Series B – Fifteenth Sunday of Pentecost – Sunday, September 5, 2021 | Pr. Chris Rosebrough
| Welcome to the Teaching Ministry of Kongsvinger Lutheran Church. Kongsvinger is a beacon for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of Northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone, and now, here’s a message from Pastor Chris Rosebrough: |
| Time Stamp | Transcript |
| 0:28 | the holy gospel according to saint mark the 7th chapter [Music] |
| 0:39 | Jesus returned from the region of tyre and went through sidon to the sea of galilee in the region of the decapolis |
| 0:45 | and they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment and they begged him to lay his hand on him |
| 0:51 | and taking him aside from the crowd privately he put his fingers in his ears and after spitting touched his tongue |
| 0:56 | and looking up to heaven he sighed and said to him ephesa that is be opened and his ears |
| 1:03 | were opened his tongue was released and he spoke plainly and Jesus charged them to tell no one but the more he charged |
| 1:10 | them the more zealously they proclaimed him and they were astonished beyond measure saying he has done all things |
| 1:17 | well even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak this is the gospel of the |
| 1:22 | lord in the name of Jesus amen now i need to note something here |
| 1:27 | uh we lutherans get a bad rap and and and we have to address this like |
| 1:32 | head on because you’ll note that it was martin luther you know that rascally reformer who was excommunicated by the |
| 1:39 | roman catholic church the reason being is he stood as ground on what scripture teaches that we are |
| 1:46 | saved by grace god’s unmerited favor by grace |
| 1:52 | through faith all on account of Christ in other words we |
| 1:57 | contrary to what rome teaches do not merit the lord’s forgiveness by our good works |
| 2:05 | and over and again i’ve noted that on social media whenever i put out you know |
| 2:11 | status updates or send out a tweet or something affirming what the scripture says that |
| 2:17 | we are saved apart from works somebody comes out of the woodwork it’s like the bat signal goes off somewhere you know |
| 2:24 | bing bing bing and they ha and they come swooping in well chris if you caught if you talk like |
| 2:31 | this you you make it sound like salvation is too free that god’s grace is too gracious and if you start talking |
| 2:38 | like this then people are gonna think that they have a license to sin |
| 2:47 | i used to think this way too i really did and and so it’s important for us to recognize this |
| 2:55 | the lutheran church the lutheran confessions affirm what scripture teaches regarding works |
| 3:01 | and i want you to hear the words good works are necessary |
| 3:07 | they’re necessary the question is necessary for what |
| 3:13 | are you saved by your works even by a little bit no not at all |
| 3:20 | good works are necessary by virtue of the fact that you have been raised from the dead |
| 3:25 | now here’s the thing because we are Christians that’s the reason why we do good works oftentimes |
| 3:31 | people will pit like this epistle text from james they’ll pit it against paul |
| 3:37 | see james he disagrees with paul you know he says just as the body that is not breathing is dead faith without |
| 3:43 | works is dead paul agrees he 100 agrees i want you to consider in this |
| 3:50 | context here before we even get into our epistle text in ephesians chapter 2 |
| 3:56 | those three verses that we all know by heart verses 8 9 |
| 4:02 | and 10 they read such for by grace you have been saved past |
| 4:08 | tense through faith this is not your own doing |
| 4:19 | i’ll let that sit in this is not your own doing it’s the gift of god |
| 4:24 | how many Christmas gifts do you pay for you know you know friends and family you know i for this year for Christmas here |
| 4:31 | i’m going to give you 50 bucks would you give me a you know a gift card to walmart a red lobster |
| 4:37 | is that a gift if you pay for it of course not okay of course not now you may treat yourself |
| 4:43 | but that still you’re working off your wages right so it is not your own doing |
| 4:49 | it is the gift of god it is not the result of works what isn’t the result of |
| 4:54 | works salvation you have been saved by grace through faith it is not your own doing it’s the gift of god it’s not a |
| 5:01 | result of works so that no one may boast and here’s the thing we lutherans get a |
| 5:07 | bad rap as if somehow we stop there and like ignore verse 10. we don’t verse 10 |
| 5:13 | then says this we are god’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus |
| 5:19 | for good works which god prepared that we should walk in them |
| 5:25 | oh oh i see i see so good works are necessary you know why they’re necessary |
| 5:31 | because god has prepared them in advance for you to do when we are his workmanship and we are created |
| 5:36 | for good works we are you can think of it this way we’re not saved by our works we’re saved |
| 5:43 | unto good works which is all the more reason why it’s absolutely deplorable |
| 5:49 | when Christian churches and congregations become the scenes of well much unloved and |
| 5:56 | unrest and backbiting and gossip and slander and just turmoil and anguish and |
| 6:01 | rancor and right this is this is not to be happening |
| 6:08 | and yet it does and so you’ll know what’s the what what do we do when we have |
| 6:13 | well issues as it relates to sin manifesting in our own life or sin manifesting within the life of our |
| 6:18 | congregation well we do go back to the basics and we never leave the basics we need to hear the law which will convict |
| 6:24 | us of our sin we need to hear the gospel and the gospel assures us of our forgiveness and |
| 6:30 | then we always need to remember that we are saved in Christ unto good works not by them they are necessary by virtue of |
| 6:38 | the fact that we are a new creation in Christ and that even our good works are a little bit weak and |
| 6:44 | paltry but sometimes because we have our old sinful nature still hanging around our necks |
| 6:50 | sometimes we have to pull the writing crop out and remind ourselves |
| 6:56 | that these are the things that we are created in Christ Jesus to do |
| 7:01 | and another way to put it is is that have you noticed that sin isn’t freedom have you noticed that you know |
| 7:08 | sin is absolute slavery absolute slavery and so Christ has set |
| 7:14 | us free from slavery to sin death and the devil and we well our sinful nature |
| 7:20 | wants to go back to egypt back to slavery and no Christ continues to want have us |
| 7:25 | walk through the wilderness so in this regard then we’ll note that paul and james they actually teach the same |
| 7:32 | thing in james chapter one james affirms salvation as a gift from god so the |
| 7:37 | question is is what is he writing about then why is this talk going on about you know |
| 7:45 | faith without works being dead answer well what had happened is is that you’ll |
| 7:50 | note that paul when he writes against the judaizers those who are saying we’re |
| 7:55 | saved by our works he he doesn’t cut them any slack well the people that james is writing to |
| 8:02 | they have been influenced by some kind of form of gnosticism all right and gnosticism teaches that |
| 8:08 | well historic gnosticism teaches that your your body what you do with your |
| 8:14 | body really doesn’t matter okay because matter that you see and smell and taste |
| 8:19 | and touch that’s all an accident anyway and so the goal is to get off the wheel of reincarnation they actually believe |
| 8:25 | in reincarnation and to become one with god and spirit and so because you still |
| 8:31 | have your sinful flesh i mean you don’t really need to worry about anything so you can do with it whatever you want you |
| 8:37 | want to engage in debauchery and drunkenness sexual immorality no problemo right |
| 8:42 | and worse within that way of believing is also a latent form of what’s called |
| 8:48 | antinomianism that’s a big word anti against namas law antinomianism is |
| 8:54 | against the law so you you refuse to hear the preaching of god’s law or to |
| 9:00 | allow yourself to be convicted by what you end up doing is taking the gospel and saying thank you Jesus for forgiving |
| 9:07 | me and then you just live like hell you want to see what a modern day |
| 9:13 | example of this looks like all right let’s let’s have an uncomfortable conversation right well there are entire |
| 9:20 | church denominations now that affirm sexual immorality and claim that god blesses it but he doesn’t |
| 9:27 | and if you don’t think that conservative congregations are not complicit in this they also are because they’ve gone well |
| 9:34 | how shall i say it really silent when it comes to |
| 9:40 | sexual immorality within their own ranks as long as it’s heterosexual sins |
| 9:45 | right i’m just saying right and so the the question comes up |
| 9:53 | what do you believe the gospel does do you believe the gospel sets you free so that you can be enslaved to sin that |
| 9:59 | doesn’t make any sense and so the idea here is that |
| 10:05 | james is addressing an issue and he’s going with something that is a very glaring |
| 10:10 | obvious disconnect and watch where he goes to with these antinomians he goes |
| 10:16 | all the way back to what the law seems weird right okay but that’s exactly what he does and |
| 10:23 | so he says my brothers show no partiality as you hold the faith in our lord Jesus |
| 10:30 | Christ the lord of glory show no partiality let that one ruminate |
| 10:35 | for a second here now he’s going to point out that well back in his day just like in our day that people they give |
| 10:42 | preference to the rich the powerful those who wear nice clothes |
| 10:47 | have well jewelry and things like this right do we not do the same thing |
| 10:55 | of course we do i mean pardon me but haven’t you ever watched tick tock |
| 11:02 | where people literally you know who they film themselves with a you know like a movie star they’re doing a dance or |
| 11:08 | something and somebody famous walked in and they just lose their minds and millions of people watch the video right |
| 11:14 | millions oh my goodness did you see what the rock did did you see what yeah celine dion |
| 11:20 | did it’s it’s nuts right if i were to um you know decide that we’re going to have |
| 11:27 | our own version the kungsfinger academy awards right and we’re we’re going to invite some church people and and maybe |
| 11:33 | some folks from grand forks and and maybe maybe we’re going to give out awards to the the guys who uh work for the waste |
| 11:39 | management district or we’re going to give some awards out to the truckers that make it possible for us to have |
| 11:45 | groceries and stuff like that send out a press release to the media do you think that people would show up |
| 11:50 | to our red carpet event no who are you guys |
| 11:57 | right who are you guys right but if i invited a movie star and the movie star |
| 12:02 | took us up on it oh the media would be here to cover it right why |
| 12:08 | because he’s famous he’s rich he’s powerful right and everyone would want |
| 12:14 | autographs everyone wanted to take selfies with the person that’s a problem here that’s that’s a |
| 12:20 | form of partially you do know that this is going to be the third week in a row you do know that that movie |
| 12:26 | stars poop right |
| 12:31 | i just point this out but let’s talk about another way in which people show partiality okay |
| 12:37 | let’s talk about another way in which people show partiality racism |
| 12:42 | isn’t racism partiality that’s exactly what that is |
| 12:48 | racism the this ridiculous belief that somehow your skin color |
| 12:54 | if you gather together with other with other people who have the same skin color that as a group you are superior |
| 13:01 | to people who have a different skin color are you out of your mind |
| 13:06 | what does scripture say that in Christ there is neither jew nor greek slave nor free male or female |
| 13:13 | does Christ show partiality no and so we’ll note that hatred towards |
| 13:20 | people and showing partiality based upon something as shallow |
| 13:26 | as their skin color or their ethnic heritage it’s a sin |
| 13:31 | it’s a form of partiality and so listen to what james says because he’s preaching to all of us here so if a man |
| 13:38 | wearing a gold ring fine clothing comes into your assembly and a poor man in shabby clothing comes also i want you to |
| 13:45 | think about this sometimes i get asked the question what what do i wear to church |
| 13:51 | is it what should i wear especially people who haven’t been to church in a while do i have to buy a suit |
| 13:56 | no this text notes that the poor sometimes show up in shabby clothing why because that’s all they got |
| 14:03 | right so a poor man shows up in shabby clothing and you say to the rich man |
| 14:08 | that you sit here in a good place here’s our vip where’s our vip sitting here at kung’s finger by the way |
| 14:15 | the back back row yeah yeah good lutheran answer to that one |
| 14:20 | yeah that’s right there’s always a fight for the back road fuse so |
| 14:27 | so we make the rich sit and we allow the rich to sit in the back and poor man shows up and we make them sit in the |
| 14:32 | front right yeah boy that would that would be terrible all right |
| 14:38 | all right but you say to the poor man you stand over there or you sit at my feet what a horrible thing to say |
| 14:44 | sit at my feet like you’re a dog but remember in the ancient world they didn’t have a middle class they really |
| 14:50 | didn’t not this time in roman history they had the wealthy and then everybody else |
| 14:57 | and everybody else they were far away from the wealthy and the landed and the powerful and so you’ll note that |
| 15:03 | Christianity the message of the gospel has reached rich and poor and that in church there’s rich and |
| 15:09 | there’s poor and but what are they doing they’re bringing the world’s partiality |
| 15:15 | and sinfulness into the church and then treating each other horribly accordingly |
| 15:20 | i mean seriously we’re talking about a baptized penitent believer in Jesus Christ |
| 15:26 | who is one who has an inheritance like you and i do all given as a gift in the new earth by Christ |
| 15:32 | and in this world you’re going to treat him like a dog at church what kind of church is |
| 15:38 | this right that’s kind of the point that he’s getting that he says when you do this have you not |
| 15:45 | made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts so listen my beloved brothers has not |
| 15:52 | god chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom the answer is yes he has |
| 15:58 | you’ll know god has shown no partiality god doesn’t sit there and go well you know |
| 16:04 | you know you’re only making about 20 000 a year i’m not sure i i’m |
| 16:10 | i’m not sure if there’s any salvation for you maybe you can ask for a waiver |
| 16:17 | does Christ do this no why do we treat people as if Christ does because that’s the thing |
| 16:24 | when we as Christians treat each other poorly as Christians this reflects on Christ as if somehow |
| 16:30 | Christ is making these distinctions and that’s why he’s having to peel this all back but underneath the hood here is a |
| 16:37 | belief that no i don’t need to show i don’t need any good works to show that i’m a Christian that’s not exactly true |
| 16:44 | so listen my beloved brothers has not god chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of |
| 16:51 | the kingdom yeah he has which he’s promised to those who love him but you’ve dishonored the poor man |
| 16:56 | are not the rich the ones who oppress you and the ones who drag you into court now that i think about it yeah |
| 17:03 | you ever notice how litigious the rich can be because they can afford the attorneys and they know how to work the system in their favor are they not the |
| 17:09 | ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called yeah that’s generally true |
| 17:16 | so if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture you shall love your neighbor as yourself |
| 17:22 | then you are doing well and then you’ll note the the scriptures |
| 17:28 | the ten commandments are called the royal law and that we as Christians are called to what love our |
| 17:34 | neighbors as our self and every single infraction of any of |
| 17:39 | the ten commandments is not a love for god it is not a love for neighbor it is a complete utter |
| 17:46 | love for you over and above other people |
| 17:54 | i mean think about it let’s kind of review some of those ten commandments second table of the law you guys are |
| 17:59 | familiar with this stuff i love what luther does in the small catechism because not only does it tell us what |
| 18:05 | the commandment forbids us to do but he also reminds us what these commandments |
| 18:10 | require us to do and from the catechism fourth commandment look at the second table honor your father and your mother |
| 18:17 | what does this mean luther says well we should fear and love god so that we do not despise or anger our parents and |
| 18:24 | other authorities you’ll note that even political power |
| 18:30 | comes by virtue of the fact that it’s granted to them by families and fathers right |
| 18:36 | but what are we to do then we are to honor them serve and obey them |
| 18:41 | love and cherish them |
| 18:46 | do you slander your boss |
| 18:53 | how about your president yeah you see you see all of a sudden |
| 19:00 | you’re sitting there going yeah okay i see where this is getting at |
| 19:07 | how about one that we haven’t committed thou shalt not murder anyone here murdered anyone |
| 19:13 | not physically right but here’s the issue when we consider what Christ says in |
| 19:19 | regard to this commandment we’re kind of in trouble let me explain so the commandment says you shall not |
| 19:24 | murder what does this mean we should fear and love god so that we do not hurt or harm our neighbor in his body but |
| 19:31 | help and support him in every physical need that’s kind of where james is going to |
| 19:37 | go here because he’s going to talk about the person who says that they have faith but they have no works and he’s going to |
| 19:43 | use an example regarding somebody who is in absolute physical need their their bodily needs are not |
| 19:50 | being met they’re they’re they’re not making it financially and somebody within the congregation has |
| 19:57 | the means to help them and doesn’t so note that yeah the answer to kane’s question and my my |
| 20:03 | brother’s keeper is yeah you are and then also keep this in mind Jesus makes |
| 20:08 | it clear that if you hate your brother or you’re angry at him that you’re guilty of breaking this commandment so |
| 20:14 | even if you’ve never you know put a knife in somebody’s back and help them assume room temperature |
| 20:22 | that by every way in which we hate and harbor anger and grudge and well you get |
| 20:29 | the idea towards our neighbor and rather than help them we’re guilty of breaking this command |
| 20:36 | you shall not commit adultery we’re all in the clear here right no actually we’re not because even if |
| 20:42 | you’ve looked at another person with lust in your heart you’re guilty of breaking this commandment as well |
| 20:48 | we should fear and love god so that we lead sexually pure and decent life in what we say and do and husband and wife |
| 20:54 | are to love and to honor each other listen to that last part husband and wife are to love and honor each other |
| 21:02 | yeah but you don’t understand what he’s like you don’t understand what she’s like yeah i do i’m one of them |
| 21:08 | right and so you’ll note that we all fall short in this way too don’t steal you know we’ve done that you |
| 21:14 | shall not bear false witness against your neighbor then we can talk about all the ways in which that happens but so you’ll note |
| 21:20 | here this is where we make an important distinction as we walk through the ten commandments |
| 21:28 | for Christians they do two things one they convict us of our sin this is |
| 21:33 | why lutherans say lex semper accusa the law always accuses |
| 21:38 | so every time we walk through the ten commandments we sit there and go |
| 21:44 | i’m not measuring up and we also trust the good news that |
| 21:50 | Christ has bled and died for every one of our infractions against his commandments |
| 21:56 | and the third use of the law then gives us a guide it shows us where our good works |
| 22:03 | are to be done and the good works that god has prepared in advance for us to do so we don’t invent our own which we are |
| 22:10 | prone to do horribly which then ends up putting us into the category of breaking |
| 22:16 | the first table and committing idolatry so our good works are to be expressed in |
| 22:22 | love towards each other in the ways that god has commanded us |
| 22:28 | and well just like the folks that james is is smashing over the head |
| 22:34 | with the law and saying that they’ve become transgressors we recognize the truth about ourselves that we have but |
| 22:40 | this is where we recognize the gospel and let’s put this put the gospel in at this point in our gospel text |
| 22:48 | we heard that Jesus had traveled to the area known as the decapolis and if you were |
| 22:55 | to kind of imagine in your mind the sea of galilee right so you got the sea of galilee you got the jordan river coming |
| 23:01 | down on the um on the western northwestern side of the |
| 23:06 | sea of galilee you have capernaum in the place where the jews live right but on the |
| 23:12 | eastern side of the sea of galilee you have the decapolis the decapolis is a |
| 23:17 | region where you have roman colonizers you have people who’ve moved from rome |
| 23:22 | to colonize and to take advantage of the expansiveness of the roman empire and |
| 23:28 | they’ve built 10 cities decapolis means 10 cities and in those 10 cities you’re going to find well |
| 23:34 | temples to zeus and the pantheon of the roman false gods |
| 23:40 | and you’re going to note here Jesus goes there to preach the gospel as well Jesus considers gentiles to even be his |
| 23:48 | neighbor and when people come to him in physical need |
| 23:54 | beyond what money can fix that only god can fix |
| 23:59 | Jesus doesn’t send them away Jesus meets their needs you’ll note that |
| 24:04 | Jesus perfectly loved his neighbor as himself and this is important for us so listen |
| 24:10 | listen again to our gospel text Jesus returned from the region of tyre went through sidon to the sea of galilee to |
| 24:16 | the region of the decapolis they brought him a man who was deaf had a speech impediment and they begged him to lay |
| 24:22 | his hand on him and taking him aside from the crowd privately he put his fingers into his ears and after spitting |
| 24:29 | touched his tongue and he looked up to heaven and he sighed and said to him i love even the aramaic |
| 24:35 | word interesting it’s a breathy verb here ephitha that is be opened and his ears |
| 24:43 | were opened his tongue was released and he spoke plainly and Jesus charged them not to tell anyone but the more they |
| 24:50 | charged he charged them the more zealously they proclaimed him but listen to what they said and they were |
| 24:55 | astonished beyond measure saying he has done all things well he even makes the deaf to hear and the |
| 25:01 | mute to speak in fact Jesus indeed has done all things well and this is good news for us and the reason why it is |
| 25:07 | good news for us is because you’re going to note that in our epistle text james says some very terrifying things and the |
| 25:16 | one of the terrifying things that he says is that if you break one |
| 25:21 | commandment you’re guilty of breaking |
| 25:27 | all of them i want you to think about that for a second we have this weird habit that we |
| 25:34 | engage in we think of the 10 commandments kind of like |
| 25:40 | like like a plinko game or something like that you know you got commandment one you got commandment two and all you |
| 25:45 | know ten little things down at the bottom of plinko and so when you commit a sin you know the the thing goes into |
| 25:51 | one of the categories right well i’ve con done this sin but i i haven’t done |
| 25:57 | that one all right as if somehow there’s like some kind of a column you know the so the plinko things are coming in and |
| 26:04 | just doing their thing huh that’s not how it works james |
| 26:10 | is very clear here very clear that |
| 26:15 | whoever keeps the whole law but fails even in one point has become guilty |
| 26:23 | of all of it well i i haven’t committed you know that |
| 26:30 | one the big one whatever the big one is you know people think differently about what the big one is |
| 26:35 | i beg to differ you you have you’ve done the big one you’ve done the |
| 26:41 | small one you’ve done all the little ones middle ones medium-sized ones in between two |
| 26:46 | if you committed one sin you are guilty of well the whole thing |
| 26:51 | but our gospel text says that Jesus has done all things well |
| 26:57 | all things and this is important for us because you’ll note that the requirement |
| 27:03 | for the sacrifice of sins it must be a spotless sinless sacrifice |
| 27:09 | and that’s exactly what Christ is where we have failed to love our neighbor and to love our god Christ |
| 27:17 | never failed he did all things well and he then |
| 27:23 | well in your greatest need gave you exactly what you needed even though you didn’t even ask him for it |
| 27:30 | he bore your sins in his body on the cross and he went to the cross the sinless spotless lamb of god who takes |
| 27:36 | away the sin of the whole world he bled and died in your place he suffered the wrath of god in your place |
| 27:44 | money couldn’t buy this you don’t have any power to free yourself from slavery to sin Jesus has done this all for you |
| 27:52 | where you have fallen short he never fell short and he didn’t fall |
| 27:58 | short in order to rub your nose in how you have fallen short |
| 28:04 | he didn’t fall short so that he can give you as a gift his perfect sinless righteousness which you |
| 28:11 | need to stand before god on the day of judgment but he didn’t set us free from sin in |
| 28:18 | order to serve ourselves and our sinful passions so james asked the question well what good |
| 28:24 | is it my brothers if someone says he has faith but does not have works can that faith save him and james’s point is this |
| 28:32 | that person doesn’t have faith you are created in Christ Jesus for good |
| 28:40 | works paul says so the person who basically says well i’m going to be a spiritual couch potato |
| 28:45 | and i’m not going to trouble myself with the law at all i refuse to even hear that i’m a sinner |
| 28:52 | anymore Jesus has forgiven me of my sins so i can do whatever i want |
| 28:59 | james says can that faith save him he says so if a brother or sister is poorly clothed lacking in daily food one of you |
| 29:06 | says to them go in peace be warm be filled without giving the things needed |
| 29:12 | for the body what good is that well you know he’s a poor person so he |
| 29:19 | just came here looking for a handout why would he think that he could get |
| 29:25 | that here could it be that we are commanded to |
| 29:30 | not murder and not giving somebody what they physically need |
| 29:36 | is to murder them now you’re making me uncomfortable |
| 29:42 | pastor i know make myself that way too because i can think |
| 29:49 | of far too many ways in which i have not done good for my neighbor |
| 29:59 | someone will say well you have faith i have works he says show me your faith apart from your works and i’ll show you my faith by my works you see just as the |
| 30:07 | body that is breathing is not dead faith without works is dead and remember our good works are defined |
| 30:13 | by the ten commandments not by stuff that we invent and no we’re not required to no longer sin we confess our sin |
| 30:21 | daily and much to Christ but it’s to the power of the holy spirit given to us |
| 30:26 | that god gives us the strength to mortify our sinful flesh so that we stop focusing in on ourselves |
| 30:32 | so that the only person that we ever think about pleasing is our self and instead |
| 30:38 | our eyes are bent away from us and towards our neighbor so that we now |
| 30:44 | serve them and paul himself makes it clear that we are to consider others to |
| 30:49 | be better than ourselves this is only possible for somebody who is regenerate |
| 30:55 | someone who has been made new in the waters of baptism whom the gospel has reached and god has raised from the dead |
| 31:02 | faith always seeks to do good works and your sinful flesh always seeks to |
| 31:08 | see to serve itself and so it’s not |
| 31:14 | that well the best way to put it is it’s not it’s perfection isn’t the thing that we’re called to as Christians even |
| 31:20 | though Christ says be perfect he recognizes that we sin much the issue is are you |
| 31:27 | just giving yourself over to sin to where you care nothing about other people |
| 31:33 | that’s not Christianity and you |
| 31:38 | like me need to hear the law and the gospel preached again to you |
| 31:44 | so that you rightly understand that even your best good works are still soiled with sin |
| 31:50 | and as for those as for those works they demonstrate to our neighbor that our faith is alive |
| 31:56 | you know so uh you know mark is here and you know since he’s spent so much time in florida i’m sure |
| 32:02 | he takes a lot of naps in the afternoon and stuff like that so you know if if we were to see mark this afternoon taking a |
| 32:08 | nap you know i i’ve heard that he sleeps really soundly so sound that it’s hard to tell if he’s even alive or not right |
| 32:14 | now i’m being not not being a medical professional i would have no way to tell whether or not you like had a heart |
| 32:20 | attack and gone on to be with the lord if i saw you napping so if i had to check to see if you were if you were |
| 32:26 | still alive i would go back to an old tried and true method because i don’t even like the idea of touching a corpse |
| 32:32 | in case you died it’s just yeah i’m just not going to do it so what i would do is |
| 32:38 | i would grab one of those hand mirrors you know the kind that your wife keeps in your purse right and i would take that mirror and i would |
| 32:44 | hold it up to your nose and if you fog the mirror i know that you’re alive |
| 32:49 | that’s the point that james is making is that we are not saved by our works we |
| 32:56 | are saved by grace through faith but if there are no works |
| 33:01 | that’s a corpse just like a body that doesn’t fog a mirror is dead |
| 33:08 | so faith without works is dead works show our neighbors that our faith |
| 33:14 | is alive and that’s their function that’s why they’re necessary they’re necessary by |
| 33:19 | virtue of the fact that you’re alive in Christ and the reality is this if you’re having any anxiety you are so far rich |
| 33:27 | in works you you don’t even recognize how many works you do over and again when people think of |
| 33:32 | works they think of something spectacular like you know i i sold everything i had and i went to on the mission field and i went to you know and |
| 33:39 | preached the gospel to an indigenous people group who’ve never heard the gospel before by the way that’s a good work |
| 33:45 | but when we think that that’s the standard for what defines a good work and everything else that isn’t that |
| 33:51 | isn’t we misunderstand totally go back to those ten commandments |
| 33:56 | being a good husband a good wife that’s a good work protecting your neighbor’s reputation |
| 34:03 | good work helping your neighbor take care of his physical needs good work and if you’re |
| 34:09 | not sure who’s your neighbor in this regard let’s think about those little children that god gives us right |
| 34:16 | he delivers them to us naked and hungry |
| 34:22 | have you noticed that’s like the first order of business got to clothe that little thing and got to give it something to eat all right |
| 34:28 | so taking care of our children feeding and clothing them meeting their bodily needs that’s a good work |
| 34:35 | they said they’re going well then i i guess i have those right |
| 34:41 | and so the idea here is is that we are then instructed in scripture |
| 34:46 | to not despise the good works that god has called us to do he’s called us all to these amazing good works and so note |
| 34:53 | this then that even our good works are soiled with sin but Christ has done all things well he’s bled and died for even |
| 35:00 | your best good work that’s soiled with sin and he admonishes you again |
| 35:06 | to deny yourself because that’s what sin is the opposite of sin is all about well |
| 35:13 | helping yourself focusing on yourself you know being number one taking care of self without any regard for the |
| 35:20 | consequences for other people and so Christ he admonishes us to again |
| 35:25 | deny ourselves hear that we are sinners have confidence that we are forgiven because he has all done all things well |
| 35:31 | for us and through the power of the spirit then not in ancient anxiety as if somehow we |
| 35:39 | have to earn it but through the power of the spirit then breathe out |
| 35:45 | those good works that Christ has called us to do and do so more and more |
| 35:51 | because indeed scripture is clear works are necessary because faith without works |
| 35:56 | and is dead in the name of Jesus amen |
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