Dr Ng Kam Weng’s sermon notes for sermon preached on 21-Feb-10.

James 1:1-12; 26-27

Q – How can we achieve real faith for a real world? Can our faith confront unpleasant realities?
Talk about real world – it is tough and wretched. Not talking about the next earthquake or cyclone, but the anxieties of daily life.
Daily fears – ladies read newspapers and get paranoid about snatch thieves and taxi drivers
Fabric of society seems to be breaking down.
Molotov bombs thrown at churches. What’s next?

Suspicion – Celebration meetings may be lift up our spirits for a short while, but they fail to give us strength to overcome problems of life.
Nice to sing Hakunnah Matatha. But like the Lion King we can forget and forsake our calling – royal priesthood – to demonstrate a faith that gives us strength to overcome problems of life

Book of James challenge us to live a faith that goes beyond holy huddles and confronts difficulties.  But the church can become infected by worldly sin. So James listed out the problem of pride and hypocrisy, double-mindedness, slanderous tongues, partiality favouring the rich over the poor, materialism and envy.
Solution – practice real faith.

A. Our Faith must toughen up through Spiritual Testing (James 1:12)
We must let God build up a robust faith in our hearts. How does God do it? By allowing trials into our lives.

Trials (peirasmoi) not external seduction (KJV– evil desires) leading us to sin. Rather wider circumstances like difficulties/ setbacks leading to sorrow, grief, resentments and frustrations. Illness (5:14), financial reversals (1:9) and social economic persecutions (2:6)

Political & economic uncertainties actually no threat and should drive us to take shelter under wings of the Almighty.

Giant Sequoia (redwood) benefits from periodic fires – rid of parasites, entangling vines and undergrowth).
Commando training: Torture ? best soldiers to defend the country
Jas 1:2  Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,

Instinctive need to test things we buy, esp imported branded goods
[SIRIM].
Non Christians want to see the spiritual SIRIM mark before they will buy our message. Hence God puts our faith on trial

Otherwise the world only retort: you Christians no different, no moral backbone. What’s so special about your faith?
To impress the world watching us – we need toughened Christians who exhibit character and wholesome, a certain depth in approaching life. A certain poise, peace and stability different from people who are  restless or tossed around by waves of changing fashions.

You will find strength to persevere only by toning your spiritual muscles through Christian service which puts us into circumstances that test our personal resources to the limit.

Contra: Not self-confidence but a confidence that arises from faith in the purposeful and persevering hand of God.
v.5 God who gives generously
v.12 God has promised rewards

Immature faith – sees only distress. Looking at the wrong side of the bookmark (not the sewn favorite Bible verse).

Contrast – Heavenly wisdom leads to discernment, single-mindedness and obedience. Contrast with double-mindedness (dipsychos, double souled). Likewise doubt is not just intellectual but a basic conflict in loyalty such as God and mammon or God and the world. Ask for spiritual wisdom and discernment which see the work of God in times of testing & welcome spiritual discipline because the genuineness of our faith becomes evident in the process of testing.

James 1: 12. Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.
Jer. 17: 7-8. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when the heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.

B. Our Faith Should Give Right Judgment About What Really Matters in Life
Church addressed by James – worldly attitude favors the rich & discriminates against the poor.
Underlying cause – Riches skews our judgment about what should be valued in a person

Jas 2:8-9  If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
- Do not show favoritism

Wrong Perception – Money evidence of a wise man
Seductive TV commercials. Membership has its privileges?

Naturally we share sentiment of Fiddler on the Roof. “If I were a rich man.” Neighbors pose questions that would cross Solomon’s eyes

We have been convinced that the $$$ is almighty and will solve our problems. Actually it is only mighty not almighty. But we will finally still be disappointed.

No end to worldly desires.Prov.30:15. The leech has two daughters. Give! Give! They cry.
Crazy when a man’s worth is measured by how much he can owe).

Not all that glitters is lasting treasures.
Jas 1:9-11  Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.

– Life is but fleeting dew, all prosperity passes away like the most beautiful flower. A man not measured by his possession but by his relationships (true wealth of lasting worth).

Notice wealth isolates people – Big houses have high fences and strong gates; luxury bungalows on hilltops
Top of the mountain a lonely place
<Penthouse has least visitors>

Hard but understandable when James uncompromising in warning against the putting our hope in riches. Riches encourages false hope, tempt us with self-sufficiency and above all create envy and competition with ostentatious lifestyles

– Real parable. Rich woman showing off her golden bangles. “Ini berapa?” Saleswoman answer with broad smile showing off her gold teeth. Worldly desires isolate us from one another and intensify envy and competition.

2:4 – have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? No need to compare. God shows no partiality (KJV)
2:8 – Keep the royal law, love your neighbor as yourself – show no favoritism

Worldly wisdom creates discrimination but –
James 3:13-18 Real wisdom from above: Rich (get rid of selfish ambition) and Poor (get rid of bitter envy)
Both seek wisdom, righteousness and peace
Our faith must build relationships. Contrast with Chinese temple – feverish activities but no relationships. Christians must practice mutual acceptance because God accepts each of us unconditionally.

C. Our Faith Must Produce Good Works Jas Jas1:27  Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
Common assumption is that the church has no relevance to our current social problems. But the church will noticed if people see a genuine community, with people of integrity and authentic relationships. Just what people look for in a lonely city.

Early church – the poor, especially widows became the responsibility of the rich. The unbelieving critics complained the church welfare is luring away their people into the church. Early church grew explosively outthought and out-loved their neighbors

Inspiring story in times of crisis
Medieval Plagues / Africa Ebiola – Christians &nuns stayed
JE crisis – only pigs stayed
PJ church offered homes to relatives at Uni Hosp, ministered to sick , visited Bukit Pelanduk – coconut farm – first fruits – new church.

Servant spirit  requires deliberate nurture. Begin by involving our young people in welfare works.
Involvement – not for sake of poor but for our own children

Where are wholesome churches that practice wholesome discipleship – Holistic witness, an integrated way of life? World is still watching to look out for a church with real faith for a real world.

Mat 5:16  In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Jas 1:27  Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.