James, Modern Apps for Our Faith Part III

I work pretty much the other six days of the week or they say something like, you know I can't find what I really like or we're in between churches or we're you know, it's you know There's just there's a lot of different things going on right now Or my kids are in a lot of activities on Sundays and that kind of deal and so forth You know, one of the best ones I remember some time ago. I heard from a business guy and I asked him the question. Well why aren't you going to church and he said oh I did that I'm done and And you know, so he was sort of kind of back in my face a little bit about it. I said, okay Well, would you mind telling me what what do you know what happened? He said well for the you know the last 20 some years I Went to church taught Sunday school First then went to church. I woke up one morning and I said this is our last time. We're not going anymore. I Get up every Sunday now and play golf. I And he said no and I'm not telling you any more than that I said, okay so You know, I guess there's people that tried it and it just didn't work for them one guy plays golf every Sunday interesting But I've never had someone say to me Well, that's the some, you know ponderous heavy question that I can't figure out therefore. I'm not gonna go to church It's always has something to do with You know the church thing There's something about church. It's hard for them. Church is boring church is predictable churches You know gets political if you get inside of it churches are relevant. My folks got hurt there or how about this one? The church is full of Yeah, so you've heard that one too hypocrites, right? I hear all those different sort of superficial excuses and if you want real evidence that people Really do want to connect with God But it's maybe not The church where it's happening Think about this. I mean on Easter weekend on Christmas Eve especially Christmas morning after 9-eleven. I mean the church is packed multiple times over People what because they're true they want to connect with God and So well, the only place I know to go to do that's in church. So they go I remember after 9-eleven the weekend after 9-eleven 9-eleven was on a Tuesday that Sunday. We were as full as an Easter weekend. I remember that and We were excited. We said this might be the beginning of something really really great You know a new renewal in the church the next Sunday It was like to right back to where we were and that was the case with just about every church I I talked to everywhere in America now you might think yeah, well see those folks they got religion when they were scared But I tend I looked at ourselves and I said, well, I wonder maybe they came to church and they said, you know No, I know why I don't go every week. So I'm not going back You know, I I know this can sound like I'm maybe Pointing a finger. But remember there the three that are pointing back here. So it's like let's look at ourselves for just a minute And ask ourselves the question because this is implicit this is what James is talking about in the passage that was read About How we treat others Greatly affects their response to God. I mean everybody Seems to want to connect with God. They just They're just not sure how to do that And how many of you've heard people say well, I need to go to church to do that. I can do it in my Own way, right? I mean I can do it on the golf course or in my backyard No, I I rarely see people carrying a Bible or anything else around on the golf course I Rarely see people, you know or hear of people having some great revelation from God in their backyard But I suppose that can happen. It's it's more this though They say to me things like and we've talked to folks They say well, you know, I went to church and I didn't really connect with anybody or I went to church and I didn't find That there was anything there for me You know where I am in my part of the journey or I didn't feel like I really what here's a listen Oh, it's important. I didn't fit in that well And this is particularly challenging here in our part of the world the more traditional part of America Fitting into church is this is very challenging, you know for some people they come into church and maybe they're gonna try going back to church again for the first time in a while and and Well, they're used to the traditional church. So they said well, yeah, I went to church and man, you know, it was really different I mean like They didn't make robes on and there wasn't any like Big choir or no, I stood up and I was supposed to sit down. I sat down. He's supposed to stand up I didn't know, you know, there was no order of service in the bulletin that made me real nervous I didn't know how long it was gonna go I mean and this and Yet they left her traditional church because all that stuff was there and they didn't like it It was so predictable that it didn't make sense to them and they didn't it didn't challenge them And so they're kind of caught in between. Well, I didn't like this, but I don't know if I know that So which one do I go to and and so you see then they say well, I just don't fit in there I guess, you know, I fit in golfing all just fine with my golfing buddies. I fit in hunting I fit in, you know With the cooking class people that I go to cooking class with I fit in In the workplace I fit in My aerobics class, but I just don't fit in with those church people I Don't fit in and that's really on my heart tonight Church is for church people. I'm not one so I'm not going to go on besides More I think about it, I'm not sure it's really worth all that much effort. So I'll just invest it some other way Um the friends if church is for church people that means Christianity is for church people and that means that Christ is for church people and Everything in the Bible that I know says something different. The Bible says that God so loved the world That he gave his only Son And so we have some thinking to do About the rest of the people as we saw in the video people maybe who don't have as much stuff The least of these as John referred to them But it may not even be people on that end of this of the economic spectrum In fact as I thought about this for us today, I feel it's really more Applicable across a broader spectrum of things I think there are people all over Pittsburgh today walking or driving by churches Looking in there and thinking, you know, I don't know what they see in there. I'm not sure why they're going there I'm just I just don't fit in there I'm not one of those church people so I'm gonna go shopping or I'm gonna go do whatever I do on Sunday That's what they're thinking maybe just maybe a few of us might feel Gosh, I want to do something about that It's so awesome when you really do come to know the God That revealed himself through his son and the church that is to incarnate His presence in the world today now the best way I can sort of associate this and maybe give you a word picture and I'm gonna ask my lovely associate Jaden to come up with this this particular object and this is gonna help Cement this into your mind now if you're participating in Oakland or in the cafe This is gonna come sort of right in the screen. But here here he comes and let me help her get this opened up here All right, you pull on that side now Let's make sure that people can see this. There we go. That's perfect. Thank you. Jay. All right and what we have here friends is a All right, the four of you over here. Just be quiet. What we have in here is what friends? Thank you. So good to know that Thank you. I can get back into this but this yeah, that's a ladder with a rung down here and A series of rungs and of course the top up here and as I thought about it this way What I think James is sort of saying is We need to be very careful Not to see ourselves It's like sort of up here in the things of God One to keep climbing higher and looking down there below at the people at the bottom of the ladder maybe Away from the ladder just a bit Who are looking up there and thinking boy, you know, I want to connect with God I want to know what it means to maybe understand my purpose in life. I want to have Some identity with what maybe God has for me, but watch I don't know how to get from here To here Because there's a whole lot of rungs missing on the ladder And I can't shimmy up the side And you all up here seem to be in a little different land and you know the Bible in inside out and and you lift Your hand up when you worship or you have some kind of code that I don't understand and you know And and maybe I just don't I just don't what's the word? Fit in I don't fit in so I'm down here and and you're up there and there's this chasm kind of between us and The longer I go on in ministry the more I'm convinced that that's sort of the way that a lot of people See the church and themselves and friends. It's a challenge I just believe we need to own on your outlines if you're taking notes as we mature in our faith One of the things that we have to do is we have to see the struggle or the plight of the unchurched people And can I just remind you of a very scary statistic now listen to this and write it down Because you're not going to believe it when I tell you 82% of the people in our country United States of America are unchurched That's right We've all these churches. You say well just look how big this church is that but let me just tell you Most churches are empty and Christianity as a whole is on the decline in America, and there's a whole lot of people down here Now I'm not saying these people don't want to connect with God or they don't only say they don't love God but they just don't have any connection with the church and If we don't understand their plight their plight is they don't know how to get from here Up here where there's great things going on. There's fellowship and there's community and there's people sharing stories and there's people discovering things like we saw in the video and there's you know, there's fun things to do and there's there's Purpose and meaning and there's all these, you know Life changing experiences, but but they're not part of it and they don't know what to do about it We've got to see that that's an issue And that's what James is addressing He's saying don't allow this sort of separation to develop and he says at all costs number two we must avoid the trap of Partiality or favoritism and he's very specific in his illustration about that being an economic thing Now I'm gonna pause and just tell you as I looked at this and thought and prayed about it. I Don't see that being a big issue in our church context I don't think we show favoritism in terms of people's money. I just don't think we do we don't Value as you saw the way we all come some dress differently up down whatever. It doesn't matter We don't care how you got here where you live. It doesn't matter But I really did some interesting out of real fun time citing this passage and I had a couple extra weeks to do so and I got down to right I got some of my really important But not often used reference books out, you know I felt like Nicolas Cage and what is that house of her treasury of secrets or whatever it is you know, he's he's looking through all this trying to find his way into what does this mean and and the word for Don't show favoritism. That's right there that we read In James, okay that word favoritism very first verse This is the only time it appears in the entire New Testament in the Greek and it's made up of two Greek words Pros upon and Lombano and what it's saying is this and those two Greek words when melded together and you go back and young and You understand the etymology and how these words came together. Here's what it means is he's saying Don't be like someone who doesn't care because God pros upon Lombano God Lifts up the face and looks into the eyes and shows love And what he's saying is when you so partiality That word partiality what you're doing is you're turning away from those in need. That's what that word means That's the opposite of God who lifts up the face and looks in the eyes and lets the let's you know that he loves you and James is exhorting us. She says to not let there be a gap a Separation between those of us who are in the end and those of us down here Who maybe don't have really the tools or don't understand or don't know how we can get up there In other words, he says let's include everybody in this marvelous plan of salvation because Someone included us when we needed it Now I can't think of some of your thoughts right now because I've struggled with them, too Well, if you're thinking, you know, I really like the people that are up here. I like to hang out with these people And if I go back down here, you know, I might fall into some of the same traps I was in before, you know the same bad habits, you know waste time I Drink too much. Whatever the thing might be that you were doing down here. I Like it up here. These people are kind these people are caring down here These people are selfish and they're out for them and you know what? I live down here for a lot of years I want to stay up here now. Don't pull me back down them with these These people down here and I I've heard all those arguments before and I actually thought at times, you know Do you pick my friends? I'll pick the friends that have the same sort of interests I do and so on but listen, what is that? That's showing partiality like there's something about these people. I'm just not gonna look at I'm gonna look at the people. I really like and want to be with You know in these uncertain times. I think there's a lot of people that are looking at the church and Looking at God and saying I'm not you know I have maybe it's time to really get connected. There's something that I can trust and count on and believe in and We are seeing people come in, but I'm not sure we're seeing them stay the way that God intended and here's why it's because I'm not sure Enough of us Have decided we can can do one or two things We can climb down this ladder and get down and mingle with these people and get to know them and become their friends or at the very least You know we can We can put another Rung in the ladder somehow I can do this Make it work so that maybe it's not quite as far as the gap. All right Then go on down the line and just make it a little easier for them to get up The next step that's what we've got to do. You know the definition of Mercy friends is to show compassion to show care to show concern for those Who don't have? What you have and that's something that only God Can help us understand and friends one of the ways that I know that people are really hungry for this Why do I know this pool of people is growing is because every ministry that we have Outside of the worship experience what we call church is is really almost full of people who don't go to church Our counseling center has a lot of people who don't go to church, but they come to the church for help our Marriage mentors ministry has people who whose marriages are in trouble, but they don't go to church They need help in there, but they come to the church for help there our priority to job sort of Reorientation ministry helps people and there's a lot of people there don't go to church, but they come there I mean Take the car cruise is church for some people. I mean, that's when they come and that's the closest They ever get to the church. They feel like well, you know, I'm Went to church Friday night. That's great This is true, I mean I was I Had a layover in the Las Vegas Airport this last week I was away for a week and had to stop there in the way I'm walking in the airport and I hear this happens me everywhere. I go. So I'm used to it now Pastor Jay Pastor Jay and Two folks came over and they might even be either, you know right now. So, um, they were lovely folks I'll just call him Nick and Betty that wasn't their real name, but they said hey, we're Nick and Betty And then of course they said what are you doing out here in Vegas a gamblin I said, yeah, yeah Brought the offering out. I'm trying to double down on the offering. I said see what you know, see what I can do here You know a little behind Carol wasn't with me. It could it looked really bad. You know, it's like and Nick and Betty said well, hey, it's really good to see I and I said well You know, I I'm sorry. I don't know You guys attended 9 11 and 6. Oh, no. Listen, we're car cruise members Now, you know and then we talked about that and it was great and we had a nice time Let me just tell you two things that struck me about that one They didn't have to even say anything about me I mean they could have seen me go by and done what some church people would have done which is Look who's out here Look where he is I bet he's got his pockets full of money from the church and he's gonna go get him I mean and then gone back and taught those small group and it would have been some big little Fire going about you know the I mean that kind of rumor stuff. That's how you get started, right? But they had the heart that Went out of their way to identify themselves. I really appreciate that and They identified themselves as car cruise members whole new category Now I hope believe there might even be some folks from the car cruise here today that just This is your first time and I'm glad you're here and I want you to know the car cruises a Way that we try to somehow understand that hey, we want you to Enjoy that time together, but there's a whole lot more than just our cars and our bikes and our toys There's a life that we share together And I'm glad you'd come and at least check that out and loved ones It's really imperative that we just get serious about this Last it says we must discover the joy of mercy triumphing over judgment We've got to discover that this isn't gonna happen if we don't get intentional about it We've got to specifically Start to lean into the reality that there are folks out there who will not make it without somebody coming alongside of them Now I really don't believe that Many of us who've walked with the Lord for a long time look down and hear from the ladder and say well these people are Just losers and I don't I don't think that's an intentional thing on the other hand. Neither. Do I think watch? I'm just being honest here. I don't think a whole lot of us Intentionally come down the ladder and mingle around or even you know, hang on arm over the ladder and reach down Because we're real busy up here, you know, I've been part of small group ever since North Way was established It was one of my fundamental commitments and I've been in one for 28 years. I've been several but twice I Left the group I was in to get another group started with some new people in The 28 years of this journey and both times the group that I left up here in the ladder They hoffed and puffed and eventually over the course of a number of months blew up And either left the church or just got mad And then I know and maybe it's just a pastor thing I don't know but whatever it was it it was a sad thing because if I mean Wasn't like I just didn't show up one week. It was for several months I said, you know, I feel the Lord calling us to get another group started so I'm gonna come down and Mingle around and get some new people in and do a new group and and these folks somehow this And I just let's take the eyeballs off of me for a second How about your group when's the last time you had someone new in your small group? I've had people say to me, you know, we've had the same small group on we're in our ninth year now We haven't had a single new person. We've got a big fence around our group and we really like it Well, you know, I understand we really like it and I understand that you get real intimate and deep and all that kind of stuff But you know what? You also need to understand that there are people out there who will never come to Jesus Until you open up that group and put a chair in the middle of it and say hey Let's add a chair and believe that God wants to fill it with somebody else Now, why do I know this is true because it is who Jesus was and let me just quickly Touch on a very important passage look up on this screen. You'll see it's Philippians chapter 2 It's where the Bible says Jesus lived up on the very top of the ladder and he had fellowship with the Father and the Spirit But here's what Philippians says your attitude should be the same as that of Jesus Christ Jesus who being in very nature God did not consider equality with God up here something to be grasped or held on to But Made himself as nothing came all the way down the ladder taking on the nature of a servant And being made a human likeness Found an appearance as a man. He humbled himself and became obedient to death even death on the cross. You see Jesus left the top of the ladder and came down and lived amongst us and Suffered at our hands and died on the cross for our sins and That's the model that we could we are called notice this Paul doesn't say hey here's something to think about he says what? Have this attitude So it's a commandment to us that we can't just look Dispassionately at people who are on outside of the church family and say oh, I don't care about them We have to have that and one other thing that I looked at that was quite fascinating to me is this James, okay, James who wrote this book that we're studying James was Jesus little brother. I think pastor Doug said that last couple weeks But if you missed it How many of you know it was kind of hard for James to believe that Jesus was really the Son of God. I mean how many of you could believe that your brother little brother was the Son of God? I'm sorry. I had a different kind of family then I mean Is this Okay, my little brother never ever would have thought I was Anyhow, it says in Scripture that James at first Resisted, but when he finally did acknowledge that Jesus was who he said he was he became The top leader and the church in Jerusalem He was the leader of the Jerusalem Church the one who wrote the book that we're studying So he was up here hanging out with the Jews who were Really most everybody in the early church the first church, of course was Jewish including Jesus and so they were up here and there was this big controversy about all these Gentiles who were down here and They put all the they pulled all the rungs out and said well You got to do all these different things and Acts 15 is a great little study about different rungs They pulled out of the ladder to make it hard for Gentiles to get up into the church and there's a scripture I think I put it on your outline turn it over. Here's what James the brother of Jesus says It is my judgment. Therefore that we should not make it difficult For the Gentiles who are turning to God But you know what? That's a good verse to put in your brain and memorize or put on your refrigerator We should not make it difficult. That should be a verse that we maybe make is sort of a Rally cry for our whole church. We shouldn't let's eliminate the barriers Let's make it as easy as possible for people to climb this ladder Let's get as many rungs in place as we can because friends There's folks out there who really need to be part of things and they're they're just they're looking for a way They just don't know how to do and if we don't do it, they're not gonna make it Because let me tell you something. How many of you ever tried to walk on your own? with the Lord And fine, you know what? You just can't do it. You need the support the fellowship of people So I want to encourage you Oakland that whole area Is growing and there's this opportunity abounding in that part of the city here in the North Hills area those of you who are Participating in Wexford. No, I just read this week There's 250 families a week moving in now and starting just in that one Westinghouse development Let alone the other I mean this isn't some dying area thought This is a place where folks are looking to get connected and it's our privilege is our opportunity to build Listen, are we gonna build bridges or walls? Are we gonna put up, you know security lights or searchlights for people That's the question that we have to answer James says let mercy lets your compassion. Let's let your concern for people triumph over judgment And the judgment would be I'm up here. You're down there too bad for you Because they said in the end, that's what's gonna happen Let your mercy prevail Your forgiveness you can show people how they can make it all the way Whoops there we go. This is not well constructed. So forgive me for that But understand that You can show people how to do this and with just a little bit of Encouragement and support from you they can make it while you get the picture. I'm not gonna mess with that You understand? Let me end with this. I am New of a man in my neighborhood that Lost his job and a lot of people have been losing jobs lately In fact, I am gonna think of of him and pick up this last piece because this happened literally happened in my life And I felt a little awkward because I didn't know him. Well, but I I wanted him to know that I cared about him So I took him out to lunch and That's not gonna work and we had a great lunch together and we talked about Life and he talked about his opportunities and what was going to be happening. And you know Know what? He said to me He said I'd really like to be part of a small group where people studied the Bible Because I'd like to know what the Bible has to say and I was able to say to him You know what? I think I can help you. And so as we speak This friend or neighbor is about to join a group I'm going to study the Bible Friends Let's have the kind of courage that says to people I'm coming down from my comfortable little place and I'm gonna do my best to include you because everybody wants to belong They want to belong they want to connect with God and they want to belong to the church that they just don't know how and It's our responsibility to help them. Let's listen as Amy comes to share this song with us Just think about the person that helped you at one time To belong to belong to the family of God because once you get that down once you know, that's true every door of hope opens in your life Oh Let's stand together, please Lord that is the prayer of Our hearts that nothing can separate us from your great love and that we do belong to you We Pray for much grace to show mercy and Love and affection and care for those who maybe don't know how to get in But want to to want to share those same gifts We ask you Lord so that you'd be glorified not so that we can become big or somehow Make a name for ourselves, but that you might be glorified. Do what you need to do.