JAMES: PRACTICAL WISDOM FOR TODAY - Interpersonal Communication 101 (a blogpost for a sermon to be preached at Kenwood Church in Livonia, MI, on April 26, 2015)

"My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this:  Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, . . ."  (James 1:19).

Enough said.

JAMES: PRACTICAL WISDOM FOR TODAY - Living Proof (a blogpost for a sermon to be preached at Kenwood Church in Livonia, MI, on April 26, 2015)

Good advice.   When is the last time you listened to a good piece of advice?  Did you heed the warnings, accept the challenge, understand the nuance?

James offers great advice to his readers about living our lives in this world.  He stretches between listening, anger, getting rid of moral filth, doing the Word, controlling our mouths, and true religion.

How well will you listen to this advice?  What is the most important part of receiving sound advice?

JAMES: PRACTICAL WISDOM FOR TODAY - Trials and Temptations (a blogpost for a sermon to be preached on April 19, 2015 at Kenwood Church in Livonia, MI)

I have always been fascinated by why people write what they do.  Why does James link trials and temptations in almost the same thought?  Does he see temptation as part of the testing that helps us become "mature and complete, not lacking anything."  If so, should our outlook on temptation change?

Most of us (understandably so) would prefer to stay away from temptation.  Should we take a new approach to temptation by seeing the opportunity in the midst of the curse.  I am not advocating creating scenarios where we encounter temptation, but I am pressing the manner in which we understand the reality of temptation.

I want temptation no more than I want trials, but there is a benefit to both.  My maturity and growth are connected to these terrible t's.  I may not want them, but I may need them.  I may pray they would never come upon me, but I must see what God is doing in the midst of them.

I believe that God works through both, the blessing and the curse.  To miss this is to miss how we exist in this world.  We are not merely God's receptacle of good; we are God's overcomers of the curse.  We demonstrate His lordship when we are stewards of blessing and victors over the curse.  We do not get "either or"; we got "both and".  God receives the glory in both the blessing and curse.  God gets the praise at all times in every situation.  Our God rules over the perfected and the fallen.  God meets us in the trial and the temptation.

JAMES: PRACTICAL WISDOM FOR TODAY (a blogpost for a sermon to be preached on April 19, 2015, at Kenwood Church in Livonia, MI)

My next sermon series will stroll through the Book of James.  Practical Wisdom for Today is a series that takes seriously the intersection between the Word and our lives.  Read along in the Scriptures as we work our way toward Sunday.  The schedule below will help us to get from here to there.

4-19         James: Practical Wisdom for Today       Trials and Tribulations                         James1:1-18         

4-26         James: Practical Wisdom for Today       Living Proof                                            James 1:19-27

5-3            James: Practical Wisdom for Today       Equality in the Church                         James 2:1-13

5-10         James: Practical Wisdom for Today       How Faith Works                                    James 2:14-26

5-17         James: Practical Wisdom for Today       Taming the Tongue                                James 3:1-12

5-24         James: Practical Wisdom for Today       Sowing the Seeds of Peace                   James 3:13-18

5-31         James: Practical Wisdom for Today       Trusting God                                           James 4:1-12

6-7           James: Practical Wisdom for Today       The Dangers of Pride                              James 4:13-17

6-14         James: Practical Wisdom for Today       Warnings to the Rich                            James 5:1-6

6-21         James: Practical Wisdom for Today       The Rewards of Perseverance              James 5:7-12

6-28         James: Practical Wisdom for Today       Prayers of Faith                                       James 5:13-20

24 HOURS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD - Abuse (a blogpost for a sermon to be preached on March 2, 2015, at Kenwood Church based on Adam Hamilton's work by the same name)

Abuse is never an easy topic to discuss.  Verbal, sexual, physical, psychological, child, elder abuse.  The list goes on and on.  Discussing such matters is always filled with angst and pain.

I have noticed in my 25 years of ministry experience and 48 years of life experience that people who have suffered abuse usually connect more effectively with others who have met a similar fate.  I have often been surprised that the nature of the abuse is not always the common denominator.  Abuse in its broad sense seems to offer a framework for connection.

If you have been abused, run the the son of God that went through abuse.  The one who understands the pain of torture, pain, humiliation, degradation.  God came in the flesh, in part, to endure what we endure.  We have a savior who understands.  Really he does.

If you have felt the pain of abuse, let Jesus help you heal.

24 HOURS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD - Ridiculing the King (a blogpost for a sermon to be preached on March 2, 2015, at Kenwood Church based on Adam Hamilton's work by the same name)

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me."  This little bit of wisdom or a powerful spell for a preteen weirdo did not have its desired effect for me.  I was almost 6 feet tall in 6th grade.  I needed to lose some baby fat.  I looked Asian enough to receive the label "chink".  I was a nice kid too nice to fight back at the older kids who loved to make fun of this smart, goofy, genial kid.

The truth is that the words always hurt me.  Now I grew to be mature enough that I didn't give the bullies the power they so terribly wanted.  But until probably 7th grade, the words hurt.  In fact, I would have rather fought one of them than have to listen to their stinging words.

Jesus was mocked as the "king of the Jews."  True words but spoken with the wrong intent.  I am sure that Jesus was mature enough to live above the trite words of an immature crowd.  I am also sure that these attacks broke the heart of the king of heaven who all too well know they would some day all know him as he truly is - "every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that he is Lord."

24 HOURS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD - The Torture and Humiliation of the King (a blogpost for a sermon to be preached on March 2, 2015, at Kenwood Church based on Adam Hamilton's work by the same name)

Torture has become a more common word in the American vernacular since the rise of radical Islamists.  Surprisingly the term is used to describe the actions of both sides of this global conflict.  The amazing part of that fact to me is that we have naively placed this word and its accompanying actions somewhere deep in our minds as if to say that such things certainly cannot happen in our modern world.  The truth is that torture has always been around because it works.  The humiliation, degradation, physical abuse, psychological terror, and unbelievably creative means of inflicting pain have always brought about their desired effect--the breaking of the human spirit.

How does torture work on a human spirit that cannot be broken?  When that spirit is combined with the essence of the God-head, what really happens?  "The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak" (Mt. 26:41) seems to imply that the body cannot keep up with the willingness of the spirit.

How much more humiliated can the son of God who "being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death--even death on a cross!" (Philippians 2:8) be.  The torture was just the beginning.  Humility in the flesh would be humiliated and then some.  

Humility would triumph over humiliation!

6Who, being in very nature^a God,

did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

7rather, he made himself nothing

by taking the very nature^b of a servant,

being made in human likeness.

8And being found in appearance as a man,

he humbled himself

by becoming obedient to death—

even death on a cross!

9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place

and gave him the name that is above every name,

10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

11and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,

      to the glory of God the Father. 

(Philippians 2:6-11)