PONDERING... Why Should You Care About God’s Goodness? (James 1:13-18)

VIDEO

Why Should You Care About God’s Goodness? (AM Sermon Notes)

VBS Family Day Sunday

GIST: God is good. We desperately need His goodness. AND because of His goodness, He made that possible.

SCRIPTURE: James 1:13-18

Welcome to VBS Family Day! I love it. I love Vacation Bible School. I love seeing the excitement on these kid’s faces. I love watching them learn about Jesus in interactive and hands-on ways. And, I love having an opportunity to then share a little bit of that with all the families involved on these Sundays. If you’re a regular on Sunday mornings, we’re going to do something which seems to only happen on Family Day☺️. We’re taking a Sunday off of our regular study. Instead of moving on in the book of Psalms, today we’re going to look at the memory verse the kids have been learning this weekend. We’ll be looking at a few verses above to give it some context, as well. But to open, let’s just read James 1:16-17. 

“16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” 

All weekend, we’ve been talking about God’s goodness. Some of us love this topic because we know what it is to experience God’s goodness even when everything else in the world is crumbling. For others, this topic doesn’t have the same appeal. You’ve seen heartbreak and tragedy and don’t see how God could possibly be good in all of this. Or, you simply don’t see what God’s goodness has to do with your day-to-day life anyway. I want to be brief this morning because I know there are many distractions pulling for our attention. However, the three quick points I want to make today as we walk through this passage our literally the most important truths we can ever come to know. Here’s our gist: God is good. We desperately need His goodness. AND because of His goodness, He made that possible.

Let’s break that down! First→ 

I. GOD IS GOOD (16-17)

This passage opens by telling us essentially→ 

Don’t Miss This! “16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.” Like I said a second ago, this can be easy to miss. It’s easy to look at the world and either assume God isn’t good, or that goodness comes from ourselves or natural chance, not God. But the truth is→ 

Every Blessing Is From God. “17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above,” Any good that happens in your life is an expression of God’s grace. This world is tainted by sin. We’re going to talk about this more in a second, but for now I just want to get this across: it’s easy to complain. It’s easy to look at life and think it’s just a serious of unfair and devastating events. Maybe you wouldn’t want to sound pessimistic and put it that way, but when we talk, we tend to spend much more time dwelling on the negatives than looking for positives. BUT, if we pay attention, we see that even in the hardest times, there are still blessings every single day. Friends, family, good weather. Smiles still cross our faces in this broken world, and that is because God is being gracious to us→ 

Because He Is The Source Of All Goodness. The verse says goodness is “coming down from the Father of lights”. There are two thoughts being communicated here. First, He is the creator God, so He literally made all the lights in the sky. He created the entire universe! But more than that, light and darkness is being used symbolically here in these next few statements. He is the source of light as in goodness and purity and righteousness. All that is good comes from God. Morality isn’t the result of random chance, but the reason people all around the world can agree that there are certain things that are good and certain things that are bad is because they were created by the same God who places this upon their hearts! 

And He Never Changes! I love this last part here, “with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” This good God is the same as He has always been. Sometimes when we grow up in church, we read about all that God has done with His people in the past, and we’re amazed, but we think that’s just a thing of the past. He did that, but He’s not moving like that anymore. He won’t do that in my life. Yet, the same God who rescued Daniel from the lions’ den, and saved Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the fiery furnace, and protected Noah and his family during the world-wide flood is still moving in our lives today. The same Jesus who came healing the sick, casting out demons, and changing the world by offering salvation is still alive today. He still loves you just as much as He did when He took on Hell in your place. Your circumstances might change, but God never does! You might feel powerless today, or hurt, or confused. But Jesus hasn’t changed. He’s still all-powerful and all-loving, and He still wants to call you His child. 

So, why does this matter? Because→ 

II. WE DESPERATELY NEED HIS GOODNESS (13-15)

We all know that we need help. If we’re honest, we know that we’re not truly good at heart, that this sin that taints the world is a very real and present part of our lives as well. The verses above the one’s we’ve read outline just how serious this condition is. Look at verses 13-15. “13 Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God," for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” There’s a lot in this, but let me just make two observations here this morning. First→

Our Hearts Are Sinful & Sin Leads To Hell. Sin doesn’t come from someplace outside of you. We’re tempted to do things only because deep down we want to. It’s easy to blame our shortcomings on circumstances or our environment or whatever. However, at the core, the only reason we sin is because we’re sinners. And this sin leads to death, not just physical death though. This reference to spiritual death is talking about Hell—the eternal punishment we choose when we reject God’s grace and try to just keep following our own ways. The problem is→  

We Can’t Make Ourselves Good Enough! Think about it like this. The standard of good is God. Can you even meet your own standard of goodness? All the things you know you should be doing, do you do them? All the things that drive you crazy when you see other people doing them, are you able to stop yourself doing those same things? I know I don’t. And I know you don’t either. We’re trapped by our own sinful desires, and there is nothing we can do to save ourselves no matter how hard we try. I know that seems depressing, but we were never meant to do this on our own. We’re drowning in the middle of the ocean, and we need someone to rescue us.

That’s the severity of our situation. We need the goodness of God because we’re not good. That’s what makes His love so amazing. He didn’t wait until we were good enough, but while we were still sinners, He came and He died and He rose again to make a way for us to be with Him forever. The Bible tells us if we believe in Him and give Him control we experience grace—goodness we don’t deserve— as He saves us and takes us, those who have been running from Him, and calls us His children. See, it’s precisely because of His goodness that→ 

III. HE MADE THAT POSSIBLE (18)

Look at verse 18, which was actually part of the kid’s memory verse this week. “18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” Let me just run through three quick observations here, as well. First→ 

He Chose To Do This! “Of His own will” means because He wanted to do it! He didn’t have to save us. He wasn’t obligated to pour out His grace. He didn’t need us in Heaven to make Himself complete. He did that because of His unmerited, unfailing love! What exactly is He doing?

He’s Giving Us Life Through His Word! The Word of Truth is the Scriptures, the Bible. Here, we see the Gospel, the good news, through which He gives us life! I’ve probably said this a million times already this morning, but I don’t want you to miss this. The Gospel is this: God is holy and loving. We are sinners heading to Hell as we follow our own desires. Jesus chose to come and live the perfect life you could not, and die the death you deserved, taking Hell upon Himself and rising again, so that anyone who calls upon His name, knowing He is God and knowing they need His goodness and desiring to be His, will be saved! That’s amazing grace. Through His sacrifice→ 

We Can Be His! Firstfruits refer to precious offerings or sacrifices made to God. We can be offered up to Him, and when we are, we become His, and He takes us in, again, as His precious children. We are forgiven and covered in His righteousness, His goodness. 

TAKEAWAYS

I promised brevity, so let’s just recap here.

1. God is good.

2. We desperately need His goodness.

3. And, precisely because of His goodness, He made that possible!

PONDERING... Have You Been Rescued? (Psalm 15)

VIDEO

Have You Been Rescued? (AM Sermon Notes)

VBS FAMILY DAY 2018

GIST: You need rescued, and then you need to live like you’re rescued.

SCRIPTURE: Psalm 15

Today is an exciting day for me; it’s our VBS Family Day. For the past three days, we’ve had kiddos out here learning about Jesus and His plan to rescue us. Today, we’re celebrating all they have learned together during the service, and will continue to do so in our block-party immediately following.

Given that context, I’m once again blown away by the passage we’re coming to again this morning. For those of you who are visiting, we have been doing a summer study in the book of Psalms. I didn’t plan for the passage to fall on this particular date. We just started at chapter one and have been moving forward. Nonetheless, not only does this passage directly connect to the VBS theme for this year, but it is also mercifully short ☺️!

"1 O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill? 2 He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart; 3 who does not slander with his tongue and does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend; 4 in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but who honors those who fear the LORD; who swears to his own hurt and does not change; 5 who does not put out his money at interest and does not take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved."

I don’t want to muddy the waters here by over explaining. This psalm addresses the qualifications for being saved, for entering God’s presence. And when you read them, it should be clear that...you don’t meet the requirements. And that’s the gist for today: You need rescued, and then you need to live like you’re rescued. Let’s dive straight in.

I. YOU NEED RESCUED

The psalm opens with→ The Central Question Of Life."1 O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill?” This is another example of emphasizing parallelism where both questions are really the same: “Who can come into Your presence, God?” We should be asking this question because we were made for this purpose.

The answer follows immediately, but it really seems like→ An Impossible Standard.  And this standard covers the major aspects of life: conduct, speech, relationships, values, commitments, and finances. Truthly, we could spend an entire message camping out on each of these. However, I promised this would be brief, so let’s take the big picture.

Conduct. “2 He who walks blamelessly and does what is right” This addresses how we...act, what we do. The standard is purity. Both clauses mean the same thing. If you walk free of blame it can only be because you’re doing...what is right.

Speech. “and speaks truth in his heart; 3 who does not slander with his tongue” There are two things here. 1) The words that come out of our mouths are uplifting. We don’t slander. Which means gossip--which is a vile and contagious disease--doesn’t drip from our lips. We don’t waste our words with complaints and bitter criticism. Instead, we use our words to build others up and point them to Christ!

I love this because not only does it talk about having wholesome speech, but it addresses the key to wholesome speech which is a wholesome heart. That’s the second thing I want to point out. 2) Not only does this person say good and uplifting things, but they mean them. These uplifting words come from the heart.

Relationships. “and does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend;” I feel like this one is connected to the speech criteria, as well. It deals with our interactions with people. The word used here for “reproach” implies a very serious kind of shaming. This is stripping someone of reputation. So, this person, doesn’t do things that will deliberately hurt the people around them, be that physically or emotionally, and they look to build others up instead of tearing them down...or believing the worst about a person.

Values. “4 in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but who honors those who fear the LORD;” This alludes to what or who we look up to, the characteristics we value. What is it about a person that gains our admiration? Is it their popularity, or their walk with God? Regardless of what kind of influence a person may or may not have, we should honor those who love God, not those who live trapped in sin. If you want a real-world application here, think about the kinds of lives many of our “celebrities” live.

Commitments. “who swears to his own hurt and does not change;” This one is a strong statement too. It means this person keeps his or her promises...even when it’s inconvenient...even when it hurts. If you’ve made a promise, but something “better” comes along, or you realize keeping this commitment will put you out, or eat up time you’d rather use doing something else, you still keep the promise.

Then, the last set of clauses deals with→

Finances. “5 who does not put out his money at interest and does not take a bribe against the innocent.” In the Old Testament these both were references to not taking advantage of people. This isn’t an anti-banking statement. Loans at this time were only given as a means of helping someone out, so taking interest against them was contrary to that purpose. So the implication here is that this person doesn’t just look out for themselves with their financial endeavors, but seeks to use their money to serve the Lord and help others.

So, that’s the standard. How do you measure up? How honoring to God are your conduct, speech, relationships, values, commitments, and finances? We don’t meet this standard. So, what is this saying? Can no one ever enter into God’s presence? →

Enter: The Rescuer! That is why Jesus came, right? We are sinful people in need of a Savior, and Jesus is just that! This week, we talked about this with the kids. One night, we took a walk down the “Romans Road”. At one of the stops, we read Romans 5:8, which is one of my favorite verses, “8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” We deserve Hell, but Jesus came, God in the flesh, and lived a perfect, sinless life. He met this standard. Still, He died in our place, and took our punish, enduring Hell for us, so that anyone who calls on His name and gives Him control will be saved! His purity then covers us!

II. AND THEN YOU NEED TO LIVE LIKE YOU’RE RESCUED

So, we see that we need to be rescued, but that’s not the only thing we see here. Just saying that this standard is high and leaving it at that would do this passage a disservice. It would also do all of us a disservice because it would leave us with the mentality, which is sadly very common, that sin is just something we’re stuck with, so as long as we’ve said we’ve given Jesus control and then maybe go to church fairly often, we’re good. But that’s not where this passage leaves us.

This might seem like an impossible standard, but it’s also→ A High Expectation.  “He who does these things shall never be moved." (emphasis added). We’re expected to do these things. This might seem like an impossible mission, but look at what Jesus told His disciples when they came to the same conclusion: “26 And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, "Then who can be saved?" 27 Jesus looked at them and said, "With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”(Mark 10:26-27) God does the saving. He stands in our place, and He changes our hearts. Though we will never perfectly meet this standard this side of Heaven, there will be a change! I think this is so important to point out because there are many people who say a prayer or have some kind of emotional experience and then live the rest of their lives exactly like they did before. They aren’t more like Jesus. They aren’t producing any kind of fruit, but they think they’re fine. They’ve got that base cover, that box checked. But if there is no change, there is no salvation. Remember what James said in James 3? “17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” It’s not real faith if it does not result in a heart transformation! There should be a difference made in your conduct, speech, relationships, values, commitments, and finances.

The verse says doing these things will result in→ Not Being Moved. Why? Because you have entered the holy hill! You’ve been rescued and are protected by Him!

TAKEAWAYS

1. You cannot be “good enough” to be saved. You need to be rescued. And→

2. Jesus died and rose again to save you! He died to rescue you.

3. When you give Him control of your life, there should be a change. If you’re rescued, you should live like it!