James series – “The Litmus Test for life”

James 5:19-20

My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, ²⁰ remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

Each week James has given us spiritual tests of faith. He started his letter like this: “Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. ³ For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. ⁴ So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.” Consider it joy when God tests your faith. Why? Because He tests your faith so that you can know that it’s real. He tests your faith so that you will patiently endure till He calls you home. He tests your faith in order to make your relationship with Him complete and full and lacking nothing. But how often do we sound like the elementary school student complaining to their teacher? “Teacher, why do we have to have so many tests?” Or, “My teacher’s mean they give us too many tests.” Why does the teacher give tests? To make you secure in the lessons they have taught you. Why does God give tests? To make you secure in the faith that He’s given you. Over the last few months as we’ve taken these 12 tests of faith you may not have gotten the results you were hoping for. In fact, I don’t know anyone that has gotten all A’s. That’s why we need God’s grace. And through God’s grace, He’s given us each other for the purpose of remediation. As we come to this last test, “The Correction Test” we will see that God intends for us to encourage and spur each other on to passing His tests. Sadly, most of us never connect the tests in the context of community. We only see these tests in the context of self and so we miss the serving. As a result we use the tests primarily to promote our image and how we look instead of to lend a helping hand. So, when we pass a test we want to brag about it and parade around instead of looking around at who we need to come alongside and help. We end up using tests to look down on others instead of to lift them up. As we look at this last test together is there anyone you need to call and encourage?

James series – “The Litmus Test for life”

James 5:19-20

My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, ²⁰ remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

It’s here that we come to the thirteenth and final test, the correction test. As many of you know, I really struggled in school because I had dyslexia. I was told that 2 things I wouldn’t be very good at were public speaking and writing, 2 things that I not only get to do but love to do. So how did I go from failing in those areas to being paid to do those things? Its called remediation. You see I was fortunate enough to have a teacher who not only believed in me but was honest enough to tell me the truth about where I was at but also that I didn’t have to be stuck there. He told me that I could overcome my weaknesses and go from struggling to success. But in order to do that I had to first recognize and be honest about where I was at and second be willing to recognize my need for remediation. What is remediation, it’s the action of remedying something. My dyslexia caused me to really struggle with English which affected all my other classes. The solution was to put me in a remedial English class so I could work on my literacy skills and eventually go from a remedial class to a regular class. The big question was would I be willing to admit my problem and go through remediation knowing that all the other kids in the school would also know I had a problem. Did I care more about looking good or getting better? These are not just problems we struggle with in school, they are the same issues we face in Christian community. Where we are tempted to worry more about what people will think and say than we do what God thinks and says. So, we put our effort into maintaining an image of Christianity instead of conforming to the image of Christ. I had to care more about getting better than looking bad. Do you care more about how you look or how you are living? Today we don’t want to talk about remedial classes because we don’t want anyone to feel bad. But would you rather feel bad or be bad? Sadly, we are doing the same thing in the church, because rather than get honest about what is really going on spiritually in our lives, and repenting and recommitting to relying on Jesus, we just say its ok we all sin, its no big deal. The school I went to tested us, the tests were a measuring tool to see where we were at. If we failed, they didn’t just throw us out they put us into a remedial class to work on the areas we struggled with so that we would be able to pass the test. They didn’t give anybody the answers to the test. They didn’t make it easier on us, as a matter of fact, it was often harder. Spiritually the same is true, God doesn’t lower the standard so that we can be comfortably complacent Christians. Instead, He calls us to comfort to Christ. Why did my teachers take the time to equip us to pass the test? because they knew that the outcome would affect our whole lives. Now if a secular organization like a school is that concerned with people passing tests don’t you think that we as the church ought to be that much more concerned with people passing spiritual tests? Tests that don’t just affect our physical life but have eternal consequences.