1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,560 Season two of Love in Context podcast welcomes you. Get ready for engaging unscripted conversations 2 00:00:08,560 --> 00:00:14,240 with your hosts, Ben and Spencer. Our mission remains unchanged to explore the Bible through 3 00:00:14,240 --> 00:00:19,880 the powerful lens of love. In this new season, we'll embark on a journey together, unearthing 4 00:00:19,880 --> 00:00:24,000 fresh insights and gaining deeper understanding of how we can love God and live out our faith 5 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:29,360 in practical ways. So let's dive into this season of Love in Context, where love in the 6 00:00:29,360 --> 00:00:35,920 context of the Bible intersect to transform our lives. Welcome to the Love in Context 7 00:00:35,920 --> 00:00:41,880 podcast with Ben and Spencer. I'm Ben. I'm Spencer. No, you're not. I'm Brian. Brian 8 00:00:41,880 --> 00:00:47,580 Qualls is with me today. So if you remember in the last episode, Spencer and I said that 9 00:00:47,580 --> 00:00:53,680 summer in Alaska is stupid because it's like kind of trying to schedule people. So this 10 00:00:53,680 --> 00:00:56,840 week Spencer and I were talking and we're like, Hey, we gotta we gotta get some stuff 11 00:00:56,840 --> 00:01:03,320 recorded. But our schedules are not meshing. So Brian, thankfully, stepped in and he said, 12 00:01:03,320 --> 00:01:06,780 Hey, I'll record a couple of episodes with you. Yeah. And so he's going to be with us 13 00:01:06,780 --> 00:01:12,120 here for this week and next week. Yeah, sounds good. And a little reminder of people who 14 00:01:12,120 --> 00:01:16,560 you are. You are the one of the pastors at the Salvation Army and you are also bailing 15 00:01:16,560 --> 00:01:21,360 on us and you're moving somewhere else. Right. So we've been here for three years now and 16 00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:27,000 we're being appointed back to the lower 48 at the end of June. So just about five weeks 17 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:33,120 left until we're having to move. Yeah. So we are a big fan of both Brian and Shelby. 18 00:01:33,120 --> 00:01:36,640 And so it is a huge loss to our community, but it is a huge gain to the community he's 19 00:01:36,640 --> 00:01:41,280 going to. So if any of the listeners are in his new community, you are getting some great 20 00:01:41,280 --> 00:01:47,120 people. Thank you. I appreciate it. So this is actually our first episode in our new series, 21 00:01:47,120 --> 00:01:52,400 our new series on the Book of James. I thought before we kind of get into it, we might talk 22 00:01:52,400 --> 00:01:58,800 just briefly about the Book of James in general. There is conversation with scholars about 23 00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:04,560 who was the writer of the Book of James because James is a fairly common name in Israel, especially 24 00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:08,760 during this time. It's actually the English variation of Jacob. I don't know if you knew 25 00:02:08,760 --> 00:02:13,000 that. I did. I saw something about that. Yeah. So it's actually, it's actually Jacob. So 26 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:17,080 even when you see James in the Bible, typically their name was probably Jacob. But when we 27 00:02:17,080 --> 00:02:21,040 translate it to English, it ends up being James. Why in the Old Testament is Jacob and 28 00:02:21,040 --> 00:02:25,400 the New Testament is James? Don't ask me. I'm not a Greek scholar. Blame the King James 29 00:02:25,400 --> 00:02:30,640 version. Blame the King James version. That sounds like a fair thing. So there's conversation 30 00:02:30,640 --> 00:02:34,420 about who is this James? Is it one of the disciples of Jesus? Was it the one who was 31 00:02:34,420 --> 00:02:40,860 in charge in Jerusalem? Or is it the half brother of Jesus? And most scholarly opinion 32 00:02:40,860 --> 00:02:45,580 falls on the side of the half brother of Jesus, that he was originally skeptical of Jesus, 33 00:02:45,580 --> 00:02:50,120 but then post resurrection, he's like, oh, well, maybe I was wrong about that. Oh, yeah. 34 00:02:50,120 --> 00:02:55,400 Maybe he is Christ. Maybe maybe he is Messiah. And turns out coming back from the dead, like 35 00:02:55,400 --> 00:03:03,240 changes a lot of things. I guess. Now, if you if you are of the opinion that this was 36 00:03:03,240 --> 00:03:09,040 James, who was the leader in Jerusalem, totally fine. But we're going to proceed with the 37 00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:14,360 idea that this is James, the half brother of Jesus and the most widely accepted. Correct. 38 00:03:14,360 --> 00:03:17,560 If you have a different opinion, totally fine. We love it. Share with us. Share with us. 39 00:03:17,560 --> 00:03:20,800 Yeah, we have a Q&A coming up. And so you're more than welcome to throw something out there 40 00:03:20,800 --> 00:03:26,960 for us. But specifically, the the Book of James, we're going to get into this because 41 00:03:26,960 --> 00:03:31,340 we're going to read the passage that we're going over today, which is chapter one verses 42 00:03:31,340 --> 00:03:37,500 one through eighteen, I believe. Yep. This book specifically, James, the brother of Jesus, 43 00:03:37,500 --> 00:03:45,040 is writing to Jews, Jewish Christians specifically. And the reason I'm specifying this is because 44 00:03:45,040 --> 00:03:50,660 I think people sometimes equate what he's saying and they put it in conflict with teachings 45 00:03:50,660 --> 00:03:57,080 of Paul. And it's not because Paul is writing to both Jews and Gentiles. And James is writing 46 00:03:57,080 --> 00:04:02,080 specifically just to Jews. Right. Well, and Paul has written some letters to the diaspora, 47 00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:08,000 right? To the scattered tribes. Yeah, he has. He has. And his bent is always more moving 48 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:12,880 in towards the Gentiles. Right. More my opinion or my perspective on that. And so the reason 49 00:04:12,880 --> 00:04:17,940 I'm bringing that up is we're going to reference a lot of things. And if you read this book 50 00:04:17,940 --> 00:04:21,920 through American Westernized eyes, you're going to miss a lot of what James is actually 51 00:04:21,920 --> 00:04:26,240 getting at, because a lot of what he's talking about is actually rooted rooted in Jewish 52 00:04:26,240 --> 00:04:30,520 tradition. It's going to reference back to Torah. It's going to reference back to some 53 00:04:30,520 --> 00:04:35,760 things in the Midrash. It's going to reference like traditions of the Pharisees and and various 54 00:04:35,760 --> 00:04:40,820 sects of Judaism that he's going to have a sumpit of knowledge that you know what he's 55 00:04:40,820 --> 00:04:45,680 talking about. And we just want to kind of set that precedent right up front so that 56 00:04:45,680 --> 00:04:49,400 when we mention it, you're not like, what are they talking about? You might say that 57 00:04:49,400 --> 00:04:54,400 anyways, but well, well, and James, James takes the viewpoint of you believe what you 58 00:04:54,400 --> 00:04:58,680 already believe what I believe. Yeah. So it's not a very theologically based book. It's 59 00:04:58,680 --> 00:05:03,840 a very boots on the ground. This is how faith is lived out. But yeah, it's actually written 60 00:05:03,840 --> 00:05:09,000 very much in like, like the wisdom of Ben Sirach or in like a like the Proverbs are 61 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:12,560 written. It's written as this instruction. He's like, you already know what to do. Here 62 00:05:12,560 --> 00:05:17,400 are some things that you should be doing if you want to live for Adonai recognizing Messiah 63 00:05:17,400 --> 00:05:22,560 as Christ. Right. Right. So I'm actually just going to get started here. We'll just go. 64 00:05:22,560 --> 00:05:26,320 We're going to read from the NIV today because Spencer is not here. So we're not going to 65 00:05:26,320 --> 00:05:30,720 read from the NLT. That is his favorite translation. And if that's yours, I love you for it. But 66 00:05:30,720 --> 00:05:36,280 I I don't actually prefer the NIV over something else. I've just read it so long that is the 67 00:05:36,280 --> 00:05:40,920 one I default to. I like the NLT in some cases. Yeah. You know, he's great. I actually like 68 00:05:40,920 --> 00:05:44,640 multiple translations. I think that that's really helpful because it helps you kind of 69 00:05:44,640 --> 00:05:49,860 grapple with Greek. All right. So James, chapter one, verse one, James, a servant of God and 70 00:05:49,860 --> 00:05:55,120 of the Lord Jesus Christ to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations. So like we said, 71 00:05:55,120 --> 00:06:00,320 to the people of Israel. Right. Greetings. Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, 72 00:06:00,320 --> 00:06:04,560 whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces 73 00:06:04,560 --> 00:06:08,960 perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, 74 00:06:08,960 --> 00:06:13,540 not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously 75 00:06:13,540 --> 00:06:18,920 to all without finding fault. It will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe 76 00:06:18,920 --> 00:06:22,920 and not doubt because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea blown and tossed by 77 00:06:22,920 --> 00:06:26,840 the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person 78 00:06:26,840 --> 00:06:31,280 is double minded and unstable in all they do. Believers in humble circumstances ought 79 00:06:31,280 --> 00:06:35,100 to take pride in their high position, but the rich should take pride in their humiliation 80 00:06:35,100 --> 00:06:39,320 since they will pass away like a wildflower for the sun rises with scorching heat and 81 00:06:39,320 --> 00:06:43,580 withers the plant. Its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed in the same way the rich 82 00:06:43,580 --> 00:06:47,520 will fade away even while they go about their business. Blessed is the one who perseveres 83 00:06:47,520 --> 00:06:52,000 under trials because having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life 84 00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:55,800 that the Lord has promised to those who love him. When tempted, no one should say, God 85 00:06:55,800 --> 00:06:59,960 is tempting me. For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone. But each 86 00:06:59,960 --> 00:07:04,640 person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, 87 00:07:04,640 --> 00:07:08,760 after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is full grown, gives 88 00:07:08,760 --> 00:07:12,920 birth to death. Don't be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. Every good and perfect 89 00:07:12,920 --> 00:07:17,240 gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights. Who does not change 90 00:07:17,240 --> 00:07:22,460 is like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that he 91 00:07:22,460 --> 00:07:29,280 might be a kind of first fruit of all he created. So that is chapter 1 verses 1 through 18. 92 00:07:29,280 --> 00:07:34,120 So that is a lot to unpack today. So just FYI, this is not going to be exhaustive. This 93 00:07:34,120 --> 00:07:37,640 is going to be kind of like some springing off talking points that we're going to go 94 00:07:37,640 --> 00:07:42,480 through because James, like I said, has a lot of assumptive knowledge when he's coming 95 00:07:42,480 --> 00:07:47,040 in here. So the first thing I want to do is I want to focus on these first four verses. 96 00:07:47,040 --> 00:07:51,720 Now, he's talking to the Jewish people, and he says to consider it pure joy. Now, a few 97 00:07:51,720 --> 00:07:55,540 weeks ago, Spencer was talking about this word joy that's being used, and the word joy 98 00:07:55,540 --> 00:08:01,120 is actually this idea of giving away joy. It's actually something that exudes from you. 99 00:08:01,120 --> 00:08:05,840 Consider it a pure joy. In other words, consider it a gift or a gift that you give in the middle 100 00:08:05,840 --> 00:08:13,720 of circumstances when you receive hardship, right? When you're going through trials. Now, 101 00:08:13,720 --> 00:08:18,280 the interesting thing about this is if you actually understand Jewish perspective, they 102 00:08:18,280 --> 00:08:23,120 believe that the trials are meant to refine you so that you're a better version of yourself 103 00:08:23,120 --> 00:08:28,760 on the other side. Like you walk through trials because in a good example that shows up frequently 104 00:08:28,760 --> 00:08:35,080 in scripture is this refining process for metal. You have to heat metal up so that impurity 105 00:08:35,080 --> 00:08:39,680 rises to the top so that you can actually scoop impurity out and take it out. If you 106 00:08:39,680 --> 00:08:44,880 don't have fire, you're never going to be refined. So fire is not actually in this sense 107 00:08:44,880 --> 00:08:50,640 a destructive thing. It's a constructive thing. It's actually meant to bring things out of 108 00:08:50,640 --> 00:08:56,800 your life, which I feel like sometimes in the Christian life, we assume everything should 109 00:08:56,800 --> 00:09:03,000 be, I'm going to say it's going to say quiet and peaceful or stress free. And I just don't 110 00:09:03,000 --> 00:09:06,600 necessarily know that that's actually what's going to refine you into the best version 111 00:09:06,600 --> 00:09:08,120 of Christ that you can be. 112 00:09:08,120 --> 00:09:13,920 Yeah, I think there's a delineation we have to make between trials God brings our way 113 00:09:13,920 --> 00:09:21,200 and trials we make for ourselves. For sure, we're trying to avoid trials we make for ourselves, 114 00:09:21,200 --> 00:09:27,360 but sometimes that's also kind of this American Christian, Western Christianized, it's about 115 00:09:27,360 --> 00:09:34,680 comfort. It's about things that the gospel never promises. It does promise trials when 116 00:09:34,680 --> 00:09:37,600 you face trials of many kind, not if. 117 00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:41,520 I think you're hitting the nail on the head, though, too. So let's talk first about these 118 00:09:41,520 --> 00:09:45,360 trials we create for ourselves, because this is not what James is talking about. He's not 119 00:09:45,360 --> 00:09:49,680 talking about when you spend excessively and you end up with a lot of debt and now you're 120 00:09:49,680 --> 00:09:51,920 in debt and you're having to pay your debt load down. 121 00:09:51,920 --> 00:09:52,920 The Lord's punishing me. 122 00:09:52,920 --> 00:09:57,880 The Lord is not punishing you. That is the natural consequences of your actions. If you 123 00:09:57,880 --> 00:10:02,760 spend money you don't have, then you owe it to people that you borrowed it from. I'm looking 124 00:10:02,760 --> 00:10:13,040 at you, America. Sorry. Or literally every state or government agency ever. And we also 125 00:10:13,040 --> 00:10:17,560 do this like, okay, so in our relationships, you've been married for how many years? 126 00:10:17,560 --> 00:10:18,560 Going on six. 127 00:10:18,560 --> 00:10:23,640 Going on six. So you know that if you neglect spending time with your wife, the consequence 128 00:10:23,640 --> 00:10:28,280 of that is that you guys are going to have distance between you. God isn't bringing trials 129 00:10:28,280 --> 00:10:32,960 in your relationship. You're not actually maintaining what he's given you. The trial 130 00:10:32,960 --> 00:10:36,120 in your relationship might be something, oh man, I'm going to talk about some hard stuff 131 00:10:36,120 --> 00:10:41,520 here. You might have a sickness that comes on your kid. That's a trial that God may not 132 00:10:41,520 --> 00:10:45,320 necessarily have brought on you, but it's something that you're in the middle of and 133 00:10:45,320 --> 00:10:51,960 God can refine in you. I was actually, you might have a little personal here. So my youngest 134 00:10:51,960 --> 00:10:58,840 son was diagnosed with autism. And I have very little concern that God is going to completely 135 00:10:58,840 --> 00:11:03,240 take care of him and there's nothing wrong with him. I've been specifying people with 136 00:11:03,240 --> 00:11:07,640 autism. There's nothing wrong with them. They're just, their brain works different. In fact, 137 00:11:07,640 --> 00:11:10,680 after reading all the stuff, I think I might be a little autistic because he seemed like 138 00:11:10,680 --> 00:11:15,820 the lot of things they're saying for him. I'm like, well, I did that. But I was thinking 139 00:11:15,820 --> 00:11:20,960 about this the other day is that God didn't cause autism in my son. That's just how he 140 00:11:20,960 --> 00:11:25,320 was born. Right? And of course somebody could probably get in the thing and be like, well, 141 00:11:25,320 --> 00:11:29,720 you know, God controls everything and God didn't cause this for my son, nor do I blame 142 00:11:29,720 --> 00:11:36,520 God for this in my life. But what he can do in the process of it is he's making me more 143 00:11:36,520 --> 00:11:42,320 empathetic to families that struggle with more severe cases of autism and developmental 144 00:11:42,320 --> 00:11:47,920 delays to the point where I realized the other day when we were dealing with some things 145 00:11:47,920 --> 00:11:52,600 in our local school district where some special education things are getting cut and some 146 00:11:52,600 --> 00:11:56,080 of the funding and things that were taking care of kids with special needs is going to 147 00:11:56,080 --> 00:12:02,760 be challenged that I suddenly was in a position where I never would have been before to step 148 00:12:02,760 --> 00:12:08,600 in and advocate for justice for the people around me because I didn't understand the 149 00:12:08,600 --> 00:12:15,000 plight before. You know what I mean? Yeah. And like that is a circumstance where God 150 00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:21,120 is taking a hardship in my life and he's used it to refine me to be the kind of person who 151 00:12:21,120 --> 00:12:27,120 is a more empathetic, trusting version of Jesus in the world. Right? That it actually 152 00:12:27,120 --> 00:12:33,580 molds me into the kind of person where I step into the chaos to bring peace and ultimately 153 00:12:33,580 --> 00:12:38,800 to bring the gospel, yes, but to bring relief in the midst of chaos. Right? Right? 154 00:12:38,800 --> 00:12:43,960 Yeah. That's beautiful. Yeah. And I think awareness is huge, right? I mean, that's sometimes 155 00:12:43,960 --> 00:12:48,640 that's what the trials are for, to make us aware of things we weren't aware of before, 156 00:12:48,640 --> 00:12:53,320 whether that's things in our own lives, whether that's situations other people are going through, 157 00:12:53,320 --> 00:12:56,920 for sure that's part of the testing of our faith, right? Produces perseverance, yes, 158 00:12:56,920 --> 00:13:01,440 for ourselves, but also for others too, to help them persevere in the midst of their 159 00:13:01,440 --> 00:13:08,000 trials too. And having that mature faith. When I look at people that I think, man, they 160 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:12,840 look like they've really matured in their faith over time. I also recognize they've 161 00:13:12,840 --> 00:13:18,640 probably gone through a lot of trials. So yes, I want that, but we can't resist those trials 162 00:13:18,640 --> 00:13:22,360 in our own lives if that's what we want. Well, and my trial is not going to be the same as 163 00:13:22,360 --> 00:13:27,240 yours because we're different people and God is refining us to do different things. I was 164 00:13:27,240 --> 00:13:32,280 actually, and I think the tendency is to be like, I want to really stress this because 165 00:13:32,280 --> 00:13:36,540 I think it's really easy in Christendom to hear us saying, God's going to bring chaos 166 00:13:36,540 --> 00:13:43,240 in your life to refine you. No, God's going to use the chaos in your life to refine you. 167 00:13:43,240 --> 00:13:45,640 Right, the chaos comes because we live in a fallen world. 168 00:13:45,640 --> 00:13:49,800 Because we live in a broken world, yeah. And he's actually refining you because he's in 169 00:13:49,800 --> 00:13:53,960 the process of putting the world back together through us, right? Through the work of Jesus 170 00:13:53,960 --> 00:13:56,840 Christ and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, we're bringing heaven to earth wherever we 171 00:13:56,840 --> 00:14:02,560 go. And part of that is being better receptacles of heaven, right? 172 00:14:02,560 --> 00:14:08,200 And I think there's beauty in that. Science talks about the universe is trending towards 173 00:14:08,200 --> 00:14:14,080 chaos, right? Trending towards disorder, but God's trending towards order. He's reordering 174 00:14:14,080 --> 00:14:20,160 things the way that he intended them to be. And I think that's where we can place our 175 00:14:20,160 --> 00:14:26,000 faith in a God who's a God of order and reorder too when things break. 176 00:14:26,000 --> 00:14:31,480 Yeah. Well, and so James is encouraging us to take an opposite perspective. He says, 177 00:14:31,480 --> 00:14:35,960 now normally when you have trials, people are like, well, this sucks. He's like, when 178 00:14:35,960 --> 00:14:41,580 you have trials, you go, oh, this is an opportunity for God to do something great. There's a book 179 00:14:41,580 --> 00:14:47,480 and I can't remember the name of the author, but it's called What Do You Do With a Problem? 180 00:14:47,480 --> 00:14:51,560 And it's a children's book. And I've read it to James a bunch of times, my son, James. 181 00:14:51,560 --> 00:14:56,560 And I love it because it says when the crux of the book is like, it's talking about a 182 00:14:56,560 --> 00:14:59,360 problem and it was overwhelming and the kid is like trying to figure out what to do with 183 00:14:59,360 --> 00:15:04,000 it in the end. Says, I finally figured out what a problem is for is to find the opportunity 184 00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:10,000 to make the world a better place. Right? Every problem is an opportunity in disguise. And 185 00:15:10,000 --> 00:15:17,560 so I think often we look at problems as something to be solved rather as like as an opportunity 186 00:15:17,560 --> 00:15:24,360 for the kingdom to be displayed. I was and once again, I want to stress, I'm not belittling 187 00:15:24,360 --> 00:15:28,720 any of the pain you go through with your trial. Right? Like pain is real because we live in 188 00:15:28,720 --> 00:15:34,000 a fallen world. Like there will be a day where we don't deal with this. Right. It's not today 189 00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:38,840 though. And so what we do is this refines us into the be the kind of people that participate 190 00:15:38,840 --> 00:15:44,280 in the kingdom to come and specifically the kingdom to come now for sure. Cause it's already 191 00:15:44,280 --> 00:15:49,240 here. I was having a conversation and you work with a lot of people who come from humble 192 00:15:49,240 --> 00:15:53,680 backgrounds right in the salvation army because you can have people who have been living on 193 00:15:53,680 --> 00:15:59,160 the streets or been unemployed, homeless, addicted. But I had a conversation with a, 194 00:15:59,160 --> 00:16:03,840 with a friend of mine who went to jail for doing something bad. That's usually why you 195 00:16:03,840 --> 00:16:09,840 go to jail. Yeah. That's usually why you go to jail. But we were having this conversation 196 00:16:09,840 --> 00:16:14,640 and, and we were talking, I was actually talking about the book of James and I was talking 197 00:16:14,640 --> 00:16:19,160 about this refining process. And I said, you know, people assume that it's only when you 198 00:16:19,160 --> 00:16:24,240 do the right thing in the wrong situation that you are refined. I said, that's not actually 199 00:16:24,240 --> 00:16:29,180 true because God will take your failure to refine you as well. Because I was talking 200 00:16:29,180 --> 00:16:33,520 to him and I said, I was like, do you believe that now after you've been arrested and been 201 00:16:33,520 --> 00:16:37,920 restored by God, you're a better person than you better Christian than you were before. 202 00:16:37,920 --> 00:16:43,920 And he's absolutely. And I said, even though you failed, absolutely. Because our failure 203 00:16:43,920 --> 00:16:50,360 isn't bigger than God's grace. And so I think, I think one of my encouragements or one of 204 00:16:50,360 --> 00:16:57,040 my pieces that I would give, give listeners is it's better to succeed in the trials because 205 00:16:57,040 --> 00:17:02,040 you're going to save yourself a lot of heartache. But even if you fail, God is bigger than your 206 00:17:02,040 --> 00:17:08,040 failure, significantly bigger than your failure. And he's always going to use it to refine 207 00:17:08,040 --> 00:17:12,760 you to be an ever better image of his son, Jesus Christ. I'm not saying that your consequences 208 00:17:12,760 --> 00:17:16,600 are going to go away because my friend who went to jail still went to jail, still has 209 00:17:16,600 --> 00:17:19,760 it on the record, right? They're going to live with that for the rest of their life. 210 00:17:19,760 --> 00:17:23,920 There's nothing they can do about it. But they do get to choose, am I going to be a 211 00:17:23,920 --> 00:17:27,880 different kind of person moving forward? Right. Yeah. And it's kind of like that book you're 212 00:17:27,880 --> 00:17:32,740 talking about. It's about perspective, right? And that's what James is saying. It's we, 213 00:17:32,740 --> 00:17:37,000 we are going to live in a world where bad things come our way and bad things come to 214 00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:42,220 the people that we love. You know, I'll get a little personal. Last year, my brother suffered 215 00:17:42,220 --> 00:17:48,880 a really tragic kind of medical event. And thankfully he survived it, but he may not 216 00:17:48,880 --> 00:17:54,200 have the doctors were telling us he's probably not going to. And, you know, is it older or 217 00:17:54,200 --> 00:17:58,640 younger brother? He's older. Yeah, he's almost two years older. And, you know, it's just 218 00:17:58,640 --> 00:18:01,880 one of those things that things are hard things are going to come to you. They're going to 219 00:18:01,880 --> 00:18:06,640 come to your family. And it's out of our control. And that's probably the hardest part about 220 00:18:06,640 --> 00:18:11,960 it, right? Right. We can't control those things. What we can control is what do we do with 221 00:18:11,960 --> 00:18:17,920 it? Right. You know, where do we place our, our faith? Where do we place our emotions? 222 00:18:17,920 --> 00:18:23,040 What do we do with our emotions? Who do we go to with those emotions, those kinds of 223 00:18:23,040 --> 00:18:29,400 things? And I think that's what James is getting to here is when you face those things, go 224 00:18:29,400 --> 00:18:34,280 to God. Right. Well, and, and to your point, like actually, as you were speaking that it 225 00:18:34,280 --> 00:18:38,400 prompted me to think about back in Genesis, when Cain is upset that God doesn't accept 226 00:18:38,400 --> 00:18:43,400 his offering. Yeah. Right. He says, why are you angry? Why are you their face downcast? 227 00:18:43,400 --> 00:18:47,560 So these emotions are fine, but why are you angry? Don't you know, if you do what is good, 228 00:18:47,560 --> 00:18:51,400 you'll be accepted. But if you don't do what is good, sin is waiting at your door waiting 229 00:18:51,400 --> 00:18:54,880 to devour you. But you got to conquer it. That's one of my favorite verses, Genesis, 230 00:18:54,880 --> 00:18:59,600 I think it's four, seven. Yeah, it's, it's, it's really early in Genesis. And, and like, 231 00:18:59,600 --> 00:19:02,960 I see this as the same thing. He's like, James is like, Hey, things are going to happen to 232 00:19:02,960 --> 00:19:07,280 you. What are you going to do about it? Right. Are you going to sit there or are you going 233 00:19:07,280 --> 00:19:12,280 to recognize that this is an opportunity for God to work in your life? And also in the 234 00:19:12,280 --> 00:19:15,880 case of like, cause he's talking to these Jewish Christians in a persecuted area of 235 00:19:15,880 --> 00:19:20,520 Rome, right? Cause they're out in the Dyspora and Rome at this time is not super happy with 236 00:19:20,520 --> 00:19:28,920 Jews, right? Or anybody, or anybody really. Rome is not known to be super happy with anybody. 237 00:19:28,920 --> 00:19:33,120 And so, so they're, they're dealing with a fair amount of persecution. And he says, you're 238 00:19:33,120 --> 00:19:37,920 going to face it because of your faith, because of the color of your skin in this point, because 239 00:19:37,920 --> 00:19:43,000 the Jews are different color than a lot of the Romans, right? Because of your religious 240 00:19:43,000 --> 00:19:45,920 beliefs, because of the way you treat people, because of your, because you won't bend a 241 00:19:45,920 --> 00:19:51,960 knee to Caesar, right? You're going to face trials. Yeah. But God's going to do some really 242 00:19:51,960 --> 00:19:56,560 cool stuff in the middle of it. So you should be happy about this, right? Or rather be filled 243 00:19:56,560 --> 00:20:00,160 with joy that you can give out to everybody around you because the work he's going to 244 00:20:00,160 --> 00:20:05,160 do in you is going to be incredible. Right? Yeah. And the, and the, probably the extra 245 00:20:05,160 --> 00:20:10,200 layer on this for the, for the 12 scattered tribes is not only are they being persecuted 246 00:20:10,200 --> 00:20:14,560 by the Romans, they're also being persecuted by fellow Jews. Right? So they have kind of 247 00:20:14,560 --> 00:20:19,840 from both sides that there is no relief from their, you know, from people wanting them 248 00:20:19,840 --> 00:20:27,440 dead really for their beliefs. Yeah. Yeah. No, it is, it is, um, I don't have anything 249 00:20:27,440 --> 00:20:32,640 to add to that because I was good. I told you, man, I got some nuggets of wisdom. Yeah. 250 00:20:32,640 --> 00:20:36,000 Yeah. Yeah. You were preaching on this on Sunday. You're, you're all set for it. Yeah. 251 00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:40,320 Yeah. No, because, you know, and, and you see a lot of that, um, showing up, especially 252 00:20:40,320 --> 00:20:43,280 in like the book of Galatians, when Paul's speaking to Gentiles and then the Jews are 253 00:20:43,280 --> 00:20:47,840 trying, uh, some Jews are coming behind him to be like, uh, no, do this. And he's like, 254 00:20:47,840 --> 00:20:53,560 yeah, don't listen to them. Like, yeah. Yeah. In this case, you know, you're going to have 255 00:20:53,560 --> 00:20:56,120 Romans that don't like you. And then you're going to have your, your, even the people 256 00:20:56,120 --> 00:20:59,920 you love, right? Like the people who are part of your family, who maybe don't recognize 257 00:20:59,920 --> 00:21:06,960 Jesus as a Messiah, you're going to struggle with them too. Right. So as a, as a logical 258 00:21:06,960 --> 00:21:10,040 pulling point for this period, cause he's like, Hey, you're going to face trials and 259 00:21:10,040 --> 00:21:14,800 it has to do its work in you. It's gotta be complete. So if that's going to be the case, 260 00:21:14,800 --> 00:21:18,880 you should probably ask God for some wisdom. Yeah. That's the only place where real wisdom 261 00:21:18,880 --> 00:21:24,800 comes from. Right. I mean, wisdom that that's enduring and, uh, you know, helps us through 262 00:21:24,800 --> 00:21:30,800 those trials. Yeah. And, uh, and we were talking about how this is very similar to the book 263 00:21:30,800 --> 00:21:35,600 of Proverbs or the wisdom of Ben Sirach, but he, uh, James emphasizes that the importance 264 00:21:35,600 --> 00:21:42,080 of Godly wisdom is, um, you got it. Like he takes Godly wisdom and he contrast it with 265 00:21:42,080 --> 00:21:47,840 the, with the, um, wisdom of the world, which is marked by, by pride and selfish ambition, 266 00:21:47,840 --> 00:21:51,960 because right after this, he's going to talk about rich people. Right. And, um, I think 267 00:21:51,960 --> 00:21:55,640 the tendency whenever we see rich people is to assume that all rich people are bad. Sure. 268 00:21:55,640 --> 00:21:58,840 I was like, if you've read Tor, you know, that's not the case because when people obey 269 00:21:58,840 --> 00:22:04,400 God, they follow his word. He tends to bless them, uh, financially, family, and like some 270 00:22:04,400 --> 00:22:08,240 other ways, right? Because look at the book of Job, right? Yeah. Incredibly rich and 271 00:22:08,240 --> 00:22:12,320 then gets blessed again because of his faithfulness. Correct. Uh, wealth is not the issue. Your 272 00:22:12,320 --> 00:22:16,080 wealth being your God is the issue. Yeah. Like your heart is the issue. Your heart is 273 00:22:16,080 --> 00:22:19,000 the issue. Yeah. That we actually talked about that last week when we were talking about 274 00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:25,840 hypocrites, right? Is that, uh, the Bible is forever saying that like the reason you're 275 00:22:25,840 --> 00:22:30,120 doing something matters more than what you're doing. Okay. Now I don't want to say that 276 00:22:30,120 --> 00:22:35,160 the thing you're doing doesn't matter because I think you could take it too far, but, um, 277 00:22:35,160 --> 00:22:41,200 in, in the old Testament, the prophets come and they say, I, God doesn't want your sacrifices 278 00:22:41,200 --> 00:22:46,480 because your hearts are really far from him. Right. So you come and you bring these offerings 279 00:22:46,480 --> 00:22:52,600 and you're doing the things you're quote unquote supposed to do, but it is literally disgusting 280 00:22:52,600 --> 00:22:56,680 because your hearts are so far away from me. Yeah. You know, and, uh, you have, you have 281 00:22:56,680 --> 00:23:01,760 a daughter. Yep. I was like, uh, I understand that as a father, if my son is like, we're 282 00:23:01,760 --> 00:23:07,080 not connected and he's like, he's like, comes and he's like, father, can I please, you know, 283 00:23:07,080 --> 00:23:10,600 he does like, he does the entire process of what he wants, but he's not trying to actually 284 00:23:10,600 --> 00:23:16,400 connect with me. I'm like, dude, we got to talk. Yeah. Like this isn't, this is not working 285 00:23:16,400 --> 00:23:22,000 for me. No, you know, as like, you don't stop manipulating me. I was like, this is about 286 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:26,240 our relationship with each other. This is not just something that you do. I'm not a 287 00:23:26,240 --> 00:23:30,680 vending machine that you pop some codes into to get what you want. Yeah. But if you got 288 00:23:30,680 --> 00:23:35,160 cash, you can give it to me. That's okay. Yeah. Exactly. I was like, I am your father 289 00:23:35,160 --> 00:23:38,320 and I'm going to invest in your life because I love you and I care for you and all these 290 00:23:38,320 --> 00:23:41,440 different things. I was like, but what you're making me feel is you're making me feel like 291 00:23:41,440 --> 00:23:48,040 that relationship doesn't matter. And so like right now what you're doing, it is not appealing 292 00:23:48,040 --> 00:23:54,040 to me. Yeah. But man, when my son and I are in right relationship, he could basically 293 00:23:54,040 --> 00:23:57,920 ask for whatever he wants and we're good to go. Right. Yeah. When I know he's like synced 294 00:23:57,920 --> 00:24:02,280 into who I am. Yeah. It's like that a Futurama meme, you know, shut up and take my money. 295 00:24:02,280 --> 00:24:07,880 Shut up and take my money. Oh, that's so good. Yeah. It's the worst one. Your kids are cute 296 00:24:07,880 --> 00:24:11,800 and then they know they're cute at one point, you know, and yeah, it makes it even harder. 297 00:24:11,800 --> 00:24:15,640 Well, and so like with it, with that idea too, with, uh, with wisdom, because we were 298 00:24:15,640 --> 00:24:20,440 talking about like godly wisdom, right? I think one of the tendencies that we have is, 299 00:24:20,440 --> 00:24:25,000 um, cause like talking about right relationship, um, I had a pastor who said, he's like, you 300 00:24:25,000 --> 00:24:28,520 gotta be really careful when you read the proverbs and because you're, you're like, 301 00:24:28,520 --> 00:24:33,720 oh, well you just apply them literally. Well, some, one proverb says, don't answer a fool 302 00:24:33,720 --> 00:24:38,680 according to their folly. And then says, uh, then another verse says answer a fool according 303 00:24:38,680 --> 00:24:43,000 to their folly. Sure. Right. Okay. So those are contrasting verses. So how do you deal with that? 304 00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:48,520 The answer is relationship. Godly wisdom is meant to be used in relationship with God 305 00:24:49,720 --> 00:24:57,000 because he's going to direct you how to use it appropriately in each situation. And, uh, and so 306 00:24:57,000 --> 00:25:01,560 like sometimes I think we have these, these nuggets of wisdom that God gives us, but rather than 307 00:25:01,560 --> 00:25:05,160 actually walking in relationship with him, which is the first point, right? Consider it pure joy 308 00:25:05,160 --> 00:25:08,520 whenever you face these trials, because he's going to be working within you. So therefore ask 309 00:25:08,520 --> 00:25:13,640 wisdom, ask direction as you're doing these things, what does God actually want me to do? 310 00:25:14,360 --> 00:25:22,680 Right. Like without that relationship, wisdom can, can, uh, this, this wisdom nuggets can be 311 00:25:22,680 --> 00:25:30,040 used really improperly. Yeah. Look at, you know, probably the biggest example of that is Solomon, 312 00:25:30,040 --> 00:25:38,120 right? This guy who is considered one of the wisest to have lived because he asked God for 313 00:25:38,120 --> 00:25:44,520 that wisdom. And then the end of his life is folly because his heart wasn't bent towards God. 314 00:25:44,520 --> 00:25:48,760 Yeah. You know, it's, it's one of those things that it's interesting. Um, we were reading and, 315 00:25:48,760 --> 00:25:54,840 you know, I was pointing this out in, in, uh, Torah when we got to Deuteronomy, it specifically 316 00:25:54,840 --> 00:25:57,880 says, uh, so Solomon's always talked about as being like the wise king. And I think that's 317 00:25:57,880 --> 00:26:01,880 appropriate because he does a lot of intelligent things, but he also ends up being incredibly 318 00:26:01,880 --> 00:26:06,680 corrupt. And if you read in Deuteronomy, it'll actually make the statement where it says, uh, 319 00:26:06,680 --> 00:26:11,800 when the king is sitting on a stone, he's supposed to write out the law, um, you know, daily 320 00:26:11,800 --> 00:26:19,800 meditate on a day and night. And then it says he's not supposed to, um, import horses from Egypt, 321 00:26:19,800 --> 00:26:25,320 and he's not supposed to accumulate a lot of gold and silver. And then you read Solomon's, 322 00:26:25,320 --> 00:26:30,600 um, description, it says he brought horses from Egypt and he made gold and silver, like as common 323 00:26:30,600 --> 00:26:35,320 as, and I was like, the author didn't make a mistake there. He wasn't talking about a blessing 324 00:26:35,320 --> 00:26:39,640 of Solomon. He's actually saying that Solomon stepped out of the law of Deuteronomy, which the 325 00:26:39,640 --> 00:26:42,440 Jews would have understood. They would have understood because they're a lot more familiar 326 00:26:42,440 --> 00:26:47,560 with their texts than we are. Um, because they only had the option of memorizing it, not pulling it 327 00:26:47,560 --> 00:26:53,800 up on a device. Yeah. And you, and you have this issue is that you have, um, once, once again, 328 00:26:53,800 --> 00:27:00,600 this is this issue of wisdom. Solomon had wisdom, but outside of relationship, his wisdom did a lot 329 00:27:00,600 --> 00:27:08,280 to create for himself and not a lot to actually bring about God's design so much to the point 330 00:27:08,280 --> 00:27:13,880 that his kids divided the kingdom. Right. Right. Yeah. It was basically the downfall. It was the 331 00:27:13,880 --> 00:27:16,920 downfall of one kingdom. It actually ended up splitting the kingdom, right. 332 00:27:16,920 --> 00:27:24,920 Which is kind of an interesting idea. This, um, um, I was thinking about this idea of succession 333 00:27:24,920 --> 00:27:30,360 plans, right? Because you're going to be heading down to a new location. We're going to have a new 334 00:27:30,360 --> 00:27:35,720 pastor coming into salvation army. Um, we're in the process of, uh, and they're doing it completely 335 00:27:35,720 --> 00:27:40,520 correctly at our church. Um, our pastor is stepping away from being lead pastor and being going into 336 00:27:40,520 --> 00:27:47,080 doing like a lot of missions. I love it. Right. But this idea of succession is that if you 337 00:27:48,280 --> 00:27:53,960 don't build this idea, if you don't live beyond yourself, right, you're accumulating for yourself. 338 00:27:54,600 --> 00:28:00,040 Like what are people around? Like when they see you, what do they see for like longevity? Are they 339 00:28:00,040 --> 00:28:03,640 only seeing what you accumulate for yourself? Or do they seeing you plan for the future? Yeah. 340 00:28:04,200 --> 00:28:09,960 I was, I was the other day I was, I came home and I was really busy with like work and, uh, 341 00:28:09,960 --> 00:28:14,360 volunteer stuff and all these different things. And I was, my son asked me, he's like, daddy, 342 00:28:14,360 --> 00:28:20,920 will you play with me? And I was, I was like, I was like, Oh buddy, I'm really, and I stopped 343 00:28:22,360 --> 00:28:29,960 and I was like, my son is never going to be five again. Yeah. Right. Yes. I have time to play with 344 00:28:29,960 --> 00:28:36,760 you. And I stopped now. I won't say that every time I have, right. Right. But, um, I felt God 345 00:28:36,760 --> 00:28:41,560 knocking on my heart and he's like, Hey, there are more important things because you have to 346 00:28:41,560 --> 00:28:48,760 live beyond yourself. Like your first priority is to make sure that your sons grow to be people 347 00:28:48,760 --> 00:28:56,680 that take this legacy forward. I got to give them shoulders to stand on. For sure. Um, and I, I think 348 00:28:56,680 --> 00:29:01,800 that's a danger in, in the church when we're talking about, when we, when we're coming back 349 00:29:01,800 --> 00:29:07,560 to this idea of trials again, right? Cause this is the big crux that he starts his book with. 350 00:29:09,240 --> 00:29:13,480 I don't want my children to never have trials because then they're never going to know how 351 00:29:13,480 --> 00:29:19,480 to persevere. I want to walk with them through their trials. So eventually they can do it by 352 00:29:19,480 --> 00:29:25,320 themselves. Um, I was having that conversation with, uh, with a friend of mine and we were talking 353 00:29:25,320 --> 00:29:33,640 about Matthew 10 when Jesus sends out the 12 and this idea that, um, he was giving them the 354 00:29:33,640 --> 00:29:38,920 opportunity to go and step into the chaos because right then all the light was on him, right? All 355 00:29:38,920 --> 00:29:43,000 the heat was coming Jesus's way. The disciples, they may have caught some reflections, but it 356 00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:48,120 wasn't on them. He was giving them an opportunity to know it, go and be the message when most of the 357 00:29:48,120 --> 00:29:53,480 heat was on him because he knew when he left, the heat wasn't going to be on him anymore. It was 358 00:29:53,480 --> 00:29:59,160 going to be on them because you know, Peter and, uh, Peter and John are arrested and sent into 359 00:29:59,160 --> 00:30:04,600 prison and all of them die. Pretty much all of them die except for John prematurely. Yeah. Yeah. 360 00:30:04,600 --> 00:30:09,000 And he knew that the heat was going to be on them. And he says, so like early, he's like, Hey, 361 00:30:09,800 --> 00:30:13,560 you're going to walk with me, but I'm going to have you do as much of this as possible 362 00:30:13,560 --> 00:30:21,880 so that when I'm not here, you know what it was like, you know, and, and, uh, in our churches, 363 00:30:21,880 --> 00:30:29,000 it's so important that we, as, uh, ministers, as teachers, as leaders, we actually learn to equip 364 00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:36,200 people for service. You can't protect your church from chaos. What you can do is shepherd them 365 00:30:36,200 --> 00:30:42,760 in the middle of it and equip them to serve. Yeah. Right. Yeah. And it all comes back to 366 00:30:42,760 --> 00:30:48,520 relationship. You know, um, that's one of the things we've focused on in our churches. How do 367 00:30:48,520 --> 00:30:53,720 we increase our fellowship? How do we increase the quality of that fellowship? How do we increase 368 00:30:53,720 --> 00:30:59,160 our relationship with each other? And then, you know, out of that springs forth commitment to 369 00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:04,440 service commitment to, you know, treating each other like family, right? Somebody calls you, 370 00:31:04,440 --> 00:31:11,000 you show up those kinds of things, but it's born out of, you know, this relationship that you have 371 00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:17,560 with each other. This back half of this chapter is, is kind of to your point is that, uh, James 372 00:31:17,560 --> 00:31:23,240 is going to contrast and he, once again, he's not talking about wealth as a, like a general thought. 373 00:31:23,240 --> 00:31:30,360 He's, he's comparing temporary things to eternal things. And he's like the rich, like, okay, they 374 00:31:30,360 --> 00:31:34,520 got their stuff, but they're like a flower. They're going to die tomorrow. Right. Your stuff 375 00:31:34,520 --> 00:31:40,200 isn't going to go with you. Like your relationships, your children, your legacy, generations, 376 00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:46,760 the good deeds, the life that you put into other people's life, this living in the kingdom of God, 377 00:31:46,760 --> 00:31:50,280 coming back to this Jewish idea, I was talking to somebody about eternal life 378 00:31:51,400 --> 00:31:56,360 and Western ideology. Would you agree that most people look at eternal life as something that 379 00:31:56,360 --> 00:32:01,320 happens after death? Of course. But in Jewish thought, eternal life starts the day you start 380 00:32:01,320 --> 00:32:06,920 walking with God. It's a qualitative, not a quantitative. Yeah. Like eternal life, the day 381 00:32:06,920 --> 00:32:12,280 you say yes to Jesus, eternal life starts, right. Which by the way, would do a lot to shape our 382 00:32:12,280 --> 00:32:16,920 theology in general. Well, it's that kingdom, you know, ideology, right? The kingdom's here today, 383 00:32:16,920 --> 00:32:21,080 not here today, not the pearly gates that you're looking for. And, you know, after you pass away, 384 00:32:21,080 --> 00:32:25,320 but yeah, the kingdom of God is here and it is accessible through the death, burial and 385 00:32:25,320 --> 00:32:29,080 resurrection of Jesus Christ. Sorry. Life death, burial, and resurrection, all of those things. 386 00:32:29,080 --> 00:32:33,160 All of those things matter. I, I've started specifying life because I feel like people 387 00:32:33,160 --> 00:32:37,000 don't realize that the life is what made the death, burial, resurrection so powerful, right? 388 00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:41,400 Right. That he proclaimed this message and then he went and made access to this message. Right. And 389 00:32:41,400 --> 00:32:49,000 his life is what it's probably even more important because he fulfills prophecy, you know, all of 390 00:32:49,000 --> 00:32:53,480 those things to show this is actually God in the flesh. Yeah. As he was promised. Well, and, and 391 00:32:53,480 --> 00:32:58,200 can you imagine, so now knowing that Jesus is the Torah made flesh, when people say, oh man, I really 392 00:32:58,200 --> 00:33:01,240 struggled with the first five books of the Bible. I was like, well, you don't struggle with Jesus. 393 00:33:01,240 --> 00:33:04,520 Right. And he's the Torah made flesh. So maybe you're misunderstanding those books. Maybe you 394 00:33:04,520 --> 00:33:09,560 should read them differently. Read them with the eyes of how does this point back to Jesus? Yeah. 395 00:33:09,560 --> 00:33:15,080 How does, how does this manifest in a, in a person in the way that Jesus did? Yeah. Right. It's meant 396 00:33:15,080 --> 00:33:19,880 to actually be a different kind of life that brings life to all those around it. Yeah. It's not just 397 00:33:19,880 --> 00:33:26,200 rules. It's not just, you know, maybe to our minds, archaic things that the Jews had to follow to be 398 00:33:26,200 --> 00:33:31,960 God's holy people, but what's the purpose? Yeah. Yeah. To be set apart. Right. So I want to, I want 399 00:33:31,960 --> 00:33:34,920 to specify, I'm not going to, I'm not talking about the things that make you inherently Jewish. I'm 400 00:33:34,920 --> 00:33:37,960 not talking about like a circumcision wearing tassels on your robe, but I'm talking about the 401 00:33:37,960 --> 00:33:42,040 Torah as far as like the, I'm going to call it the moral law, even though that's not necessarily 402 00:33:42,040 --> 00:33:46,280 the correct way to say it. It's interesting. I have, I've had this conversation with Christians 403 00:33:46,280 --> 00:33:49,560 and they said, well, we're not bound by the law because Jesus fulfilled. I was like, well, first 404 00:33:49,560 --> 00:33:55,560 of all, that's not what fulfillment is. I was like, but often like Paul will make a statement. He says, 405 00:33:55,560 --> 00:34:00,280 you imitate me as I imitate Christ. So Paul is imitating the Torah made flesh. 406 00:34:00,280 --> 00:34:07,080 Our lives should imitate Torah because Jesus was the Torah made flesh. And he says it himself. 407 00:34:07,080 --> 00:34:12,520 I didn't come to abolish the law. I didn't come so that any mark in the law is gone. Right. It 408 00:34:12,520 --> 00:34:17,240 still exists. And I specify the reason I put a caveat there is because Paul does talk about in 409 00:34:17,240 --> 00:34:20,440 the book of Galatians, he says the works of the law, the things that make you inherently Jewish, 410 00:34:20,440 --> 00:34:25,720 the circumcision and then like circumcision is a big one because they talk about it a lot, 411 00:34:25,720 --> 00:34:30,520 but tassels on the robe, the way they observe Sabbath, right? Some of these things that you 412 00:34:30,520 --> 00:34:37,080 do when you are, you are genetically Jewish, right? They don't apply to the Gentiles because 413 00:34:37,080 --> 00:34:41,240 God has done something different through them. But the other portions, the weightier portions 414 00:34:41,240 --> 00:34:45,560 of the law is what I'm going to call them. Absolutely. You live Torah, of course. Right. 415 00:34:45,560 --> 00:34:49,880 And, and like James, James, knowing that, by the way, talking to Jews, once again, he says, 416 00:34:49,880 --> 00:34:53,880 he says these trials are going to produce something in your life. Ask God to make you 417 00:34:53,880 --> 00:34:58,040 something in your life. Um, ask God for the middle of wisdom, but actually seek after the 418 00:34:58,040 --> 00:35:03,720 things that are going to change your life. Right. Um, I don't know how many times I've had this 419 00:35:03,720 --> 00:35:10,280 conversation with people and they say, if I just had X, Y, Z, I'd be good. 420 00:35:13,560 --> 00:35:20,360 Has that ever been the case? Maybe momentarily, maybe momentarily. I mean, everything that I 421 00:35:20,360 --> 00:35:26,760 find in my life that actually brings life is, is stuff that I have available now. Yeah. Right. 422 00:35:28,280 --> 00:35:33,080 It would be nice to have my house paid off. It would be nice to have cars that work all the time. 423 00:35:33,640 --> 00:35:38,120 Right. Those are, those are nice things. It's nice having food inside of my kitchen. Right. 424 00:35:40,520 --> 00:35:45,640 Those aren't things that if I didn't have them, I couldn't be content in the midst of the world. 425 00:35:45,640 --> 00:35:49,640 My relationship with Jesus, the relationships with the people he's put around me, 426 00:35:49,640 --> 00:35:55,480 yourself, my, my spouse, my family, my, my friends, Spencer shout out. Yeah. Spencer shout out. You 427 00:35:55,480 --> 00:35:59,000 know, Spencer has been a, been a huge pillar in my life. He's, he's, he's spoken a lot of prophetic 428 00:35:59,000 --> 00:36:06,520 words into my life. Right. Those are things that, um, bring contentment and are, and allow me to 429 00:36:06,520 --> 00:36:11,800 engage the kingdom of God fully. The problem is sometimes I get caught up on the things of the 430 00:36:11,800 --> 00:36:16,920 world, the earthly wisdom, and I'm like, Oh, I got to hustle. I got to build my business. I got to 431 00:36:16,920 --> 00:36:24,520 put my brand out there as I, as I do love and context, right. What did you say before we got 432 00:36:24,520 --> 00:36:30,520 started? I'll make you Insta famous. Yeah. Yeah. And, uh, and like if that stuff happens, okay. 433 00:36:31,320 --> 00:36:34,920 Then we're going to use that platform to bring the glory of God. But also if it doesn't happen, 434 00:36:35,560 --> 00:36:39,400 if we touch one person's life, that's great. That's why we're doing this. Right. Content. 435 00:36:39,400 --> 00:36:46,280 And, uh, and it is, it is to wrap up the, the first part of this, this part of James, 436 00:36:46,760 --> 00:36:52,280 it is the good gift of God that comes from heaven, right. That we're seeking these good 437 00:36:52,280 --> 00:36:56,120 gifts. We're seeking these things that last that actually make a difference. The things that at 438 00:36:56,120 --> 00:37:02,360 the end of your life, you look back and you're like, man, I am glad I did that. Um, there is a, 439 00:37:02,360 --> 00:37:09,160 there is a book that I read and I don't necessarily recommend it, um, because it has, it's a, 440 00:37:09,160 --> 00:37:15,240 definitely a secular book, but, uh, essentially in the, in the book, this guy makes a decision 441 00:37:17,640 --> 00:37:22,040 whether or not to pursue his career or to pursue a relationship with this person that matters to him. 442 00:37:22,840 --> 00:37:27,960 And ultimately he makes the wrong one and, uh, it's a sci-fi book. So he finds the ability to go 443 00:37:27,960 --> 00:37:34,760 back and change that decision. And, uh, the problem is what ends up happening is because 444 00:37:34,760 --> 00:37:39,240 he took the decision to go the other way, he wasn't the kind of person that can actually build this 445 00:37:39,240 --> 00:37:44,120 relationship now. And I think sometimes we're like, Oh, if I just made this different decision, 446 00:37:44,120 --> 00:37:49,240 but that decision was a, was a lot of decisions that got made. It's not big decisions. It's 447 00:37:49,240 --> 00:37:53,240 actually a bunch of little ones that get made where we were trusting in God's good gift. 448 00:37:53,240 --> 00:37:57,640 When, uh, when we get up in the morning in the middle of chaos, in the middle of being tired, 449 00:37:57,640 --> 00:38:04,520 in the middle of poopy diapers, you remember this? Yeah. Right. And we say, God, I'm going to spend 450 00:38:04,520 --> 00:38:11,800 five minutes with you. I'm going to sing this song and worship. I'm going to, uh, spend some 451 00:38:11,800 --> 00:38:19,000 time with people who are going to feed into my soul. Those small decisions long-term mold us 452 00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:24,280 into the kind of people that when something big comes up, God's capable of taking this character 453 00:38:25,000 --> 00:38:31,320 and planting them in the middle to bring peace into chaos. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Cause the reality 454 00:38:31,320 --> 00:38:35,000 is you don't prepare for the storm in the storm. Yeah. That's a bad time to prepare. 455 00:38:35,000 --> 00:38:39,320 It's a bad time to prepare. You're already too late. Yeah. Right. You prepare in the peace. 456 00:38:39,320 --> 00:38:45,400 Yeah. You prepare in the calm. And so that way, when the storm comes, you're, you're ready. Right. 457 00:38:45,400 --> 00:38:49,800 And of course, there's going to be storms that come into our life that we can possibly be prepared 458 00:38:49,800 --> 00:38:54,680 for. I could not have been prepared for my brother's stuff last year. Sometimes things just happen, 459 00:38:54,680 --> 00:39:02,120 you know, but I was prepared in my character, in my, you know, ability to show up and be there for 460 00:39:02,120 --> 00:39:08,920 my family. I was prepared, you know, in my ability to minister to my family. Right. And so in some 461 00:39:08,920 --> 00:39:13,960 ways you can still prepare even for those things, even if you're not prepared for those things. 462 00:39:13,960 --> 00:39:19,720 Even if, you know, they're totally out of your control and you have no ability to determine one 463 00:39:19,720 --> 00:39:26,360 way or another, what's going to happen. Yeah. So James is writing to Jewish believers that are 464 00:39:26,360 --> 00:39:32,280 in the middle of Rome. And, uh, aside from the fact that we're not Jewish, we can identify a 465 00:39:32,280 --> 00:39:37,320 lot with this because we live in a nation where people say it's a Christian nation and it's not 466 00:39:37,320 --> 00:39:42,520 like most, most people, uh, even if they proclaim Christianity, don't actually put on the self 467 00:39:42,520 --> 00:39:47,240 sacrificing label of Christ. Right. Right. And that's, that's not a, uh, that is not a scolding, 468 00:39:47,240 --> 00:39:54,680 by the way, that's just a reality of where we're at. Um, so when you choose to live for God in the 469 00:39:54,680 --> 00:40:00,680 middle of the, of America, the way that it is today, you are putting, uh, you are allowing 470 00:40:00,680 --> 00:40:05,800 people to criticize you, right? You're going to step into criticism because you're going to stand 471 00:40:05,800 --> 00:40:11,720 firm on some issues. But I always come back to this idea of, I've said it a couple of times, 472 00:40:11,720 --> 00:40:16,440 when people don't like you because of Jesus, that's okay. Yeah. But when people don't like 473 00:40:16,440 --> 00:40:22,200 Jesus because of you, that's sin. That's huge. You know? And so when we're putting Jesus on display, 474 00:40:22,200 --> 00:40:25,240 like we're going, there's going to be chaos. There's going to be people who don't like what 475 00:40:25,240 --> 00:40:28,840 you have to say, and you're going to love them in spite of it. Um, the inside of our churches, 476 00:40:28,840 --> 00:40:35,160 this is the biggest, a big thing. Um, denominationalism, right? How many, how many denominations are 477 00:40:35,160 --> 00:40:41,160 there now because we split over something that doesn't matter. Right. Right. There's, there's 478 00:40:41,160 --> 00:40:46,680 there's, you know, what 40,000 or something in the world or 50,000 Christian denominations in the 479 00:40:46,680 --> 00:40:53,960 world. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And, uh, and so how many of those have been over non-sin issues? 480 00:40:54,840 --> 00:41:01,160 They've been over issues of like disagreement on worship styles on, oh my gosh, how about, um, 481 00:41:01,160 --> 00:41:06,120 interpretation of end times, right? Are we really dividing ourselves over something that hasn't 482 00:41:06,120 --> 00:41:11,800 happened yet? Right. Right. Sure. Like, or I guess in some cases people might say that we are in the 483 00:41:11,800 --> 00:41:15,560 end times now and that's, that's totally fine too. Sure. Right. But we're arguing over something we 484 00:41:15,560 --> 00:41:19,480 have no control over and our interpretation of something we're not going to have any control 485 00:41:19,480 --> 00:41:25,960 over. Um, I, I love that, uh, uh, Spencer, uh, Spencer's dad ed has a, has a great saying. He 486 00:41:25,960 --> 00:41:30,280 says, uh, he's a pan millennialist. He thinks everything will probably pan out in the end, 487 00:41:30,280 --> 00:41:37,240 you know, classic dad, classic dad. And, uh, and I, you know, the, uh, and I, that's not to say, 488 00:41:37,240 --> 00:41:40,600 I think that having your, your perspective and opinions is great. Like studying the Bible, 489 00:41:40,600 --> 00:41:45,240 having your opinions a hundred percent, but we can't fellowship because of that. Right. 490 00:41:45,240 --> 00:41:49,720 There's a difference between we disagree and that's okay. It's okay to disagree on scripture 491 00:41:49,720 --> 00:41:54,840 because scripture and I, and I hate what people say scripture is clear on XYZ. Yeah. If that was 492 00:41:54,840 --> 00:41:59,160 true, we wouldn't have so many denominations or so many translations or so many translations. Yeah. 493 00:41:59,160 --> 00:42:04,520 And it's not that it's, it's not that it's wrong. If it's not clear, it's that it, it has room for 494 00:42:04,520 --> 00:42:10,520 different ways to interpret it. Well, Jesus Christ had 12 disciples, 12 male disciples. He actually 495 00:42:10,520 --> 00:42:15,720 had seven over 72 disciples. We know because they sent out 72. Right. Uh, so he had women, 496 00:42:15,720 --> 00:42:24,520 tax collectors, uh, beggars, Pharisees, Sadducees, Essien's zealots, zealots, uh, Herodians, 497 00:42:24,520 --> 00:42:30,200 Hellenistic Jews. Right. And, uh, betrayers. Yeah. Yeah. And, uh, and even proselytes, 498 00:42:30,200 --> 00:42:32,920 if you want to throw Luke in there, who wasn't a follower of Jesus, but became a follower, 499 00:42:32,920 --> 00:42:38,360 he was almost, um, uh, immediately after. Right. And, uh, they all had different opinions on how 500 00:42:38,360 --> 00:42:42,920 it should go. Uh, in fact, you see that in the book of Acts, when Paul comes back and he comes, 501 00:42:42,920 --> 00:42:48,920 comes to the, um, to the, uh, the gathering to have this conversation, right. This, uh, council 502 00:42:48,920 --> 00:42:53,080 where he says, he says, Hey, this is what's happening with the Gentiles. What should we do? 503 00:42:53,080 --> 00:42:57,320 And they get together and they have conversations. Now they have a certain opinion of what they 504 00:42:57,320 --> 00:43:01,880 think should be happening, but they're like, but what is God doing? And so they say, okay, 505 00:43:01,880 --> 00:43:06,120 for the Gentiles, we want them to do these three things, but otherwise we're not going to hold 506 00:43:06,120 --> 00:43:09,480 them to the things that make you Jewish. We're not going to have them do circumcision and like, 507 00:43:09,480 --> 00:43:14,440 you know, a few of the other things. And, uh, and like that, they're like, this is what we're going 508 00:43:14,440 --> 00:43:19,480 to do so that we can have some sort of unity and not saying that those things are unimportant, 509 00:43:19,480 --> 00:43:23,800 not saying that those things stopped for the Jewish people, but he's like, God's doing something here 510 00:43:24,440 --> 00:43:29,400 and we need to recognize that. And we're going to be able to have a reasonable conversation because 511 00:43:29,400 --> 00:43:34,600 James, John, and Peter all had different opinions on how that should go. And I guarantee you, 512 00:43:34,600 --> 00:43:39,000 Paul had a different opinion for sure. And, uh, and they're like, you know what, but we're just 513 00:43:39,000 --> 00:43:46,600 going to figure it out. And, uh, growing up as a, uh, Southern Baptist now in a Pentecostal church, 514 00:43:46,600 --> 00:43:51,480 that's a change. Yeah. Uh, actually went to non-denominational when I was in, in college, 515 00:43:51,480 --> 00:43:59,640 right? So I'm a non-Baptist. Is the checks out. Yeah. I have been in a number of Southern Baptist 516 00:43:59,640 --> 00:44:03,800 churches where I'm like, man, you could use some Pentecostals. And I've been in some Pentecostal 517 00:44:03,800 --> 00:44:09,080 churches where I said, Hey, you know, you could use some Baptists because we, we all bring things 518 00:44:09,080 --> 00:44:13,960 to the table and we strengthen each other and being able to have these reasonable conversations 519 00:44:13,960 --> 00:44:21,160 and also to have unity in the midst of chaos does a lot. Like investing in each other and, 520 00:44:21,160 --> 00:44:26,760 and loving each other. Well, in the midst of the chaos, it has, it is a lot. Yeah. Um, 521 00:44:26,760 --> 00:44:30,360 I reminded of what Jesus says, he says, um, I knew a command I'm going to give to you, 522 00:44:30,360 --> 00:44:34,920 these 12 disciples that are very different from each other, love one another. Yeah. 523 00:44:36,520 --> 00:44:40,440 People are going to know you're my disciples. If you have love for one another. Right. Yeah. 524 00:44:40,440 --> 00:44:43,880 How you treat each other. They're going to know they're going to, they're because they know who 525 00:44:43,880 --> 00:44:49,720 you are. They know you're, they know your temper, Peter, they know your temper, Peter. And if you 526 00:44:49,720 --> 00:44:54,840 love these guys, well, who you vehemently disagree with on some very clear, clear topics, it's going 527 00:44:54,840 --> 00:45:00,920 to be clear that God's working in your midst. Yeah. Like the evidence that God's love is moving 528 00:45:00,920 --> 00:45:04,680 through you is not the people that think just like you. Sure. It's how you treat people who 529 00:45:04,680 --> 00:45:09,560 don't think just like you. Yeah. And, uh, yeah. And I mean, this whole, this whole first chapter 530 00:45:09,560 --> 00:45:14,680 of James is just like, Hey, there's going to be chaos. Are you going to see God? Are you going to 531 00:45:14,680 --> 00:45:18,360 pursue selfish stuff? Or are you going to trust him in the middle of it and look for the good gifts 532 00:45:18,360 --> 00:45:27,320 of God? Right. Right. Uh, looking for the gold in the midst of the mud. Right. Yeah. I think it comes 533 00:45:27,320 --> 00:45:34,440 down to, if we say who we say we are, if we believe what we say we believe, and this is what we're 534 00:45:34,440 --> 00:45:40,200 going to get to probably in the next session a little bit, it's about right living. Right. 535 00:45:40,200 --> 00:45:45,880 It's about, this is, this is who God's called us to be. He's called us to live a certain way. 536 00:45:46,600 --> 00:45:50,360 And so if you, if you really genuine believe it and you really genuinely say you believe it, 537 00:45:50,360 --> 00:45:56,120 there's a calling you live up to in that. There's a responsibility of ours in that so that people 538 00:45:56,120 --> 00:46:00,680 know that you're my disciples, you know, because you can say all day, I believe in Jesus, but if 539 00:46:00,680 --> 00:46:06,360 you don't act like Jesus, what's the point? Yeah. Right. Well, and to your point, which we're going 540 00:46:06,360 --> 00:46:11,320 to get into in the next episode is this godly wisdom and trusting in the, in the gifts that 541 00:46:11,320 --> 00:46:15,640 God brings is going to manifest itself in your life in specific ways. And that's what he's going 542 00:46:15,640 --> 00:46:20,440 to get into in the next episode. So I love that you teed that up for us. So with that, we're going 543 00:46:20,440 --> 00:46:24,680 to end the episode right there. Once again, I love that Brian said, write a comment or something, 544 00:46:24,680 --> 00:46:28,360 if you have some thoughts about what we were talking about, um, something that we didn't talk 545 00:46:28,360 --> 00:46:33,720 about today that you're like, Hey, what about this? Or even if you disagree with something we said, 546 00:46:33,720 --> 00:46:36,760 let's talk about it. Also, if you want to troll us, it's totally fine with me. Cause you just 547 00:46:36,760 --> 00:46:43,800 raise over your account. So engagement, baby. Like if you want to be angry with us, you be very angry. 548 00:46:43,800 --> 00:46:50,760 So, um, anyways, in love, well, they can be angry. Jesus loves me. I'm going to love them 549 00:46:50,760 --> 00:46:54,120 and I'll figure it out. Like they can be as angry as they want. I know that the love of Jesus is 550 00:46:54,120 --> 00:46:57,560 going to overcome them. There you go. All right. Well, thanks for being with us here and we'll 551 00:46:57,560 --> 00:47:04,280 check in with you next week. And that's a wrap for today's episode of love and context. We hope you 552 00:47:04,280 --> 00:47:08,280 enjoyed this engaging conversation and gain valuable insights into the powerful message of 553 00:47:08,280 --> 00:47:13,480 love within the Bible. We'd love to hear from you and continue the conversation. Connect with us by 554 00:47:13,480 --> 00:47:19,800 sending us your questions, thoughts, and suggestions to love and context at gmail.com. We greatly 555 00:47:19,800 --> 00:47:25,560 appreciate your feedback and ideas for future episodes. Stay connected with us on social media 556 00:47:25,560 --> 00:47:30,440 for updates, behind the scenes content, and additional resources. You can find us on Instagram, 557 00:47:30,440 --> 00:47:35,480 TikTok, YouTube, and Facebook at love and context. Don't forget to hit that follow button to stay up 558 00:47:35,480 --> 00:47:39,960 to date with the latest episodes and join our growing community. Thank you for being part of 559 00:47:39,960 --> 00:47:45,720 the love and context family. Remember love is at the heart of it all until next time. Keep seeking 560 00:47:45,720 --> 00:47:56,440 wisdom, embracing love, and living out your faith in the context of today's world.