James 2:14-25
focusing on verse 14 and verse 25
Anyways, the fact is that to the world a lot of our so called "Christians" look a lot like this guy. A zombie is a person that is dead, but is still roaming around focusing on its goal to destroy others. Quick disclaimer.. I don't believe in zombies, however, I do believe in Dead Christianity. I know that to our world there we are suppose to be the light and that is what James is referring to in this passage. James the brother of Jesus is basically saying my brother says that if you believe in him and you do nothing to show others, then you faith is dead. This often causes Christians to look like this guy pictured above. Our churches are full of these guys they talk a good game, but when push comes to shove then often times they get mad, and starting spewing death out of there mouth.
In verse 14 you see James saying what good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? James is questioning why people say they are something and then don't live it! We say we care about the lost yet our churches are over half empty. We claim that we we want to see the sick healed, but we wouldn't approach them. We say we care about the poor, but we don't give them food. Its a dead Christianity, its dead to the world. They look at us as wondering what makes them different from me. They claim to know Jesus, but that's it they believe in someone who lived long ago. They still stab each other in the back, they still cuss, they still drink, they still do all the things that I do.. That is our perception to the world. I am not saying to be a holy stick in the mud. That's religion and it often times is the cause of dead Christianity. We talk rules and regulations, but we don't live what the teachings are. Now I know a lot of people will probably get upset reading what I am writing today, but the facts are I am sick and tired of grow people throwing a mad dog fit because they don't get there way. They claim they are Christians, but they are so ticked off all the time they look like that zombie picture above.
I just don't have time for that any longer and neither should any of you. You should be more concerned about the lost and dying than the, color of the stinking way a piano sits on the stage. The more we bicker and fight, while people are losing jobs and have no food to eat. Why would people who are hurting and lost come to the church? They walk through the doors of our churches looking for help and looking for some answers and we run them off because they set in our pew! That's faith without works, you come to church because you place in your mind that as long as I am there and I sing my tired songs, I sit in my same pew, I sit in my same Sunday school class that some how you are justified to claim you're a Christian. The fact is James is writing you claim a faith, and you do nothing to back it up then that is the same as a body without a spirit, its DEAD!
I remember going to skid row in Los Angeles, California and being down there at night. I still remember the eight or so bicycle cops that looked at us like we were crazy for being down there, especially that time of night. I remember seeing people cooking dope on the side of the right and injecting it into their arm. I remember seeing prostitutes, and pimps. I also remember seeing lines of tents where people lived. I cannot get those images out of my mind what I saw that night. I remember God speaking to me that night clearly saying, "this is where I would be if I was on earth today." That was a modern day leper colony that was cast out by society and they were all there hopeless. Now the alarming thing is that isn't just in LA its spread all over the United States of america. Its an epidemic of lost and hurting people that don't have hope, who just need someone to give them a bottle of water. Just the other day I was walking into Subway and a local guy that you see walking up and down the streets all the time was sitting on the sidewalk at Subway. He was asking for money, now I told him that I wouldn't give him money, but I would buy him some food. I went in and bought him food and when I got back out there he was gone. I wish I could have told you how I brought him the food and he was so overwhelmed that he talked to me about his problems, and we prayed together and he accepted Christ. However; I can't tell you that, unfortunately he was gone and I couldn't find him. Hopefully, I planted a seed that I was going to help him in some way. Those faces of skid row still are in my memory today, still why I have a burden for those types of people.
Does that mean that I am super spiritual.. I can honestly say that is doesn't, I wish I could say I was. I however, have to work daily on my walk with God. I am learning daily my identity in God, I am figured out its a daily process. I do know how I am and where he is taking me, but daily I learn all the time. John C. Maxwell says, "when is the last time you learned something you didn't know." A leader is a learned and I am trying to deepen my knowledge daily. I don't want to be like that zombie picture, I don't want the world to view me as that. I don't want them to view my Christianity as Dead. I don't care about denomination, walk of life, family background, race, or ethnicity all I care about is making sure my life counts. I am working daily to live my life on purpose. I want to be intentional in my approach to my life. God has opened my eyes to the value of education, and how its not wrong to ask questions and research. I know what God has given me a calling to do and that is be an educator and a coach to help young people find their purpose in life. I am not bound to a ministry as just a pulpit, my life is my ministry and my calling is one that he has told me to go to the front lines and get my hands dirty. Go the schools, be out there where they are at don't be afraid of the unknown, but live in the unknown. God has open my eyes to realize that there are more important things to life that if my holder in front of my pew has my bible in it or not. Valuing people, Leading myself, Studying Leadership, Practicing Leadership, and Intentionally growing. These are the principles that I try to implement daily in my own life. I want to be successful and I want to make a difference in our future leaders. Our young people are worth the investment, and so is the lost.
I leave you with this: "“Expect the best. Prepare for the worst. Capitalize on what comes.” - Zig Ziglar.
Don't be a dead Christian, live life on purpose and with purpose, so that you can put works with your faith.
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