[For the video elements associated with this sermon, please visit http://store.northpoint.org/life-apps-starter-kit.html.]
Well, I’m really excited about this new series. It’s called Life Apps, and for the next six weeks, we’re going to talk about five specific applications for Christians out of the Bible. And the reason I say for Christians, is if you’re not a Christian or you’re not really a church person or a religious person, then this is the great news: You get to come and listen to us talk to ourselves, and then if your wife dragged you in here, you can say, Honey, you need to be doing that stuff because I’m not one of you, so I don’t really have to do this. Because these specific applications are given to us in the Scripture for Christians, but if you’re not a Christian, you are welcome to play along as well. Okay? In fact, if you come for these next few weeks and you hear some helpful stuff, obviously you can try this at home. You don’t have to be a professional, you don’t have to be a Bible reader, you can just do this stuff, because what we’re going to discover together for the next few weeks is that really, application is what makes all the difference. Believing is fine, intending to is fine, but it’s actually what you do that makes the difference. Application makes all the difference.
The other thing you need to know as we go into this, especially if you’re new to Christianity or new to the Bible, all of the applications, all the things that are in the Bible that tell us what to do—thou shalts and thou shalt nots—all that stuff that kind of bothers us sometimes, all of that stuff was given to people, to men and women who were already in a relationship with God. Now, when I say relationship with God, I don’t mean like God created everybody, so everybody has a relationship with God. I mean a very, very specific, defined relationship with God. You’re familiar with the phrases Old Testament, New Testament; the word testament actually means covenant or contract.
So, in the Old Testament we find Old Testament kinds of things, like the Ten Commandments and all that stuff. All of those commandments, all of those laws were given to a group of people that were in a contractual relationship with God. And in the New Testament, it’s the same way. The New Testament is written to people who are in a relationship with God through Jesus. So, the reason that’s important, or maybe the best way is to illustrate it this way: I never go next door in my neighborhood and tell my neighbor’s kids what to do. It doesn’t work very well if you’ve ever tried that. I don’t go next door and tell my neighbor’s kids, Hey, you need to be in bed at 9:30, you need to do your homework, you need to be at school early, and you need to go to your third period math teacher early, like at 7:30, because you need a little help in math. I mean all of that may be true, but it’s really none of my business.
I’ve never called one of my neighbors and said, Hey Frank, can I speak to your son Jimmy for just a second, because I told him I wanted him to be in bed at 9:30 and I just want to make sure. Hello? I mean you just don’t give your neighbor’s kids rules. You know why? They are not your kids. And so one of the things that’s easy to forget is this: When we open the Scripture, all of those rules were given to specific groups of people that were already in a specific relationship with God. I guess the primary example would be the Ten Commandments, and this may come as a shock. Did you know that the Ten Commandments weren’t given for everybody? When Moses came down with the Ten Commandments, he didn’t say, This is for all peoples, of all times, in the whole world. That wasn’t the case at all. The Ten Commandments were given to the nation of Israel, who already had a father-son covenant relationship with God. In fact, it’s pretty interesting. You know the story: God delivered the nation of Israel from the Egyptians, from Egyptian bondage, and then he fed them, he housed them, he clothed them. God led them, God protected them, and then after months and months and months of God just giving, giving and giving, God said, Now, let me tell you how you ought to live your life. The nation of Israel is like, Well, of course we’ll do whatever you say; look what you’ve done for us.
So, the Ten Commandments and all the laws of God were given to a specific group of people that already had a relationship with God. That’s why at the beginning, when I said for these next few weeks we’re going to talk about these five applications for Christians, it’s not that everybody can’t do this stuff, but there’s a group of us that’s supposed to do this stuff. Right? Because we already have a relationship with God through Jesus. Now the other thing, the other reason I make a big deal out of this—and this is a little bit of a rant, but just give me a second—somewhere along the way, and I don’t know how this happened, I’m sure it’s preachers’ fault, so I’ll take responsibility for all pastors of all time, somewhere along the way the church got all confused about this and the church decided that all of these rules and laws that are in the Bible were for everybody. So, the church became very judgmental.
And maybe one of the reasons you quit going to church, or you gave up on church a long time ago, or maybe you’re back and somebody promised you lunch, or they’ll introduce you to somebody cute, or I don’t know how they got you here, but one of the pushbacks you’ve had at churches is you know church people are so judgmental, and you’re right. And the reason church people are so judgmental sometimes is they don’t understand the Bible. Because what they do is look in the Bible and go, Oh, the Bible says we’re supposed to do X. And then they look at you, their neighbor, and you don’t even claim to be a Christian. You don’t even claim to believe the Bible. You don’t even claim to be a Bible person or a God person, and they look at you through the lens of what the Bible says and go, You know, you’re not doing this very well. You feel judged.
And it’s so absurd, because here’s what the New Testament teaches, and if you don’t get anything else out of this message, this is something to sit on. The New Testament teaches, and it actually says this, that insiders, people who believe the Bible and go to church and follow Jesus, insiders are not supposed to judge outsiders, because it’s the same as me trying to tell my neighbor’s kids what they should do. It’s none of my business what the neighbor’s kids do, as long as they don’t do it in my yard. Right? And in the same way, those of us who are church people or Christians or followers of Jesus, we have no right in the world to look at people who are outside the faith, because they just don’t believe or they choose to be outside the faith, and they are of some other faith, and to look at them and to judge their behavior based on what the Scripture teaches. Because the Scripture, both Old Testament and New Testament, the Scriptures were given to people who already had a relationship with God and who had decided to follow God, or in the case of the New Testament, to follow the teachings and the person of Jesus.
It gets so out of whack. So if you’ve ever felt judged by a church person, I just want you to know that’s the church person’s problem, not yours. You are not accountable to what the Bible teaches if you’re not a Christian. How absurd—it would be like me going to where you work and walking in and saying, Hey, from now on everybody is going to be here at 8:30, and from now on, and from now on . . . And you look at me like, You don’t have any authority to tell employees of this company what to do. Well in the same way, those of us who are God fearing, God followers, Jesus followers, Bible people, church people, we have no right to hold up the standards and the applications of Scripture and to judge the people in our culture by it.
But for some reason, for generations—for generations and generations, the church has had a tendency to judge outsiders when the Scripture clearly teaches that’s not our responsibility. So all of that to say this: If you’re a Christian, you really need to pay attention for the next few weeks. If you’re not a Christian, you just get a free pass. You can pick which ones of these applications you like and which ones you don’t, because this is free information, but you are not accountable, because you’ve never decided to follow Jesus. You’ve never decided to embrace the Scripture as your guide for life. So, that’s just kind of the setup. For the next few weeks we’re going to talk about these five life apps, and to get us started I just want to talk for a few minutes today about the importance and significance of application, because the bottom line is this: At the end of the day it’s what you do that matters.
It’s what you do that makes a difference. Doing makes all the difference. Application makes all the difference. Believing is a good first step, but you can believe all you want—until you begin doing, there’s no difference in your life. Now, two people really camped out on this in the Bible: Jesus, as you would expect, and his brother, James. And again, imagine being the brother of Jesus. How fun would that be? Imagine the stories you could tell if you were the brother of Jesus. In fact, the fact that James became a follower of Jesus says a lot, because as I’ve said before, what would your brother have to do to convince you that he was the Son of God? If you have a brother, what would your brother have to do to convince you he was the Son of God? And the answer is there’s no way. I don’t care what he did; my brother would never convince me he was the Son of God. James, the brother of Jesus, came to the conclusion that his brother, his big brother—he was born first—was actually the Son of God, which is amazing. And so James has a lot to say about the significance of application.
So, if you have a Bible and you want to follow along, we’re going to begin in the book of James. We’re going to look at a few verses, and then if there’s time I want to read you what Jesus says about this whole subject of application. Again, the bottom line is what you do makes the difference. Application is everything; application makes all the difference. James 1 and we’re going to read a few verses together and then we’ll get you out of here.
James 1:22 (TNIV)
22 Do not merely [as in only] listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves.
Now, this is remarkable. This was written a couple of thousand years ago. This is so incredibly relevant today; it just makes me think the Bible must be inspired. Here’s the implication. He said there’s a tension, there’s a tension with those of us who are church people who listen, and in listening, we deceive ourselves. To which we ask the question: What do you mean, merely listening results in deception? What does it mean to be a merely listener and somehow deceive ourselves? And here’s what he’s going to tell us: He’s about to tell us that this happens every single Sunday in every single church.
In fact, it’s happening right this minute, because in our church culture, as was the case in synagogue culture two thousand years ago, there was a sense in which people thought, You know what, if I’m in the building I get credit. If I’m in the church building or in the synagogue, God looks down and goes, Ah he’s in church, she’s in church—a better parking spot at the mall on Thursday. Go ahead and make a note, somebody make a note—better parking spot in the mall on Thursday. They’re going to recognize his ID at work, three more points on the next exam, whatever it is. We feel like God looks at us in church and goes, I’m so happy you’re in the building. It’s like there’s sort of like—God is like, Oh, they’re in the building. And then we think because we’re in the building, sitting in rows, enduring a sermon . . .
It’s like: I stayed awake for ninety percent, God. Did you pay attention? I was awake ninety percent of the time. And seventy percent of that ninety percent of that time, I was actually paying attention and not counting lights in the ceiling and trying to figure out if I was up there. How I would do that, and how is the screen working? And so we think—this is American culture, this was Jewish culture two thousand years ago—we think that God somehow gives us credit for just being here to listen. We think we’re more spiritual people; we think we’re better religious people.
And then here’s the other thing that happens in church. In church, if you go to a good church and the pastor like preaches real practical stuff, isn’t this true, that sometimes you feel bad about yourself? How many of you have ever felt bad about yourself at church? Like I’m a failure; I can’t get it right. Yeah, okay. In American culture, here’s what we do: we consider that a religious experience. We do. We go: I went to church and I felt like a complete loser as a husband. I went to church and I felt like I’m not a good mom. I went to church and I felt like I’m not a very good follower of Jesus. I went to church and I felt bad about myself, and when I felt bad about myself, it was like religious. It was like I felt close to God because I felt so bad about myself. And we consider that a valuable religious experience.
If you came up as a Catholic—I have so many Catholic friends—the guilt thing is so huge. You have made guilt synonymous with God. When I think God, I think guilt. And the guiltier I feel, the more religious I feel. Honestly, you do. And nobody taught you to do that. There’s just this weird thing that happens in church culture. If we listen and we feel something and we’ve been in the church building, it’s like okay, I get credit for doing something religious and something spiritual. And we walk out and we feel better ourselves. And James, brother of Jesus, says you’ve deceived yourself. You think there is value in something in which there is absolutely no value at all.
Now, I’ll tell you who really gets this. If you’re not a Christian or a religious person, you’ve got to be loving this. You probably don’t say amen, because that’s something that church people do, but if you said amen, you’d say amen. Here’s why: Because you don’t go to church, and you’re actually at least as good or better than some people you know that do go to church. And you are so sick and tired of hearing them talk about their church, and you’re so sick and tired of hearing them want to invite you to church, and you’re so sick and tired of feeling looked down on because you don’t go to church. Here’s what you know: You know what James knows. You know that those Christian friends of yours who don’t talk any better, who don’t work any harder, who don’t study any harder—in fact, they cheat just like you do, stare at women just like you do, they look at stuff that they shouldn’t look at just like you do, who abuse alcohol—I mean they are just like you. And you look at them and you realize James is right, because you realize what they don’t realize—that is, they think they’re better than you because they’ve been in the church house and endured a sermon and they got their kids there and they feel like they’re superior to you because they listened.
They didn’t do anything with it, but they listened. They’ve deceived themselves, and you as an outsider look at us and go, You Christians, you church people, you are so self-deceived. You think that somehow you are a better person because you got up earlier than me on Sunday, sat in some traffic, endured a speech of some sort and then came home. You’re no better than me. And James, the brother of Jesus, would say, High five, amen. You are exactly right. They’re no better than you. If all they did was listen, feel guilty, throw a couple dollars in the plate, and go home and say, Well, I had my family in church. Aren’t you glad you came today for this uplifting message? So James, the brother of Jesus, says this: Don’t merely listen to the words and deceive yourselves. Are you ready for this? Do what it says!
James 1:22 (TNIV)
22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
I can’t start that. Man, if I start doing what it says, that’s going to like mess up everything. I just want credit for hearing it and feeling bad about the fact that I don’t do what it says. If I start doing what the Bible says, I won’t feel guilty anymore and I won’t feel as close to God. If I start doing what the Bible says, I’ll have like a clear conscience and I’m not even sure God will have anything to do with me. I feel like the only time I feel close or spiritual is when I feel guilty and I’m saying I’m sorry all the time. If I start doing it, it will mess up my whole religious experience. James is going, You’re so deceived. Do what it says. Do you know what James is going to tell us, what we’re going to discover in this whole series? This is what makes all the difference. This is what makes all the difference. Believing is great, but this—application—is what makes the difference. Then James, because he’s so brilliant (the Bible is so cool), gives us the most amazing illustration of what he’s talking about. Look at this, this is so awesome. Here’s what he says.
James 1:23 (TNIV)
23 Those who listen [You know, sit in rows, listen, take notes, go to small group, went to Sunday school, you know, those who listen] to the word but do not do what it says are like people who look at their faces in a mirror.
Which is every single person listening to this message—you’ve already done that at least once or five times today.
James 1:23-24 (TNIV)
23 Those who listen to the word but do not do what it says are like people who look at their faces in a mirror 24 and, after looking at themselves, go away and immediately forget what they look like.
This is extraordinary. Look up here for just a second. Here’s what he’s saying. Now, in our culture we have actual glass mirrors. We can see like the details. That’s the problem, isn’t it? In this culture, they didn’t have glass mirrors. They had pieces of metal, they had pieces of bronze, and they had some tin where they could kind of get a reflection. Or generally, in the morning, they would have a bucket of water they would take a bath in, which means they basically splashed their face, and they would put it out in the light and they would peer over the edge of the bucket and they would see their reflection in water. That’s about as good as it got in terms of their mirror.
And James is saying this: A person that comes and sits in rows, listens to what he needs to do and go: Oh wow. Oh yeah. Oh wow, I need to do that. Oh wow, I need to stop doing that; oh wow, oh wow and then walks out the door and doesn’t do anything about it, he said it’s exactly like getting up in the morning, walking in the bathroom and going, Oh wow, then getting dressed and going on with your day. Now once you pass about thirteen, you don’t do that anymore. Right? In fact, I want you to think about something. For those of you who are over thirty especially, think about the money you spend. But beyond that, think about all the stuff that’s on your bathroom counter that you have bought and specifically laid out just to address the morning oh wow.
It’s amazing. In fact, when you travel you have to carry an “oh wow” bag. It is just full of this stuff, so when you get up in the morning you go, Oh wow, and you go to work on that face and on your hair. Do you know when you quit looking in the mirror in the morning? You quit looking in the mirror when it’s all just right. James says that unfortunately you spend more time and have more commitment to fixing what is in a physical mirror than you do fixing what is in the mirror of your heart. When God’s Word is held up in front of your heart and you go, Oh wow, I need to work on that, oh wow, I need to quit doing that, oh wow, I need to be more disciplined in that area, and oh wow, I need to be kinder, and oh wow, I should quit saying that to my mom, and oh wow, I need to study harder, and oh wow, I need to take better advantage of that, and oh wow, I don’t need to drink so much, and oh wow, I need to get rid of that friend, and oh wow, I need to get rid of that relationship, and oh wow, oh wow, oh wow. But I’m not going to do any of that stuff. I’m just going to go oh wow.
James says, Do you know what your problem is? And he’s talking to us. Now, this is to Christians—if you’re not a Christian, apply as much of this as you want. But for Christians, do you know what he’s saying? He’s saying look, you’re more committed to things that don’t make that big of a difference than you are to the things that make the difference.
Whether you get every hair in place or your makeup perfect has nothing to do with the direction and the quality of your life. But the rest of what the Scripture teaches about your money, your morality, your relationships, your marriage, the way you treat your kids, the way you honor your parents, the way you handle yourself at work, your integrity—all those things determine the direction and the quality of your entire life. And you’re more committed to fixing what you see in the mirror, which matters little, than you are the things that matter much. He’s going, Hey, you’re deceiving yourself, because you show up at church and you look awesome, but you don’t behave awesome and you think you’re awesome.
He’s going, You’ve got it wrong. You’ve totally deceived yourself. In fact, you know what I bet? I bet the moment, whether it’s a night or the week or the season that you regret the most in your life, I bet that the moment—that that night where you wish, if I could just go back to that one night, it would just totally redirect my whole life. If I could go back to that one week; I wish I could go back to that one week and make different decisions. I wish I could go back to that one season, you know, my junior year in college, my freshman year in high school, that first year I moved to Atlanta and left home. If I could just go back to that one season, that one week, that one night and redo that, I bet you anything if you were to go back and look at yourself during that one night, that one week, that one season, your hair looked awesome.
Your makeup, in fact, your makeup was so perfect that became part of the problem, didn’t it? You’ve never looked better and you’ve never behaved more improperly. And your makeup and your hair and the fact that you had shaved did nothing to direct the quality and the direction of your life, but your lack of application got you into a mess. So, you deceived yourself. You know what we do? If you’re a religious person, come on, and if you’re not, go ahead and just point your finger at us, we deserve it. It’s like a guy who gets up in the morning and goes (this is how we do religious talk), I really need to shave, but I don’t shave. I just go to work. And somebody says, Andy, did you shave this morning? No, I really need to shave. You’re right. Then I go to small group and they are like, Andy, did you shave today? No, thank you. Would you pray for me, because I didn’t. I know I need to, I saw it, somebody else pointed it out, and Sandra pointed it out. Could we just pray for me tonight, because I really need to shave. Let’s just pray that Andy will shave. You’re like, Well, just go do it. No, I don’t want to actually do something, I just want to feel bad about it; I want it to be a prayer request; I want other people to pray for me and to talk about me behind my back. And it’s like just look in the mirror and deal with what you see.
Some of you, come on, some of you have been carrying around the same old stupid habits, overindulgences and lack of discipline for years, and every time it comes up you go, Yeah, I really need to work on that. And it’s like you kind of feel closer to God, because at least I’m honest, at least I’m transparent. James says honest and transparent, you’re deceiving yourself. It’s not doing you any good, because application is everything. It’s what you do, not what you intend to do, not what you know you ought to do, and not what God convicts you to do that matters. Then he comes to my favorite part of the verse, and I like this part the best because it’s so confusing on the surface and it’s just one of those brilliant Bible things where you go, Oh, I love the Bible. Here’s what he says.
James 1:25 (TNIV)
25 But those who look intently . . .
You know, it’s interesting. We know more about look intently than James did. Some of you, and I won’t ask you to raise your hand, some of you ladies, you have a “look intently” mirror on your counter. Do you know what I’m talking about? It’s got a light around it and it like magnifies your pores. You can stare into each pore. You’re like, Look at that pore, look at that pore; you can look up your nose all the way to your brain. It’s like, whoa, look up there; you don’t want to look intently; it just makes everything huge. Here’s what he says.
James 1:25 (TNIV)
25 But those who look intently
It’s like, I’m not going to leave until I get this right. That’s what he means. I’m going to stare until I get everything perfect.
James 1:25 (TNIV)
25 But those who look intently into the perfect law . . .
He’s talking about the Scriptures. In his case—the Old Testament—the sayings and the writings and the stories of Jesus were floating around, even though the Bible had not been put together. The teachings of Paul were floating around in the first century. They hadn’t been put together in the Bible, but they had all this incredible literature that was becoming what we would consider the New Testament.
James 1:25 (TNIV)
25 But those who look intently into the perfect law that
And this is how James, the brother of Jesus, describes the Scriptures.
James 1:25 (TNIV)
25 But those who look intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continue in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.
Wait, wait: When I think about all the dos and don’ts and thou shalts and thou shalt nots, I don’t think freedom. I think narrow. I think restrictive. I think I’m not going to have any fun, ever. I think I’m going to have to be poor. I think I’m not going to, not going to, not going to . . . I’ve got to tell you, when I think about the Bible, in fact, Andy, my push-back to all of this application stuff is when I think about applying the Scripture, I think about having to give things up. I don’t think about freedom. I think the opposite of freedom. The Scripture, or becoming a Christian, or following Jesus, I feel like somebody’s putting a shackle around my wrist or a shackle around my ankle and forcing me into a lifestyle that just seems dreadful for me. How in the world does James get away saying, “if you look intently into the perfect law of freedom” or another translation says, “the law of liberty.” How could that be? And here’s why I love this passage. When I was a kid—I grew up in a Christian home like some of you did, some of you didn’t—I grew up where we read the Bible. The Bible was always explained to us and presented to us in a practical way. And when I was very, very young, my father taught me from Scripture that every time I got a dollar I should give away a dime, and I should save a dime, and then I could do whatever I wanted to with the other 80 cents, which was fine as long as it was a dollar.
But then I got older and I started making hundreds of dollars, and the whole idea of giving away hundreds and saving hundreds so that I could live on the other hundreds—that didn’t feel like this. That feels like somebody taking my money away from me. But I continued to do it anyway, because I believe that God speaks through the Scripture. And for the early part of my life, in the early years, it did not feel like freedom. But it has resulted in financial freedom. In fact, for those of you with a bunch of debt and no margin, that doesn’t feel like freedom, does it? But you know what? Early on in your finances, you decided you had the freedom to do whatever you wanted to with your money, and it did not result in more freedom. It resulted in bondage. And sometimes it’s not immediate, and sometimes it’s not the initial feeling, but sometimes it’s the ultimate freedom that comes by saying yes to God and no to ourselves.
When I was a kid, it was explained to me that God had things to say about morality, specifically sexuality and sex, and that sex was for marriage. And you know, that’s fine if you’re married. That seems like a really bad idea when you’re fifteen or sixteen, doesn’t it? Because when you’re fifteen or sixteen you’re thinking first, I’m not going to get married and secondly, by the time you’re married do you even do that anyway? You laugh, but every guy in here looked at your parents and thought, I don’t think I can wait that long. And why would you, I mean what do they do, they don’t even get along.
But for me, it was this is what God says, and so you have this decision to make. And I went to these incredible camps with a guy named Dan DeHaan, who was just such an awesome teacher, and he would explain and illustrate, and he would say sexuality is such a precious thing. He said this: The way you manage your sexuality will determine the level of intimacy you will be able to experience someday. Again, sixteen—intimacy? It’s like, what? I didn’t even know what that word meant. But for some reason, there were a handful of us that bought it and we decided you know what, I’m going to manage this part of my life the way the Scripture teaches, because I believe the Scriptures are from God. I’m telling you, and you know this, come on, I would not have said, And you know I feel free. Wrong. I felt everything but free.
But now I’ve been married twenty-something years. I’m so grateful to God for the people who taught me what seemed like the very opposite of a message of liberty, that has resulted an extraordinary freedom and liberty, because of the things that I’m free from here that otherwise I would not have been free from. And come on, we’re adults. The sexuality and the sexual nature of our culture are destroying a generation of kids. We know that. Don’t raise your hand, and we’re not going to let you give your testimony today, but you know this. For those of you who were extraordinarily sexually active through high school and college, and now you’re in your thirties or forties, you know it did not result in greater freedom for you now. It robbed you of freedom. Once again, James is right.
You know what else I was told? I was told growing up, because the Scripture teaches, that our bodies are temples. Now, this is really weird. I can’t explain it—that our bodies are temples, and that the Spirit of God lives in our bodies. So, therefore, we are to be careful of what we do with our bodies and what we put in our bodies and what we do with our bodies. In fact, the Scripture says this—that we are to honor God, we are to honor God with our bodies. I played in bands, not marching bands, other kinds of bands, and I was around drugs so much and I was around pot so much growing up. And I can just remember thinking, Okay, I’m not accountable to Mama; she’ll never know. I’m not accountable to Daddy; he’ll never know. I’m not accountable to my friends; they don’t care. I’m accountable to God for what I put in and what I do with my body. And I mean, it did not feel like freedom then.
Oh my gosh, I’m so grateful that I was taught that, because it sure resulted in freedom later. Because see, in all these lessons where I learned all those things, I’m sitting with a whole lot of people, most of whom said, I’m not going to do that. But if they could go back, if they could go back, they would opt to take more seriously in their twenties those things that seemed so confining in our twenties. Because I’m telling you, this is why I love this passage. I’m telling you, the Scripture, the Word of God is freedom-giving if you trust. Not if you believe and not if you listen, but if you apply.
And you know what else I was taught—and I could go on and on. I was taught that when somebody does something bad to me that eventually I have to forgive. Now, that’s not freedom giving. Forgiveness is not intuitive. Forgiveness is a triple whammy. First of all, you hurt me; you got me once. Second, God is saying, Forgive them, forgive them. You’re supposed to like strike them dead. I thought you were on my side. Okay look, they offended me, they took from me, they stole my idea, they ripped me off. Okay, if you’re my friend, get them. Okay, they got me; now you’re saying forgive them. It’s like everybody is ganging up. And then if I forgive, I have to basically let them off. Okay, I’m going to let you off. That’s what forgiveness feels like. I’m letting you get by with something.
So first they get me, then God gets me, then I get me. It’s like, what? Who in the world came up with this ridiculous system? Forgiveness, it’s like I’m going to wait until they apologize three times. I’m going to wait until they’re on their knees begging me for forgiveness, and once they make restitution, admit to everybody we know that they were wrong and beg for forgiveness, then I might consider it. God’s going, No, you don’t wait for all of that. You just decide in your heart you don’t owe me. You don’t owe me. Where’s the freedom in that? Ever been a slave to anger? There’s no freedom in anger. There’s no freedom in resentment. There’s no freedom to wait until you come back and take responsibility for it. There’s no freedom there, either. The freedom, the liberty is found in the non-intuitive exercise of I’m deciding to forgive you. I could go on and on. I’m just telling you. I’ve been a Christian so long, and I’ve been in this for so long, and I’ve talked to so many people, I’m more convinced than I’ve ever been in my whole life that James is exactly right—that in the application there is liberty. And you don’t know it initially, but you experience it eventually.
Then he goes on:
James 1:25 (TNIV)
25 But those who look intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continue in it—[That is, they just keep looking at it, looking at it, looking at it.] not forgetting what they have heard,
In other words, I’m going to keep looking at this. I feel guilty, I feel convicted, but I’m not going to take my eyes off of this mirror until I do something about it. Look at the promise:
James 1:25 (TNIV)
25 but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.
Bottom line: application—application makes all the difference. Bottom line: doing is what makes the difference—not believing, not hearing, not listening, not note taking, not elbow poking, not, yeah, yeah, yeah, I ought to—doing is what makes all the difference. At the end of Jesus’ most famous sermon, the Sermon on the Mount, the sermon that you could spend the rest of your life going, Oh, I’ve got to work on that, too. It just goes on and on and on. Here is Jesus’ summary statement. Here’s what he said:
Matthew 7:24
24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into
What’s this word? Practice. Not: Everyone who hears these words of mine and takes notes, everyone who hears these words of mine and comes back next week for another dose.
Matthew 7:24
24 ”Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
Do you know how much harder it is to build a house on rock than sand? See, that’s that fifteen-year-old Andy going, You want me to do what? Are you kidding? Give up what for how long? Gee, that’s like building a house on a rock. Forgive? That’s not intuitive; that’s like building a house on a rock. Submit to authority because—this is another thing I was taught. There’s God and the authorities God puts over you, and when you submit to the authorities over you, it’s like submitting to God. And I’m going, Yeah, but have you paid attention to some of my authorities? I mean they don’t have a clue. God is going, You know what, this is how I work. I work through authority.
That’s like building a house on a rock. Obey my parents? Andy, one of my parents isn’t even a Christian. My parents don’t even agree. How do I obey my parents? Don’t cheat. Everybody cheats. How am I going to get through if I don’t cheat? That’s like building my house on a rock. Jesus said, I know. That’s why I made up this silly story. Listen, so when it’s hard at the outset, you realize you know what this is like building a house on the rock, but maybe because God promised at the end there’s freedom as my reward. It’s like the wise man who built his house on the rock and the rain came down and the streams rose and the wind blew and beat against that house—do you remember this? Yet it did not fall because it had its foundation on a rock.
So what we’re going to do for the next few weeks is we’re going to talk about five very specific applications. If you’re a Christian, you’ve got to do this stuff, or you’ve got to try to do this stuff, or you’ve got to commit to this stuff, and then get some people to help you do this stuff. If you’re not a Christian, you’re welcome to play along as well. In fact, of course my hidden agenda is I hope you will play along and go, Wow, I’d like to know more, and you’ll keep coming back. And one day, you’ll be sitting here and we’ll be talking about Jesus and his death on the cross for your sins, and of course our hope is that one day something would light up on the inside of you and you would say, I believe that. I mean, that’s our agenda, but you don’t ever have to get there. You can just play along and apply what you want.
But for the rest of us, we’re going to talk about these five applications, and here’s what I hope for you. Here’s what I’m going to pray for you and for us: that as these applications are held up in front of us, that we would stare at them with the same intentionality that we stare at the mirror in the morning, and that we would refuse to quit staring at them until we had made the adjustments necessary to bring what we see into alignment with what we want to see. And my prayer is that for the next few weeks as we go through this series, and I don’t know if this is even possible—that every single morning during this series, when you walk in the bathroom and look at yourself, you would remember this conversation. And you would be reminded of the intentionality that you use every morning when you fix your makeup and your hair, and you shave, and you look at those pores, and you make sure everything is straight, and you make sure everything matches, and you change clothes three times, and is the tie just right. When you think about all the effort you give to looking great before you walk out and ask yourself the question: Am I making the same effort in the areas of my life where God would have me make adjustments in my doing, in my application, in my behavior? Because if that becomes the driving force of our lives, James, the brother of Jesus, makes this promise: you will be blessed in what you do. Because at the end of the day, doing is everything—application is what makes all the difference. Let’s pray together.
