Jonathan Williams with Word of God, Speak

We call the kingdom of Christ the Upside Down Kingdom. We call it that because the ways of Christ often look upside down to the world.  If you want to be first, be last? If you want to be great, serve? If you want to be considered wise, be as the youngest? Really? That doesn't make sense!

People love to see authentic Christianity. This is because of our claims. After all, think of what we are claiming –a relationship with the living God,  that God lives inside us, that we have eternal life, that he is changing us, that we have the message that can change people, families, communities, and nations.  Those are some pretty big claims. People want us to back them up with our lives, with authenticity.

James expresses authenticity with two words: Pure and Faultless 

I want to talk with you today about success.  Success is at the fingertips of every person listening regardless of age, race, or gender!  When we hear or think of the word success we normally think of four things – wealth, fame, achievement, or pleasure.

I want to talk with you today about anger. Anger, you know, is only one letter away from Danger. Have you ever noticed that? Anger does not accomplish God's will in our lives. It does us no good. It does others no good. It dishonors God. I'm sure you agree with this, and though I realize that not everyone has an anger problem, I also believe all of us have been touched by anger in some way. Maybe, "touched" isn't the right word. Maybe I should say, "slammed" by anger.

Quick to hear and slow to speak. God has reinforced the importance of this by giving us a visual – two ears and one mouth. Let's apply this so we can have a life worth living and can demonstrate to the world the kingdom of Christ.

James says, Be quick to listen and be slow to speak. "Friends, note this verse. Write this down. Memorize it. Inscribe it on your minds, and practice it, practice it, practice it.

You know what would be the most frustrating experience?  It would be to get to the last day of my life and realize, "I wasted my life.  I lived for the wrong things.  My life is over and I have nothing to show for it." How can we change that?

We have learned there are five kinds of trials, but the one I want to focus on today may be the most difficult. I am talking about the trial of temptation, the trial of temptations that come our way when we want something that is not good for us, and the desire for it seems overwhelming.

Why do we persevere? Why do we keep following Jesus? It is because of his promises, his blessings at the end of the road. James says that those who stand the test receive the crown of life which God has promised to those who love him.

Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial.  It doesn't say he perseveres when times are good or even a little difficult. He perseveres under trial. He keeps going. How can we do this?

Could there be any better expression of the truth that Jesus Christ has come to turn people and society upside down than these words in James 1:9-11?  The one who is low is made high.  The one who is lofty is brought low. 

If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

What we need is wisdom.  Wisdom is applying knowledge to our lives.  Wisdom is knowing why these things happen so that we can respond appropriately.   But we don't always have wisdom, do we?

In my previous message, I identified five kinds of trials. They are the normal circumstances of life, the trials we bring on ourselves, the trials God brings on us for our good, the trials others bring on us by their sin against us, and the trials that come to us because we are followers of Jesus. It is this last kind of trial, persecution, that James mostly had in mind as he wrote this letter.

I have to be honest. The verses we are going to look at today have been some of the hardest for me to apply, especially the first part. So many times I have read these verses, stopped in my tracks, and thought – "Sounds good.  But am I doing them? Am I obeying."

The Book of James gives many outstanding insights on this kingdom agenda. In our first two studies we have provided an overview of this book and given some highlights. Today, I am going to provide a little bit more. Today, I want to talk with you about the author, James, and the people to whom he wrote.

As you know, we live in a world that does not value the things God values. What a shame that is! The world is his! He is the one who sets the standards! Yet the world ignores him to its peril. I want to demonstrate today three ways the world does not value God's kingdom.

This series, The Upside Down Kingdom, will show you how to live by the values and culture of the kingdom of God.

I want to talk with you today about the glory of God, about unity in the body of Christ, about how God can take terrible circumstances and turn them around for the progress of the Gospel, and about his grace. Are you ready?

What kind of God is this who encourages us to give and says the more you give the more you will get back!  It is a generous God and we can never outgive Him! 

One day, someone asked an extremely rich man how much money was enough to be content and he answered, "Just a little bit more."

Paul didn't quit.  He learned the secret of contentment in Jesus.  Paul would not want you or me to quit and he wants us to learn the secret of being content in Jesus.

Paul says the God of peace will be with you.  In 4:7 he said the peace of God would guard your heart and mind, but Paul says here that the God of peace Himself will be with you.  And that's what we want – the presence of God in our lives. 

It is so important that we hold to these truths about God because there is a law God has built into the universe – we will become like what we worship.  We will become like whatever is most important in our lives. 

When you have worries you must make a choice – are you just going to brood upon them and let them send you into a downward spiral or are you going to take those worries to God and let God know how you feel? 

We want to be ready when the attacks come, and the way to prepare ourselves against those attacks is to hurl our anxieties upon the Lord knowing that He deeply cares for us and will work all things out for our good.

We must let our voices be heard in the marketplace of ideas, but we must ask God to give us grace to do so, not as militants, but as mercy-bearers, not as violent aggressors but as peace-makers, not as radical revolutionaries but as servants who only want to help others find the truth about our God who loves them.

Let me ask you, when you hear reports of others who come to Christ, does that bring you joy? When you hear reports of God's people making progress in their lives, does that bring you joy?

I looked up every place in the New Testament where the word joy or rejoice is used and I refreshed myself through what I read.  Let me pass on these thoughts to you.

If we have our weapons turned inward toward one another, they will not be turned outward toward the enemy. We are not the enemy. The enemy is the forces of spiritual darkness that enslave the world, and God has called us to unite to push back the darkness.

Paul told Euodia and Syntyche, live in harmony in the Lord. Be of the same mind in the Lord. You and I have the same opportunity to show Christ-like love and humility. Let's bring joy to our Father's heart and be men and women of harmony and peace.

I want to talk with you today about the glory of God, about unity in the body of Christ, about how God can take terrible circumstances and turn them around for the progress of the Gospel, and about his grace. Are you ready?

Our faith in Christ is unique. Every other religion is about escaping the earth and going off to heavenly realms forever and ever. The Bible has a very different picture.  When God sent Christ into the world it was with this goal in mind – to renew all things.

What is the result of this kind of life, the kind of life where one lives by the physical appetites, the kind of life where one boasts in shameful things, the kind of life where people live only for the moment? Paul says, "their end is destruction."

What kind of God is this who encourages us to give and says the more you give the more you will get back!  It is a generous God and we can never outgive Him! 

The Christian life is not just passing on what we believe but passing on how we live. It is not just orthodoxy, what we believe, but orthopraxy – how we live.

If you have a river constantly overflowing its banks you'll get a swamp. But if you channel that river, focus it, and dam it up at certain places, you'll get power.  What kind of person do you want to be, a swampy person or a powerful person?

Does your personal history propel you to the future or imprison you in the past?

The irony of following Christ is that we ascend by descending. We go up by going down. We become exalted as we humble ourselves. We prepare for kingship by learning to be a servant.

In Paul, we see a man with a mission, a man who lived by priority, a man who did a million things, yet who could say, "I do one thing."