[PASTOR MICHAEL NOVOTNY]
We are loved by God and
get into heaven as a free
gift through Jesus, right?
So wait, does that mean
you can do whatever you
want and God will still
accept you in the end? Or
does that mean you
actually have to earn your
way to heaven and be a
good enough person to be
accepted by God in the
end? Confusing questions,
right? Pastor Jeske's
going to help us find some
great answers in the
Bible. It's coming up next
on Time of Grace.
[MUSIC]
[PASTOR MARK JESKE] The
Bible is not written as a
dogmatics textbook.
You will find
biography, you will find
letters or the churchy
word for that is epistles.
And you will find
prophetic vision language;
sometimes even dream
narrative. The holy
writers used metaphors and
similes - you know,
comparative words. There
are flashbacks and flash
aheads. God uses all kinds
of - he'll use hyperbole
or exaggeration. He uses
understatement and
sarcasm; all of those
tricks to add some juice
to his amazing message.
And the Bible, like our
writing today and a lot of
our speech today, uses air
quotes. Do you know what
air quotes are? That's
when - it's a bit of
sarcasm; it's a form of
sarcasm. Or irony; when
it's the opposite of what
you'd think. It's a way of
using a word but you don't
really mean the word. I
have probably the most
famous example of air
quotes in the entire Bible
that I would like to savor
with you today so let's
have a look. Open your
Bible to James 2 and let's
see if you can spot the
air quotes, which I think
will help you grasp James'
line of thought, his
message, which I also hope
you agree with me is
critical to a
well-rounded,
understanding of our life
with God. The basic
message of the gospel of
God's grace is this: That
he looks at jerks and
fools and sinners like you
and me and says, "I love
you unconditionally
because of nothing you
have ever done. Your life
is irrelevant to me. I
just know you're dying and
you smell. But I've got a
solution and it starts
with my deciding to love
you without reference to
how much you may or may
not have deserved it.
That's called grace. It is
a hundred percent done, a
hundred percent God's
doing, nothing is left to
chance, and there's
nothing you could ever do
that would disqualify you
from being loved by God
for his mercy is bigger
than all of your sins
piled together in one
gigantic manure heap.
That's grace. And he
simply gives it to you.
And the astounding and
almost unbelievable fact
is that on the cross of
Christ on Good Friday on
Calvary, God actually
pardoned the world. Even
those who don't believe in
him yet, even those who
had not even been born,
you were pre-forgiven
before you were even born
and committed your first
sin. You were forgiven
even before you existed.
That's grace.
Simultaneously with that
is when people are brought
to faith by the Holy
Spirit, they now have the
power of the Spirit
working within them and
they now have the lights
turned on. By possessing
God's word, they know now
how shall we live? Now
having been saved, how can
we serve and please God?
This is equally true and
God does not settle for
the way you are right now.
And it is James' burden,
his mission task in his
five chapters, is not to
describe the grace side;
that apparently he felt
was adequately done in
other ways or God let him
know I don't need you to
articulate that part. What
I am sending you to write
down, James, is to wage
war on hypocrisy and lame
excuses from people who
say, "I believe" and
that's enough. You've only
got to believe to go to
heaven, right? Okay, I
believe. Case closed. Now
I can go live any way I
want. And see, that is a
seeming contradiction. It
doesn't matter how you've
lived; it matters
intensely how you've lived
and your knees get a
little wobbly like, "Which
is it? I want to know
which it is so I know how
to act." They're both
true. Remember your
hammock? Swing at peace
between those two
thoughts. If you get
nervous and wonder where
does my help come from?
Lift your eyes up to
heaven; it comes from him.
If you're wondering does
it matter how I live? Does
he expect me to be holy?
The answer is yes; he
expects nothing less of
you than to be just like
him. And now let's let
James talk to us. James 2
- our story today begins
in verse 14: "What good is
it, my brothers," he's
talking to fellow
believers; you are his
family. "What good is it
if a person would claim to
have faith but have no
deeds to go with it?"
Air quotes. You know I was
going to say that, right?
How can you have faith but
no deeds? Answer: It's
impossible. Real faith
always has life-changing
examples to reveal it.
That's beyond dispute;
assume it. It is all one
continuum. If you truly
are saved, you've been
blessed by God's grace,
you've come to believe it
through the power of the
Holy Spirit working
through word and
sacrament, and you live
it. That is not an option;
that is not like something
you can have as an add-on.
That is not something you
maybe or maybe not can
choose to have as a
feature of your life. Real
faith leads to change
lives; it's a packaged
deal. And do not allow
yourself or people you
love to luxuriate in the
hypocrisy of thinking that
all I need is facts in my
head and that's enough.
Your life matters and
James will not let you
wriggle away. "What good
is it to claim to have
faith but have no deeds?
Can such," now here are
massive air quotes, "Can
such faith save him?"
Answer, of course: No.
"Suppose a brother or
sister is without
clothes." So somebody you
claim to have as a fellow
believer, a member of your
congregation, somebody
within your family,
somebody with whom you
have a relationship is
without clothes and daily
food and you say, "Go, I
wish you well; keep warm
and be well-fed,' but does
nothing about his physical
needs, what good is it? In
the same way, faith by
itself, if not accompanied
by action, is dead." And
once again, for the third
and final time, faith
there is not true genuine
faith; it's air quote
faith. It's hypocrisy
faith. It's pretend faith.
It's poser faith. It's
posturing faith. It's
religiosity but it's not
real faith. James said,
"Well, someone will say,
'You have faith; I have
deeds," as though the two
can exist. There you might
say there's air quotes
around both of those
because the reverse is
true, too. There is
nothing a human being can
do that is pleasing to God
if it is not linked by
faith to Jesus Christ the
Son of God. That's why so
many people are going to
be shocked on Judgment Day
when they say, "Man, I did
all kinds of stuff. I paid
by taxes, I cut my grass,
I helped a little old lady
across the street once. I
actually shoveled the
widow's snow next door
once or twice a winter. I
have good things that I've
done." If they're not
connected to faith, faith
in Christ, they smell and
God sees all the
cheesiness and selfish,
self-servingness of it all
and just says, "Be gone, I
don't know you." So deeds
without faith - worthless.
Faith without deeds -
worthless. They are a
seamless continuum. "Show
me your faith," air quotes
again, "without deeds and
I will show you my faith
by what I do." Your deeds
validate whether or not
there's real faith as to
what you really believe.
"You believe that there's
one God? Good for you;
even the demons believe that
and they shudder." A young
man told me once who had
gone through catechism
class in his youth and now
as a man in his twenties
was saying, "I don't need
to go to church. I know
all this stuff. I know
what I need to know." I
hope God lets him live
long enough to grow out of
that pathetic, immature,
childish attitude. But you
know what he was saying
because you've probably
thought - and maybe you've
even said it - but you
probably all thought stuff
like that, too. You can
excuse your lack of
spiritual development by
saying, "Well, I know the
rules. I know the drill.
I've got my 'Get out of
hell free' card and I know
that no matter what kind
of mess I make on this
earth, in heaven I just
go, "Whoops, see, I
believe in Jesus! Jesus!"
And you whip the card out
and you say I know the
secret password to heaven.
Some people who pull that
will say, "Jesus, here I
am!" And he'll say, "Who
are you? I don't know
you." Because without a
real faith, your pretend
faith, your hypocritical
faith, is worthless too
for a faith disconnected
from deeds of love isn't
really faith. These are
hard words but do not
dilute them. Let them
smack you. Let these be a
wake-up call for you and I
are Dr. Jekyll and Mr.
Hyde people, aren't we?
And we still drag around
our sins and there's a
saint inside of us, as
well. That's another of
the Bible's many head
scratching contradictions
that you are
simultaneously a wretched
sinner and a holy saint at
the same time. Hang your
hammock between those two
trees and swing at peace
with God and take your nap
because you need them both
to know who you really
are. James said: "The
demons believe and
shudder." Just knowing the
facts is not enough. That
isn't faith. "You foolish
person," James writes. He
just - are you going to
let him talk to you like
that? He just called you
fools. Are you going to
let him talk to you like
that? Probably you should.
The Greek word that is
used - it's a little hard
to translate - it means
literally you empty-headed
idiots. You're empty;
there's nothing inside
your head. If you talk
like that, you don't have
a thought in your head.
You're an empty-head. "Do
you want evidence that
faith without deeds is
useless?" Remember
Abraham, he says, "he was
considered righteous for
what he did when he
offered his son Isaac on
the altar. You see that
his faith and his actions
were working together."
Does that make sense to
you, what I'm saying? What
James is saying? Faith and
deeds of love and
compassion and mercy and
obedience to God are
organically one and the
same; they flow back and
forth to each other. His
faith was made complete by
what he did. Did Abraham's
life matter? Did his
obedience matter? Yes, it
did. "Scripture was then
fulfilled that said
Abraham believed God and
it was credited to him as
righteousness and he was
called God's friend. You
see that a person is
justified by what he does
not by faith alone." There
are air quotes around
"faith alone." "In the
same way, it was not even
Rahab the" - may I dare to
call her the
ex-prostitute? She may
have had a seedy way of
life before the spies got
to Jericho. I hope though
that she showed her love
for the Lord as she
experienced Israel's God
and decided that the
Israelites had it right
and that her native
Jericho-ians had it wrong
and she threw her lock in
with Israel's God. My hope
is that she left behind
her former occupation and
found another way to earn
her bread. "She was
considered righteous for
what she did when she gave
lodging to the spies and
sent them off in a
different direction" from
their pursuers. "As the
body without the spirit is
dead so," - air quotes -
so-called hypocritical
"faith without deeds is
dead." What better time
could there be than the
beginning of the year to
have resolutions? And I
think the secret to doing
something that will matter
and that will last is the
same secret that I think
leads to successful
evangelism. One of the
things that has always
paralyzed me about being a
better witness to my faith
is that the world around
me seems so enormous. So
many atheists, so many
agnostics, so many
unbelievers, I don't know
where to start. And
outside of our country,
the numbers explode into
the billions and so the
paralysis of how enormous
that task is then makes me
do nothing. You know like
when you have a small
task, it's easy to rouse
yourself and get up off
your couch and do that one
thing and then you can sit
down again. But if you
look out at your house and
you see paint peeling
everywhere, rotten wood, a
gutter hanging sideways
and about ten shingles
missing and a broken
window up at the attic and
broken chunks of concrete
up on the sidewalk going
around the side of the
house, you might stand out
there at eight o'clock on
a summer morning and just
look at everything and go,
"I think I'm ready for a
nap" because the enormity
of it overwhelms you. You
know your life is a
half-baked mess. You know
there are many features of
your life that are not
under control; under
control of the Spirit of
the Lord. You know that; I
know that, too. And you
know that about me; you
don't even have to ask and
it's all true. I admit it.
I completely cheerfully
tearfully admit it to you.
If you let all of it weigh
down on you, you'll be so
depressed you will do
nothing so pick one thing
and that's my - I'm being
James - I'm going to get
in your grill today and
here's the Jeske
challenge: Pick one aspect
of your life that you know
is not under the control
of the Spirit that is not
what it ought to be; just
one thing. Now there are
two kinds of people here
today: Those that know
their one thing and those
that don't know their one
thing and I get both. I've
probably been both at
different times in my
life. I may even be both
right now. Some of you
know what your one thing
is. You are living in some
kind of rebellion against
God and you know it and
you try to keep this crust
on the outside so people
don't know but on the
inside, you know you are
at war with the Son of God
over something going on in
your life. You may have
some kind of sexual
relationship that you know
is wrong but you can't
stop. You know that what
for some people is
harmless gambling with a
little money, you play a
little game, some money
games, ah, you win, you
lose whatever, it's
chicken - it's just small
amounts of money and you
walk away from it and you
can leave it be for six
months and not even
notice; not even miss it.
But maybe your thing is
that you can't stop
gambling. You have
gambling fever and you are
throwing away money that
should be going to support
your family; you're
wasting it. You maybe have
got a crust of
respectability where you
can hang out at a party
and drink socially but
then you go home and you
have about eight more
drinks until you pass out
and your drinking is out
of control and you know
it. That may be your thing
that you need to work on
this year. You may have on
the surface of it, you
look like a fine ordinary
family but your marriage
is miserable and you know
it. Or you may think you
may be sort of in church
people Pharisee mode and
think, "Well, I've got one
or two little small little
features I could, you
know, I could maybe give
my spouse a few more cards
or I could get the little
lady flowers maybe a
little more often. Like
okay, I'm about
ninety-eight percent of
the way there. Just one
small little push and I'll
have it up to one hundred
percent. Just one or two
little, minor little
peccadillos and they're
not even sins - they're
just peccadillos." And so
to that portion of you
wherever you are, whoever
you are, I'm in your face
again and I'm going to
say: Do you have the
courage to ask your spouse
what your one thing maybe
ought to be? Do you have
the courage to ask your
mother: What do you think
I need to work on most,
mom? Do you have the
courage to say to your
father: As you look at my
life, where do you have
the most fear and regrets?
What would you change in
me if you could? Do you
have the courage to ask
your children: How am I
doing? Do you have the
courage to ask people at
work, somebody you trust
and know, how am I doing?
If you could change one
thing about me, what do
you see in me, like a
buddy system. How am I
doing? Because our
capacity for self-delusion
is so great. So whichever
you are - maybe you're
mushed; the two kind of
mushed together - as the
year begins, I invite you
to pick one thing to work
on. Don't be overwhelmed
by everything but pick one
thing where you are going
to do what James invites,
challenges, and even
commands you to do and
that's let your faith flow
into your life. Don't hold
it up; let it go and admit
where you are a work in
progress. Repent of it and
let the guilt and fear of
your past failures be
washed from you
completely. Not only are
we starting a new year,
you are starting a new
year with God, too, and
your record book of
failures has been washed
clean. You're starting
over. Today is a new day
and his grace is brand new
to you not only day by
day, but year by year, as
well. So fresh slate,
clean start. Now, what in
my life needs to improve?
Set that before you, write
it down, pray about it,
and maybe even ask a buddy
or a family member. This
is what I'm going to work
on this year. Help me.
Hold me accountable when
I'm not showing any
progress, when I'm messing
up. If my problem is
losing my temper, don't
let me blow it off and
blame others or make
excuses. When you see me
go off, when you hear
angry words start to come
out, give me the timeout
or give me the sign and
let me know that I'm
starting to lose my
struggle again. And when
you hear kind and
building-up words come out
of my mouth, then clap and
cheer for me and let me
know that my effort is
paying off. It's like if
you lose thirty pounds and
nobody notices, you might
think all that agony I
just went through for
nothing! Nobody even
notices the new skinny me.
In the same way, we can do
great things for each
other in clapping and
cheering for the progress
that God's struggling
saints are making in
working, as works in
progress, working on
lifting up their game. Not
just because it's a game
but because this brings
joy to our Lord who loves
it when we serve him and
serve each other, when we
become brokers of his
treasures to help the men,
women, and children around
us who may struggle where
we have something that can
be helpful to them. When
we stop hurting people and
look to build them up.
Write it down, think about
it, pray about it, and
then revisit it and check
yourself and measure how
am I doing? And keep that
as your theme this whole
year. That's my challenge
to you. And as we head
into offering time in a
few seconds, let me invite
you to take that to the
Lord, whatever you've
chosen, if you accept my
challenge, take that one
thing and take it to the
Lord and let it be your
project for this new year.
May God give you strength
to live a life that's
pleasing to him, Amen.
[MUSIC]
[PASTOR MICHAEL
NOVOTNY] I'm so glad
Pastor Jeske helped us to
wrestle with that question
because the tension
between the free gift of
God's grace and the
necessity of following God
and doing good works is
something we all have to
live with. It's never
easy, you never completely
resolve it; you just live
with that tension. When
you take sin maybe not so
seriously and people are
getting hurt, God wants us
to hear about works. And
yet, when we realize that
we're never going to be
good enough, that we're
struggling and striving
and repenting, we just
need to know about faith;
faith in Jesus and God's
unconditional love. I pray
this message today helped
you deal with that
tension; to live a life of
faith where you rest in
God and work so hard to
thank him for his
unconditional love. I'll
be back with you in a
moment to pray. [PASTOR
JESKE] What an exciting
ride it's been for me as
I've been sharing God's
word with you over all
these years. You've been
so generous with your
gifts and prayers;
together, we've taken the
news of God's love all
over the world. I want to
thank you. And that's the
reason I want to tell you
about an exciting new
opportunity to help
connect more people with
God's grace as we finish
out this year and move
into the next season of
spreading God's word
through Time of Grace.
You're still needed! Some
generous friends have
offered a $350,000
challenge grant. That
means that your gift today
will be worth twice as
much. When you give,
you'll help create more
Bible-centered resources
and you'll help people
watch Time of Grace all
around the world; people
like William in Costa Rica
who wrote: "These videos
help me. God has been
teaching me to trust in
him. Thank you." There are
many more people like
William who are finding
hope in Jesus through the
many Time of Grace digital
resources but many more
still need to hear. So,
please, take this to the
Lord in prayer today;
knowing that your gift
will be twice as much when
paired with the challenge
grant. To thank you for
giving, we'll send you the
book, "God's In The
Whirlwind." Request your
copy of this book when you
give now. Call
800-661-3311, visit
timeofgrace.org, or text
TIME to 313131.[PASTOR
MICHAEL NOVOTNY] Well, we
made it to the end of
another year! And God is
so good, isn't he? This
might have been an easy
year or a tough year but
God was so good because he
was consistently there. He
forgave us for every sin
for the past 365 days and
he is so full of
forgiveness that we can
start the new year with
confidence. So we here at
Time of Grace are so
thankful for your prayers,
your support, and we are
praying for you that God
blesses you in the year to
come. We have no clue
what's coming down the
road but we do know this:
That God's grace is
consistent and it will
always be there when you
need it the most. As we
continue to wrestle with
this tension between faith
and works, let's ask our
heavenly Father to give us
wisdom and bless us in a
word of prayer. Dear God,
We desperately need your
help with this. And if we
just focus on Jesus and
faith and not on
obedience, people will
live in sin and they'll
hurt each other and
they'll drift away from
you. But God, if we just
focus on works and
obedience, people are
going to be so burdened
that they'll never find
the freedom that Jesus
came into this world to
give. And so, we pray
today for help. For every
one of us as we look into
the mirror trying to
figure out if we should
apply faith or works, for
every one of us who's
raising children, trying
to figure out the right
way to discipline and
raise them so that they
find the freedom and joy
of following you in faith.
And for all of us in the
church, God, that we can
encourage one another to
take sin seriously but to
take your forgiveness and
unconditional love just as
seriously. God, help us.
We want to do this right
but without you, we can't.
So help us in the days to
come. I thank you, God,
already because I know how
you're going to answer
this prayer. You love to
help people figure out
this tension. So please
bless us, bless our faith
and bless our church
families. We ask this all,
Jesus, in your powerful
name, Amen. With Time of
Grace, I'm Pastor Mike
Novotny, and your faith,
which expresses itself
through works because of
Jesus, it all starts now.
[PROMOTION] [PASTOR JESKE]
You know, if you asked me
17 years ago what I
thought Time of Grace
would look like in 2018, I
would never have guessed
that we would be where we
are today. It's very, very
important to me that Time
of Grace not be limited to
my ability to continue to
do these things. It's very
important to me that Time
of Grace will have a
second act. After Easter
Sunday of 2019, Pastor
Mike Novotny will be
taking over as lead
speaker here on the Time
of Grace television
program. [PASTOR NOVOTNY]
When people walk into a
church, they just
automatically assume that
this is a place for good
people to get better
instead of for sinners to
be saved. I think
something that has been
going on for almost two
decades with Time of
Grace, is to truly love
the Bible and to love
people. So the style might
be a little bit different
and the screens might be a
little bit bigger but I
love the fact that it's
going to be consistent
with our message. It's
what people love about
your messages; I pray
they're going to get the
same out of mine, too. I
thought about just the
television audience -
400,000 people. I live
near Green Bay, Lambeau
Field, 81,000 when it's
packed for a Packer game.
Think of that - every
Sunday, like five straight
days, Time of Grace is
packing Lambeau Field and
people are leaning in to
hear a message about God's
grace. [PASTOR JESKE] I've
never been more confident
in our mission or our
future as I am right now.
[MUSIC]
[ANNOUNCER] The
preceding program was
sponsored by the friends
and partners of Time of
Grace.
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