Streams of Living Water
Fresh Water
James 3:11-18
October 10, 2004
Mark Eberly
“Streams of Living Water” is the title of this sermon series. During the next month and a half we are going to look at six streams or traditions of the church. These traditions are six different foci concerning our spiritual walk. At various times in church history, all six have been emphasized sometimes to correct an out of balance spiritual system or sometimes to augment a deficient spiritual walk. A great resource for this series is a book by Richard Foster with the same title as this series.
Of these six traditions, they are grouped into pairs. These pairs often provide a counterweight or balance to the other. These pairs often have complementary strengths. For example, one of the great traditions of the church is the prayer-filled life. This is a life that is focused on God and centered on prayer. The temptation is to be so withdrawn in prayer that one forgets to look where God is at work in everyday life, which is the focus of the incarnational tradition.
You will find that you practice several of these and they are important to your walk. You might find ways to move even closer to God through these strengths. However, you will also find that there are some that you may need to do better at integrating into your life. Unless we integrate all six we will be out of balance and spiritually anemic. Just a quick note, although we will talk about these separately to that we can better understand them, in reality we find ourselves flowing in multiple traditions at the same time.
We are living in a wonderful time. Although some are disturbed at how denomination loyalty is suffering greatly, I believe this is a great opportunity for the Church of God Reformation Movement! We are not a denomination but promote the unity of God’s visible church. Throughout our own history, we can see all six of these traditions even though we have magnified a couple of them more than others. In our day, people are no longer content to settle for one specific brand of Christianity! We want to integrate the best of the best to be all that God wants us to be. It is with this thought in mind that we begin this series.
This morning we will begin by talking about the holy life. It is the holy life that is fresh water. It is to the holy life that we are reborn to live. So the holy life is fresh. Every day His mercies are new. It is through the prayer-filled life that the holy life is formed. We will address the prayer-filled life in two weeks.
There is a new law in Finland regarding speeding. On February 11, 2004, Helsinki police stopped Jussi Salonoja, a 27-year-old Finnish sausage maker, driving 80 kilometers an hour in a 40-kph zone.
Salonoja is no stranger to illegal speeds. In 2000, he was caught cruising the highway at 200 kilometers per hour and paid a hefty fine. This time the fine was higher.
Finland has little tolerance for speeding and scale traffic fines to the income of the violator. Thanks to his position as Finland’s "sausage king," Salonja is a millionaire. His fine set a new national record at 170,000 euros. The cost in U.S. currency, $277,000.
Through James we can learn what holiness is.
Holiness: Re-formation of the Heart.
This is why we are the Church of God Reformation Movement. We seek that change that comes when God’s Spirit comes to dwell in our heart. But this is crucial!
(A transformed heart will produce right action).
It doesn’t take long to see how important right action is to James. “Show it by his good life, by deeds done in humility. It is the virtuous life. But right action by itself is not enough. The right action or holy life must come because the source is purified. That source is our hearts. A pure heart leads to pure action. Selfish ambition leads to evil and sin.
Jesus went into the desert to fast and pray. It was there that the devil tempted Him but He was without sin. His pure heart was shown because He refused to act sinfully.
This leads us to a few clarifying statements about holiness.
Clarifying Statements About Holiness
• Holiness is not just rules and regulations.
Although there are rules to holy living such as the Ten Commandments, simply obeying a bunch of rules misses the whole point. God does have rules to obey. But they are not meant to be restrictions as much as life-giving directives.
• Holiness is not separation from the world but set apart.
Too often we separate ourselves from the world. Yes, we act differently. We live differently. But how will God ever be glorified when we never interact with the lost.
• Holiness utilizes spiritual disciplines as a means not as the end.
It is easy to judge others and ourselves simply on the criteria of how little or much we studied our Bibles and prayed and worshiped.
• Holiness is not works righteousness.
You don’t earn God’s favor. You can’t work yourself into being holy.
• Holiness is sanctifying grace.
• Holiness is not perfection.
Being holy does not mean that I will never sin. If you believe that, then you believe a heresy. This doesn’t mean that I will sin all the time, every day either.
• Holiness is a bend toward righteousness not sin.
My heart will be oriented toward God’s directives. I will gravitate toward righteous living not sinful living. This means that I can be tempted just as much as Jesus was tempted in the desert. But it doesn’t mean that I am powerless over temptation.
• Holiness is an experience in grace.
It is moment when under conviction, I ask for cleansing from the Holy Spirit. It is asking God to fill me and experiencing the grace of God is personal and profound way.
• Holiness is growing in grace.
It is a moment by moment growing in God’s grace. It is growing more in love with Jesus day by day. It is being transformed from one degree of glory to another.
There is so much confusion about what holiness is. It has caused a lot of people pain. Does this help? If you have further questions, I would love to sit down and talk with you about them. Just give me a call.
During a trial, in a small Missouri town, the local prosecuting attorney called his first witness to the stand. The witness was a proper well-dressed elderly lady, the Grandmother type, well spoken, and poised. She was sworn in, asked if she would tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, on the Bible, so help her God.
The prosecuting attorney approached the woman and asked, “Mrs. Jones, do you know me?’” She responded, “Why, yes I do know you, Mr. Williams. I’ve known you since you were a young boy and frankly, you’ve been a big disappointment to me. You lie, cheat on your wife, manipulate people and talk badly about them behind their backs. You think you’re a rising big shot when you haven’t the sense to realize you never will amount to anything more than a two-bit paper-pushing shyster. Yes, I know you quite well.”
The lawyer was stunned. Not knowing what else to do, he pointed across the room and asked, “Mrs. Jones, do you know the defense attorney?”
She again replied, “Why, yes, I do. I’ve known Mr. Bradley since he was a youngster, too. He’s lazy, bigoted, has a bad drinking problem. The man can’t build or keep a normal relationship with anyone and his law practice is one of the worst in the entire state. Not to mention he cheated on his wife with three different women. Yes, I know him.”
The defense attorney almost fainted. Laughter mixed with gasps, thundered throughout the courtroom and the audience was on the verge of chaos.
At this point, the judge brought the courtroom to silence, called both counselors to the bench, and in a very quiet voice said, “If either of you morons asks her if she knows me, you’re going to jail.”
Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water. There are three perils to the holy life.
Perils of the Holy Life
A. Legalism.
This is when we turn our attention away from the heart and onto externals. Once we define holiness by externals, we plunge into legalism in one sort or another. We make hoops for people to jump through and it becomes a way to control people instead of freeing them. Jesus was concerned with the heart first. Actions are important but only when they flow out of a heart that is set right.
Don’t get me wrong. We will need lists of right and wrong actions. We need to study ethics. However, these should be serving to show us what love in action looks like.
Legalism majors in how do we know who is holy and who is not, who has it and who doesn’t. This is hard. It is a tension point. However, if we can focus on matters of the heart then we all will be much better off. A second peril is:
B. Works Righteousness.
This is such a great danger that we can easily be tempted to believe that any progress forward is somehow our own doing. This is especially difficult in our pull-yourself-by-your-own-boot-straps culture. It is the ancient temptation of Adam to “be as gods.”
Yes, there are things for us to do. There is a life of holiness to be lived. But these actions to do make us righteous, they are simply what flows out of a heart made righteous by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. All the spiritual disciplines do is place us before God so He can purify us by His grace and love. The third peril is:
C. Perfectionism.
This happens when we embrace legalism and works righteousness. If I am entirely focused on external standards and I have defined holiness according to a set of narrow standards, then I can easily see myself as perfect. Some even believe that they are so holy that they cannot even be tempted. This cuts us off from humanity and leads to separation from the world. The most deadly consequence of all is having a rigid, judgmental spirit.
We should make plans to be perfect. We should intend to be perfect. However, perfection is not the same as holiness. There is always room in this life for growth. Paul said in Philippians 3:12, “Not that I have already attained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on.”
How do we deal with these perils? By replacing legalism with love. By replacing works righteousness with grace. By replacing perfectionism with growth. If we do these with honest hearts, we will stay on the right path.
So what can I do to strengthen this tradition in my life? Three things.
Growing in Grace
1. Train.
1 Timothy 4:7-8 gives us good advice in this realm, “Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.”
Take a hold of a plan for growing in the spiritual disciplines. Sue has put together a table out in the narthex of books to be checked out. If you struggle with pride, learn to serve. If you need hope, learn to pray and meditate. If you struggle with compulsion, learn fasting. Want faith? Learn (And yes I mean learn!) to worship.
There are some books in the narthex that you can use. I mentioned Richard Foster and his book Streams of Living Water. Another great one by him is Celebration of Discipline.
2. Invite.
Invite others to travel the journey with you. They can be companions and mentors. They can give us discernment, counsel, and encouragement. They can help us see if we are overachieving and setting ourselves up for failure. Or they can help us guard against sloth. Invite others to travel with you.
3. Get Back Up.
Confession and restitution are always in order if we stumble and fall. While we are not yet perfect, we have perfect Friend who will never leave us, never forsake us. We keep pressing on.
Our mistakes and failures teach us better lessons than our successes. And it is no small thing to start again after stumbling. It is hard. It is embarrassing. But by learning to start again, we are learning fortitude. Fortitude is a fort with an attitude. We are learning where we need to run to and dwell when we need it the most. Fortitude builds healthy habits, and healthy habits build character, and character builds destiny.
How many of you have a baseball card collection? There is a card called “Future Stars” and is valued around $100. There are three players on this card. The first is Jeff Schneider. Schneider played 1 year of professional baseball, pitched in 11 games, and gave up 13 earned runs in those 11 games.
The second player is Bobby Bonner, who played 4 years of baseball but only appeared in 61 games, with 8 runs batted in, and 0 home runs.
The third "Future Star" played 21 years for the Baltimore Orioles and appeared in 3,001 games. He came to bat 11,551 times, collected 3,184 hits and 431 home runs, and batted in 1,695 runs. His name is Cal Ripken, Jr.
I can imagine Bobby Bonner boasting about his baseball card, "Did you know that my baseball card is worth over $100?" You would laugh because you know the worth of the card has nothing to do with him.
That’s how it is when we come to Christ and point to our good works, our statistics, and ask, "Is this good enough?" If you want to hold up your stats to God, you don’t have a chance. But when you put your faith in Christ, his statistics become yours, and your baseball card becomes worth a lot because of someone else’s stats.
Bobby Bonner and Jeff Schneider’s baseball card is worth $100, not because of their statistics, but because of what someone else has done.
God calls us through the blood of Christ to be holy as He is holy. We are called to have hearts re-formed. He replaces our heart of stone with His heart. We are called to have a heart purified by the Spirit of God. If this has never happened to you, then I call you to start the journey now. Bow before God and asked Him to cleanse you and fill you. Ask Him to make your bend toward righteousness not sin.
If you have stumbled and perhaps fallen, then get back up on your knees. Don’t just get on your feet and try to do it on your own, spend some time on your knees before God. If you have slipped into a legalistic attitude, then come and ask for an extra measure of God’s love. If you simply need to do a better job at living a holy life (maybe you are struggling with a bad habit or something), then lean on these everlasting arms. Don’t try to live the holy life on your own! You can’t do it. It is only by allowing Christ to live His life through you that you can be holy as God is holy.
