Inside Out Living

I received a great question from someone on Sunday in regard to level of graciousness in their life. It came from a brother who loves Jesus and yet recognizes that in his life he does not demonstrate the level of graciousness that he desires to demonstrate. I think many of us can relate with this so I started a list of simple (and not so simple) things that each of us can do to increase the level of graciousness in our lives. These are in no certain order. Please comment on what you would include on this list.

Ways to increase graciousness:

1. Buy a stranger a cup of coffee next time you are in Starbucks.
2. Buy everyone in line at Starbucks a cup of coffee.
3. Spend a Saturday serving someone who cannot repay you.
4. Serve a mean at a local homeless shelter or soup kitchen.
5. Buy a single mother some groceries or diapers.
6. Ask five people you know how you can pray for them, then do it and follow up and ask how they are doing.
7. Deliver meals to shut ins.
8. Volunteer at a nursing home.
9. Volunteer at a hospital for terminally ill children.
10. Buy a stranger a tank of gas.
11. Give blood.
12. Mow you neighbors yard when they are at work.
13. Shovel your neighbors driveway next time it snows.
14. Tell a service employee 'thank you' next time they serve you.

What would you add?

This past Sunday I preached on James 3:13-18 about the wisdom that comes down from above.

NIV James 3:13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15 Such "wisdom" does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. 16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. 17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18 Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.

In the message I put an emphasis on how we are to give evidence of our wisdom through the deeds that are done in humility. Now in talking about humility I put an emphasis on how we do not promote ourselves and the acts of service that we do. The reason for this emphasis is that the "selfish ambition" James speaks of in verse 14 refers to some who promotes themselves like a politician with an agenda.

So the question was asked by someone after church, a good question no less, that how can we give evidence of our wisdom if we are not to promote what we are doing. To him these two thoughts seemed to conflict, and in a way he was right.

So then how do we 'show' our heavenly wisdom by deeds done in humility without being guilty of promoting ourselves and trying to gain recognition. I think the answer lies in how it is found out what you are doing.

The point that James is making is that if you truly are wise and understanding then there should be some evidence in your life of deeds done in humility. And we know that humility comes from wisdom. He isn't telling us to promote or proclaim the good deeds that we have done, but rather if you are doing what you should be doing then more than likely someone will stand up and take notice.

Yes some deeds we do will not be recognized, which is more than ok because our Father who sees what we do in secret will reward us accordingly. However, more often than not someone will notice your acts of service and will see the humility present within your attitude and that will reflect the godly wisdom that you are indeed exercising.

So then it is possible to give evidence of wisdom through deeds done in humility without shamelessly calling attention to our service.

Last week I preached a message titled tongue depressor on James 3:1-12.

It was a challenging passage for all of us to look at because as James says, no one is able to control their tongue perfectly. We all sin and we all stumble.

After the message I received the following question from one of our regular attenders.

Your sermon last week dealt with the tongue. You made the statement that none of us can control our tongues perfectly and yet James 1:26 says the following.

If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless.

I don't doubt that you are correct in your assessment; I just don't know what to do with this pesky little verse.

It is not entirely impossible to harmonize these two different passages.

In James 1:19-27 the point that James is making is that our beliefs should influence our actions. He says that we should be doers of the Word, not merely hearers of it. So in verse 26 his point is that if you think yourself religious and yet your religion does not impact your life, specifically here influence the words you say, then your religion is not accomplishing anything, it is worthless.

This would be the individual who maybe attends church religiously or even reads their Bible religiously but never allows God to change their life. They continue to live their life according to their rules and have merely added a religious life on top of what they are already doing. Religion that works, is that which actually changes us from the inside out so that we are changed not just in what we do, but what we say and think as well.

Now in the section I preached on in James 3:1-12, the main point that James is trying to make is that even though no one can ever live without making a mistake with their words, for those who claim to be children of God we should not be both cursing people and praising God. To say that you aren't always perfect in what you say is not the same as the 'uncontrolled' or 'unbridled' tongue that James speaks of in 1:26.