Sermon Notes: “Get to Work” from 5/10/15

Get to Work
The Greek word for “Work”

Get to Work

19 You must understand this, my beloved:[g] let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness. 21 Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls.
22 But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. 23 For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves[h] in a mirror; 24 for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. 25 But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act—they will be blessed in their doing.
26 If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless. 27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. (James 1:19-27).

The Epistle (Bible word for letter) of James is a short letter written to the To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion (James 1:1). We do not know who this James is, though some suggest he was the half-brother of Jesus. The book may have also been the first New Testament book written.
The book of James is a hotly debated biblical book. There are those who do not like it for its emphasis on “works.” The argument is that James promotes works to achieve salvation as opposed to faith in Christ.
Martin Luther (the founder of the Protestant movement) called the book of James, “an epistle of straw” as it was his least favorite biblical book and contrary to the Protestant belief: salvation by faith alone.
Does James argue works are more important than faith? Is the letter a bunch of fluff? Read for yourself and decide.

Weekly Reading: The Book of James, Matthew 25, Psalm 111, Exodus 20
More about the book of James http://www.insight.org/resources/bible/james.html

The role of Biblical Prophets

Biblical prophets receive a bad rap. We often perceive them as simply condemning Israel for the wrongs. While this was sometimes the case, Biblical prophets did much more.

We tend to understand Biblical prophets as predicting the future, sometimes thousands of years after their lifetime. The truth is Biblical prophets addressed problems related

to their time and place. Throughout history we can see correlations to what was happening in and to Israel. However, as human beings we tend to make the same mistakes over and over again. We see the connection to Biblical prophets because we see ourselves in the actions of Israel.

Did Biblical prophets predict the future? Yes and no. They gave messages of hope to God’s people that would take place in the future.

The role of Biblical prophets may be best understood as a pastoral role. The job of the pastor is to shepherd the people back to God. Prophets where pastoral shepherds attempting herd the flock.

Also in the pastor role, Biblical prophets where charged to offer words of comfort to God’s people. It is the job of the pastor to speak words to lift up the people at appropriate times. Likewise, this was also a duty of the prophets. Consider Isaiah 40:1 for example; “Comfort, O Comfort my people, speak tenderly to Jerusalem”. This is a message of comfort and hope.

In conclusion, the role of Biblical prophets was that of Pastor, to lead the sheep back to God and speak words of comfort. I’m not just saying this because I am a pastor. Biblical prophets were indeed the predecessors of modern pastors.

Read the prophets listed above and note the similarities between them and your pastor. Preaching. Yep! Prophets preached especially about loving your neighbor and caring for the poor.

Attending church meetings. Yep! Pastor’s attend many meetings with the community

y of faith. So to did the prophets. They met with the community of faith frequently regarding God’s will. This is the role of pastor’s in church meetings, help the congregation discern God’s will for this community.

Caring for the sick, the lost and the poor. This is a job for all Christians, but pastor’s model it for the church. Biblical prophets continually called the community to care for the sick, the lost and the poor. They were often ignored. Some times pastor’s feel the same way.

The role of Biblical prophets was that of Pastor.

Pastor David.