Jeremy Hoover

We know, as Christians, that we're called to follow Jesus. But two temptations exist: to seek comfort in our experience or to control our experience. Rather than following Christ where he leads us--sometimes through suffering and rejection--we water down his teaching to make it comfortable for us or we control it by setting parameters for what it means to follow Jesus.

Jesus criticizes both. To those who want comfort, he tells the parable of the rich fool to teach that we need to continually be open to God and his leading, wherever it takes us. To those who seek to control (as evidenced by their ability to "forecast" the weather), Jesus teaches that we need to trust him.

We do this by "interpreting the times." This means being watchful, aware, alert, and awake to the movement of the Spirit within us so we're available to answer Jesus' call when we hear it. This is the same Spirit who sends us out into the world to give freely to others just as we were freely given to. Do you hear him calling?

Sometimes we think God's will is so mysterious that we doubt we'll ever find or understand it. But the bible is clear that God's will is both findable and understandable. We understand God's will in the gospel that provides us hope and teaches us to live sacrificially like Jesus, we experience his will in prayer and in spiritual growth that provides knowledge of him, and we express God's will when we bear fruit by serving others in love.

Since we are called to live out our faith, it reasons that faith without action is dead. In fact, this is what James teaches in his letter (2:14-26). Giving two examples--one a friend of God, the other a prostitute--James demonstrates from scripture that we are considered righteous by what we do.

A good faith is a faith that focuses on deeds of service for others.

James teaches us that we are required to live out our faith. Faith without works, after all, is dead.

In this sermon, I look at James 2:1-13 to learn how loving the poor as our neighbor and avoiding favoritism is what God looks for in one who keeps God's royal law by faith.

How do you know if your faith is maturing?

According to Paul, we know with certainty our faith is maturing if we find ourselves trusting Jesus more than ourselves, becoming more attached to him, and pressing on towards our future with him.

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