Currently Listening The Balancing Act By Cool Hand Luke see related

James 4:1-12

This time around, the material in this lesson was incredible I had a time crunch so I was forced to skip some good material and couldn't speak slowly. Still, the material was awesome and people still got a lot out of the lesson, so that's ALL that matters to me. Anyway, because I had to skip a lot, I'm posting it here (unedited with misspelling and all) with a link to facebook so that people who might have missed anything can read it for themselves. Enjoy!

James 4:1-12

[Reference verses- Ecclesiastes 2:4-11 | Exodus 20:5 | Ephesians 6:10-17]

Introduction

At the time James was writing his letter, the Jewish churches were full of strife and disorder. They were experiencing class conflicts between groups, such as the the rich and the poor. Would-be teachers fought over what was the imagined-to-be glamorous life of a Christian rabbi. And in their ambition, they became bitter with each other and boiled over with zealous envy. They were filled-to-the-brim with self ambition and longing in order to gratify their desires, which was but one cause of the churches disorder and, directly, caused every evil practice to be committed by the church congregations as a result.

The quarrels among the people were shallow and hypocritical. As Schmuck taught from James 4:14-16 a couple weeks ago: They praised God with their tongues, yet went out and cursed others with the very same tongue. Worship and slander from the same source? James stressed how such a thing could not exist. Either the slander was to be absent from the “believer”, or the worship was dead.

The quarrels in James’ church were not mere disagreements and grievances, the literal translation of “fights and quarrels” converts directly to “wars and fights”; in essence, this is literal fighting. Now, some translators claim that James is using a complex form of symbolism, or that he may be exaggerating to make a point, but there is no other evidence in the passage that would show he used symbolism. In fact, the envy and ambition that is portrayed in James 4 is also in James 3:16. He says that envy will lead to disorder and every sinful act. The reference in chapter 3 is so close to the text in 4 that you could reasonably say that the disorder in the church was causing the people to commit ever sinful practice; which includes literal fighting and more. Another interesting bit of information is that many of the church goers were probably former Zealots, a group of political extremists who were already accustomed to the use of violence for what they want. Aside from that, when tempers and flaring and tensions are growing ever-higher, intense bitterness can possibly lead to violence.

To be clear, the reason why I just explained all that was not to add more length onto my lesson, from a first view, the difference between verbal and physical strife does seem a bit vain. The reason I am making the sort of disorder in the church clear is that I want to explain what happens when selfish ambition and lust for personal satisfaction take over. Of all the deep and theological points that are made in James 4:1-12, the most prevalent is what happens when you don’t submit to God; what happens when you strive for your own temporary glory instead of showing God’s everlasting majesty. When you become prideful in-and-out, through and through, full of nothing but a competitive hatred toward brothers and sisters in Christ. What I want to convey is that such a lifestyle is not just sin, but a deceitful anti-God state of mind.

James 4:1

James starts out by posing a rhetorical question, “What causes quarrels among you?” This is an odd question when you think about it. You can point fingers and blame one another for creating tension, but that only adds to the argument, it doesn’t explain what “really” causes fighting. The answer lies in James’ next rhetorical question: “Don’t they come from the desires that battle within you?” There is reason for the attacks people aim at one another, but the reason is in their hearts. Their desires rage within themselves and conflict with those of one another. James is really revealing this to be the one-and-only reason for conflict within any church, past and present. Desires. But what kind of “desires” is James talking about? What do these angry church goers want that makes them what they are in the first place? For this I’ll go back to the Greek translation, where you find the word “desire” as “hedone”, which is where we get our word “hedonism”, the believe that pleasure is the chief end in life. So what James is really asking is more like: “Don’t your fights come from your ‘desires for pleasure’ that battle within you? The strife in the church was rooted in the congregations’ individual desires to fulfill their own worldly desires and ambition. Now, pleasure in itself is not wrong (Col. 2:20-23), but a driving desire for worldly pleasure and self fulfillment is. That’s what these people were trying to gratify.

James 4:2-3

I like how James puts this: “You want something [you painstakingly lust for it] but don’t get it. You kill (yes, every evil practice includes murder) and you covet, but you cannot have what you want. [So] You quarrel and fight” This section oozes with the frustration and disappointment of unrequited pleasure seeking; which I’m sure all of you have experienced at one point or another because of pride. But the thing I want to bring up here, just to pause for the rest of the lesson, is that these people were reaching for temporary pleasures; things of this world. Glory and gratification of their pride, but even if they did obtain what they strove for, it did not satisfy them. It’s just as Solomon speaks of his pursuit for pleasure in Ecclesiastes 2:4-11. [Read- Ecclesiastes 2:4-11] The pleasures of this world and weak and fleeting, Solomon not only pleased his material desires, but his prideful ones as well “I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem”, but he counted it all as folly. The only true source of joy is God, and it’s a joy which lasts forever. Only these people over looked that and settled for the meager things that are simply sugar-water compared to God.

Then James tells about why they do not get what they want. None of these people who quarreled turned to God for anything; they were just too darn prideful to submit to Him! Many tried to obtain on their own, unleashing their rage on others in hopes of grasping satisfaction. Others “prayed”. Right here you may be confused, “why would you say they didn’t turn to God, they prayed didn’t they?” Well, not entirely. As we’re about to learn, God blesses the humble but opposes the proud. When the church goers prayed, they didn’t submit to God or his will, they wanted him to give so that they may enjoy what he gives them and get the glory for it. They were prideful and un-submissive; their motives were based solely on themselves and nothing else, they only wanted to benefit themselves and spend gifts on their own pleasures.

James 4:4-5

James now strikes right at the heart of the pleasure-dominated believers. There focus lies in the world, so James speaks out against the world. “Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.” This goes to say that those who have simply fallen in with the hedonistic lifestyle to the world are enemies of God. Now, one thing that sticks out to me is the word “anyone”. What gets me is that this word can imply Christians to be enemies of God just as any unbeliever. To me that was sort of a weird statement: followers of Christ being his enemy. “No, no! That can’t be right!” And this is a tough concept. It took me a while to figure it out until I realized that the peoples’ friendship with the world was ultimately rooted in their pride, and everyone is prideful. I think Clive Staples Lewis says it best when he describes pride as the Great Sin, saying that it is the ultimate anti-God state of mind. And that makes perfect sense here in the context of this passage in the Book of James. Pleasure seeking and pride totally leave God out of the picture, pleasure seeking says that I want for myself, and pride says I want the glory too. In those two things, there is no trace of submission to God, and if you do not submit, you are passively rebellious. And of course rebelling is opposition of God, which relates to being an enemy. So, after all that, it is clear that it is possible for a Christian to be an enemy of God. And this happens when we make idols of the things in the world, when we make priorities that don’t include God; when we are not submissive! But that state of rebellion does not last in true Christians, sooner or later, by God’s grace, we will be humbled and that’s when more grace from God comes in!

But before I can elaborate on that wonderful grace, I must touch on verse 5. Kent Hughes says this passage is the most difficult to understand out of the rest of James, and that this verse is the most confusing. Now, I’m going to over look the debate that exists over this verse. From 3 commentaries, I noticed at least 9 different interpretations, but in context with the rest of this passage, I find one to be the strongest. My NIV Bible has some foot note things on the bottom of the page that were quite a bit of help. In this, the word Spirit is capitalized to directly refer to the Holy Spirit that resides within believers. It also says longs “jealously instead” of “envies intensely”. This may sound like the same thing… and that’s because it is, but what is so important about that is how the word “jealously” kind of spurred my mind in to thinking about the Old Testament. In fact, James used the word “Scripture” in verse 5, and at the time of James their Scripture was the Old Testament. What I’m saying is that this “jealousy” that is referred to must have something to do with God’s jealousy of idols, which fits this passage perfectly. [Read- Exodus 20:5] The spirit is in fact the Holy Spirit that God has put in us, so that when we turn from him to things of this world, the Spirit he has given us will long for God because he is a jealous God and he longs for us to find joy in him and not the weak pleasures of the world. And this is what brings me to the most incredible part of the passage!

James 4:6- Grace heaped upon grace upon more grace

This part is also hard to understand and I’m glad to say that it is not because it’s hard to look at verse 6 logically, but because it is impossible to look at verse 6 logically! The content we are given in verse 6 is incomprehensible to us because it not only speaks of God’s grace, but the grace the he heaps upon grace, and the more grace he gives us over that! Whatever the rut we fall into God gives us the grace we need. Now this is not saving grace, already having the Holy Spirit means we have already received that grace, this grace literally means “greater grace” and there will always be greater grace! Isn’t that such a comforting thought? This means that no matter what, God will always give us grace that will abound! This goes for sin as well, in our case the sin of indulging in worldly pleasure and pride. Romans 5:20 says that “where sinned increased, so did grace”. In fact, we need this grace for everything in our lives, and God supplies it. Remember the song “Amazing Grace” it refers to both the grace of knowing him AND the grace that God passively supplies all the more. “Through many dangers, toils and snares I have already come. ‘Tis grace has brought me safe thus far and grace will lead me home.” There is always more grace, and with that said, it is beyond our comprehension to know just how much need this grace and how much we need God. Every facet of this “grace” is enough to make my head spin! And all the more, by this, there is a humbling sense that comes over me. Why rebel against something you need so badly? Now, even the thought of finding joy in wealth and self-glory seems so lowly and pitiful. Why? Why look to such meager things for pleasure rather than God? Why not submit to God! This is his grace, that by the grace he has given us through the Holy Spirit, no matter how far we fall, as Christians, we will always be carried back through his grace, we will be humbled by his grace, and just as verse 6 says “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble”, once we are humbled by how great his grace is, he gives us even more grace! It’s mind boggling! And now, every bit of logic I have within me is screaming out: “Why! Why do you have even a thread of pride or self-content? Submit to God! That’s where the real pleasure lies!”

James 4:7-10- Submit yourselves to God

This is such a beautiful text! Just submit yourselves to God; James says it plain and simple. He then tells us what to do in order to submit. Resist the devil. You cannot do this alone, the devil is far more powerful than any mere human. What we need is something to combat him, some kind of weapon… say, the armor of God! [Read- Ephesians 6:10-17] There is no way for Satan to overcome the armor of God, once it is there, evil will have no option but to flee. From there you must come near to God, you must focus on him and in doing so he will come near to you. The rest of verse 8, in essence, is calling you too rid yourselves of those worldly desires and all other sin, basically for repentance and for you to change your ways and set yourself straight. But verse 9 is very interesting. As I’m talking about pleasure and joy, this says turn your joy to gloom and laughter to mourning. “How can this be? What does it mean?” Well, this does not contradict. The joy it referred to was the weak and temporary joy you find in the world, this is asking that you realize the world is simple and fleeting, yet God is beyond our comprehension and has showered us with grace upon grace. The “laughing to mourning” is talking about laughter with no reason behind it, something that involves no happiness but is a vain laugh that attempts to stir joy in vain. You may not understand what that kind of laughter is, but I know I do, my friends at school were the embodiment of it, and they took nothing seriously, they wouldn’t listen to a word I had to say about the Gospel. If you never take anything seriously, you are not going to be humbled because you are outside of basic reason. So turn that laughter to sorrow, because instead of laughing in delight, you wasted your time on futile things. So submit yourselves to God in light of his boundless grace that he has lavished upon us!

James 4:11-12

This brings us back to the beginning of the passage. On how the church goers did not submit to God and because bitter and envious instead and grew further from him as a result, and that’s if they knew him at all to begin with. What James is saying in verse 11 is that you are not to judge others because doing so rebels against the Law and is a sin, and not only are you sinning, but you are putting judgment upon yourself. This is all straight forward. There is only one Law giver, there is only one Judge, and he can either save or destroy. But we are nothing, so who are we to slander each other.

Application

My application that I have to all of you is to submit to God in every way and in every aspect of your lives. Turn your hearts from the pleasures of this world and look to him for your only source of hope and joy, for he is the only one who gives true hope and true joy! In doing so I am asking you to flee from pride because that’s where I see the real problem is all of this. The root of the quarrels are he selfish desires, the root of the selfish desires is pride. Going back to C.S. Lewis and his statement that I quoted earlier, that pride is the complete anti-God state of mind, he has more to add. I’m going to read a segment from a book of his, because he perfectly explains the true condition of pride and not the less common egotistic “I’m so great” pride we usually think of [read segment of Mere Christianity] Pride is competitive and caused strife among the churches. The examples C.S. Lewis uses to explain pride sounds like some of the characteristics the Christians in James’ time might have not only had, but had been full of. So I’m asking you to search yourselves of this pride that C.S. Lewis describes. One, for the reason that we can avoid the struggles of the early church (and many churches that exist today) and be unified as a single body devoted to worship. Second, so that you may realize your state and so that you may submit to God.

If you could only realize the grace upon grace upon grace heaped upon grace that God has showed us. The love he has for us which has become an example to our own love, it’s just as I said in my last lesson: and we love because he has shown us love. We will not need to worry about the presence of bitterness if we submit ourselves to God because we will love as a result; envy and malice will not exist. So my question is: Why? Why would you strive any longer for the meager things of this world? Don’t you understand all that God has done and WILL continue to do! He gives us grace! So much grace and in such a way that we will never understand! And that’s what gives me comfort. This is where words fail me and I fail you all by trying to explain the very depth of God’s love; it is unimaginable to us, and what I already know is so incredible! Yet there is no way to even begin to understand it. And now I’m thinking about the love and joy that we will know in Heaven. The blessing that God has given us, the grace he has shown by setting everything up like this. Why? Again I find my heart crying out: “Why settle for this world? God has given you so much and is going to give more! Focus on God and submit to him! Get rid of your darn pride and find pleasure in God!” So, for encouragement to all of you Christians: God has shown you so much grace, and there is more to come! And once you realize that, you won’t need James 4 to submit, you’re just going to do so anyway because God is so amazing!

James 2:1-13

So, it's been quite a while since I've posted anything here. I've been wanting to return to xanga, but I simply lacked the time to write anything resembling what I used to write. So I decided I would post the lesson I taught last night since that's what I've been working on instead of writing on xanga. This isn't everything I taught on last night (I added stuff as I taught), but if you couldn't make it last night, I would encourage you to read this. To do that, you'll need a Bible next to you... I didn't really write out the verses I cited. I also want to add that I purposely wrote my notes with horrible grammar so I could read easier as I spoke; a sorry to those people who make a big deal over punctuation and all that.

Introduction to the passage

Back in the time when the Book of James was written, the majority of Christian churches that had been established had fallen on hard times. The reason for this was that they were being persecuted, both physically and financially, by the community and the government around them. One group that could be singled out as an oppressor to these early churches was the Sadducees, who were a wealthy, aristocratic Jewish faction who practiced traditions of a legalistic lifestyle. Being a very rich and powerful class of government officials, they used their resources to exploit and oppress Christians of the time. They sued believers with outrageous claims and took them to court, declaring what would be the modern day equivalent of imminent domain, in order to take their land. As such oppression became more common, many church congregations slowly grew weary of the oppression, but rather than put their trust in God, they turned to sin in order to support themselves. The people didn’t steal, and they didn’t cheat anyone from their money, what they did was of a much more subtle approach but was just as abominable in nature… they fell into the habit of favoritism.

v.1: Opening statement of James

 As James starts off in this passage, he begins it with a powerful opening statement: “As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, do not show favoritism”. He writes this in order to voice his main point right off the bat, true-Christians will not fall into the habit of favoritism; as believers, we are to be completely impartial to everyone. But before I go further into the text, it would be important to explain what the term “favoritism” that James is referring to really is. The way James uses the word matches it with “partiality” or “the respect one has of others”. When he says “favoritism” he does not mean a single act (which is done without evil purposes behind it), but a habitual state of showing partiality. James is referring to the discrimination that was taking place among the believers with the rich and the poor. The congregations were literally valuing the souls of the rich over the poor.

vv.2-4: An example and the heart behind discrimination

This is where James writes out an example of the treatment that is given to a wealthy man and that which is showed to a poverty stricken man. First, there are some things that you can infer from this image that we are provided with. One, is that the two men entered the church after most of the congregation had already arrived, so they were late and there were few seats left; maybe none at all. Another inference is that both men are unsaved for the reason that they are coming in late. Now, that might not be perfectly true, but even if they were both saved, James is still making the same point. What James is trying to say is that there is a REASON to why there is a church-go-er that shows an act of kindness to the rich man and is blatantly rude to the poor one. This man has unrightfully judged the poor man and has only been good to the rich man out of nothing but evil desires and ambition.

This goes back to how the churches of the time were experiencing financial troubles. They needed money and leadership, so when a man walks in wearing a golden ring (symbolizing wealth) and fine robes (symbolizing wisdom and authority), the church-go-er thought the rich man would be far more valuable to the church than a man who was nothing. In fact, the soul of the poor man was seen as worthless because he had not prospered in the world. The church wanted the rich man’s money, the church wanted this man’s worldly leadership and wisdom! James views such an action as DILIBRATE and UGLY, it is not a simple lack of courtesy, but a SCADNALOUS breach on God’s love! This act of kindness was out of greed, for money and for the man’s membership to the church. Favoritism is not just over wealth, it’s over education as well. It’s possible to think that they wanted this man, and other wealthy men, to become leaders in the church someday. But how does this make any sense? Isn’t there a difference between earthly wisdom and spiritual wisdom? Or worldly leadership and spiritual leadership? Because the distinction is drastic!

[READ 1^st Corinthians 1:26-29]

You see, worldly wisdom has nothing to do with God because He is greater than all knowledge, and what is the point of wealth to a Christian anyway? There is no benefit in those things. God has chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith.

vv.5-7: the poor and the rich

Verse 29 ended the passage perfectly by saying: “so that no man may boast before God”. I’m sure everyone is familiar with Mark 10:25, where Christ says “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of Heaven.” To put it simply, the poor have almost an advantage in being given salvation, and there is a reason why this is true.

[READ Luke 6:24]

The rich find comfort in themselves, in their own riches. Many will boast in themselves and in what they have accomplished. They see no need in following Christ because they already have their comfort. Their pride has blinded them from God and they are condemned as a result. But the poor realize the truth, that this world is fleeting and that life is short, they are usually quick to realize the Christ is the only thing that will never fade, and in their many troubles they find hope in God.

Now, this isn’t always what happens. Rich people can be humbled and be granted salvation from God, just as a poor man can harden his heart and never see the light. A point that James is trying to make is that the rich and the poor should be treated equally; not one over the other.

[READ Leviticus 19:15]

In any case, James has argued that favoritism, primarily putting the rich before the poor, is wrong because:

1.      It contradicts God’s love for the poor

2.      It makes no sense

3.      It violates the law of love… and God is love

vv.8-11: Sinning against God’s love

Favoritism is a sin because it is a breach on something that is greater than anything we can possibly imagine… the love of God.

[READ Matthew 22:34-40]

When Jesus was approached and asked what the greatest commandment was, he said it was to love God with all your heart, mind and strength, and that the second was to love your neighbor as yourself. The reason that Christ tells us to love is because we are to be imitators of God; we are to be striving for Godliness (or holiness as some of you have come to call it). God does not show favoritism (Romans 2:11). And if we are trying to be Godly, we must love, because God IS love!

[READ 1^st John 4:16]

If you love, God is in you and you are in Him. So, if you love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing right! But if favoritism has become a habitual practice, you have rebelled against the command to love.

James then goes on to speak of the law, because it seems that the commandment of love is at the heart of Kingdom law. For if you keep the whole law but stumble only once, then you are guilty of breaking all of it. Now, this part of the text can become a little confusing because it seems almost like James just tossed this in here, or at least that’s the way I saw it. Well, first I’ll explain what he means by the law, then why he added this.  As both Christians and human beings, we know that it is impossible to keep the whole law as mere people, but we also know that the law does not impart righteousness anyway, for we know that Christ came to atone for all of our sins. You see, the law was set up to bring us to the end of ourselves, to realize we are too sinful to keep the law, and prepare us to humbly receive the promise of Christ by faith.

Now, the reason that James throws that reminder in there is to further explain the very evil of favoritism. For any violation of the law, be it favoritism, adultery, or murder, all are sin and are all worthy of the same punishment. This is because the Law is a transcript of divine character, and any violation to the law is a blatant violation against God’s character. But the people James writes to seem to have a hard to understanding the full weight of even one sin, not to mention that they probably have a hard time even grasping how favoritism is a sin. So James takes two examples to compare with favoritism: Adultery and Murder. These two sins were considered to be the greatest social sins of the time. By social sin, I mean that every sin is just as bad as the other, but, at the time this was written, these two had the greatest impact on society and were seen as the most detestable sins one could commit. In order to make his point hit home, he compares favoritism to adultery and murder. Because I know that if anyone in our youth group committed one of those sins, there would be quite the reaction from everyone else, and it was the same in James’ time. What he is trying to say is that the act of committing murder is equal to that of discriminating amongst others.

[READ 1^st John 3:15]

vv.12-13: Be merciful to receive mercy

The end of 1^st John 3:15 says it perfectly, those who hate will not enter the kingdom of Heaven. By this time it is apparent that James had been trying to convict his readers to search themselves, to look for signs of love or favoritism and test themselves on it. Now I love this statement that he makes here: “speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law”, and the reason I love this statement is because of it goes back to 1^st John 4 again.

[READ 1^st John 4:17]

We should be living in a way that shows that this life is short and that there is something greater ahead. We should be living our lives in ways that tell there is judgment coming. The verse says we are to have confidence in the day of judgment because we have strived to follow the example of Christ. We are not to fear such things, but there are others who should be terrified, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who failed to be merciful to others!

I’m going to suppose you all know the parable of the Unmerciful Slave, where the man owed a debt of 20 million dollars and was forgiven for it, but went out and threw a man in prison who only owed him about 2,000 dollars. In that story, the man who he owed this great debt to, had the original debtor sold to slavery once he found out about the horrible thing that man had done. He decided that he would not show mercy to one who was merciless. And that is the way we will be treated at judgment if we discriminated and failed to love others. You see, James views favoritism as the evidence of an unmerciful spirit. The merciful reach out to others, but the life characterized by acts of discrimination indicates a soul that has been damned. And that is a very sobering statement right there!

But this is not bad news! For James adds at the end that mercy triumphs over judgment! And Christ even says it himself in Matthew 5:7

[READ Matthew 5:7]

Christ promises that the merciful will be shown mercy. So as believers who are striving for Holiness, we have already been showing mercy to others as a result, and the truly merciful Christian heart has nothing to fear from judgment; it will look forward to it! It looks forward to Christ!

Conclusion and Application

And now, for the wrap up to all of this. What James is trying to say is that favoritism seems to determine the “tilt” of one’s soul, that one who practices favoritism habitually does not have true, saving faith and does not know God. There is a beauty in James’ approach on how it cuts through all the religious words and rhetoric that we have become accustomed to. We can fool each other with appearance and clichés, but real faith is indicated by how we treat people, especially the needy.

As Christians, we must strive to be like Christ and be completely impartial. We should give equal recognition to those of no status just as we do to famous athletes and political figures. James indicates that we must test our hearts and ask ourselves the personal question: “How is your heart in the matter of favoritism? Do you favor the privileged? Are you triumphantly waiting for judgment?” Discriminating against people is inconstant with true Christian faith and if you are being partial, you may be deceived about the state of your faith. But just to add, this is not something you should worry about in others, favoritism is from the heart and is not manifested in actions, and because you do not know each other’s hearts, you should keep this matter between you and God.

There is also a call to churches in this matter: It is easy for today’s affluent churches to practice an urbane, omni-smiling favoritism which offers a bright smile to well-dressed professionals, but a casual, less-enthusiastic greeting to the less favored or troubled. The fact is that that such discrimination is subtle, but can destroy the foundation of a church. So this peril must be put away, people must strive to be impartial. It works just the same as how a church strengthens itself in areas of ministry, worship, and missions; they must work at it a trust in God to guide them. By God’s grace, a church can also become stronger in ministering to the poor and helping the spiritually troubled if we submit to God’s command to love. Because love is what plays the major role in all of this, and as believers we are called to stay clear of favoritism, to treat everyone alike, and above all… we are to love.

Memorization and Meditation

Colossians 3:12-17
     Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
     Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

The passage above is one of my favorite explanations of how a Christian is to live; you can take a lot to apply from those two paragraphs. It includes the loving fellowship, compassion, and patience we are to have with one another. The text speaks of how the peace of God is to rule our hearts (Romans 5:1-5; through faith we have peace), how we are to praise God, and how we are to do everything to glorify Christ (1st Corinthians 10:31; do everything to the glory of God). Every line in this passage stands out to me, it really is great to read, but there is one part of this text that I would like to write about more closely.

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly..." when I hear this I think of meditation and a mature grasp of Scripture; and of course those two things are virtually one in the same. I honestly don't believe that you're going to grow at all if you never meditate on the word, but whether they know it or not, many already do meditate on the Gospel as long as they are reading it every day and applying it to their lives. Only I don't find the act of meditating on Scripture by mere accident to be as fruitful as actually sitting down and memorizing Scripture with your focus set on using those verses to meditate and to put them into practice.

The problem is that for most of today's Christians, Scripture memorization has really lost its sense of importance. People think of memorization as a meaningless way of reciting information from the Bible that you could as easily remember rather than memorize word-by-word. I mean, face it, memorizing Scripture is hard and people just don't find its practice to be as beneficial as taking the time to read Scripture. I think the reason for this is, one, people don't memorize enough and thereby don't get the results of growth that they would get if they made it a priority. Secondly, I don't think people do it correctly. From childhood experience, such as AWANA, to student classes at my present age, the verses we memorize seem to be of little help to any degree because they have always been presented to us as a meager task. But Scripture memorization is so advantageous and God glorifying, that it cannot be ignored! I truly feel that many people who have put aside memorization have done so because they have never done it correctly.

Memorization is most closely compared to meditation, and it would seem the mediation aspect has been cut out. In fact, due to the lack of mediation on verses, memorized Scripture can rightfully be classified as a “meager task”. Memorizing Scripture, without the purpose of pondering it or using it for sharing the Word, is deficient in quality and quantity; it is lacking in fullness and richness. That is why people have become so discouraged by the prospect of memorizing the Word, most only know the empty feeling you get from lackadaisically skimming a verse. But now the question is: what is the correct way? How can memorization be fulfilling?

Joshua 1:8
Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.

Again, the key is mediation, and for that we can look to the Psalmists. Psalms 77 and Psalms 119 have always stuck out to me whenever I have read Psalms. Actually, when I think of meditation, I think of a line from 77 saying: I will meditate on all your works and consider all your deeds. This statement is coming from a man who was so stricken by anxiety that he could not sleep, his soul would not be comforted. But when he takes the time to meditate on God’s character and greatness, he finds solace. In Psalm 119, many of the sections to this acrostic poem speak of finding peace in God through meditation. It’s really quite a wonder to read these chapters if you ever get the chance.

Now this is where memorization and meditation meet because, ultimately, application is to come from all of this. It’s almost like an equation: Memorization + mediation = application. Memorizing Scripture will lead to meditation. When you memorize it is as if you tear the passage from your Bible and store it in your mind; you are keeping it to meditate on when your Bible is not around. No matter where you are, you can reach into that scrapbook of verses that you’ve stored away in your mind and pull them out and mediate on them. Now, I know you can also read a passage and do this without memorization because most people are pretty good at remembering what they’ve read, but you have to believe me when I say that memorizing a verse word-by-word makes you feel so much more confident about the passage and what it means; compared to simply happening remember a passage.

And of course this all leads up to application. When you know what the Word says, you know what to do, and when you do it you are blessed (John 13:17). Also, the benefit that memorization has to sharing the Word is incredible. The Word of God is “the sword of the Spirit”, when we store verses away in our minds, we are actually building a diverse arsenal of weaponry that will make us much more confident and effective when we share the Gospel. With memorization put into practice, we will become well-armed, spiritual warriors. With meditation, we will find comfort and peace in any trial or anxiety.

This is why I urge you all to incorporate memorization into part of your daily Bible intake. Find a passage that suits your needs or concerns (for some this may be the hardest part), read it, meditate on it, write it out and memorize it word perfectly. Make a plan to memorize a verse a day for a year, or something like that. Meditation is important too. Think through the verses as you go throughout the day so that the Word of God will truly “dwell in you richly”. And when you’re feeling depressed on uneasy, do as the Psalmists did and meditate on God.

Psalms 119: 49-50
Remember your word to your servant,
       for you have given me hope.
 My comfort in my suffering is this:
       Your promise preserves my life.

I'm praying for all of you guys.

Okay, so I read the quote below toady out of that book I've been reading. Well, it made me feel really really happy by answering a question or two that I've had for months, and overall it was just really encouraging to read.

     "...balancing truths of worshiping in Spirit and worshiping in truth are complementary. It is important to realize this because frankly, all of us at times attempted to engage in public or private worship but found no fire on the alter of our heart. Meditations on the Word, rightly done, can rekindle the emotions of worship. Conversely, the right kind of heart for God longs to be guided by truth. We must have both. Jesus said the greatest commandment involved loving God with all your heart and with all the mind (Mark 12:30). Otherwise we worship in vain.
     Should we stop attending worship or discontinue daily devotions if we can't seem to maintain the right balance of spirit and truth? What if we endured a long period of spiritual dryness where practically every proposed worship experience seems little more than an exercise in hypocrisy? Why continue if we are just worshiping in vain?
     No, we should not stop engaging in the forms of worship even though we don't have the feelings of worship. There are some things in which we must persevere even when we don't feel like it, just because it is the right thing to do. Remember that even our "best" worship is imperfect in some ways, however minuscule those imperfections might be. But we don't advocate the cessation of worship then because it is somewhat flawed. More importantly, it is probable that the "breakthrough" in restoring the joy and freedom of worship will happen in the context of worship. People frequently tell me that they didn't feel like coming to church at a particular service, but something happened during that time that refreshed them and restored their spiritual perspective. Every believer must cross a few spiritual desserts in his or her pilgrimage to the Celestial City." --D.S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life

And now I'm feeling awesome.

Currently Reading Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life By Donald S. Whitney see related

Pleasant Surprises are always Welcome

This week has been almost too much, but those little surprises in life are what keep me going.

So I was at Wendy's after youth group on Wednesday night, talking with everyone who had been able to come there. Everyone seemed to be getting into pointless conversations, or maybe that's just the way I felt on the account of how I wanted to share some things about a new book I had been reading, "Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life" written by Donald Whitney. I began talking with Schmick and used the book's name as quickly as I could in my sentence. Once the title left my tongue, Mr. Schmucker, who had been in a deep conversation with Mike Brown, immediately cut Mike out and pointed to me as soon as he heard the words. "You mean the one written by D.S. Whitney?" He exclaimed. In response, I answered how it was the same. He told me, in his opinion, that that was the "best book"; which I found to be a vague statement. "Best" of what? Well, of every book he has ever read, this is his favorite; knowing his reading background, I was surprised (he once read this book during one of his lessons on worship, I just remembered that today). Heck, I grabbed this out of my family's book case with five minutes before school one morning. As it would seem, I must have pulled the needle from the haystack without even noticing it. Even before he told me his view of the book, I had realized just how much of a gem this paperback truly was. I'm not even a hundred pages in and, well, I've already came up with three ways to change my life; not just the way I live, but application to my life.

1 Timothy 4:7
Discipline yourselves for the purpose of godliness.

That is the verse which this entire book is based off of, and the purpose of this book itself seems to be an aid to striving for godliness. Every application in this book, each and everyone, points directly back to Scripture. Every application requires Scripture, this book by itself is nothing; every thing in this book requires and calls for a massive amount of Biblical study on the side. This book is to grow, and you grow through Spiritual Discipline. I can't even get into how helpful this book is, I haven't been able to put words on it yet. All I know is that I've memorized 4 verses in two days (planning to attempt 1-3 per day for a year), have read my Bible with a much greater zeal, I am scheduling my study and prayer, and have meditated on these verses and readings throughout the last two school days. That's just the application that I've been given the passion to put into place (and I've seen that it's pretty much a necessity), in relevance to what I've learned and how much I've grown, the techniques I have put into place over the last week have allowed me to retain more growth than a month of study could accomplish. It's pretty darn awesome.

There was one quote that caught my eye, it directly stated a problem I had been having. This came from a chapter on Bible intake and how finding the appropriate passage is almost essential.
"Sensing distance from God or a dryness in your spiritual condition? Looking for clues to the character of God and drawing on them is a good choice [to read]".  I began studying God's character, and in another act of finding a needle in a hay stake (or in this case, finding the right needle, for the job, in a needle stack), I randomly found Job 33:12-14. This passage and the ones around it were all about God's greatness and our relation to that greatness. I had forgotten just how great the Book of Job was, you feel such a greater reverence for God after reading it!

Anyway, I memorized the verses, and verse 14 made an amazing statement that is similar to Matthew 7:7-8, a passage used throughout Whitney's book to talk about prayer. Which is another thing: this book really explains the heavy importance of prayer. I would also like to add that this had a huge effect on me after the kind of week I had just gone through and due to the way I felt at the time; so this book is extremly applicable.

That's all I'm going to get into, I could probably talk about this book for days. What's so amazing about this book is that it's pretty much a guide to becoming a stronger christian through building your relationship with God and striving for godliness. This book covers such a wide range of disciplines to build on; listing Bible Intake, Prayer, Worship, Evangelism, Serving, and so much more! I recommend that if you need to grow spiritually, and everyone does, than you should read this book. Believe me, this book makes you feel really guilty about your study, prayer, worship, and meditation habits.

"True spiritual self-discipline holds believers in bonds but never bounds; its effect is to enlarge, expand, and liberate" --D.G. Kehl (I honestly don't know who he is, but I love the quote).