Equal Mercy: Bridging Divides with Love (James 1)

This is a collection of Sunday teachings inspired by the Revised Common Lectionary and recorded weekly in Ocala , florida , the book of James , which we happen to be hanging out with for the next few weeks , and so I'm grateful for the many ways that we receive that truth that is engrafted in us , according to the Apostle , that can save our souls , that can change

the way that we see things . I'm grateful this morning for the babies that are here with us and for the mothers who made the efforts to actually dress them , and maybe they may have dressed them two or three times before they got here this morning . I just don't know what part of the baby , the age you are from . So I appreciated that .

And this morning I saw beautiful Abby at one side and Sawyer was crawling under the pews and then Philip was at the other side as the goalie , you know , to keep the baby , and I was thinking this brings me such joy because we're here this morning and beautiful Sawyer is at the age where he's mobile and he's walking around and he is in the house of God and

he's on Abby's hip when she comes up to take communion and his whole life . May this be , so that he knows that he is welcomed in the house of God .

Elias doesn't walk yet , but they're working on that with him and I was going to say I don't know how much you want to rush that , because from the time that little people can walk , then all you do is chase so but you know they're first parents and so you let them . You let them have their own experience .

But I love that and I also love this morning that Bob is here . He had the red beanie on, Bob is 94 . And I love the fact that he got his friend to bring him to church , or his friend brought him to church , however that worked out .

But I love for us in the congregation that we have people with us who are in their 90s and we have people with us who are in their just early stages , even haven't had birthdays yet , and everybody in the middle and all of us who are here reflecting the goodness of Jesus and there's so much hope for us in that .

I'm grateful all the time for things that I'm observing now and maybe it just happens with age , maybe it happens with renewal and for all of us it's expected of us that our following Jesus would mature and I am receiving lots of witness from nature . Recently , when I saw the gutters had plants growing out of them , it just blessed me .

It's not effective from a gutter , but I just want to tell you that's something that had died . A tree had lost its leaf and a bunch of leaves were together and they turned into a beautiful compost . And some bird or some wind brought a seed and it grew .

And I want to remind you that in dead things that is not the final word there is resurrection , and so when we allow things to die , as they often do different seasons in our lives , different relationships that we can trust that there's a power of resurrection , god's resurrection in us . Maybe the same thing won't grow .

Maybe in that compost this is a completely different tree . Maybe it was not a tree at all , maybe it was a weed or a flower . And really , what is a weed ? That's just a plant somebody said shouldn't grow here . I mean , all plants are . Sometimes they're mucky and poisonous , but you know , maybe not to everything .

So I just remind us in our lives , be mindful not to judge good and bad . This is a bad season . This may be a season where compost is being formed and something beautiful is coming out of it , and so I encourage us this morning with the word of life that Christ is among us .

We go to the book of James and we invited last week I hope that you would consider this that as a fellowship , as people who are gathered together , and even for those of you who are online , if you would consider reading the book of James with us and it's a short book and you know , even if you read a few verses every day , or just the verses that we

actually talked about on a Sunday , it would really help us to put reset and kind of remind ourselves what it looks like to really follow the way of Jesus . The way of Jesus is love , and we must constantly be reminded of that . In fact , this is what this morning we're looking at , where James , the brother of Jesus , has a lot to say about a living faith .

In fact , at one point he says it doesn't matter what you say you believe if your actions don't line up with it . So faith without works is dead .

without belief you would not be here . But sometimes belief and head knowledge get exalted and there's a beautiful dance , a beautiful harmony that goes with your walk , your life of faith . That implies that if I believe , I take a step , do you see the connection ?

And I don't believe one is good without the other , because we know people that think that by their works they will receive , uh , the righteousness of god , and so stepping out and doing those things , as great as they are , that's not what connects us with God , but also just that belief without any corresponding action to it , it's lifeless as well .

So that is kind of the when we talk about the way of Jesus .

Sometimes I need to follow that way , sometimes I need to get out of the way , and , and so I want you to kind of see that there's that um , that that walk with God , and I think we can find it um , with our connection with God in like a flow , how we will just follow when it's time to follow , and that it's not so much everything that you believe or

everything that you do , but if God is doing something , I can just kind of connect with that . Are you following what I'm trying to say ?

I think sometimes we struggle so hard with I better believe , I better believe this , or , oh , I better do more or do more , and sometimes I think that through all that struggle we miss the just following or flowing with the Spirit of God .

You are kind because you are loved by God , because you know that love is the source of this . And James is saying dear brothers and sisters , and please hear the family language , dear brothers and sisters , you're not stepchildren here , you are loved . And James is reminding us we belong in God's family .

My dear brothers and sisters , how can you claim to have the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ and hear his language ? Here You're claiming to have faith , not just faith in anything , faith in the glorious Lord Jesus Christ , if you favor some people over others .

For example , suppose someone comes into your meeting dressed in fancy clothes and expensive jewelry and other comes in who is poor and dressed in dirty clothes . If you give special attention and a good seat to the rich person but you say to the poor one , you can stand over there or sit on the floor .

Well , doesn't this discrimination show that your judgments are guided by evil motives . I mean , here James starts to meddle and you do have to appreciate James .

I mean he is talking to the congregations there and he's saying I know you're claiming to be a part of the way of Jesus , but if you follow practices of discrimination , that has nothing to do with the way of Jesus .

And then when the believers get in the congregation and they hear the message about justice have changed , they go hey , brother , what about grace ? You know . And so the point is now ask yourself if you want grace for yourself but want judgment for other people , you know .

Ask yourself if , if really the message of grace is great for you , but you want to see other people toe the mark or at least do as well , if not better than , what you've done .

And so the point of sometimes these difficult messages that we preach isn't for you to run home and tell somebody that didn't make it to church today , or for you to think , well , that's how I'm going to go reach the people that are out there in the world .

But this is really how us followers , we need to do some housekeeping and so we teach a grace message around here .

So this might feel very uncomfortable today , because we're getting ready to rebuke you .

No one does . My dear brothers and sisters , if any of you are playing favorites in any way , this cannot be , and I remind you , it doesn't only have to do with people who are wealthy and people who are poor , though .

I want to tell you that Jesus always , always , always , identified with the poor , and if you want to find where Jesus is , find those places where there is some kind of poverty , and not just physical poverty , poverty in spirit , poverty in ideas that have oppressed them . Jesus came to bring us life . Jesus is the great liberator .

In fact , jesus loves and is committed to your freedom . And when the apostle brings us an adjustment and says to us hey , pay attention to prejudice , because if that's happening , that has no place in the glorious faith of our Lord Jesus Christ , and not just prejudice concerning wealth and concerning poverty , in fact , he's reminding them .

You are part of the church of Jesus Christ . In the very beginning of the church in Jesus Christ , in Acts , chapter 2 , verse 42 , and it said everyone , everyone , everyone devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles , to the prayers and to the breaking of bread , to holy communion .

This is the church of Jesus Christ when , together , we take care of each other . In fact , some of the most miraculous things that happened in the book of Acts that are recorded is that everybody started caring for someone else . No one was selfish .

In fact , it said , if someone had something , they sold what they had so that the goods could be distributed among them . And so this distribution , this generosity , this unclenching of our fists into postures where we're open-handed , this is what it looks like to follow Jesus .

Yes , indeed , it is good when you obey the royal law as found in the scriptures love your neighbor as yourself . And this would have reminded the people who were there , because this is from the first five books of the Jewish Testament , this is from the Torah . This verse is reminding them of who they are .

This is the royal law of love , that you would love your neighbor as yourself . This is preeminent . How do you want to be treated Fairly , I would assume right .

We all want justice , we would like things to go and be even and be peaceful , but in the world that we live in , we see that that's not so , and so the invitation is how do we make it so with us ? We may not be able to change everyone , but we can change among us , in our heart . We can say in here there will be no prejudice .

We will recognize that each person is made in the image of God , is made from the source of God , that every person is worthy of dignity , that every person bears Christ .

Now , some of us have marred the image and some of us have lived in a world where other things have marred the image , and some of us have lived in a world where other things have marred the image , but deep within us , the light of Christ , and when we come , and when we come with expectation that I am part of the family , that we begin to love your

neighbor as yourself . But if you favor some people over others , you are committing a sin I'm just going to let that sit and you are guilty of breaking the law . There will be no mercy for those who have not shown mercy to others , but if you have been merciful , god will be merciful when he judges you .

Beloved , if this isn't a text alone in how we should live with so much mercy , because when we stand before God , when we stand before love , when Jesus is face to face with us , I want to tell you how Jesus described God Infinite mercy . That means that we ourselves need to be people of infinite mercy .

Now , it doesn't mean suffering abuse , it doesn't mean that you stay in situations that are unsafe , but it does cause us to reorient ourselves and say , as followers of Jesus , we must be people who show mercy . In fact , the scripture tells us this is one of the hallmarks of our faith that we are a merciful people .

I hope that is always true and said of us Mercy .

So that's the challenge , you know , we're talking to believers and saying we're here , we're here who claim Christ , so does that , our behavior , the way that we treat people , does that align with ? Is that the way Christ treated people , you know ? Did he give preference to the rich or no ?

He was actually , you know , really shown to just really be on the side of the poor . That's that I wonder , if , if that's how I view things , am I , am I always looking ? How can I be on the side of the poor , you know ? Or ?

Or I think one of my favorite verses , uh is is in the bible , where it talks about that in christ there's neither male nor female , jew , jew nor greek , slave or free . That that , that that type of uh , non-dualism , uh is what that is is presented by Christ , and we all should probably admit that that's a little bit foreign to us .

We're kind of trained to take care of our family first , or take care of us , or don't worry about them , or , in fact , those people are kind of weird over there , so we're keeping them , you know . And there's us and them , and he's saying , no , those kind of things divide us .

So I want to challenge you that when you and I say that we are these followers of christ , or we're choosing christ , then how does that bear out in in our day-to-day responses to people ? You know , do I now still have the freedom to just be angry and tell people off when they push me far enough ?

Or have I said no , I am identifying with Christ , and so I want to behave as Christ would in a situation of anger . Because Christ got angry , believe it or not , but he didn't fight the guy in the street . He'd have to have his wife bailing him out of jail . He didn't just treat people any way that he chose .

There's that choice of love , and so that's the kind of thing we're wanting us to consider today . In this , I call myself a follower . Well , what does that mean for me then ?

In fact , I was reading some really ancient texts this morning and it was they're considered one of the first baptismal liturgies , and it's from early on in the Christian faith and when they were going to baptize someone , which is a sacrament given to us by the church . We see it even before Jesus .

Jesus was baptized into the way of John the Baptist , and John the Baptist had some really impressive things to say . He said to people , if you have two coats , one is yours and one is the guy who has no coat . And he said you know , let's talk about justice here , let's talk about real generosity , let's talk about taking care of each other .

But one of the earliest baptismal liturgies is this portion that Dennis mentioned . They would say to the people before they plunge them under the water in Christ there is no difference . In Christ all the identifiers are gone . In Christ we are one . There is no Jew and Greek . There is no nationality that divides us . There is no ethnicity that changes here .

It is in Christ , and it is in Christ that the family of God is built . And so we are reminded of these beautiful things . But I draw your attention here to the fact that you have a beautiful opportunity , as do I , to practice mercy . We are to be people who are merciful people .

What good is it , dear brothers and sisters , if you say you have faith but don't show it by your actions ? Beloved here , james is really looking at us going . We can say a lot of things and a lot of things have been said to us , but how someone lives matters .

The choices that we make matter , and James is saying this is how you can look at your faith and go . Is it real faith at all ? And is my faith just a personal faith ? I just want to tell you there is no such thing as a personal faith . It's not , it's not in the scripture and no one has a personal faith . How we live .

Our faith is actually toward the world . My faith in Jesus means that I live and choose a different way . Your faith in Jesus means that the opportunity is for you to take the narrow path , the narrow path that seems like it might be closing in , and Jesus is saying I'm going to tell you something about the narrow path .

It is so expansive , it is so incredible , and mercy triumphs over judgment . This is what the scripture says . But if you say you have faith and don't show it by your actions , can that kind of faith save anyone ?

Can it save you to say that you believe something but don't have the effort or the works behind it and there is an invitation into a new way of living that we would be people so loving that mercy would be the first thing that came from us . In fact , I believe that's where that prayer comes , where Lord , have mercy , christ have mercy . Lord , have mercy .

When I can't figure out anything what to do with this situation , may mercy come first and may that be the road that we choose . Mercy . Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing and you say goodbye and have a good day , stay warm , eat well , and you don't give that person any food or clothing . What good does that do ?

I mean he's really asking us to look at how we would be the saving grace , how we would offer to ourselves , to look at how we would be the saving grace , how we would offer to ourselves , to others that we would say what is it like to follow Jesus ? It's like Jesus would be in our midst . If someone was hungry , jesus would feed them .

And I know you're saying , well , I don't have the multiplication Jesus had , but I remind you what Jesus did was say to his friend Philip we happen to have a Philip here this morning so you could talk with him afterwards hey , philip , what are we going to do about the people here ?

There's a lot of them who are hungry and in the gathering there's a lot of provision . We may have to look for it , but there is . This church is going to be 24 years old in November . That's really exciting . It's going to be our 21st year as a congregation and there has been much that has been done here .

One of the things that we have done here was very early in the church history . We decided that we would take on five children around the world internationally compassion children or world vision children and we would support them every month . And we have done that .

And I have a daughter who's been raised in the faith and in the church and she's very religious and in fact even this morning she is filling in for the children's church at the American Church of Paris . So she's doing children's church this morning . But she wouldn't allow us just to give the money to take care of the compassion kids .

She said you have to write the letters and you have to let the people know that they're loved and we're doing this because we love them . And so , okay , I could write a letter . And then she said twice a year you're allowed to give presents , and so I'll shop for the presents and the list is very , very clear with what you can give .

It's very , very specific . Like , you can't send rubber bands . I don't know why One of the countries in the world doesn't want rubber bands for us it's fine , but you can't send things . There's a lot of things you can't send , but Catherine had narrowed down the list and what was not prohibited was kazoos . So , okay , thank you for the laughter .

So we sent kazoos and cute little hair ribbons and stuff to children all over the world with our money , and then we'd have letters . And the letters don't come frequently from their side . We do send letters every month and we encourage them .

And you know what is so beautiful and I love that about 24 for us is there's already five children who have their entire life been cared for by compassion and world vision , because together as a group , we said we're going to pay for that . Their entire life they've actually aged out of the systems and they sent us new ones .

We've got new guys and it's wonderful , but it's all around the world . But we got a letter one time from Myanmar , and this was about 10 years ago , and this little person that we had been supporting and that we sent a gift for said my parents and my neighbors would like to thank you for the razzmatazz that you sent .

Now I just want to tell you the parents and the neighbors were not happy that there was a kazoo sent to them somewhere in the jungle . Imagine a child's joy to have a kazoo . And they didn't have the name kazoo , so they called it a razzmatazz . Thank you for the razzmatazz .

So I just want to tell you , as First Love Church , you're part of the razzmatazz ministry , because not only will we send resources , but we're going to send some joy .

So somebody in some little paddy field was out playing his kazoo and I don't know if they said we're not thankful , and the child changed that or the person who was interpreting it did , but he said his parents and the neighbors were grateful for the razzmatazz . And so I tell you that in what we can do , together is so much greater .

And if together we would spread mercy , if together we would spread joy , if together we would take people's needs and say I don't know , I can't fix everything , but what can we do , philip ? What is there ? And then Philip didn't even show up with his own donation . In the original scripture he gets a boy to bring his lunch , or the boy offers it .

And I just want to tell you , the boy didn't make his lunch . I just I'm going to tell the story this way there was a mother who knew that kid was going and she packed the little basket and she had probably made the bread , or maybe the sister did , and somebody , maybe the dad , brought the fish , but she sent him with fish and with bread .

And Philip found that , talked to that kid who said , yeah , I'll give this . And they put it in the hands of Jesus and Jesus gave thanks for it and blessed it and multiplied it and everyone was fed . So I remind you that your little acts of mercy matter , matters to the whole world , your acts of generosity matter . It matters to the whole world .

Your acts of generosity matter . It matters to the whole world . How we live as followers of Jesus is how the world sees the love that is still here today . We pause here for a moment to thank you for joining us today . If you're finding this episode meaningful , would you take a moment to share it with a friend ?

This podcast is made possible thanks to the generosity of people just like you . If you would like to support the ongoing work of First Love Church and the continued work of our podcast , visit us online at firstlovechurchorg , reminding you to like , follow and subscribe .

And he said Then I was here at the the church and there was a guy in there and he was vacuuming up the water , and that's todd . He does it every time it rains he comes over here , otherwise this church would stink so bad that none of us could come in here .

But he takes his own time and uses his own carpet thing and sucks up them gallons and gallons and gallons of water . And so he was over here and he met that man and todd

drove . Of course , no , ever know , except for this guy who just starts telling me about some guy that was vacuuming up water here at the church , like I didn't know who that was , and took him on this ride , you know , and then told him about the breakfast that was happening yesterday .

And so then yesterday he had come in and ate the breakfast and we were able to feed him and he was just so grateful and listened to the preach together .

And then , all of a sudden , after work , I was going to have him work right away and then Sean's like , well , no , I'm going to take him down , get him some clothes and the other place to get some more food . And so this is what's going on . I have no idea until late . You know , sean's going down and getting him , helping him .

You know , no one asked , no one appointed sean , driver of people down to get food and clothes . He took it upon himself in response to seeing this need , as todd did , you know . And then , as I did , I'm driving him back to his house . And then he was saying , yeah , I'm gonna take this little bit of money and go buy some cooking oil .

And I thought , well , I just left cooking oil in from you know , it might even be good in two months for the men's breakfast to come back here . And so I was able to take him home and that was again . It was resources that we've pooled together as a church , pooled together as a church .

It's not sweet buying the buyer some kid in the jungle , although those kids are being taken care of because of the giving and the effort that you make towards this church , but it happens through this church on a regular basis , here and then . What I want to report to maybe , if you don't realize this , this is happening in you and in the people around you .

You know all the time , because if we stopped right now and had a testimony service of how many of you have stopped and fed somebody you know , and so I'm encouraged that that is getting through and it's happening .

And then I I also want to remind you that the people in the world are going to tell you you're crazy and those people , they're just going to use it for drugs and they're going to , you know , and they're going to tell you all the reasons why not to help , when , uh , jesus didn't tell you to figure out their motives , and if they are judged by you as pure

, then you shall help . It's like help those are , and let God work on the hearts of people . Amen , you know .

But for you and I to look around , uh , the , the , when the scripture talks about the fields are ripe for harvest , uh , uh , some of us look at that scripture and go , oh , that's a promise that there's just a bunch of stuff for me , or , or maybe we should turn around and look at that , as there's a lot of people out there that can really use the message

that I have and really use maybe that , that , maybe that five bucks isn't a tipping point for you , but if it gets somebody a burger , that's a huge deal , you know , and so I encourage you to look for those opportunities and thank you for those that are responding to them the invitation is not just to the physical , but the invitation is to actually see people ,

to see them as beloved brothers and sisters .

This is why it is our not just priority , but it is our intention to be people of discernment that we would know the voice of Jesus , that we would hear the voice of the good shepherd , that in every situation we could just be still and listen and say what is needed .

Here Now we are not Jesus , we don't have every resources , but we know we can be mat carriers .

You know the story I'm referring to . There was a man who is paralyzed , can do nothing for himself , but his friends come and they pick up a corner of the mat and they bring the mat to Jesus . They bring the person to Jesus and Jesus heals them , and sometimes beloved . That is our highest vocation . We are mat carriers .

We will bring someone to Jesus and then Jesus sorts out the what , what , the things that they have need of , and I am so reminded in this act of mercy if you would go with me in your memories , cause you know the story . But love is being crucified .

Jesus is surrendering his life because he has enemies , and the enemies are people who do not like the way of love . The enemies are systems that hate the rule of love . And again James is reminding us that love is the way . And we look at this love of Christ . And Jesus is on the cross , dying , accepting a punishment that is not his .

And the person on the cross next to him says remember me when you come into your kingdom . And Jesus didn't say well , it's a little late , brother . And Jesus didn't give a list of anything that person had to do . That person said to Jesus remember me . And Jesus said today you will be with me in paradise . Infinite mercy . It is the mercy of Christ .

In fact , it is the goodness of God that calls us all to repentance . It is the goodness of God that we are to be reflective of . It is the goodness of God that we are invited to participate in .

When she was just talking a moment about a know , a compassionate witness , you know , I want us to just go back there for a second , because this is something that I learned from her and , um , and there's , uh , there's this idea as a christian that we need to be a witness , and and we're taught .

Well , that witness is that you better learn the romans road and you better beat the bible over somebody's head at some point . You know , or that's oftentimes what it ends up being . Uh , and and though I want you to learn the scriptures and I want you to be able to share them with people , uh , when they're open to them .

Uh , being a witness is uh , you know , is not that you have to prepare a big sermon . Being a witness is observing what you saw . If you're a witness in an accident , you would say well , that car came and hit that car . You're just telling what happened , and for us witnesses , this is what Jesus did in my life .

This is what God has done since I've surrendered , and , furthermore , the idea of the compassionate witness . Somebody was over my house the other day and they were financially uh fine , and they were physically fine , but but maybe emotionally and spiritually they were really hurting .

And they began to talk and you know me , I like to talk too a lot and uh , and I wanted to chime in when they set a point oh , I , I , I like that too , or , and I just was overwhelmed with the idea that this person needed someone who would just listen to their pain .

And that's a compassion , not correct them , not give them all these scriptures and fix all this stuff . But what about understanding the compassion that is and that's priceless . They're wealthy , they're doing , but yet they're without that thing that we could provide for them . They're really hurting .

And so could you see yourself being able to be a compassionate witness ?

Or have you been a compassionate witness your whole life and not realized that that was a thing , because other people might be the ones running their yapper all the time and you think , well , because I'm not doing all that , maybe I'm not effective , and maybe that compassionate witness , talk about that a little bit , because it's been so life-changing for me .

We're in ordinary time and I want us to be paying attention to the sacredness that is everywhere . But , beloved , I tell you , I'm already headed toward Advent . Oh , I'm already thinking about Advent , and I know we're just here in September , beloved , and Advent is coming .

I just say that's good for your hope , it's good for my hope , and one of the things that we practice in Advent is we allow Jesus to give us eyes to really see , which I believe is very much like what Jesus did Over and over again . If you'll read through the gospels , it will say and Jesus saw , and Jesus saw him , and Jesus saw him .

And there's a mother on the way to bury her only son and it said and Jesus saw her , other people saw her too , but Jesus saw her . And then it says and he looked at her with compassion and then the miraculous happened . Beloved . When we look at people with compassion , compassion is an outflow of mercy .

When we look at someone , not to judge them right or wrong or different than us , or us and them , when we let go of all of that and we receive from Jesus , we are loved , we're part of God's family . When mercy is the first thing that comes from us , a byproduct of that is compassion .

And so and here's the beauty of it when you start to practice it for other people , all of the sudden you will notice how not compassionate you are of yourself . And when you start handing it away , then all of a sudden you'll start looking I need to be compassionate with myself as well , and so here's the hope for all of us .

In fact , the theologian Dallas Willard reminds us of this you live your way into right thinking . You don't think your way into right living . So it is this practice that does , that allows us this holiness that God has called us to , but we take the tools that are given to us , and a tool is mercy and beloved . Mercy triumphs over judgment .

In the very end , we will all stand before infinite mercy . We will stand before the God who created everything . This is the hope for us .

If , for one minute , you thought standing before God was in some way a punishment , I want to tell you that every correction from God is restorative , not retributive , and God intends to restore us to the holiness that he put in us . And mercy , this compassionate witness , this compassionate mercy for the world . It does sometimes break our hearts .

I think a result of being compassionate will require us to weep . That's why I also love the series , the time of the year that we have lent , because then we just get to do something with all of our heartache .

Advent is coming , lent is coming , but this , right now , this is ordinary time and this is the practice of recognizing and joining with the sacred in every little thing In the planting of seeds , in the watering of flowers and plants . Recently , we don't have to do that . The skies opened up and watered everything . It was a little heavy .

The other day it was coming down so much . I was like , please , the little tiny flowers are still out there . They seem to be fine the next day . And now we have a ton of mushrooms I don't know if you do , they're kind of everywhere but the green moss that was in these tiny cracks I love this about the resurrection moss and ferns .

What appears dry is a couple of days of that kind of rain , and there is life , it is greening all around us . What would it look like for us to be people who have compassionate witness ?

Dennis and I were together the other day and we have someone that is not a friend of ours but is just a person that we visit in a business and we don't know even each other's names . But we recognize each other and we talk to each other even though we don't know each other's names , and we can do this with everyone . And I said how was your week ?

And she said horrible , just like that . And so I put my arm around her . That's a little disarming sometimes , but sometimes you can do it . And she said my mother just died and I started crying . My mother didn't die , but but hers did , and my sister is in pain . And she looked at me and she said why are you crying ? And I said because you're in pain .

And then she really started crying and I want to tell you it's seeing someone's pain and just naming it . I want to tell you that naming pain is a direct path to God . If you are headed there , I mean name that pain . Christ is the healer we invite that

. I can't do anything for this woman . I cannot bring her mother back . I cannot change anything that happened in the past . I cannot change anything in the future , but I can be a compassionate witness right now while she walks through the pain . And she said to me this is inappropriate because I am taking your time .

You intended to come in here and you didn't ask for my pain . And I said to her but I honor the fact that your pain is here and I care about you . And together we shared tears . Nothing fixed , nothing changed except compassion . And I want to tell you compassion heals us , compassion changes people .

And Jesus , if you look at him , was full of compassion , in fact , through the prophet Isaiah this is what Isaiah said he is a man so full of compassion that he knows our grief , not only acquainted with grief , but knows our grief , beloved . If you want to know Jesus , go to someone in their grief and sit with them .

But when we look at Jesus and when we begin to see as people , we see others' needs . This is the compassionate witness . I cannot change something for you , maybe , but I can let you know you are not alone , and this is the promise of God that we are not alone .

And maybe you'll be like Philip who , in the scripture , said hey , there's a bunch of people that are hungry and Jesus cares about it . Who's got a lunch ? I don't know , maybe he shook the boy down , who knows ? I mean , we don't really know that Philip was this great guy .

But Philip is the one who said hey , there's a boy here with a lunch and brought it to Jesus . And so maybe for us we have to be the people who say , like Todd did hey , there's a breakfast tomorrow . Do you want to come ?

Maybe we just give the invitation and say , together , there are people in the jungle who need a razzmatazz , and they didn't know it , but we got together . We sent him a little instrument . So probably I don't know there's , you know , five families who are just so full of joy .

Now I think they probably destroyed them , but we sent the metal ones because we thought the plastic might not go through the mail , so like a good metal kazoo . So they got hair bows and fun things like that and a razzmatazz .

I bring that up because sometimes it is just in the joy of giving , it is in the joy of saying this is what it looks like if you see someone in need and you don't do anything about it . That's why , together , we practice generous living . Together , we practice feeding the , the poor .

Together , we practice taking care of each other and taking care of people who are not ours but who are ours because they're the family of god . That's it this is the hope for the world .

This is how we change , that we experience the compassion of jesus and then we ourselves , full of god's compassion , go to others and offer that same compassion and I couldn't fully explain to you what exactly happened .

And I believe that for you and I , that's all within us and I think sometimes we want to try hard or think maybe we don't know enough or we've got to get some more information , instead of just following that flow , because it's God who's doing it through us , you know . So you don't have to . You know , it's for him the will to do for his good pleasure .

You know , I think about when I was younger I wanted to go boogie boarding and one of the kids in my youth group had done it , lived by the coast and so he was really good at it , and so I went out there and I just had waves crashing on me and I'd hustle up and I just couldn't catch it and and it was like you know , and it was just like a surf

movie or something . He takes me out and he's like just look at the waves and and it's like meditating almost . That's why I think a lot of surf people are can be very spiritual , because you're just stopping all your figuring and all your scheming and you're like , well , I'm just going to ride a wave .

That is so giant , you know , I mean one time a wave crashed on me and I just held the boogie board and just that little square inches of pounds of weight I mean I think it broke my thumb and it was just . I mean , there's such power in that and I can't control that .

But if I just relax and just all of a sudden I was riding that giant wave , that strength that was so much greater and I couldn't control it . I just had to learn how to get out of its way and kind of ride with it .

You know , and what an incredible metaphor , right For us .

You know , god's not asking you to figure all this out or to drum it up , but would you get out of the way and then just ride when God wants to do something amazing for somebody or wants to use you , that we can just get in more of that calm , meditative state where I can just watch the waves and I can see what's around .

And now I know it's time to move , because I've taken the time . We spend that time in the presence of God and spend the time around followers who , who do know the rhythm and all of a sudden I can just take that plunge and step in that thing and sometimes you might miss it . I missed that one . Let's go back out and wait .

You know , the same thing with our walk with god . There's just such a beautiful flow to that . But do you see how the god of the universe so great in his power and we're trying to produce it . But wouldn't it be better if you and I just got out of the way and let you know god , show us what wonderful things god wants to do ?

Our faith is given to us as a way of living and this faith , in fact in verse 17 , faith by itself isn't enough . And he's not saying faith in Christ isn't enough . He in fact is a follower . But he's saying if you just say you're a person of faith and you do not have corresponding actions , it's dead and it's useless .

We hope you've enjoyed this week's sermon . If you would like more information about us , visit us online at firstlovechurchorg .