Sermon Tone Analysis

*James 4:5-10*

*Steps to a Successful Christian Life*

 

“Do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, ‘He yearns jealously over the Spirit that he has made to dwell in us?’

But He gives more grace.

Therefore it says, ‘God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’

Submit yourselves therefore to God.  Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.

Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Be wretched and mourn and weep.

Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.”[1]

There is appointed a day when each individual must stand before God.

Unbelievers will stand before the great white throne as described in the Apocalypse [*Revelation 20:11-15*].

Before God, each lost individual shall receive the judgement he or she has earned as they are formally sentenced to separation from God and from His goodness for all eternity.

In a similar manner, all who are redeemed by the grace of God must stand before the Judgement Seat of Christ to receive the divine assessment of their life [*2 Corinthians 5:10*].

Standing before Christ the Lord, no one will be asked whether he has amassed wealth, or whether she was popular, or whether she felt good about herself.

We each will give an account of our life as we shall stand as open books before the Judge of the entire universe.

What will be revealed for us who are Christians is whether we have been successful in our life as Christians.

Writing the Corinthian church, Paul spoke of that time when we shall appear before the Lord Jesus.

He wrote, “According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it.

Let each one take care how he builds upon it.

For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.

If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.

If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire” [*1 Corinthians 3:10-15*].

Ultimately, we will be called to give an account of how we have conducted our lives.

The divine review appointed for Christians is not to determine whether they are saved or lost; the review is to demonstrate the perfection of Christ’s work in their lives.

This is the point that disturbs me.

Many people profess to be followers of Christ the Lord; however, their lives show little of His perfecting work.

Though I am not judge of any man, I am appointed, as is each Christian, to be discerning about the fruit produced in the life of those confessing Christ.

For if the fruit is bitter, it is because the root is bitter.

James has confronted professing Christians with the knowledge that those who position themselves as friends of the world—loving the present life more than the life to come—set themselves in opposition to God.

For the child of God, this places them in the position of the loss of rewards that might otherwise be granted.

More immediately, it means that the child of God will experience diminished intimacy with the Father because the child has sacrificed access to God’s throne and knowledge of His will.

Those who are unknown to Christ are even now under condemnation.

Such people do not merely position themselves as friends of the world—they are fully identified with the world.

Therefore, the Bible refers to them as “earth dwellers.”

They only delude themselves if they imagine that God will overlook self-centred lives to accept them into His Kingdom.

The focus of the message this day is to examine James’ words to discover the steps necessary for a successful Christian life.

I am not primarily focused on outsiders to the Faith at this time.

Nevertheless, as I begin the message, I am compelled to offer any who are not believers in the Risen Son of God and who are sharing the service, mercy and life through Christ Jesus the Lord.

Before moving any farther into the study today, I want to take a moment to point any such individual in our service to the life that is found in Jesus the Lord.

The Word of God verifies our experience and innate knowledge that we are sinners.

The Word declares in dark words that censures all mankind:

 

“None is righteous, no, not one;

no one understands;

no one seeks for God.

All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;

no one does good,

not even one.”

“Their throat is an open grave;

they use their tongues to deceive.”

“The venom of asps is under their lips.”

“Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”

“Their feet are swift to shed blood;

in their paths are ruin and misery,

and the way of peace they have not known.”

“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

[*Romans 3:10-18*]

 

No one should imagine that any are exempt from this divine condemnation.

Neither should any Christian think himself or herself better than others because they have received grace.

Though we who are believers are redeemed, it is not because we deserved God’s mercy.

Our condition is accurately described by the Apostle.

“You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind” [*Ephesians 2:1-3*].

We are constrained to confess that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” [*Romans 3:23*].

We, as is true of all people, “were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another” [*Titus 3:3*].

When the Apostle lists the list of those who are excluded from heaven (those who are unrighteous, which category includes the sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, men who practise homosexuality, thieves, greedy, drunkards, revilers, swindlers), he concludes with a sobering statement: “And such were some of you.

But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” [*1 Corinthians 6:9-**11*].

As sinners, we were “separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world” [*Ephesians 2:12*].

We were condemned and under sentence of death.

The Bible informs us that “the wages of sin is death” [*Romans 6:23*].

We perhaps knew about God, but we did not know God.

We did not have access into His presence and though we perhaps practised a form of religion as a formality, it was nothing but show.

Though we may have felt good about our efforts, we knew that we were lost and we had no freedom from guilt.

Condemned, we had no way to influence God to show us mercy.

However, God is merciful, and demonstrating His compassion for us, He provided a means for our salvation.

“While we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” [*Romans 5:6-8*].

God sent His Son into the world to provide an infinite sacrifice because of our sin.

Jesus, the Son of God took on Himself the sin of each of us.

“For our sake [God] made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” [*2 Corinthians 5:21*].

Knowing our condition and knowing of God’s provision, all that remains for anyone to have freedom from condemnation and to be accepted into the Family of God is to accept the sacrifice God has provided.

The Bible offers life in the Son of God.

This is what is written.

“If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”

Summarising this truth, Paul quotes the Prophet Joel, “Everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved” [*Romans 10:9, 10, 13*].

Certainly, it is our prayer that each individual sharing the service today has received the life that is found in Christ Jesus the Lord.

My prayer is that each individual to whom I speak this day has received the life that is found only in Jesus the Saviour.

One truth that is often neglected by the modern pulpit is that those who are redeemed reflect the character of the Father.

This is a central theme in John’s first letter.

Remember, John was writing professing Christians, providing the evidences of a transformed life.

Listen to a portion of what he wrote.

“Do not love the world or the things in the world.

If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world.

And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever…

“Little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.

If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him…

“Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.