It's All About Grace

Introduction
Does God ever change your plans?  I had planned to preach something different today. But as I prepared, God gave me a different word.  I sensed Him saying: “Speak about grace.  It’s all about grace.”

Grace is something many Christians associate with Jesus and the New Testament.  But Jesus is God and the God of the New Testament is the same as in the Old Testament.  God is God.  And God is love.  And God is full of grace in both the Old and New Testaments.  And today the message is all about God’s grace.

In the Old Testament, it was God’s plan that the Israelites leave slavery in Egypt and travel to the Promised Land. In Deuteronomy, Moses gave his final instructions to the Israelites before he died.
Moses makes it clear that God is full of grace—even in the Old Testament.

Deuteronomy 9:1-6
¹ “Listen, O Israel! Today you are about to cross the Jordan River to take over the land belonging to nations much greater and more powerful than you. They live in cities with walls that reach to the sky! ² The people are strong and tall—descendants of the famous Anakite giants. You’ve heard the saying, ‘Who can stand up to the Anakites?’ ³ But recognize today that the Lord your God is the one who will cross over ahead of you like a devouring fire to destroy them. He will subdue them so that you will quickly conquer them and drive them out, just as the Lord has promised.

⁴ “After the Lord your God has done this for you, don’t say in your hearts, ‘The Lord has given us this land because we are such good people!’ No, it is because of the wickedness of the other nations that he is pushing them out of your way. ⁵ It is not because you are so good or have such integrity that you are about to occupy their land. The Lord your God will drive these nations out ahead of you only because of their wickedness, and to fulfill the oath he swore to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. ⁶ You must recognize that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land because you are good, for you are not—you are a stubborn people.

God's Grace is in Both Testaments
God is full of grace in both the Old and New Testaments.  It was God’s grace that gave the Promised Land to the Israelites. He overcame giants for them.  It was not because they were such good people.  They were not good people.  They were stubborn and rebellious.  But God is full of grace and power. 

God came as Jesus in the New Testament.  Jesus came to deliver people from slavery to sin.  What God did in the Old Testament for Israel foreshadowed what Jesus does in the NT.  Jesus leads His people into the true Promised Land.  When we put our faith in Christ and follow Him as Lord, we have eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven.  And it’s all about grace.

Ephesians 2:8-9
⁸ God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. ⁹ Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.

Grace is God’s undeserved kindness doing for us what cannot do for ourselves.  On the cross, Jesus atoned for our sin.  Those who trust and follow Jesus are no longer guilty of sin.  If you trust Jesus, turn from your sin and follow Him as Lord, you are no longer guilty of sin.  You are no longer slaves to sin.  You are set free.  You are part of the Kingdom of God.

God’s Glorious Standard
Grace is hard to fathom. Christians often struggle to comprehend the amazing grace of God.

We sense that God is Perfect and Holy.  We know it intuitively and from the Bible. 
God’s obviously has a high and glorious standard.  He is perfect and holy.

Romans 3:23 tells us, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.”
And Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”  So everyone has sinned and the consequence is spiritual death.

Since we fall short, many try to add other things to make up for it.  We add rules trying to earn God’s love and favor.  So some will live rather austere lives thinking it will impress God.  They will not drink, or smoke tobacco.  They will go to church every Sunday (and maybe even more).  Some may even abstain from sex or marriage, pray 5 times a day or live as monks devoted to holy living.  If someone is  doing this to earn God's favor, we call it self-righteousness.  It's a righteousness that we try to manufacture ourselves. 

Others may go the opposite direction.  They may reject God altogether and just live however they please.  Their lives become selfishness, full of greed and indulgence.  A life that rejects God makes the self its own god and quickly degenerates into depravity.

The world is always full of people living on both ends of this spectrum between self-righteousness and rejecting God.  Even church people struggle with this.

God has a different plan.  John 3:17 says, “God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.”  Jesus came as an ambassador of God’s grace.  His death on the cross saves us.  His blood is our atonement.  Our sin-debt is canceled.  Our ransom is paid.

God’s Grace Saves
It is God's grace that saves us.  We cannot save ourselves.  Self-righteousness cannot atone for our sins.  Rejecting God only compounds the problem.  The only answer is God's undeserved, unearned grace received through faith in Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 2:9 reminds us, “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.”  It is God’s grace—not our own self-righteousness—that saves us.

Guess what that means.  You don’t have to feel guilty anymore.  You don’t have to be ashamed.
You don’t have to worry whether God loves you.  When God looks at you, He sees Jesus in you.  And God says, “This is my beloved son/daughter, in whom I am well pleased!”

You don’t have to fear death.  You don’t have to fear hell or punishment.  You are saved!  You are already a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven—both now and for eternity!  So now you can live without fear or shame or regrets.  Live as royalty, BC that’s what you are!

Unfortunately, sometimes even after a person starts following Jesus, they slip back into another form of self-righteousness where they try to justify their behavior.  They say, “Well, Jesus has already forgiven my sins, so I can live however I want…”  And so they go one sinning or they go back to sinning.  In doing so, they become slaves to sin.  God loves us and doesn’t want us to be slaves.  God wants His sons and daughters to be free.  And not just free in principle, but actually really free.  In other words, God wants you to be free from the power of sin.  Sin no longer has the power to keep you captive. 
Jesus’ death on the cross ripped the gates of our prison cells clear off the hinges!

So many people who decide to follow Jesus are actually still sitting inside a figurative jail cell.  They think they're still trapped and unable to leave the prison.  But the jail cell is wide open.  All they have to do is listen to the Holy Spirit, get up, and walk out of the cell.  But they never leave their sin and it still has power over them either because they don't want to give it up or they are afraid to.

That’s not what God wants for His children.  God’s Holy Spirit lives inside everyone who believes in Jesus.  The power that raised Jesus from the grave can raise you out of your sin.  But you have to trust and receive God's grace.  God gives us the power to break free from sin.  So get up and walk out of your prison!

Closing Prayer
Father, thank You for amazing grace.  We don't deserve it.  We can't earn it.  But You freely give it. Thank You!  Lord help us to trust Jesus.  Receiving His grace, assure us that we are saved and no longer need to be guilty or ashamed.  We are set free and we can live holy lives for You by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Thank You for setting us free!  Now help us to live free, all for Your glory. Amen.

Palm Sunday - The Lord is Here to Save You

Introduction
Today is Palm Sunday.  It is the start of Holy Week, when we recall the last week of Jesus’ life on earth before the ressurection on Easter Sunday—next Sunday.  So if you’ve been reading through the book of Matthew for the Lenten challenge—we are in chapter 21.  And chapters 21-28 describe the last week of Jesus life.  So today we are in chapter 21:1-11, which describes the events Christians traditionally call Palm Sunday.  Let’s take a look.

Matthew 21:1-11
As Jesus and the disciples approached Jerusalem, they came to the town of Bethphage on the Mount of Olives. Jesus sent two of them on ahead. ² “Go into the village over there,” he said. “As soon as you enter it, you will see a donkey tied there, with its colt beside it. Untie them and bring them to me. ³ If anyone asks what you are doing, just say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will immediately let you take them.”

⁴ This took place to fulfill the prophecy that said,
⁵ “Tell the people of Jerusalem,

    ‘Look, your King is coming to you.
He is humble, riding on a donkey—
    riding on a donkey’s colt.’”

⁶ The two disciples did as Jesus commanded. ⁷ They brought the donkey and the colt to him and threw their garments over the colt, and he sat on it.

⁸ Most of the crowd spread their garments on the road ahead of him, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. ⁹ Jesus was in the center of the procession, and the people all around him were shouting,

“Praise God for the Son of David!
    Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
    Praise God in highest heaven!”

¹⁰ The entire city of Jerusalem was in an uproar as he entered. “Who is this?” they asked.¹¹ And the crowds replied, “It’s Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”

Explain the Passage
At this point in the story, Jesus is in his 30s.  He has spent three years in public ministry. He has done amazing miracles—healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, and healing the deaf.  Jesus has the power to feed thousands, calm storms, walk on water, and even raise the dead to life again.  According to John’s Gospel, just before Palm Sunday, Jesus raised Lazarus back to life after he’d already been buried in a tomb for 4 days.  Can you imagine the buzz about Jesus as he enters Jerusalem.

Jesus tells his Disciples where to find a donkey for him to ride and he has a specific one in mind.  This is the fulfillment of prophecy from the Prophet Zechariah 9:9. They are to go find a donkey and it’s colt (a young donkey that has never been ridden before) and they are to bring it to Jesus.  If anyone asks why they are taking the donkey, they’re supposed to say, “The Lord needs it.”  That’s important.  It may be hard for us to understand, but in Jesus' day everyone knew the king had the authority to commandeer anything he needed.  Jesus is the King of kings.  He has the authority to ask for anything he needs and people will give it.  If "the Lord" needs your donkey, you let him have it.  Does the Lord have authority to take whatever He needs from you today?  What would you do if the Lord said, "I need your car." Or "I need your home or business or family..."?  Christians are fond of saying "It all belongs to the Lord."  But do you recognize the sovereign authority of God to ask anything of you?  Would you be so willing to give?

But why a donkey and why a colt?  When a king comes to attack, he comes on a war horse.  When the king comes on a donkey, it’s for peace. And a colt is a young donkey that has never been ridden. Jesus is making an important statement.  He’s a king. And He’s such a special king, He needs a donkey that no one else has ever ridden, because he is not like any king people have met before.  This King is the long awaited Messiah. 

Lastly, Jesus is saying the Messiah comes to Jerusalem for peace. I don’t know if the people in Israel fully understood what Jesus was saying.  They probably understood the prophetic symbolism; Jesus was fulfilling Scripture. And they understood He was publicly declaring Himself the Messiah—the royal heir to David’s throne. They realized Jesus was coming to the capital city to claim His throne.  And crowds of people flooded the streets to cheer him.  They waved palm branches—the national sign of victory.  They welcomed Jesus as their Messiah—calling Him the Son of David and praising God.  They begged Jesus to save them.  That’s what “Hosanna” means.  It means “Save us!”  They threw down their garments on the ground—a symbol of submission (sort of like saying, “You can ride over our clothes, just don’t ride over us.”)

They understood Jesus was the Messiah, but I don't think they understood His mission.  Donkeys are for peace and many in Israel wanted the Messiah to come for war, to kick out the Romans.  However, Jesus’ mission on earth was peace and reconciliation—for all people, including the Romans.  The Gospel of Luke says that Jesus wept as he drew near to Jerusalem. “How I wish today that you of all people would understand the way to peace. But now it is too late, and peace is hidden from your eyes. Before long your enemies will build ramparts against your walls and encircle you and close in on you from every side. They will crush you into the ground, and your children with you. Your enemies will not leave a single stone in place, because you did not recognize it when God visited you.”

Jesus came in peace, but Jesus knew Jerusalem would reject the peace He offered.  He knew that in a few more years (65 AD), Jerusalem would rebel against Rome and the Romans would burn Jerusalem to the ground (in 70 AD) and thousands of people would die horrible deaths and the survivors would be dragged away as slaves.  No wondered Jesus wept. Jerusalem literally means “City of Peace” and it was supposed to be the "City of God", but Jesus knew they wouldn’t accept the peace He wanted to brings because they wouldn't accept Him as God.

Why Does this Matter to You?
Palm Sunday is a fun tradition in the church.  It’s an upbeat, triumphant service. Kids get to wave palm branches and we get to see their smiling faces. 

I hope hearing some of this history is helpful for you, but what does it really mean for you?  Is there in practical purpose for Palm Sunday?  I think the reason the Church celebrates Palm Sunday every year is in the hope that you will finally understand something important.  Jesus came to save you.  He didn’t come to save you from some external enemy that’s oppressing you.  Jesus came to save you from you.

You see, for the people of Jerusalem, it wasn’t the Romans that were the problem.  It was the people of Jerusalem themselves—their sin; their rejection of God.  Their refusal to let God be their sovereign King.  When Jesus comes to save you, He saves your own sin and rejection of God.  
You are the problem. 
The problem is not the Devil. It’s not cancer. 
It’s not your disability or illness that’s the problem.
The problem is not the broken bones that need to mend or the pain you feel.
The real problem is not your financial debts or that the government takes out too much in taxes.
The real problem is not gun violence or racism or political division or Republicans or Democrats.
The real problem is not that those people over there aren’t living the right way.
The problem is not the UMC or the GMC or homosexuality.
Jesus says, the problem is you. You are the problem.
It’s your heart. Can’t you see. It’s full of sin.  You reject God as he absolute Lord of your life.

I’m not saying this to make you feel guilty or to make you feel bad or to condemn you.
John 3:17 says, “God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.”  But if you can’t recognize the real problem is in you, how can the Messiah save you?

Holy Communion
Everyone loves Jesus when they think He’s come to conquer their enemies.  But what do you do when you realize you’re the enemy and He needs to conquer you?

In a few days, people in Jerusalem decided they didn’t really want Jesus to be their Messiah. 
So they arrested Him and handed Him over to the Romans to be beaten and crucified.  They traded Jesus for a criminal because they were criminals.

Jesus knew what was coming. But He also knew that darkness can never extinguish the Light of the World.  Easter resurrection was coming.  So He shared the Passover meal with His Disciples—the thanksgiving meal that celebrates God’s deliverance.  He changed the liturgy to show He is the Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world.  For 2,000 years, Christians have shared this meal to remember Him and to find strength in His saving presence.

We set the Communion table.  We share the Sacred Meal. 
We remember the Solemn words Jesus told His Disciples.
This is my Body given for you.
This is my blood of the New Covenant poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Do this in remembrance of me.

Christians Are Witnesses for Jesus. Amen!

Introduction
I'm not a die hard sports fan, but if I chose favorite teams, I would probably choose the Georgia Tech and Washington, and I'll tell you why.  My brother went to Georgia Tech.  He was eight years older than me and sometimes would invite me to come up and stay with him at college.  It was really cool.  And though we were never hard core college football fans, I guess if I had to choose a college team, I would choose Georgia Tech.  But really, our family's team was the Washington (formerly Redskins).  Why?  Well, even though I've lived most of my life in Georgia, I was born in Maryland (along with my brother and two sisters).  We all moved to Georgia when I was only about 7. So we left everything we knew behind and came to a strange new place--Macon, Georgia.  People thought we talked funny and we felt the same way about them.  And my family still rooted for Washington; it was sort of our thing we were proud of because of where we came from.  

In church service this past Sunday, I asked three people why they chose to be fans of their favorite team.  One was a Green Bay Packers fan.  One was a Georgia Southern fan.  Another was a Ole Miss fan.  I didn't warn them ahead of time that I was going to ask them why they liked that particular team.  I just asked them write in the middle of the sermon.  Not surprisingly, each one of them could easily share why they loved their team and each had a great story.  The Packer fan had a family connection to Wisconsin, near the Green Bay area.  The Georgia Southern fan and his wife both attended the college and actually met while working together at the original Zakby's in Statesboro.  The Ole Miss fan grew up near Oxford, Mississippi and saw a friend with an Ole Miss notebook when she was a young kid and eventually went there.

We usually don't have a hard time talking about our favorite teams.  If we're not into sports, there are probably lots of other things we love to talk about that seem natural--our kids, our favorite movies or TV shows, etc.

We like to support our favorite teams.  They’re important us for many reasons.

Today, I want to talk about being a witness for Jesus, because Jesus commanded His followers to be His witnesses.  I want to talk about 3 ways to be wintess for Jesus. If you are ready to learn, say Amen! Amen!

Acts 1:8
⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Explanation
The Book of Acts tells the story of how the early Church, filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, told people everywhere about Jesus.  Every Christian told their family, their friends, their neighbors, their co-workers about Jesus.  It started in Jerusalem, where followers shared the amazing Good News that Jesus died and rose from the grave.  The Holy Spirit enabled them to do miracles, like the supernatural ability talk to people in other languages they didn't know so that those people could hear and understand the Good News about Jesus in their own native tongue.  No one was in need in the early Christian community because everyone loved each other and they looked after one another as family.  It was a beautiful movement--the original "Jesus Revolution". 

Then persecution broke out.  The temple authorities got jealous and started killing Christians and driving them from their homes and canceling their businesses.  Christians stared leaving Jerusalem and going out into the countryside.  They went out into Judea and told people there about Jesus and more people believed and followed Jesus.  Christians even went to Samaria—a country that was traditionally rivals and enemies of the Jews.  The Jewish Christians didn’t care.  They went to Samaria and told them about Jesus and the Samaritans believed and got saved and became Christians too!

Then the Christians went up into Syria and Turkey and told people there the Good News about Jesus.  Then they went to Greece and Macedonia and even to Rome.  Everywhere they went, Christians told people about Jesus.  They told about his death and ressurection.  They told how Jesus changed their lives.  Even when talking about Jesus could get you in trouble or even killed, Christians were faithful witnesses.  In fact, the Greek word for being a faithful witness--martyr--became synonymous with giving your life for your Christ.  Christians are faithful witness who tell people about Jesus.

Today, I want to talk about three ways to be a witness for Jesus.  1) Sharing Your Love for Jesus. 2) Inviting People to Church. 3) Recruiting people for Jesus.

Sharing Your Love For Jesus
It wasn’t hard for me to decide who to ask about their favorite team.  I knew, because some people are such devoted fans of their team, everyone knows who they support.  You can probably think of several people you know and which team they support.  You could ask them why and they would be glad to tell you.

Being a witness for Jesus can be as natural as sharing about your favorite team.  I hope your love for Jesus is something that everyone knows.  Hopefully, Jesus is the most important thing in your life and that comes through to everyone everywhere, all the time.

It doesn’t have to be hard to be a witness for Jesus.  If you have a real relationship with Him, people will know.  Sometimes, they will just see it. Maybe they saw you wearing a cross or overheard you talking about your faith or they knew you went to church last weekend or saw you doing Christian service.  

If you live for Jesus, people should be able to see your faith at work.  Are you doing the kinds of things that show people Jesus is your Lord?  If someone was looking to find out more about what it means to be a Christian, would they know to come talk to you because they know you’re a Christian?

Sometime people will see your faith and know you are a Christian.  Other times, you will tell them.  If you’re a serious Georgia Bulldog fan (or Alabama or whatever), no one has to twist your arm to get you to talk about your team. Right?  You probably look for opportunities to get in a conversation about them.  You love to talk about the game that's coming up this weekend or you want to celebrate the win last weekend (or cry about the loss).  It just comes natural.  Are you that quick to talk about Jesus?  Do you look for reasons to tell people why you love Him?  Do you relish the chance to share the difference Jesus makes in your life (or even be honest about how He's helping you overcome your shortcomings)?

Inviting People to Church
Following Jesus isn’t just a private thing.  We live out our faith in a community.  One of the ways you can be a witness is to invite people to experience Jesus at Church—the body of Christ.  Here again are some striking similarities with sports fans.

Being a fan of a certain team means being part of a community.  Right?  I mean, you get together with other fans and watch the game.  There’s a whole community.  It can be electric to be in the stands with thousands of other cheering fans, all rooting for the same team.  Or how many of you have gotten together with friends to watch the game on TV?  Even if you watch the game all by yourself, there’s this sense that you are part of something bigger.  You are part of a community and that matters.  And if you really want your friends to experience what it’s like to be a fan of your team, you would probably invite them to go to a game with you (or watch it on TV with you).

The same is even more true for Christians.  If you want people to experience the risen Jesus you know, you might want to invite them to church (or a Christian retreat or Bible study, etc.).  Christians experience the fullness of our faith in a community of believers.  Yes, your relationship with Jesus is personal, but it’s not only personal.  It’s something that takes place with other people.  Stories about Jesus always took place in a group setting.  Jesus called twelve Disciples and they worked together asa group.  Jesus was transfigured in front of Peter, James, and John.  The Last Supper was a meal shared with all the Disciples—even Judas, the one who betrayed Jesus.  When Jesus rose, he appeared to hundreds of people—often in groups.

Christians experience the love of Jesus most fully through other Christians.  We learn in groups.  We worship as a body.  Jesus said in Matthew 18:20, “Where two or three gather in my name, I am there with them.”  That doesn't mean Jesus isn't present when we are all alone.  He's with us when we are alone too, but there's something something sacred and essential about Christians gathering together.  And if you want your friends to experience what it means to really be a Christian, you probably should invite them to Church—the Body of Christ.

Recruiting For Jesus
There’s one more way to be a witness that I want to talk about:  Recruiting.  Sometimes, you just need to be direct.  Sometimes the situation calls for it.  Sometimes all it takes is, “Hey, come to church with me.”  But recruiting could also mean:  “Hey, my church is packing sack lunches on Wednesday nights for the school next door.  Why don’t you come help us out?”

Again, let’s go back to the sports analogy.  In order to build a winning college team, coaches have to get out and find the best high school athletes and convince them to come to their college.  Right?  But it’s not just the coaches that do the recruiting.  How many of you who went a certain college and had a good experience and you try to encourage others to go to that school too?  And it's not that you're trying to sell something people don't need, right?  If you know your school had a great nursing program and you have a friend that's looking for a nursing school, you'd be like, "Hey, the college I went to has a great nursing program.  You should check it out."  We would be doing them a favor by hooking them up with our great alma mater.  Right?

If we believe Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, I hope we will recruit people to be part that.  Don’t you?  We’d be doing people a favor to recruit them to be on Jesus’ team.  So why not?  A lot of people out there are looking for a team—they’re looking for meaning and hope and peace and love and healing…  Jesus is all of that.  Why not be the ones to tell people where they kind find what they’re looking for?

So there's three easy to understand ways to be a witness: 

1. Sharing your love for Jesus,
2. Inviting people to Church, and 
3. Recruiting for Jesus

I Challenge You to Be A Witness for Jesus.
I’ve been giving you challenges throughout this series. Here’s one for today.  Make a list of specific people you know to whom you could be a witness.  Pray about how you could witness to them.

Could you share with them a spiritual struggle you need Jesus to help you with? 
Could you share with them a way you are growing spiritually because of Jesus?
Could you invite them to come to church with you (or Sunday school or Bible study…)?
Could you ask someone if you could start praying together. (Maybe you and a co-worker go out to each lunch every Tuesday.  Could you ask to start saying a blessing before you eat?)
Is there someone you know who needs to pray to accept Jesus as Lord?  Could you pray with them about it?

Start with a list of people. Write down their names.  Look at it every day and oray that God would show you how you could be a witness to them.  Let the Holy Spirit guide you and empower you to be a witness for Jesus.

Christians Practice Spiritual Disciplines. Amen!

Introduction
The Bible is the Word of God and contains everything necessary and sufficient for our salvation.  The Bible teaches that Jesus Saves us from sin when we have faith.  The Bible also teaches that faith without good deeds is dead. Today, I want to explain some of the spiritual disciplines the Bible teaches Christians to practice.

1 Timothy 4:7-8
⁷ Do not waste time arguing over godless ideas and old wives’ tales. Instead, train yourself to be godly. ⁸ “Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.”

Explanation
First of all, this Scripture warns Christians: “Do not waste time arguing over godless ideas and old wives’ tales.”  The Bible is a fascinating book full of intriguing stories.  There are a lot of things that are hard to understand.  There are even many things that have caused people to scratch their head and speculate what the original writers meant.  There are stories about giants and even angels having intercourse with the daughters of the earth.  We wonder:  How did Noah fit all those animals on the Ark? Could Jonah really survive living in the stomach of a giant fish for three days?  These are interesting ideas that capture our imaginations and people love to speculate on them.

However, a quote often attributed to Mark Twain says, “It ain’t the parts of the Bible that I can’t understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand.”  It may be “fun” to speculate about the intriguing parts of the Bible, but Paul writes to Timothy (and us), “Do not waste time arguing over godless ideas and old wives’ tales.  Instead, train yourself to be godly.”

Living a godly life takes work.  It’s hard enough work that we don’t need to waste our time on unfruitful speculations.  Paul writes:  “Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.”

We all know the benefits of exercise.  In our comfortable and prosperous world, we eat too much and don’t exercise enough.  This leads to all kinds of health problems.  People who exercise regularly, tend to be healthier, happier, more energetic, and productive.  We know the physical benefits of exercise.

But Paul says, “training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.”  No matter how much we exercise, our physical bodies are eventually going to wear out and die.  This Ash Wednesday we remembered how our physical bodies will be buried and return to dust: “Remember, you came from dust and to dust you shall return.  Repent and believe in the Gospel!”  We will be given new and perfect bodies for eternal life.   The gains of physical exercise are for this temporary lifetime, but the gains of spiritual exercise are for eternity.

Spiritual Disciplines
Spiritual disciplines are spiritual exercises found in Scripture that promote spiritual growth and health.  Just as physical exercise develops your body and muscles, spiritual disciplines develop your spirit so you become more like Christ.  Spiritual disciplines nurture the growth God wants to give us. 

It is not enough to know about the spiritual disciplines.  We must actually practice them in order to experience the benefits God wants us to have.  There are many spiritual disciplines, but I want to mention just seven for your today, and challenge you to practice them between now and Easter.

First, there is prayer.  Prayer the most basic element of Christian living.  Prayer is like breathing for the Christian.  Some people say, praying is talking to God, but it is even more basic than that.  Last night, Kelly and I went to see the movie “The Jesus Revolution.” It’s a wonderful movie.  Of course, we didn’t talk during the movie.  That would be rude.  We sat and held hands and watched the movie together.  Even though no words were spoken, we chose to be together.

Prayer can be like that. Prayer is spending time with God.  There are many different ways to pray.  You can ask God for help for yourself or people you care about.  Other times, prayer is just sitting quietly with God on purpose.  Sometimes prayer is listening to God while you read Scripture.  Sometimes prayer is writing a prayer or reading someone else’s prayer or even reciting a prayer you have memorized—like the Lord’s Prayer.  Whatever way you pray, you should pray.  It is the most important Spiritual Exercise for Christians.  Prayer is an essential part of all the other spiritual disciplines.

Another spiritual discipline is fasting.  Fasting is voluntarily giving up food (or something else) for a time as a way to humble yourself before God. Fasting enables the Holy Spirit to reveal your true spiritual condition, resulting in brokenness, repentance, and a transformed life. Most often, fasting is associated with going without food.  (Jesus fasted for 40 days before he officially began his earthly ministry.)  Many Christians give up something for Lent—like chocolate or coffee.  Fasting could also be giving up TV or social media or something else for a time.  Anything you give up is meant to help you focus more on God and less on yourself.  Fasting and prayer go together.  Fasting amplifies your prayers.  It turns every fiber of your being into a prayer.  As you long for the thing you are without, your longing becomes an unconscious prayer of longing for God.

Next to prayer, study is one of the most essential ways the Holy Spirit changes us.  Our mind is the center of our thoughts and our thoughts lead to our actions.  When we study the Holy Bible, we allow God to transform our minds.  The Bible is the Living Word of God.  If you want to hear God’s voice—the Voice that gives Life—you must study the Bible.  Study can also include reading other books, attending classes, or other forms of study.  All these can be beneficial.  However, studying the Bible is the most essential form of study.

Human beings were designed to worship.  Worship means to show reverence and adoration for God.  It centers on God, not ourselves or our feelings or our own particular preferences.  When we worship God, we point our spirit toward God in worship, we begin to see, hear, feel, and experience God at a deeper level.  We must worship in spirit (heartfelt, intimate closeness, and submission to God) and in truth (based on right understanding).  Worship works best when we prepare properly.  If you expect to get the most out of Sunday morning worship, be sure to get enough seep the night before and prepare for worship on Sunday morning by praying on Sunday morning before worship for God to make worship meaningful.  Come hungry for the Lord and with the expectation that something important will happen.

Christian meditation is listening for God’s voice so we can obey His Word.  In meditation, we use our imagination to spend time with God in the Scripture.  We look for God to come to us and fill our minds with His feelings, His ideas, and His insights and welcome Him to transform our wills.  We are not so much searching for God as letting Him find us as we watch, listen, and wait patiently.  Often it is helpful to read a passage from the Bible, pray for God to speak to you through it, and then just meditate on the passage for a time, letting God speak to you.

One of my favorite spiritual disciplines is solitude.  To practice solitude is to step away from the world for a little while to focus on interacting only with God.  You silence the inner turmoil of your anxious mind and cease striving to control people and situations by your own force of will.  You learn to trust God to work things out according to His plan and His timing.  For introverts like me, it doesn't take much convincing to get us to seek alone time.  We need it!  But when you are alone, make sure to intentionally focus on God's presence with your.  If you are an extrovert who loves to be with people, being alone can be way out of your comfort zone.  But I encourage you to try it regularly.  It may be even more important for you to get away from people occasionally and to only rely on God's presence to to fill you.

Service is helping others.  Jesus said in Matthew 23:11, “The greatest among you must be a servant.”  Service is a spiritual discipline that is good for both you and for others.  Service is really about recognizing we are servants.  We let go of our right to choose who and how we will serve.  Instead, we learn humility as we shift our focus from ourselves and onto others.   This is the main way Jesus taught his Disciples in the Bible.  Instead of sending them off to Bible college to get trained, Jesus gave them on the job training.  And He wants to do the same for you.  You may not feel qualified to serve.  But Jesus may invite you to serve anyway.  He will teach and equip you to serve as you serve.  You have to trust Him and answer the call when He asks you to serve--even if you don't feel ready.

I Challenge You to Practice Spiritual Disciplines
I’ve been giving you challenges throughout this series.  First, I challenged you to read Genesis and Matthew before Easter arrives.  Then, I said focus on one category of good deeds (see the list here).  Today, I challenge you to practice these 7 spiritual disciplines.  There are 42 days until Easter. Let’s get busy.

Faith Without Good Deeds Is Dead. Amen!

Introductions
The Bible is the Word of God and contains everything necessary and sufficient for our salvation.  The Bible teaches that Jesus Saves us from sin when we have faith.  The Bible also teaches that faith without good deeds is dead. 

James 2:14-20
¹⁴ What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? ¹⁵ Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, ¹⁶ and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?

¹⁷ So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless. 

¹⁸ Now someone may argue, “Some people have faith; others have good deeds.” But I say, “How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.”

¹⁹ You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. ²⁰ How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless?

Explanation
The Apostle James wrote these words to remind Christians that faith in Jesus in not merely an intellectual matter.  You can’t just say, “Sure, I believe Jesus died on the cross and rose from the grave.  I believe that actually happened.”  It’s not even enough to say, “I believe Jesus is God’s Son and that He is Lord of all the earth.”  The kind of faith that saves us is a living faith that changes the way you behave.

You know, you can say, “I believe it’s safe to fly in an airplane.”  Saying it is one thing, but you don’t really believe it unless you get in the plane and fly somewhere.  

The kind of faith Jesus wants from His followers, the kind of faith that actually saves us, compels us  to act.  When we say, “Jesus is Lord!” then we actually live as though He is Lord of our lives; following Him is the most important priority in our life and we follow His commands.  When we truly believe Jesus rose from the dead, we live like we have nothing to lose because we know we have eternal life too.  Living faith—the kind of faith that saves you—compels us to do good deeds.

Being Good vs. Doing Good Deeds
Maybe this is too elementary, but I think it might be important to review what is a good deed.  I say this because sometimes Christians confuse being good with doing good deeds.  In Methodism we call one works of piety and the other works of mercy.  

A Work of Piety is being good inwardly through religious devotion.  Works of Piety are things like praying, fasting, reading your Bible, Holy Communion, and going to church weekly for worship.  These are all good religious devotions that help you be a better person.  You’re not primarily doing them to help other people.  You’re doing them to help yourself.  The point is, you can't say: "I did my good did for the week; I went to church."  Going to church or reading your Bible is not a good deed.  

A Work of Mercy is a good deed, something you do for the betterment of another person or society as a whole.  Reading your Bible or praying are not “Good Deeds”.  They are definitely good things to do., but they are good things you do for yourself, not others.  A Good Deed—something living faith compels you to do—is something good you do for others.

In the Methodist tradition, we further break good deeds down into 2 broad categories.  Corporal Works of Mercy", which concern the physical needs of others, and Spiritual Works of Mercy, which concern the spiritual needs of others.

Corporal Works of Mercy
Jesus told a parable in Matthew 25 about sheep and goats.  In the story, He tells how the Son of Man comes back at the End of Time and separate people into two categories--sheep and goats.  

The sheep are rewarded and the goats are punished because they have or have not done certain works of mercy.  Matthew 25:34-36 says, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.”

From this, we get 6 works of mercy:  1) Feed the hungry, 2) Give water to the thirsty, 3) Clothe the naked, 4) Shelter the homeless, 5) Visit the sick, 6) Visit the imprisoned or ransom the captive.  And to this we can add a 7^th) Bury the dead.  Basically, these are good things you do to help others with physical needs.  

There’s another important distinction Jesus always adds when he teaches his followers to do good deeds.  He says in Matthew 25:40, “When you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!”  In other words, this is not a matter of doing good things for people who do good things for us.  This is not, "I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine."  There’s no spiritual reward in that.  No, we are supposed to do good things for people who can’t do anything for us.  Jesus even said in Luke  6:35, “Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked.”

People have physical (corporal) needs.  It doesn’t make much sense to focus on a person's spiritual needs without first tending to their physical needs.  If someone is starving to death, they don’t need you to teach them about Jesus. Give them food!

Spiritual Works of Mercy
However, once a person’s physical needs are met, it’s important to also offer people spiritual food.  In Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus commanded his followers: “Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you.”

And that’s where a second set of good deeds comes in—Spiritual Works of Mercy: 1) Instruct the ignorant, 2) Counsel the doubtful, 3) Admonish the sinners, 4) Bear patiently those who wrong us, 5) Forgive offenses, 6) Comfort the afflicted, and 7) Pray for the living and the dead.

Do you see all the ways a true Christian has to do Good Deeds?  There are seven Corporal Works of
Mercy to tend to people’s physical needs and seven Spiritual Works of Mercy to tend to people’s spiritual needs.  That at least fourteen ways to do good deeds!

That's why James 2:18c says, “I will show you my faith by my good deeds.”

Challenge
I’d like to close  with a challenge.  First of all, if you’re not a Christian (if you've never put your faith in Jesus Christ) then decided to trust Jesus today.  Pray and ask Jesus to forgive your sins and make a commitment to follow Jesus as your Lord from this day forward.  And do just say it; do it.

Second, I challenge you to do good.  If you say you’re a Christian (that you have faith in Jesus), then show your faith through good deeds.  Choose one good deed you’re going to focus on between now and Easter on April 9^th.

There are fourteen options:  

1. Feed the hungry.
2. Give water to the thirsty.
3. Clothe the naked.
4. Shelter the homeless.
5. Visit the sick.
6. Visit the imprisoned or ransom the captive.
7. Bury the dead. (Attend funerals, even for a few people you don't know.)
8. Instruct the ignorant.
9. Counsel the doubtful.
10. Admonish the sinners.
11. Bear patiently those who wrong us.
12. Forgive offenses.
13. Comfort the afflicted.
14. Pray for the living and the dead