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If you brought a Bible and invite you to turn to James chapter two, and we’re in that that place that if if you’re a Bible student and you’re you like to be a nerd about it. Um, James two is the place that you know of faith without works, right? That’s that is the passage everyone just loves to go to and instantly debate. And so I get the joy of walking us through that together this morning. Um, James, just by way of introduction, is the half brother of Jesus. Jesus have siblings? We saw that in in the first section that we studied together. I want to comment. I do have a pink Bible this morning. I hope everyone has been enjoying that through this series. I feel like it gives me a little more fire when I speak, a little more passion with pink. I don’t know what it is. So, James, uh, we’re going through it together. And the emphasis of James is about being bold. And when you study the book of James, you’ll note that when James discusses to the churches that he’s writing to or the 12 tribes scattered abroad to the Jewish people, he’s really writing to the Jewish Christians that he writes in the imperative form meaning for those of them who have come to know Christ that are that are called into this world to live for Jesus, he’s saying to them, this is what it looks like to live a Christian life passionate for the Lord.
And so when he begins his story for us, chapter one, we discussed the idea of trials and temptations. What does it look like for us as believers to go through those and stand for the Lord? He comes to chapter two, and one of the trials and temptations that he discusses is favoritism. We have the tendency as as people in our selfish minds to to show or play favorites with people. And then with the early church, the temptation for them became between rich, the rich and the poor. And James, what he says is he discusses the idea of treating the rich people better than the poor people, is that the poor people essentially lives live life closer to the Lord because they’re dependent on him every day and trying to see his needs. And so James identifies for them that those that they think really are poor tend to be the ones that are rich in the Lord. And so James discusses for us the importance of not playing favorites, but to treat all people equal, because we are all created in the image of God. And and he uses in verses 14 to 17 the idea of the gospel to teach that to us, saying, there are two types of people in this world. There is Jesus, and there is those who need Jesus, and we all fall under that needing his mercy. James outlines for us at the end of chapter one and verse 27.
He specifically says that pure and undefiled religion are for those who care for the widows and the orphans. And we pointed out the significance of this, that that we understand. We truly love God when we do things, expecting to get nothing back in return. Sometimes in religious mentality, we have this idea that if we live to the standard of religion, we sort of put God in a place where he owes us. Uh, I live this lifestyle, and I walk this particular way and obey these specific rules. And God owes me because I played, I played the fiddle, I lived the rules, I did. I did what my religion required me to do. And the truth of the matter is that God, God owes you nothing. God doesn’t even owe us the next five minutes of life. But as Grace offers it to us. And we understand what that relationship with God is all about. When we go into this world and we just love people regardless of what we get into return. In James 127, he says, the widows and the orphans, when you’re loving them as Christ would love them, you you understand what it means to live in relationship with God. Because when you love people that have nothing to give, it is about giving yourself away for the sake of Christ. James chapter one and verse 18 and 19, and verse 22 of chapter one, and then in chapter two, in verses five and six, when James speaks to the church, he continues to reference us as the beloved.
Meaning when we we live in this world, it walks with this understanding. We live for Christ in this world because we understand just how much we are loved by Christ in this world. We do nothing to deserve his love and we do nothing to lose his love. God. God continuously is pursuing you for relationship with him. God came to this world, died on a cross, that you may know him and enjoy him for all of eternity and placing your faith in him, it reconciles you in relationship to God. And James continues to remind the church as he goes along throughout the book of James that you are the beloved in the Lord. Regardless of your past, Jesus has come for you. Looking forward to your future with him. Jesus has come for you. It’s the love of the Lord that inspires and encourages, offers hope for us, for for a glorious future. And it’s our faith that continues in relationship with him today. It’s the understanding of just how much God loves you, how much God has given for you that spurs you to live a life for him in this world. And James comes to James chapter two and verses 14 to verse 26, the end of the chapter. And he carries this idea that faith without works is dead. Meaning when we have faith in Christ, faith aligns itself with works.
When God created us, he he designed us for a purpose being made in his image. We are intended and designed to reflect his glory in this world. Now, what James isn’t saying for us is that you earn your salvation by the works you do. Let me let me just lay a background for understanding of that and and the idea of salvation. Ephesians two eight and nine. When you start the book of Ephesians, in chapter two, Paul outlines for us this idea of salvation. Let me just talk to you about this. You can look at it if you want, but in chapter two and verse one he says this about us in our relationship with God, you are dead in your trespasses and sins. When we talk about death in Scripture, it means separated from God in relationship. All of us are born that way. All of us are created with the image of God, meaning we were designed for the purpose of reflecting goodness and glory in this world. But being born in this world, in sin, we are separated from our relationship with God. And the Bible says that is death for the very reason you were created. You do not maintain or have your dead in that. But Paul comes to Ephesians two eight and nine and it says, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.
And so when we talk about the idea of salvation, what Paul says is, is that faith, when you place your faith in the finished work of what Christ has done for you, God has given you this gift of salvation in Jesus. Apart from anything that you’ve done, meaning you’re not going to boast in it when you get to heaven. And God says, how did you get here? None of us are going to stand before him and say, God, is it because I was awesome? But rather God. It was because of your grace. For by grace are you saved through faith? Not of yourselves. It’s the gift of God. We exercise faith for salvation. It’s not of works. Ephesians two eight and nine says, Faith is not a work. But a trust. A trust in the accomplished work of what Christ has done on your behalf. It’s not of yourselves. The Bible tells us Ephesians two eight and nine. The sinner is saved by faith, that in second Corinthians 517 that we become a new creation, old things pass and all things become new. In Second Corinthians five seven, the believer then walks by faith that faith isn’t just about salvation, but it’s it’s the growth and the maintaining of of the Christian life. We continue after salvation to put our faith and the trust in the one who gives us the ultimate hope in him. Hebrews 11 six says, without faith it’s impossible to please him. Romans 1423 and whatever you do apart from faith is sin.
Meaning this. You’re saved by faith alone, through Christ alone. But your faith was never intended to be alone. Faith is not just what we believe internally, it’s how we behave externally. The way that we know that someone has placed their faith in Christ is that their life demonstrates it. In Second Corinthians 517, when it tells us that you have become a new creation, the only evidence that we have this morning that you’ve truly put your faith in Christ is that Christ gives you a a new heart, a new perspective, and living life in this world, and you demonstrate it. There is fruit in your faith. James comes to James chapter two and verse 14 and says this. What? What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith, but he has no works, can that faith save him? James is saying, is it even real? If Christ truly transforms your life and you understand how much he loves you and everything that he’s given you, and he’s laid his life down for you, that you could spend eternity for him, and you show no response and loving that God back who sacrificed everything for you? Was it even genuine to begin with? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, go in peace, be warmed and be filled, and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body.
What use is that? Even so, faith, if it has not works, is dead being by itself. We talk about miracles sometimes when we read Scripture and you see the evidence of miracles that take place when especially when you read the life of Jesus and the things that he does in the Gospels. Can I tell you, out of all the miracles that God desires to work in this world and all the things that he wants to do for us when we think about a future and a hope in Romans eight talks about taking the curse that’s on the earth and recreating a new earth, all the things that God desires to do, and all the sin and all the pain and all the sorrow that God desires to remove. You know, the greatest miracle that God works. Rests in the heart of you and me. I’m. Jesus’s purpose in all of that is that we might know him. Jesus’s purpose in coming to this earth is that our hearts might be reconciled to him. Meaning this morning, as we gather together, the miracle that God is working among us is the transformation of our hearts. And the beauty of gathering together as a congregation before the Lord is that we get to see God working that miracle in us through one another as we seek to live out what Christ is doing within our hearts. And so he says in verses 15, he he outlines that for us that that when we come to know this God, he begins to move and change and shape us and mold us into the image of Christ.
And our lives begin to demonstrate the glory and goodness of who Jesus is. And it’s useless for us to come to know this Lord and not demonstrate the beauty of who he is in this world. And so he says to us that when we go into this world and we encounter needs, the way that we demonstrate the salvation that Christ has brought to us is through the working of Christ on the external part of our lives. When James is writing this passage, it’s as if he’s writing to people that say something like this. Someone comes to them and they say they have a need. And the answer of the church is to say, you know what? I’ll pray for you. If someone comes to your front door and they say, I’m hungry, and you’re thinking you’ve got a full fridge in the back, but you’re like, you know, I’ll just pray that God provides. But the answer is this that if Jesus is working his miracle in your life, transforming your heart, that God wants to utilize you in those moments to not only meet that need, but then to proclaim the love of God that transformed your heart to give to those that are in need. You are the mouthpiece for the Lord. He gave no other creature the ability to speak and profess the goodness of God.
So that when Jesus works in your heart and in your life and you see practical needs to be met in this world, that you go forth to meet those needs, but you proclaim the glory of who God is and what he’s done for you as beloved in the Lord. If you see someone in need without clothing and in need of daily food. And one says to them, go in peace and be filled and warmed, and yet you do not give them what is necessary for the body. What use is that? Even so, faith, if it has no work, is being by itself a dead faith. James as he discusses this, is really writing out for us a prescription. A prescription of what the Christian life should look like. We could say it like this A flower has no ability but to look like a flower, and a Christian has no ability other than to look like Christ. God works that miracle to manifest that within our lives. And so James, in this passage is writing a prescription to a disease that’s affecting the church. You think about when you go to the doctor’s office. A doctor sometimes can have the tendency of writing different prescriptions for different needs. Meaning? Um, yesterday I was up hiking in the mountains, and a few times I thought about what if I fell off this cliff? That would not be good, right? If I fall off a cliff, the tendency is I’m probably going to break something.
More than likely it will be my leg if I go to the doctor for a broken leg. Here’s this prescription. Don’t walk on your legs, right? No exercise for you. No soup for you, right? I don’t know why that’s coming out. Seinfeld’s anniversary. Uh, the prescription is no exercise. If if I’m suffering from just lack or poor health, I go to the doctor. A different doctor then could prescribe for me. You know what you need to do? You need to exercise, right? Different prescriptions, fitting different needs. When when James talks about the Or excuse me. When Paul talks about the idea of salvation, he tends to write to Greek mentality, Gentile mentality out of pagan religions. And so he says to them and they’re questioning, they’re saying, Paul, what do I need to do to earn my salvation? Thinking about their religious past, what can we do to prove to God our our worth and and what we need to to validate to him that we should be saved? And Paul says to him, no, if you think you need to earn your salvation, you’ve got it all wrong. For by grace are you saved through faith and not of yourselves. It’s the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. But when you come to James, James, in this instance is writing to to the Jews.
The Jews were intellectuals. They understood good God’s Word. They could even quote God’s Word. But what was happening in the lives of the believers, these Jewish Christians, is that they weren’t living God’s Word. And so James prescription to them was to demonstrate the salvation that God has brought forth into their lives. God’s grace saves us for the purpose of living for him. James is teaching to the Christian life that following after Jesus is more than just Bible studies. I want to say this, but don’t take it out of context, okay? We have a tendency in an American church. We are intellectually driven. And I think that’s that can be a good thing, right? God gave you a mind and he says it a few times within Scripture. Mark chapter 12, verses 29 to 30, love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your what mind? God gave you a mind to exercise in him. But here’s the tendency when we want to get real spiritual, rather than going out and doing things for the Lord, we just decide to do more Bible studies. Study the Bible, right? Don’t take that out of context. God desires for you to study the Bible, but God doesn’t want us to all just gather together in a cluster and just study the Bible all day. God wants us to go out and to do things for him. I heard this illustration. I’m sorry for the name I’m about to call you, but they say this Christians are a lot like manure, right? Meaning when we when we hump all together and clump together like that, it just gets really stinky.
But when you spread us out, we fertilize the land. I don’t know if fertilizer is much better, but. But if I’ve got to choose between the two, I’ll pick a better illustration later. Make me fertilizer and not manure, right? I don’t know where that’s going. God’s desire for you. Yes, it’s to study his word. It’s to know him in the depths of that. But it’s not to hold on to it. It’s to do something with it. And in fact, in James chapter one, before he gets to chapter two and tells us to live it, he tells us that very thing. And the exercise of his will, he brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among his creatures. But prove yourself doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. It’s those who think that they’re spiritual because they’re intellectually smart when it comes to Scripture. But the primary purpose of the Bible isn’t to give you intellectual knowledge. The purpose is to transform your life. Studying God’s word is good, but it’s not intended to be all that God desires for you, that you come to know him and then live for him in this world. Which is why James says at the end of verse 17 in chapter two.
Even so, faith, if it has not works, is dead. Being by itself. You don’t just learn about the faith, but you live the faith. James point is this that faith is more than an intellectual belief. Maybe the idea he’s caring for us as he opens up this portion of scriptures to say this. I would be concerned if I claimed to know Jesus, but showed no evidence of Christ within my life. I would be concerned if I claimed to know Jesus. And that means I read. I read about the faith and say I believe it based on an intellectual knowledge, but I give no indication of a heart transformation through a life that was transformed by the power of Christ. If you simply understand the word, but it’s not being lived in your life, there is reason to be concerned because what Jesus desires to do is to transform you from the inside out. James takes the thought a little bit further, and I think he scares us on purpose here. This is an intentional point that he drives home, but he says in verse 18 and 19, but of someone may well say, you have faith, and I have works. Show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works. And then he says this. You believe that God is one. You do well. The demons also believe and shudder. Meaning whoop dee doo if you have this intellectual knowledge of God, if it’s not being demonstrated within your life.
Even the demons believe when it comes to writing theology books. In fact, the demons could write better theology books than many religious works done today that people try to pass off as having been influenced by Christ. They understand theology better than us. But he even adds a little thought to it that even the demons have this intellectual knowledge that does them no good. But look at this. They also shudder. There’s an intellectual knowledge that takes place, and there’s also an emotional response to God. Meaning it’s impossible in faith to still come to God with an intellectual understanding of him and an emotional response to him, but still not acknowledging him as Lord of your life. When you read within the Gospels and you see the response of the demons as Christ would come before them to cast them out, it was always the same professing who Jesus was and trying to get away from him. In acts chapter five, when Jesus comes before a man who’s demon possessed tells us, bye bye, legions. It’s not excuse me, it’s Mark. Chapter five. By legions he’s possessed. They come to Jesus and they say, Jesus, don’t cast us out. And Jesus then casts them into the pigs, and then they jump off a cliff. Right. Because the Jewish people aren’t supposed to have pigs. Right? And so Jesus casts them, cast out the demons, but the demons profess who Jesus is intellectually knowing who he is.
They have an emotional response to his authority, cowering out of his power. But still their faith is not affected by Christ. Saying to us any declaration of faith that does not result in a changed life and good works is a false declaration. When Jesus comes into your life. He transforms your life. Faith is more than an intellectual knowledge. Faith is more than an emotional belief. What faith involves is a surrendering of your will. Now, don’t get me wrong when it comes to intellect, when it comes to emotion, I think God desires for your joy just to be full in all of it. I love the book of Psalms, and someone ever says to you that Christianity needs to be emotionless. You can just smack them around and say, read Psalms, read Psalms, you fool. Write Psalms is a poetic, emotional book. It’s it’s something that’s to stir within us this joy in the Lord and seeing the goodness of who he is. And God desires that, I think, in us as it’s rooted in him. But in all those things, what faith involves is a surrendering of our will to God. In verse 20, James even says very simply to us, but are you willing? Are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow? That faith without works is useless. Are you willing within your life when you understand just what Jesus has done and transforming you just to confess and say something is wrong here? Are you willing to surrender yourself to him? Recognizing that you aren’t king of this world.
But he is. Faith without works is useless in what God does is he saves us for a purpose. I shared a little bit of Ephesians two eight and nine, but let me reference this verse in verse ten. It says, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. God’s desire for you before you were even created is that you would just display his glory in this world. I love the thought of the way Paul describes this in Ephesians two eight and ten. The the word for workmanship that’s underlined on the screen is poema, which is where we get the English word today for poem. For we are his poem. Meaning your life is designed to demonstrate the beauty of who Christ is in this world. And as you surrender to him and you allow the image of God just to be made known in this world, as you are created to be his mouthpiece. God is writing in your life and through you this beautiful poem in the world. And the question James asks is, are you willing? The only reason we as believers wouldn’t manifest the glory of God in this world is simply that. We aren’t willing. The reason we struggle to demonstrate the beauty of who Christ is is simply that we, we have made ourselves a king above and beyond what Christ desires to represent in our own life.
We we aren’t willing. And the reason maybe is a non-believer. We well, the reason as a non-believer, we don’t manifest the glory of who God is in this world. And living for the purpose we were created is that we aren’t willing. Jesus came to save you, to rescue you, to transform you. That we, in our willingness to surrender to him, he might transform us. And when Paul gets to verse 21, he gives us then two illustrations of two people, both Abraham and Rahab. And when Paul gives or excuse me when James gives these two illustrations, I think it’s intentional as to the people that he picks for us in the examples that he chooses, because in choosing Abraham and Rahab, James couldn’t pick two people that are more opposite from each other. I think you know that person in your life that you you are exactly not like them at all. You know that if you’re locked in a room for a while, for a couple days, you might kill them, right? That that’s Abraham and Rahab. You they would go at it together, I think if they lived at the same time existing in relationship together. Let me, let me, let me let you know why Abraham was a Jew. Rahab was a Gentile. Abraham was a godly man. Rahab was a sinful woman, a harlot.
Abraham was the friend of God, while Rahab belonged to the enemies of God. When Joshua goes into Jericho, Rahab is part of the people that are in Jericho that’s going to fight against the nation of Israel. And Rahab ends up exercising faith. These two people couldn’t be more polar opposite from one another, but the one thing that they have in common. Both of them exercised faith. And between those two examples, all of us as human beings find ourselves resting. The one who is called good in Abraham and the Rahab, the harlot who is enemy to God’s people. And somewhere in all of that, we all fall to say to us as we look at this passage of Scripture, regardless of where you are in the spectrum, there was always hope for us and resting in Christ. If Rahab can turn her life around in trusting in Jesus and Jesus transforms her life, the same can be true for us. When James gives these two illustrations, I think the crux of understanding the whole point of what James talks about starts in verse 23. It says this and the Scripture was fulfilled, which says, And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. And he was called the friend of God. James in verse 23. Quotes from Genesis chapter 15. In Genesis chapter 15, Abraham has done nothing in his walk with God to ever earn any salvation in Christ.
Abraham has simply trusted in God and what God has said. And so it says in quoting Genesis 15 six. It says it was reckoned to him as righteousness. The word righteousness or this reckoning, excuse me? Some translations say counted. It means to put to one’s account. When you consider Abraham before this moment, the Bible is illustrating for us that Abraham is spiritually bankrupt before God. Acts 15. He’s or excuse me, Genesis 15. He’s done nothing to demonstrate any any need to merit salvation in God, but in his spiritual bankruptcy, he’s come before the Lord, and God has counted or reckoned it to him as righteous. And so it says to us in the Scripture was fulfilled. Meaning. In verse 23, Abraham has demonstrated his salvation. And when you skip back up to verse 21, the Bible tells us the way he’s done that. It says, this was not Abraham, our father, justified by works. When he offered up Isaac, his son, on the altar, you see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected and the Scripture was fulfilled, which says, And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. And he was called the friend of God. God comes into Abraham’s life. God credits his righteousness to Abraham’s count. Abraham then lives that life, and demonstrating his salvation or fulfills the calling that God has placed upon him. And he demonstrated it. He demonstrated it by offering Isaac as a sacrifice.
His faith was working with his works, and his faith was made perfected because of that. Abraham demonstrated the saving grace of God in his life. James is using that to say, this should be the evidence of our own life, that we demonstrate the saving grace of God. When someone comes to me and they say that I know Christ as my Savior, the only evidence that I have that they truly know Jesus. It’s through a life that demonstrates it. The only way that any of us could truly understand that someone gets the gospel, and the gospel is changed their lives. As by the life that they lead in honor of Christ. So the idea of justified first means this as relates to salvation, that we’re declared right. But it also means this, that we demonstrate the righteousness that Christ has given to us. We live for the King. And so James goes on and he says at the end of this passage, you see, you see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone, that they’re demonstrating their salvation. And in verse 25, in the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messenger and sent them out by another way? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. Rehab gives us a wonderful illustration. And sometimes in the life we feel like we get to the place that maybe we don’t deserve God’s love.
And I’m going to tell you, if you’re at that place, then welcome to understanding what the gospel is all about. None of us do. None of us in ourselves have any reason to hope because God doesn’t owe us anything. But God, knowing we are sinful, still chooses and pursues you for relationship. And Rahab, if she can put her faith in God and live in honor of him. And God takes this lady who lives shamefully in life and uses her as a shining example in James chapter two of what it means to follow the Lord in this world. Then just imagine what God can do in your life. Abraham or excuse me, Rahab and Abraham come before the Lord, and they just demonstrate the beauty of the transformation that Christ brings to their lives. And answering this question, are you willing? Are you willing? So we can all run the risk of living the life that James talks about here. As Christians, we could all run the risk of living a life of manure. Don’t do that. It’s gross. It’s not even a good word to say in church, right? We could all run the risk of becoming intellectually knowledgeable in God’s word, but not living God’s Word. We can all become people that are just full of emotion on on Sunday and just praising God, but on Monday just be flat lined. And even the demons shudder.
Maybe one of the warnings, I think, of us for church today in America is that we’re really good at playing churchianity rather than Christianity. One of the things that used to drive me nuts. Here’s a pet peeve in the early church. Or excuse me in the 90s in the church is there was this thought of of contemporary or excuse me, contemporary or conservative? Right. You choose church based on what you like contemporary conservative, you know, I’m the contemporary or I’m the conservative, and I want church that meets me like that and this contemporary conservative ways. And can I tell you if if we pit church that way in our lives, we’re missing the primary point that God has created his church for, and that’s this. We should be asking the question, what does it take to reach this generation of people that they may come to know the Lord and worship him and grow in him in relationship? I could care less if it’s contemporary or conservative, has nothing to do with pitting ourselves in those directions but to simply say, God, you’ve called me in this world to represent you in this world. What does it take to reach this world for you? And whatever it takes, that’s what we’re willing to do short of sin. Contemporary conservative. Call it whatever you want, but we care about people and we want to reach people, and we want to see them come to know the Lord and grow in him.
There’s nothing to do with isolating ourselves in that way. So here’s the danger of a church. When a church marries itself to a particular generation and a particular culture, it always runs the risk of making itself irrelevant to the next generation and the culture to follow. It’s not about gathering together in our Bible studies and just hunkering down as the world falls apart around us, but becoming all things to all people and proclaiming the truth of God that we may reach them. And asking just that question, God, what does it take to reach the hearts of people in this world? And we will praise you in the way that speaks to the lives of those around us. And we will worship in truth and the way that impacts hearts to the needs of the people and the lives of those around us. God. Rather than marry a culture or a particular time, we just become all things to all people for all generations that your church may stand in power proclaiming your name and that faith without works we recognize as dead. But God, we live. We live for that truth. Knowing the transformational power that you have designed within us, you have created us as a beautiful poem in this world to proclaim your goodness and glory. Second Corinthians 13 five says this examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith, and prove your own selves. It’s to say if all you have. As an intellectual profession of Christ, but no demonstration of faith in Christ.
James is saying, I would be concerned. We’re no more better than a demon in that instance. Maybe even worse because at least a demon has an emotional response. At least when a demon thinks about Christ, something happens to them. So if all we have is an intellectual knowledge, but there is no spur within our lives to ever demonstrate that there is such a sickness that exists within our hearts, that we need to examine what’s taking place and simply say before the Lord God, I recognize where I am right now. But God, if Rahab even has hope. So there rests hope for me and God. I know that as you have created me, your desires, that the beauty of who you are could be reflected in this world. That I could be a part of a beautiful church, that you are represented in God. That just demonstrates the beauty of who you are in this world, that me and myself have become a beautiful poem for you. That you, as your church has become a beautiful poem for you, that his people in need, whether it be widow or orphan, someone without clothing or someone hungering that God, we can come to them in that need and just simply say, God has transformed my life. God has given me hope. I want to meet your need and love you the way that Christ has loved me because I care for you, the way that Jesus has cared for me and giving everything for me, I, I give to you expecting nothing in return because of the miracle of what Christ is doing in my life.
I didn’t earn it. But by the beauty of who he is, he has transformed me. It’s about time I let it go. I stopped being afraid. I start hunkering down in Bible studies, but I take the Bible out into this world and I just demonstrate the beauty of who Christ is. To every generation and for all people. So let me ask you this. One is, have you trusted in Christ alone? Let’s stop trying to earn God’s love. It’s an insole. I mean, what more can Jesus do than he’s already done by coming and giving everything for you? Stop trying to earn his love and just trust in it. The second is this if you trust in what Christ has done for you to ask, is there is there a change in your life? The beauty of what Christ is doing from the inside out. Do you even see it? And then that desire that he’s put within you. Are you sharing it? Are you living as that beautiful poem? Maybe you asked this question. Are you willing? I heard Joe Dirt say this once. Life’s a garden. Dig it right. Well, maybe as Christians, we would say it like this. Life’s a poem. Live it. Live it for the beauty of who he is. As he desires to allow you to demonstrate him in this world.