Hope Alliance Nazareth

Jesus tells us plainly that the kingdom is already here, in our midst, and in our hearts where true transformation takes place.  As Jesus-followers, it is our mission to make disciples in that kingdom via the method Jesus commanded: LOVE ONE ANOTHER.  Jesus-followers are called to prioritize love over politics, platforms, and policies!

In a culture rife with division and echo chambers, how are we to be people that move towards one another, Gospel one another, and proclaim the Gospel together in the world?  "They will know you're my disciples by your love."

The Holy Spirit desires and empowers unity within this new family of God.  It is our privilege to walk with the Holy Spirit through belief in the Gospel and using our gifts for the common good.

As adopted siblings in a new family of God, we develop personal AND communal rhythms of life for the glory of God.  Together we live and operate from the shalom of Jesus  And we gather regularly with one another around the Gospel, singing and teaching and warning one another with great grace.

As Jesus followers and children of God, Paul calls us to "put off" the old self and to "put on" the new one...like exchanging shabby clothes for a whole new wardrobe.  He means to say that our adoption is final, but we now have a role to play in imitating the ways of our heavenly Father as His dearly loved children.

Being adopted into the family of God is wonderful grace.  But part of being adopted into a new family is leaving behind the negative baggage and sinful tendencies of our old family.  We have to go back to go forward.

To be adopted into the family of God through Jesus means we are adopted out of the family of Adam.  We are set free from the shame, rebellion and violence that characterize so much of humanity.  So, the only right response is to leave behind the ways of Adam and embrace the true life found in living God's way.

In Christ, we are adopted into God's new family, given a new name, chosen heirs, redeemed in love, and sealed by the Spirit to the glory of God.  We are sons and daughters of God that take on His name and His inheritance!

The resurrection of Jesus is a new beginning...a new creation in which we can become a new family centered in and around Jesus.

James concludes his letter reminding his readers and us of the dangers of walking away from the Gospel.  But knowing that we all have a tendency to wander, he calls all of us to be part of restoring others back to the Gospel.

After so many warnings about arrogance, James now turns to what a humble life consists of: regular conversation with God through prayer and praise.  James is calling his readers and us to be a community that prays individually and for one another because conversation with God though humble prayer brings life and restoration!

As James nears the end of his address, he encourages his readers and us to humbly endure.  But he does so by reminding us to endure because Jesus is going to return and make all things right and new.

James offers a stinging rebuke of arrogant wealthy people whose lack of generosity and gospel depth has led them to be unaware of the justice of God and care for the basic needs of people around them.  This rebuke is also a warning to us to live in generosity because of the Gospel!

James offers yet another warning about arrogance, this time in how we go about planning and living out our lives.   When we live in Gospel humility we get to live life in partnership with God. 

Slander, or speaking against others, typically begins as praise of self.  But a humble, Gospel assessment of self actually leads to a grace-filled assessment of others.  That in turn leads to Jesus-followers being quick to listen and slow to speak.

James warns his readers that they've abandoned their faithfulness to God and instead are looking for love in what he calls "the world".  But despite their wandering, God gives greater grace so they can still drawn near to Him, and He will draw near to them.

The world, the devil, and our flesh war against our souls to drive us to selfish ambition and envy.  James warns us to receive and live in the wisdom of God who is the lover of our soul; to find satisfaction in the finished work of Jesus and become gentle, peaceful people.

James reminds his readers that "Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks".   We must do business with what the "spring" is in our heart because, depending on what's there, it will produce  words of blessing or words of cursing.

James goes out of his way to drive home the point with his readers: genuine "saving" faith is a faith that works and produces fruit; that faith is more than a singular prayer and a ticket to heaven.  James is making the case that we are not saved BY works but UNTO works.

James exhorts his readers, then and now, that there should be no favoritism of the rich (or the poor) in the church.  Instead, James calls Jesus-followers to hold on to faith in Jesus alone, who for their sake became poor and made all people rich who call on him as Savior and King.

Perhaps the most famous verse in the letter of James calls Christians to action and "doing" instead of simply listening and "consuming."  What we find is that consuming religion deceives us into self-righteousness which actually enslaves us.  But embracing the Gospel energizes us towards transformation and freedom!

The opposite of temptation is not purity; it's faith in the Gospel.  When we rely on the truth of our new birth in Jesus we can resist the flesh and its deceitful desires.

"Count it all joy when you suffer" is not grief counseling, nor is it evidence of a punitive God.  James is calling Jesus-followers to a perspective of divine wisdom that sees how suffering breaks us of our self-reliance and self-righteousness.   And THAT is the Gospel that brings about redemption and resurrection life.

The letter of James in the New Testament is all about one thing: single-minded maturity.  James is a book that has a simple theology of "Jesus is King.  So live like it."  With 59 commands in 108 verses, James is to the point, practical, and sprinkled with Gospel grace.

At Christmas we celebrate that Jesus Brings God; Emmanuel, God with us...in our flesh and in our struggles.  Jesus is full life and brings light into our lives.  When we make room in our hearts, he and the Father come and make their home in us, giving us light and life now and forever.