opposite
of what life is really like.
See, the reason we keep
going back to self-help books
is because, in fact,
they don't tell us the truth.
There constantly ends up
being things.
And part of the thing
about self-help books
is they end up making,
many of us,
at first they're very exciting
and at first they might work,
but then crap happens to us.
And we feel even more
depressed afterwards.
So the Bible actually has,
here's the thing
which is so wonderful
about the gospel,
is when you understand
that Jesus has died for you,
he loves you so much
that he died for you,
that he knows everything
there is to know about you
and still he died for you.
And he not only,
in his death,
deals with everything
that's wrong with you,
but at the same time,
he doesn't present you
in terms of the one or two
little good things
that are in your life
or the 15 good things
that are in your life.
He actually says,
I'm going to give you,
in a sense,
all of my destiny
I give to you.
Not only do I take your doom,
I give you my destiny
and you're presented
for all eternity,
in a sense,
covered with his perfect life.
But the thing,
here's the thing
which is so wonderful
about the Bible,
it is both,
gives you,
it gives you,
at the same time,
a realistic assessment
of each day
and a realistic hope
for the end
of the story
of your life.
And that's what,
that's what James
is talking about.
On one hand,
here's the realistic thing
about your life.
You're always going to be
dealing with selfishness,
you're always going to be dealing,
you know,
those of you who are married,
if you think there's going
to be a time
where you actually never say
something cutting
or hurting to your spouse,
ha, ha, ha,
you believe that myth.
It ain't going to happen.
Where you're never going to have
to struggle with selfishness,
there's never going to be
issues around money,
there's never going to be issues,
yeah, forget about it.
If you read some book
that tells you you can do that,
throw it away.
It's only going to make you depressed,
okay?
By the way, as well,
you want to increase
your wisdom quotient,
stop looking at Facebook
and Instagram.
Maybe make it that you spend
one minute a day
or five minutes a day,
because all it does
is show you everybody else's
perfect life
and depresses you,
right?
So,
so the Bible here
is very,
very,
very realistic.
realistic.
Your life is going to be
filled with trials.
That's realistic.
But here's the thing,
in Jesus,
it gives you
a realistic hope
that the end,
for the end of the story
of your life,
which is that you come
to your telos.
In fact,
if you were to skip down
to verse 12,
which we'll just read briefly
at the end,
it says that the end of life,
you have this crown of life,
which is bestowed upon you
by Jesus.
It's already waiting for you.
That's the end of your life.
And it gives you
a profound energy
to persevere
through these trials
and to create
the type of personality
which is steadfast,
which can handle
the setbacks
that begins to have,
the steadfastness
means you have
the maturity
to apologize
when you do make
those cutting comments
or you apologize
because you should have
done something
and you didn't
and to deal with
the health issues
and the financial issues
and the relational issues
that God is building
into you
as you walk
with his son,
this steadfastness
to be able to walk
and endure with it.
Now here there's going
to be a little bit
of a problem
and I'm going to probably
have to say this
every week
in the book of James.
And one of the things,
if you go and you look,
basically there's very little
structure to the book of James.
Those of you
who are familiar
with the Bible
are familiar with books
like the book of Proverbs.
And in the book of Proverbs
there's lots of different
individual proverbs.
Sometimes they're grouped,
sometimes they're not.
In fact, if you wanted
to look at all the Proverbs
in money,
you'd have to look,
you know,
here in chapter 3
and chapter 7
and chapter 10
and chapter 15
and chapter 20
and chapter 31
or whatever
to try to see it
because it just sort of
goes in and out
of all these different ideas
and the same thing here
with the book of James.
In many ways,
the book of James
is closer to the book
of Proverbs
where the book
is a series
of wisdom commands
and wisdom insights
that every one of them
is something
or a little group
of them
is something
for you to meditate upon,
to memorize
and to pray into.
And so now
the Bible seems
to take a bit of a,
James seems to take
a little bit of a jump
because it's now
going to talk about
something which actually
touches on one
of the fears
that many non-Christians
have about the Christian faith
which is that
the Christian faith
encourages intellectual suicide,
blind faith,
and a refusal
to deal with doubts.
Like, let's look
and see what it says
in verses 5 to 8.
If any of you
lacks wisdom,
let him ask
or her,
ask God,
who gives generously
to all without reproach.
Need to make,
and it will be given him,
just,
or her.
You have to hear that,
right?
That if you lack wisdom,
if you ask God,
he will start to give you
wisdom without reproach.
He won't say,
without reproach means
it's like,
I don't know,
you know,
somebody wants to
borrow some money from you.
You say,
what do you mean
you want to borrow money from you?
You haven't paid back
the last money.
Like,
all you do is waste the money.
You know,
your kid comes and says,
you know,
can you lend me 20 bucks,
dad,
or mom?
And you say,
fine,
you just wasted
the last 20 bucks I gave.
You're like,
where is it going?
You're just wasting it
on Uber Eats
or,
I don't know,
something like that.
God gives you
without reproach.
He doesn't even tell you,
yeah,
I've been waiting for it
because you've been
an unbelievable fool
for a long time,
so I'm glad you're fine.
No,
without reproach.
I read it to you again.
If any of you
lacks wisdom,
let him or her ask God
who gives generously
to all without reproach
and it will be given to them.
But let the person
ask in faith
with no doubting
for the one who doubts
is like a wave of the sea
that is driven
and tossed by the wind.
For that person
must not suppose
that he or she
will receive anything
from the Lord.
They are a double-minded man,
unstable in all their ways.
And you can see
how this,
on a superficial reading,
makes it sound
as if,
once again,
Christians are very,
very anti-intellectual
because,
in fact,
most of us would say
that doubt is good.
In fact,
for most people,
a sign of wisdom
is doubting.
And the Bible's actually
not going to disagree
completely with that.
One of the things,
if those of you
have heard me preach before,
say,
if you go back
and look at the Gospels,
the ancient biographies
of Jesus,
you'll see that Jesus
actually never
dismissed a good question.
He welcomed good questions.
And if you go back
and you read
part of what we call
the Old Testament
or our Jewish friends
call the Tanakh,
books like Habakkuk
are all organized
around really good questions.
We just went through
the book of Lamentations,
which has people
asking God
really good questions.
So it's not a matter
that there should be
no questions.
So what's going on
here in this particular text?
And what it is,
is this.
First of all,
the word faith here,
we have to begin with that.
Faith isn't a power
that you have.
It's not like
the little train
that could.
That, you know,
you've got to make it,
got to make it,
got to make it.
I can do it.
I have faith.
Faith is not a description
about your own
particular power.
Okay?
It's not as if
the world is divided
between, you know,
those of us
who have really
strong abilities
to have this faith power
and be persistent in it,
and those who are weak,
although obviously
some of us differ
in those types of things.
The second thing
is that it's not about,
once again,
it's connected
to not being a power,
but in the Bible,
the word faith
is always relational.
It's inherently
a relational word.
It's more to do
with the idea
of who you trust,
who you hope in,
who you see
as being significant
in terms of
providing meaning,
and, you know,
there's a bit of
a group of words
around it,
but it's always
connected to
a personal reality.
And the third thing
is that the word power,
you see,
we tend to think
of power,
North Americans
tend to think of faith
as something in a sense
which is a type of power,
that if you just have
the faith,
you can overcome
the obstacles.
If you have the faith,
you can climb that hill.
If you have the faith,
you can make it
to the top of Mount Everest.
You can get that job.
You can get that guy.
You can get that girl.
You've got to have faith,
and it's as if
it's your power.
But in the Bible,
the more important issue
than the strength
of your faith
is the object
of your faith.
So here's the thing.
I've known several people,
still know several people
who are terrified of flying.
I mean terrified of flying.
One of the people
that I know
who's terrified of flying,
basically he had to get
a little buzz on
before he got
into the plane,
and then he had to
magnify his buzz
once he was on the plane,
otherwise he couldn't fly.
Others just basically
just white-knuckle it
if there's some reason
that they just
cannot avoid flying.
But they have
no faith in flying.
But what matters
isn't their faith
but the plane.
I mean,
if you think about it,
if you met somebody
who said,
I can fly,
I can fly.
My faith is through the roof.
I read this self-help guru.
I've done the yoga.
I've got the guru,
the book.
I'm pumped,
and they run off
the edge of the Grand Canyon.
It doesn't matter
how strong their faith is.
Their faith is completely
and utterly foolish,
foolish, foolish, foolish.
They plunge to their death.
You see that?
So the person
who has huge faith
but it's a stupid object,
foolish object,
they plunge to their death.
The person with
virtually no faith
but it's the right object
that the plane,
in fact,
is good,
they fly.
They make it
to the other end of it.
And so if you understand that,
you start to understand
what's going on
in the text.
That what the Bible
is actually saying here,
it's warning us
about something
which is very,
very true in life
all the time
but it's also just as true
when it comes to
our relationship with Christ.
How do you think
it would work
if you love two women
at the same time?
Do you think that will help you
to grow in love
for one of them?
How would it work
if you decided
that you were going
to both be a fully committed
agent of China
and a fully committed
agent of Canada
at the same time?
How is that going to work?
How is it going to work
if you say
you're going to devote
your entire time
everything you do
in your time
to being the best
rock climber
you can possibly be
but at the other time
you also think
that your basic goal
in life
is to make
a million dollars
through some type
of scientific innovation.
Well, you know,
some of those things
you might be able
to manage it a little bit
and dial some up
and dial some down
but the fact of the matter is
is if you have
two different faiths,
two different hopes,
two different trusts
and they go
in opposite directions,
I mean,
right?
That's what the text
is saying here.
That's the significance
of this idea
of being a double-minded man
unstable in all your ways.
And so,
and so the point is,
you see,
that if in fact,
here's the Christian claim,
you go back to what James said
at the beginning of his book,
there is a person
who actually left
the splendor
and the glory
and the majesty of heaven
took into himself
our human nature
was so willing
to become weak for you
that he became
a fertilized egg
in the womb
of the Virgin Mary
and lived a normal
human life,
suffered the trials
and temptations
that you and I do
only without sin,
actually died on the cross
not for anything he did
but for you and for me,
that in a sense,
his death
is all of the things,
all of the stuff
that justice demands
of you
was laid on him
and he does all of that,
he takes all there is to it,
he rises from the dead,
he does it all
and completely
and utterly
out of love
for you
in the hope
that you would put
your trust in him,
that he could be
your Lord and Savior,
he could be your Lord
and Christ.
Who better is there
to put your trust in
for facing life
than him?
But you know what,
we know,
we understand,
well, you know,
I can put my,
but I know,
oh, there's money,
oh, there's sex,
oh, there's power,
oh, there's prestige,
oh, there's the house,
oh, there's this,
oh, there's that,
there's my body,
there's my leisure time,
there's all these things
and so Jesus knows
that we waffle.
See, part of the purpose
of these texts
is that on one hand
it's a profound call
for us to meditate
about the fact
that we can be
going,
trying to go
in different ends
at the,
going in different directions
at the same time.
Try going forward
and backwards
at the same time.
You know,
imagine somebody
could fool with your car
that they could put it
in park,
you could put it
in drive and reverse
at the same time
and then you stepped
on the gas,
how's that going to work?
It's not going to move you
either forward or backward.
You're going to be unstable,
right?
And in a sense
the human being
is able to have
in a sense
their body,
their foot on the gas
and they can press
the gas harder
and harder and harder
while the car's
trying to go
both forward,
backwards and sideways
all at the same time
and it just makes
it unstable.
And so part of the
point of the book
is if you just
flip through,
it's not going to be
on the screen,
you just have to
trust me,
James 4, 6,
it's a verse
that you need
to remember.
In a sense
if you remember
James 1, 1
and the light
it shines
and James 4, 6
shines light
it helps you
to understand
what's going on
and James 4, 6
tells you this,
but he gives
more grace,
therefore it says
God opposes
the proud
but gives grace
to the humble.
See, part of these
texts is to humble us.
To humble us
to say,
Lord,
I really need wisdom.
I don't know
how to handle
this thing
which has just
come to me.
I need wisdom.
And Lord,
I need to have
a purity of will,
a purity of heart,
a purity of direction.
I am just so torn.
I renounce
those things.
Please help me
to not be double-minded
or triple-minded
or quadruple-minded
but to be single-minded
and following you
and allow you
to put those other
things in my life
because he cares about it.
That's why
the book of James
is going to talk
about money.
It's going to talk
about power.
It's going to talk
about prejudice.
It's going to talk
about privilege.
It's going to talk
about how you use
your tongue.
It's going to talk
about sickness.
It's going to talk
about how you spend
time with others.
It's talking about
the real world.
And you look at it
and you say,
Lord,
I really need your wisdom.
I really need you
to put these things
in their proper order
and hierarchy
that I might live well
for your glory.
So that text
is there
in a sense
that when we come
to James 4, 6,
we say,
that's me, Lord,
standing in need of prayer.
Help me to get off
my high horse.
Help me to get off
my pride.
Help me to acknowledge.
Help me to be like
a little child
and just say,
I need help.
I need help, Lord.
I need help.
Well,
I just have a few minutes
to talk about
the money bit,
which I mentioned
at the beginning
because now the text
goes in this other
completely different way.
And the text
is going to sound
a little bit odd,
but let's read it.
It's verses 9 to 11.
Let the lowly brother
or sister boast
in their exaltation.
Lowly here means
poor,
no power,
lower working class,
very, very,
not even lower
working class,
like low.
And let the rich
brother or sister
in their humiliate,
sorry,
so let the low,
verse 9 again,
let the lowly brother
boast in his exaltation
and the rich
in his or her
humiliation.
Because like a flower
of the grass,
they will pass away.
For the sun rises
with its scorching heat
and withers the grass,
its flower falls
and its beauty perishes,
so also will the rich
man or woman
fade away
in the midst
of their pursuits.
So it's obviously
talking about money
and it sort of sounds
very, very odd.
It says,
to the poor person,
listen,
what you need to remember,
actually if we just
jump up to verse 12
and then we'll go back
to verses 9 to 11.
Verse 12 said,
blessed is the man
or the woman
who remains
steadfast under trial,
for when he or she
has stood the test,
they will receive
the crown of life
which God has promised
for those who love him.
So on one hand,
remember the Bible
is giving us
a realistic assessment
of the life
that we live right now,
but it does it
in the context
of a realistic hope
for what the end
of this story
of your life will be.
And so if you're
watching this,
and the fact of the matter
is you don't even have,
I guess they still
make nickels,
you don't have two nickels
to rub together,
you're not even living
paycheck to paycheck,
you're sort of hoping
that by the end of the year
you'll end up being
sort of around the place
you were a year before,
you're just,
you're low income,
and the Bible actually
never says that that's a sin
or anything like that,
that that's a sign
that there's something
wrong with you,
but we're going to be
talking at other places
about how you might
deal with some of this stuff,
but it says,
you know,
the thing for you
to remember
is the end of your story.
You know,
your mom and your dad
might look down on you,
your neighbors
might look down on you,
the rich might look down at you,
no political party
really cares about you,
even the so-called
left-wing parties
in Canada
have fundamentally
given up on the poor,
they're all consumed
with identity politics,
which is a middle class,
upper middle class,
and an upper class pursuit,
and so,
but Jesus hasn't
forgotten about you,
and this is the end
of your story.
You think,
think about that,
how much he loves you,
how much he loved you,
and one day,
you know,
the funny thing is,
this text is completely correct,
because one second
after death,
poor person,
you and Bill Gates
have exactly the same
amount of resources
under your control,
but if Bill Gates
or any rich person,
any tech magnate
has died with their back
in rebellion against Jesus,
they've lost everything
with more to lose.
You,
crown of life.
Jesus saying,
I am so glad,
Bob,
I am so glad,
Sue,
that you are here.
I died for you,
I loved you,
I've walked with you
all these years,
and now you can see me
face to face.
That's the end
of your story.
And the message
to the rich
is a very interesting thing.
If you look at it again,
and the rich,
let the lowly brother,
verse 9,
boast in his
or her exaltate,
that they're exalted,
and the rich
in his humiliation.
Because like a flower
of the grass,
he or she will pass away,
for the sun rises
with its scorching heat
and withers the grass,
its flower falls
and its beauty perishes,
so also will the rich
man or woman
fade away
in the midst
of their pursuits.
So what are they
to boast in?
Remember,
this is talking about
those who are in Jesus.
It's,
in a sense,
helping us to try
to have a proper
eternal perspective
on riches.
Now,
it's very,
very interesting.
The Bible never says
that money or riches
are wrong.
It never says
that money or riches
are evil.
It's not like Marxism,
it's not like cultural Marxism,
which delights
in creating the other.
It's very interesting.
Cultural Marxism,
which drives so much
in our society,
it always talks
about inclusion,
but it actually
is the opposite
of inclusion.
It's entirely based
on a narrative
of inclusion
and exclusion,
that the other,
the rich,
the white,
the whatever,
that they're the bad ones,
the evil ones,
you can do anything
to them,
and they deserve it
because it's terrible.
And the Bible never says
there's something
inherently wrong
with riches.
It never says
there's something
inherently wrong
with wealth.
Christians in the years,
like one of the,
some of my French-Canadian friends
remember,
or remember the stories
within French culture
about how the priests
and the Catholic,
you know,
whether it's true or not,
that they wanted
to keep the Catholics
ignorant and poor,
talking about poverty
if it's some type
of a virtue.
The Bible never says that.
In fact,
even here,
it's not saying,
it's not saying to you
if you're,
you know,
a 20-year-old,
a 30-year-old,
a 40-year-old
trying to change
your financial fortunes,
trying to make more money,
try to provide
for your family.
The Bible's not saying
anything against that.
It really isn't.
It's very realistic.
In fact,
you can look at other texts
that's going to talk
about the significance
and the importance
of being able
to provide and care.
The message of the Bible,
it goes beyond this text,
I'm just sort of giving you
a big summary,
is earn as much as you can
and give as much as you can
because,
you see,
the problem is
that money does,
that the big problem
is money is one
of the main things
that rules you.
You think you rule it,
but it rules you.
You think it serves you,
but you serve it.
How do you know?
Do you remember,
you know what,
in 2019,
the inflation rate
in Venezuela
was 300,000%.
You had lots of money?
None.
impoverished you.
2008,
housing prices fell
by one-third,
as did the stock market.
You folks here
who own a home
and you're maybe
counting the dollars,
$750,000 house,
that something like 2008
happens again,
boom, boom,
ka-ching, ka-ching,
ka-ching,
in a bad way,
$500,000.
And maybe even less than that
because if you actually
tried to sell it,
who knows if you could
even get $500,000 for it.
And if you bought
that house for $650,000
and you're counting on
the $100,000
you just made
in the housing market crash,
you now own the bank,
you now owe the bank
$150,000.
You've gotten poorer,
not richer.
And if I talk about that,
does that make you anxious?
Does that make you upset?
We have a problem
with money, friend.
We put our hope
and our trust
and our faith in money.
We get our identity
from money.
You know,
one of the things,
it's so funny,
movie stars
who are rich,
they'll give us
all this advice
on politics,
on this and that.
They all think
they're wise.
You know?
What is it about
having money
that makes you
think you're wise?
That you're wiser
than poor people.
That you're better
than poor people.
I mean,
that's just life, folks.
And what is this text
saying which is so wise?
What you need
to remember
George?
Let's say you become
very, very wealthy.
You're going to lose it all.
That's what you need
to boast in.
That, you know,
to sit lightly with it.
And by the way,
just sort of in closing,
one of the ways
that you learn
to sit lightly with it,
you can't learn
how to sit lightly
with it by speaking
in tongues,
by having a vision.
The only way
it can become lighter
to you
is by giving money away.
If you wait
to have enough money
to be generous,
you will never be generous.
They've done surveys
after surveys
where people say,
if I only had $10,000 more,
my life would be
more comfortable.
That doesn't matter
if you're making $40,000
or $120,000.
It's always just
beyond the horizon.
Which is why
the biblical teaching
of, you know what,
you have this secure hope
in Christ,
the end of your story
is known in Christ,
He loves you so much
He died for you.
Money is all,
it's all going to be gone.
It's really good.
It's really important.
Eating is good.
Having a roof
over your head is good.
Clothes, good things.
Make money.
You have lots of kids
or you just have
lots of dependents
or whatever,
make money.
But the way
you need to be
more light-handed
with it
or having this other,
it's by giving.
I remember when
my wife and I
started to try to
move towards
financial tithing,
it was really hard.
You know,
increasing $5
and then $10
and then $20
and then a bigger jump.
But it's the only way
to begin to get
free of money.
Am I completely
free of money?
Absolutely not.
Do I get anxious about it?
Sure I do.
What do I need more
if I need more
of a hope in Jesus?
And I need to remember
that it's always worthwhile
to give money away
for the sake of the gospel
and for the help
of the poor.
Just close with verse 12
and then we'll pray.
Here's what it says.
Blessed is the man
or the woman
who remains steadfast
under trial
for when he or she
has stood the test,
they will receive
the crown of life
which God has promised
for those who love him.
Friends,
there is no one here
watching this
who is so bad
that Jesus does not
love them and died for them,
that he does not want
to be your savior.
Let's pray.
Father,
we thank you
for the practical
gospel wisdom
in the book of James.
Father,
you know some of us
we really need,
we need help
because we have
these double minds
and issues in life
or relationships
or direction.
Father,
many of us,
we think we're way
wiser than we are.
People around us
think we're foolish
but we think we're wise.
Father,
we can't even see that.
Father,
we really need
your wisdom for life
and most of all,
Father,
we need to be gripped
by the gospel.
Help us to understand
that our identity
is secure in Jesus,
that when he is
our savior and lord
and we are his doulos,
his servant,
his slave,
that our identity
is secure,
the end of our story
is secure
and that we can walk
with him
as we manage
the real issues
of life
from day to day
to day to day
with a realistic
solid hope
about what the end
of the story
of our life will be.
Father,
grant us wisdom,
grant us humility,
grant us generosity
all for your glory
and we pray this
in the name of Jesus.
Amen.