How to Do Life
What’s In It for ME?
James 1:12
* (Show the title on the screen.) Please read this phrase with me (read). Last week I Googled this phrase and returned 414,000,000 hits. We live in a “What’s in it for me (WIIFM)” culture. It begins with people’s approach to government which only infringes on our community, infests our homes, invades our lives, and infects our churches. Today, people make their choices on this mantra. Sadly, the vision of today’s people is somewhat limited & skewed.
* A person is trying to decide what church to attend, so they get a checklist of ministries to make sure that this church has everything they want. To be fair, many pray about this check list. Yet, what appears on list that we make reveal something of our limited vision because, for the most part, the list includes only things which hold meaning while on this earth. Small Groups, people my age or stage, music, & sweet fellowship, are but just a few of the listings. Consider what happens when that person joins & finds HIS or HER ‘thing’ is not what they thought it was. What happens?
* Another person attempts to make a decision about what religion or belief system to embrace. This time their listings may be different but their focus is the same, “What’s in it for me?” I suggest that for the person who has decided to find a belief system which ‘fits what they want’ is one which is man-made. It seems to be true that every religion has a group which is a soft target. Some religions appeal to young people, some to ladies, some to men, some to the down & outs; again sadly, the very reason these people are attracted to specific groups are, in large measure about “me & mine.”
* Today, I want us to look through the eyes (& words) of God to discover, “What is in it for me?” What is it that God wants to give me? (Text)
1. Your Call to Life – God calls us to have & possess a blessed life. That is His desire for you and me. Verse 12 in the HCSB reads, “Blessed is a man” while more translations read “Blessed is THE man.” However, the NRSV makes it clear when it read, “Blessed is anyone.” This calls us to recognize that God’s grace & love reaches to ‘whosoever will.’ Any time a preacher says, “Whosoever will”, the question which comes to the mind of some is whosoever will “what?” Hold that thought and we’ll revisit it in a second. Another rendering of the word “Blessed” in the New Testament is the word “Happy.” While the use of ‘happy’ seems to be a bit shallow for the life blessed of God, the concept speaks to the heart of the 21st century American. American are spending billions of dollars seeking ‘happiness’ and while money won’t buy happiness, it will take us a lot of place ‘looking for it.’ Sadly, as a general rule, money carries us in the wrong direction, looking at the wrong things, and wasting our resources.
* God desire is for you & me to be blessed & happy in this life. He didn’t create us to make us miserable or bored. Think about the words in Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. He began speaking to people about how to be blessed and how to find happiness. He wanted us to know the joys of God’s blessing, so He began, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, who morn, & those who are meek.” Their blessing is that they will be comforted; they will inherit both the earth and the heaven. Our call to life is to be blessed in ways we cannot even imagine. How does the response to this call work? If God is calling us to life, exactly how does this come about?
2. Your Circumstances in Life – What circumstances are we told about? We are told about trials, troubles, test, and even tribulations. James begun with the words “count it pure joy when you fall into various trials.” We learn from James that every one of us has trials, conflict, difficulties, and that these are a part of a normal life. The sobering truth is this; trials are coming, and it’s not so much the number of trials we have or even what those trials are, it is more about ‘what we do when trials come our way.‘ Many people who get decimated by the least little thing which shows an unrealistic view of life. Honestly, most of the folks who very easily anger are those who expect everything to go their way and expect no trouble.
* What do you do with your troubles? For instance, when people get married they unrealistically expect everything to be peaches and cream. Candidly, when the first struggle comes along many find themselves wanting to throw peaches (or something harder) at each other while pouring cream (or sour milk) on the head of their lovely mate. When trouble come in life, like in marriage, we have 3 choices; we can get out (that means we run), we can tough it out (that literally means to “fight”), or we can work it out (which means seek to discover God’s hand in the struggle). Make no mistake, this third option is foreign to our humanistic thinking and is contrary to our natural response. It is not tough, it is downright impossible outside of a life in God. Whatever struggle you are in right now, does not surprise God. What you may think is terrible, God may have sent your way to give you something terrific. Watch the flow of the verse. It says, “Blessed is a man who ‘endures’ trials, because when he passes the test.” This is a test? The KJV says, ‘when he is tried’ while the NAS says ‘when he is approved.’
* These conflicts which come into our live are sent as a test to see if we can pass His test. In 1979 I sat for the FCC Class C Radio license with Broadcast Endorsement. This license would allow me to run the board for a radio station. I studied and studied hard—and I pass the test. Passing the test gave me the approval from the overseeing agency to function in a manner consistent with policies and procedures of the FCC.
* The test God gives is the trials of life. Whether we pass or fail the test depends on how we handle ourselves. Do we recognize that God is control even in the midst of our conflicts? How long does it take us to realize ‘this really didn’t surprise Him?’ At what point do we count it all joy that He deems us worthy enough to send us the conflict for the purpose of approving us?
* The question is ‘do we believe God?’ F. B. Meyer said it this way, “Unbelief puts circumstances between us and God, but faith puts God between us and our circumstances.” When we truly walk by faith and believe God in our hearts, the circumstances of life do not get the best of us and we find ourselves approved because we have a permanent outlook. We understand the truth that “What is in it for us” is the result of these trials and the results of these trials are designed to make us more like HIM.
3. Your Commitment for Life – We discover the linchpin of gaining all that God has for us in the last part of this verse and it speaks a non-negotiable into our life. Our Lord promises the best gifts and even crowns to those who “LOVE HIM.” This speaks of our commitment to Him. This literally means to show love (demonstrate it) or to take pleasure in HIM. Don’t miss this, the first way we demonstrate our love for Him is by our commitment to Him in responding to His offer of salvation. You want to know what is in it for you. It is a ‘friend who sticks closer than a brother’, it is a “personal relationship with the one who knows you better than you know yourself”, and it is the certainty of eternal beyond the grave. To ‘love Him’ like James was talking about, is to come to Him in repentance, receive His offer of forgiveness, and walk with Him ‘everyday’ in faith. It is choosing today who you serve because you realize that no man can serve two masters.
* “When I was a boy, my father, a baker, introduced me to the wonders of song,” tenor Luciano Pavarotti relates. “He urged me to work very hard to develop my voice. Arrigo Pola, a professional tenor in my hometown of Modena, Italy, took me as a pupil. I also enrolled in a teachers college. On graduating, I asked my father, ’Shall I be a teacher or a singer?’ “’Luciano,’ my father replied, ’if you try to sit on two chairs, you will fall between them. For life, you must choose one chair. “I chose one. It took seven years of study and frustration before I made my first professional appearance. It took another seven to reach the Metropolitan Opera. And now I think whether it’s laying bricks, writing a book -- whatever we choose -- we should give ourselves to it. Commitment, that’s the key. Choose one chair.”
* You will never know and never gain all that God has in store for you, until to you choose the ONE. The right one.
4. Your Crown of Life – I just like the sound of this, “My Crown of Life.” The only part of being ‘crowned’ was the one my mom frequently used. “Boy,” she would say, “You do that again and I’ll crown you.”
* Actually, Bible history speaks of 3 types of crowns. First, there was the High Priest’s or Hebrew King’s crown. This ‘holy crown’ was a gold plate engraved with the words, “Holy to the Lord” fastened to the front of the turban. (Exo 29). It symbolized his consecration as the representative for the people and/or indicated this was a divinely appointed office. Next, there was a crown worn by pagan kings and even idols. (2 Sm 3) The third crown literally, a wreath of flowers used at a banquet to symbolize joy & celebration. This type of crown was worn by the winners of athletic events and given as prizes or military honor. This type of crown would be the one that was ‘earned.’ While we don’t earn our salvation; that comes by faith, but the crowns we may receive we earn, better said, it is the prize we gain. Paul repeatedly called believers that he had a part in developing as “His joy and His Crown”.
* The Bible speaks only twice about the Crown of Life but it speaks clearly. If you want to know how to receive the crown of life, let’s re-read our text (vs 12). Now turn to Revelation 2 and let’s see what it takes to get the crown of life. (Read) If you want the crown of life, you must be faithful unto death. This is difficult for us when, for many, it seems to be hard to be faithful unto dark, let along death. When we factor in ‘enduring trials’ in a way that we pass the test and become approved, this seems difficult. Candidly, it’s not difficult, it’s plain impossible. When someone wrongs us, our knee-jerk reaction is to get back at them at quickly and as harshly as we can. It seems impossible to ‘count it joy’ and ‘see Jesus’ way’ in the middle of a trials.
* (The Sock Illustration)…The title of this message might well be the wrong question for us, as believers, to ask. Instead of ‘what’s in it for me’, perhaps we should be asking “What’s in me for it?” That is the way Jesus lived, the attitude He demonstrated, and the actions He took.
