Since
the new millennium began about 26 million Americans tuned their TV’s to
CBS to watch Survivor. One of
the 16 castaways attempting to be the lone survivor who would walk away with a
million dollars was a 24-year-old youth ministries major from Seattle Pacific
University named Dirk Been.
When Been’s
group of contestants was told they could bring one luxury item to the
remote island in the South China Sea, Dirk Been took his Bible. I couldn't imagine not having my quiet time
with the Lord for a single day, let alone thirty-nine, he said. Being
forced to eat beetle larvae was not the most difficult ordeal Dirk had to face
on the island. The hardest aspect of being marooned on a remote island was not
having anyone around who shared his beliefs. The spiritual isolation was
tortuous. He said: The other members of the Tagi and Pagong
tribes couldn't understand where I was coming from. When faced with the
tensions of insufficient food and sleep (not to mention members of your tribe
stabbing you in the back in an attempt to win a million dollars), I
didn't have someone I could really open up to and pray with.
Fortunately
for Dirk, he felt the support of family and friends at home praying for him
each day. The day before he left for Malaysia,
about 70 members of his Church gathered around him to pray for his health and
safety. It was awesome! Dirk recalls. And it didn't end there. Even though I was
alone and lonely as the sole Christian, I felt the presence of the Lord in
incredible ways.[1]
(I have to admit, I’ve never watched a single episode
of Survivor. Stupid human behavior,
backstabbing and big-time in-your-face attitudes sounded too much like Jerry
Springer or Judge Judy for my taste.)
There is
another ongoing survivor event, the survivorship of genuine Christian
living in an increasingly postmodern, and even hostile, anti-Christian
world. People with commitment to follow
Jesus Christ unreservedly are something of an endangered species. The world views committed disciples of Jesus as
dinosaurs; we are like outdated and disconnected Neanderthal thinkers in a
space-age, Internet era.
Do you
feel that way about you living in this world? One person said it well, If you feel content in this moral
darkness, you might be part of the darkness!
There is a
truth to those negative statements.
While we don’t care to dwell in the negative, the reality is
glaring:
a. This is not a Christian world
b. This is not a Christian country
c. Randolph
County is not a Christian county
And so,
the proposition before the house this morning:
If you are a Christian, committed to following Christ, you
will find some tough roads ahead. You
will be in the minority, and the world won’t care that you don’t like it!
If you
find yourself in that category, there is some really good news for you. It is found in the book we will study this Summer
– The Epistle of James. This is the Christian Survival Manual. It is all about being a Godly person in a
Godless culture.
James has
the kind of practical advice you need; he tells us important things a Christian
worldview needs, and about attitudes and convictions a Christian must possess –
actions we must take – if we are to be survivors, practicing Christian disciples
in a world that is spiritually stone cold dead!
Consider
some of James’ advice we will study:
1.
How to have joy in the midst of your
trials
2.
How to grow strong in your faith.
3.
How to hang in there, when your “hanger”
is broken.
4.
How to love others, and not lose it
5.
How to control your tongue so you can act
wisely.
6.
How to make morally wise decisions.
7.
How to be unselfish, and still contented.
8.
How to be patient!
9.
How to pray and see real answers
If those
sound like some helpful topics for Christian living, well – you’re on the right
track. Join with me and be a survivor –
a practicing
Christian disciple!
Here are three realities you
can count on about being a practicing Christian follower of Jesus Christ:
1.
Christian Survivors know the Owner of the
island.
This letter is from James, a slave of God and of the
Lord Jesus Christ. I am writing to the
“twelve tribes”—Jewish believers scattered abroad. Greetings!
James 1:1(NLT)
James is
the younger (half) brother of Jesus Christ.
Six months before the cross and resurrection, he wasn’t even a
believer. Yet in this epistle he calls
himself a servant of God and
the Master, Jesus. The word is doulos
or bond-slave. It is the word you would
use to describe someone who voluntarily chooses to enslave himself to
another.
James was
doubtless one of the 500 who saw the resurrected Jesus, and became a
believer. He later became pastor at
Jerusalem, and presided over the Jerusalem council mentioned in Acts. His life was profoundly changed from one who
thought his brother was crazy, to one who willing to be (and was) martyred for
his brother. James was a Christian
survivor – he knew the Owner of the Island!
It is
important to see this incredible focus on being committed to serving Christ in this
epistle James wrote. In it are more than
60
imperative commands. And
there are only 108 verses in the whole book.
It’s like every other sentence James is telling us to follow the same
road of commitment to the One who owns the island.
There are
some pretty life-altering decisions to make if you take him seriously. And so, at the outset of this study, in the
spirit of full disclosure, let me be honest here to announce that investigating
James, with the intention of obeying God with whatever we find out, can
be extremely hazardous to the health of anyone playing at discipleship.
However,
any believer who knows the Owner of the island also knows He demands loyalty
from would-be survivors:
No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you
will be devoted to one and despise the other. Matthew
6:23(NLT)
So, if
this morning you cannot say for certain that you have nailed down your
relationship to the Owner – a saving relationship in Christ, based on His
sacrifice on the cross for you, then the first step is still before you in becoming
a Christian survivor – you
need to be saved. Tell Him you repent of
sin, you want to be His child.
Then,
publicly take your stand with Him at the close of this service. There will be an invitation time, and you
will be invited to come to Christ, accept His name. You can identify with Him in public Christian
baptism.
That’s how
you get to be friends with the Owner of the island. First we know him…
2.
Christian Survivors know the value of difficult
times.
Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind
come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested,
your endurance has a chance to grow. So
let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect
and complete, needing nothing. James 1:2-4(NLT)
There is a
difference between troubles that tempt us and those which test us. The “troubles” of our text refers to a test;
like when you get behind the wheel in a car you’re thinking about buying; it’s
a test drive. God never tempts us (see James 1.13). Years ago my seminary professor, Dr. Graham, shared
that difference with his class. He said
that an easy way to remember the difference between a tempting and a testing
is:
a temptation is from Satan, and it is designed to make you fall;
a test is from God, and is designed to make you stand tall!
So, when
you have a difficult time before you, pay close attention which direction
you’re being driven. If you’re being
driven to fall-away from God and His kingdom, then it is designed
to make you fall – a temptation! On the
other hand, if the difficult time creates a desire to find God’s direction – to
compel you to prayer, and fellowship with believers for comfort, and Bible
study for answers, that’s a test from God designed to make you stand tall.
God is doing something; THAT’S
why you can rejoice!
Mike
Huckabee, Southern Baptist Pastor-turned-Governor tells about …a pastor in
Florida who used to have count-it-all-joy parties every now and then. He so believed this verse, that when he would
face a difficult situation, he would call friends over to his house. He'd say:
I want you to come over to my house for a party.
They'd say, Oh, is it a birthday? Did you get a
promotion? What's the situation?
Well, he'd say, I'm going through this incredibly
difficult crisis right now, and I'm having a count-it-all-joy party. We're going to celebrate the difficulty,
because I know that this difficulty is going to bring something of special
value to my life. I don't know what it
is yet, but I want you to come and count it all joy with me.
Have any of you ever thrown a count-it-all-joy party? I haven't either.
To tell you the truth, it's tough to consider troubles
joy, because it hurts. Yet it's important to realize that unless we go through
some test, we will never know what our faith is made of. [2]
It is hard
to accept the difficult times, but becoming mature in the faith demands those
times. The Message New Testament
translates verse 4 this way:
So don’t
try to get out of anything prematurely. Let
it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any
way. James 1:4 (TMNT)
We may
kick and groan about difficulties in our lives, but often that is what God is
using in His perfect way to change us into His useable
servant.
Christian
survivors know the Owner of the Island, and the value of difficult times, and…
3.
Christian Survivors trust God.
If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will
give it to you. He will not rebuke you
for asking. But
when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided
loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the
wind. Such people should not expect to
receive anything from the Lord. Their
loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in
everything they do. James 1:5-8(NLT)
There is a
certain abandoning of ourselves – putting-aside our options
when it comes to really trusting God. The
Lord is pleased to give us wisdom and all the help we need. Did you know that God isn’t into making us
guess; He wants us to have His wisdom. The King James Version says God won’t upbraid
when you ask for wisdom.
Literally
translated from the language of the New Testament, that means God won’t make
fun at you when you
ask.
However, receiving
that wisdom does come with a price. If
we are going to have His wisdom, we must trade in ours. That means setting-aside our prerogatives and
agenda, and being obedient to Him, because trusting God, is all about Christian
(Christlike) living.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. Proverbs 3:5-6(NLT)
When you
trust Him, it means you take your stand with Him – publicly, privately, and any
other way He demands.
The
personal cost of trading your wisdom for God’s is total trust; and THAT
is no small price! It’s pretty easy to “trust
in the Lord with all your heart” when everything’s going your way. But there are times when things come unglued,
and you want to fall back into a nice, safe, “hidey-place” all secure, safe, warm,
and comfy.
Now, some
of us even get that way before our world comes apart. For me, it’s the limbo place of not-knowing
what’s coming; I just hate not knowing! Just
tell me it’s the worst…or the best; just don’t tell me to wait!
Many of
you are aware that the throat cancer I went through last summer qualified me
for Veteran’s Benefits. It seems “Agent
Orange” in Vietnam caught up with my vocal cords, and while I was going through
28 rounds of radiation we started receiving a temporary benefit until they
could categorize my status. This past
week Uncle Sam called me in for that evaluation.
I was
nervous about the limbo of not knowing; what they were going to say: since the radiation worked, you don’t need a pension? Or, were they going to open Uncle Sam’s arms
and pocket book, making my retirement plans a lot easier? This is the kind of thing about which I
normally obsess. I go to sleep wondering. I wake up every hour worrying, and get up in
the morning moody and distracted.
And that’s
really good for a pastor who is supposed to be an encourager to the flock to have
faith; cast all your cares on Him…take it to the cross and leave it there!
Well, here’s
what happened. I confessed my unbelief
to God; I gave it to the Lord with a promise that I would take a deep breath
and allow Him to take over my worries.
The appointment
with the VA happened, and the doctor told me that since this type of cancer,
caught this early, rarely returns, my “disability” had disappeared. Now, I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer,
but you don’t have to have an interpreter for this one. No disability means no pension…thank you for
your service; you’re on your own!
After the
appointment Elizabeth and I went to lunch at Panera Bread and thanked God for
His kindness to us and how He has provided for us through the thick and thin of
5 decades of life together.
Now that
doesn’t sound like the success story that usually
goes along with a sermon; except for the fact that success is not to be found in
having a pension or not having pension; success can’t be found in an easy retirement
or pinching pennies. Success in this
answered prayer was that I didn’t think about the situation the rest of the
afternoon and night. In fact, I didn’t
think about the pension or no pension thing until the next afternoon when I was
trying to think deeply about what I’d tell you today about trusting in the Lord. That’s when it hit me square in my dull
little mind that I had just lived what you needed to hear. I trusted Him, and he overcame the biggest
spiritual battle I ever have…my own lack of faith. He gave me faith to rest in His promises!
Here’s the
way the apostle Paul puts it:
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all
he has done. Then
you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as
you live in Christ Jesus. Philippians
4:6-7(NLT)
And so,
it’s decision-time, and we need to ask the questions:
Do you
want to be a survivor? Do you need help
living Godly in a Godless culture?
·
If so, you have to ask the Owner – it’s
His island!
·
If so, you will learn the value of
difficult times – it’s His wisdom!
·
If so, you will have to learn to let go
and trust – it’s His way!
Be a
survivor! Let the peace of God that the
world can’t possibly know guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Let the church say “Amen”!
Go to VIDEO
[1] Greg Asimakoupoulos, Naperville, Illinois; source:
phone interview© 2000 PreachingToday.com / Christianity Today, Inc.
[2] Mike Huckabee, Practice
of Patience, Preaching Today, Tape No. 78.
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