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The Message for Sept 9, 2018James 2:1-17Good Works – WorkRob Miller, PastorToday is week two in our five-week series on the book of James. Our topic today is Good Works – Work.36087054953000PrayerMarlo Thomas who played in late 60’s and early 70’s TV Sitcom, “That Girl” she said (picture), There are two kinds of people in the world: Givers and takers. The takers may eat better, but the givers sleep better.Do you eat better or do you sleep better? Adam Grant in his book titled, “Givers and Takers” discovered that after a decade of research in settings ranging from Google to government organizations, there are not two, but three kinds of people in the world. He says there are… GiversTakersMatchersTakers are the people we love to hate, people who try to get as much as possible from others without giving anything back. They specialize in things like shirking responsibility, free riding, credit hogging, and self-promoting to make sure they're alone at the top. Sounds like somebody we know… In contrast, givers enjoy helping others with no strings attached. They often go out of their way to share their knowledge or insights, help solve problems, led a helping hand, and make introductions, without seeking anything in return. Sounds like somebody we know…Adam discovered that depending on the situation sometimes we are more incline to be takers; in other situations we are more incline to be givers. It just depends on the situation… Adam writes: In the workplace you might think like a taker when negotiating your salary, and a giver when mentoring a new recruit. It's rare for anyone to be purely one or the other. Most of the time, the majority of us are matchers. We strive to be somewhere in-between giving and taking. When someone does a favor for us, we feel compelled to do a favor for them in return. We want to keep things even. Most of us don’t want to be beholding or owing anyone anything. This matching approach seems like the best way to live our lives, but not necessarily. Adam discovered that in the workplace givers were the worst performers. They are too busy doing things for others that they run out of time and energy to complete their own work effectively. Not good.Oddly enough though the best performers in the workplace were not the takers, and not the matchers either, but the givers again. They were driven to help others succeed but not at their own expense. That’s the difference. Adam discovered that there are two kinds of givers those who give and give and give again until they burnout and have nothing left to give, then get resentful and angry and feel like they been taken advantage of… And the other kind of givers are those who respect boundaries and are aware of their own limitations. Successful givers specialize in five-minute favors, looking for ways of offering high benefit to others at a low personal cost. Helping other people succeed so he or she doesn’t become dependent on the giver. They also ask the people they mentor to "pay it forward", expanding their giving to a broader audience. These givers were also more cautious when dealing with takers.Now… even if givers don't exceed the accomplishments of takers and matchers which they often don’t… their success is measured with a different kind of scorecard. Instead of cutting people down on the way to the top, they pursued their goals in a way that lifts-up other people, earning friends, not enemies. So when givers do ascend, it isn't lonely at the top.I tell you all of that to tell you this…Givers invest in other people. They pray for people.Takers invest in themselves. They prey on people.Matchers invest in keeping everything even. They don’t pray.I tell you that to tell you this… Adam’s book is proof that Good Works – Work which is our topic for today. Givers are people who do good works for others.We are people of faith. Our faith in Jesus is what motivates everything we say and do. That’s because Jesus saves us from our sins. Thank God for that. We need to be reminded of that gift every day. We place our trust in Jesus and what he has done for us thru the cross. He paid for our sins and we are to pay it forward with good works…Because of Jesus then we are saved not because of our good works -- we are saved for good works. When James says - faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead - he is saying that we are not living the life Jesus saved us for. Instead, without good works -- we’ve slipped into being takers or matchers but not givers. We were created by God to be givers. My favorite verse in the Bible is 1 Peter 4:10… which reads… Like good stewards of the?manifold?grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received. (1 Peter 4:10 NRSV)I underlined the word manifold in this verse – not only because it’s a car part with me being a car guy I can relate to that image – but because it captures the essence of who we are and what we are to be about in the church. A manifold gathers and distributes. That’s it sole purpose. On a car there is an intake manifold and an exhaust manifold. Without a manifold the car will not and cannot work.The intake manifold gathers and distributes the air-fuel mixture to the cylinders. The exhaust manifold gathers and distributes the exhaust from the cylinders and sends it out thru tail pipe. Peter is saying that we are to be good stewards of this vehicle (the church) and see ourselves as a manifold for God’s grace. I love that image. Together – we are a manifold for God’s grace. That is our sole purpose. The church – we the people – are to gather and distribute God’s grace to others in and thru the church as we each share whatever gift God has given us. That’s how the church is designed to work… Each one of us doing our part as givers. We all have a gift to share. That gift is ourselves with our various skills and talents. The gift we have to share is our very lives and everything that makes us who we are. If we are not givers in and thru the church then that means we must be takers or matchers. And we know that God did not create us to be takers or matchers… God created us to be givers… That’s the message behind the words we read from James this morning… James 2:1-17James offers so many things for us to consider in these verses. So let’s look at each section and view them thru the lens of givers and takers.When it comes to showing favors in the church, James says it should not happen. James points out in this first section (verses 1-4) what everybody knows, takers love to show favoritism… they do so because they want something from others. James says that’s why they show favoritism to those who have and why they are judgmental to those who have not. It ought not be this way in the community of faith. Why? Because what is important in the community of faith is not how much financial stuff we have but how much faith we have. And faith leads to acts of love. We are to love one another not judge one another. That’s what Jesus will do when he comes again… or at least that’s what we say we believe in the Apostles’ Creed. “He will come again to judge the living and the dead.” Givers on the other hand will see the guests in our midst and connect with him or her on a personal level, on a faith level not a financial level. That’s what James is talking about in the second section (verses 5-7). Connecting with someone on a financial level and it may land you in court.In the third section (verses 8-11) James reminds us that we are to live by the law of love. Givers live by the law of love – takers do not. Takers show favoritism and caste love aside. Something we ought not do – according to James - because when we do that we sin. The problem with favoritism in the church is, it excludes people… And that’s a sin. In the next section (verses 12-13) James says that our words and our actions should lead to freedom for everyone – freedom from sin – which love does for us. Love leads to mercy.Here are perhaps the most powerful words in the bible. These are words to live by in and thru the church -- Mercy triumphs over judgment. That is the theme that runs throughout the entire Bible. Mercy triumphs over judgment.We – the people in the church – are to be people of mercy not judgement. Why? Because God is merciful to us and continues to bless us in spite of ourselves. We are blessed by God every day to be a blessing to others every day. Being judgmental towards others does not bring a blessing into their lives, being merciful does. In the last section (verses 14-17) James says that if we have faith then we will be givers, not to make other people dependent on us but when the situation presents itself, then we put our faith to work. Throughout this series you are invited to put your faith to work by doing two things. Read a chapter from the Book of James each week. This week read chapter 2 every day and let the word of God speak to you and then act accordingly.2. Give a financial gift to our World Hunger outreach ministry. Mark on your envelop or on your check the amount you are giving to World Hunger. Let us know how much you are giving. This is in addition to your regular giving in support of our mission and ministry here at FLC. Let’s meet the goal of at least $1200 by the end of this month. I think we can far exceed that goal. Let’s help feed the hungry. Together – we are a manifold of God’s grace at work in this place. Let’s do our part to be givers and not takers or matchers. Good works – work! Amen ................
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