Are you a Christian? (Joshua 24)

Are you a Christian?

It is a simple question I ask frequently in church, actually. When I meet someone new, I’ll ask them their name; I’d be interested to know what brought them to church; but I always make it a point to ask: Are you a Christian?

You might think it strange. After all, you don’t want to embarrass anyone, especially if they’re not a Christian. I doubt that’s true, though. On numerous occasions, my non-Christian friends have been eager to say that they weren’t believers.

Conversely, it’s the regulars who tend to get nervous with the question. Some have said to me, “Of course! My parents have been coming to church for years.” But others have said, “I’m not sure.”

Now I would love nothing more than to affirm your relationship with God in Christ. But it is important for us to ask this question today because that is what’s happening in Joshua Chapter 24. Look with me to verse 14:

Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshipped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.

Joshua 24:14

The book of Joshua ends with a megachurch meeting: All the tribes assembled in one place at Shechem. That’s over half a million people. They are gathered not to offer sacrifices nor to sing praises but so that Joshua can ask them one question: Will you worship God?

This happens three times in Chapters 22, 23 and 24. Joshua gathers everyone in one place (initially the three tribes beyond the River Jordan in Chapter 22, but everyone else in Chapters 23 and 24) and asks, “Will you commit yourselves to God?”

If a pastor did that at a meeting in church, some would assume that he was talking to someone else - the youth group, perhaps - but not to them. Or some might walk out offended that their faith was being questioned.

But that is what Joshua does here in Chapter 24.

Specifically, Joshua does three things. Firstly, he challenges them to serve God (verses 14 to 18). Secondly, he questions their commitment (verses 19 to 27). And finally, he dies (verse 28 to the end).

1. Choose for yourselves

The first thing Joshua does is say to them, “Make up your mind.”

He begins in verse 14. “Fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness.” It is a command - “Worship God!” But then he gives them a choice in verse 15:

But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.

Joshua 24:15

It is important to see that the choice is not between serving God and some other god. Those are not the options. The people think that they have already chosen God; that they are true worshippers of God.

No, the choice Joshua gives them is between serving the pagan gods of their fathers or the foreign gods of their neighbours. Look again at verse 15: “If serving God is undesirable (literally, ‘evil’) to you, then choose for yourselves whom you will serve: Either the gods of your ancestors or the gods of the Amorites.” That’s a risky move. It’s like your pastor saying, “If you’re not going to be a Christian, then be a Buddhist or be an atheist.”

What is he doing? Joshua is challenging their assumptions, specifically, their assumptions about God’s blessing. God had blessed Israel again and again - with land, prosperity and success; and the danger was they might equate God’s abundant blessing with God’s automatic approval. They might think, “I am worth it.”

So much so, that in verses 1 to 13, Joshua spends one-third of the chapter recounting all of God’s blessings: Beginning with the promises made to Abraham (in verses 3 and 4), then the rescue from Egypt (in verses 5 to 7), then the defeat of their enemies (the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites and Jebusites in verses 8 to 12), and finally, the Promised Land, in verse 13, where God says:

So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.

Joshua 24:13

Conclusion? You did not deserve any of this.

The more that you’ve experienced God’s blessing, the more that you need to say to yourself, “I did not earn this.” You might come from a Christian family; you might have an inspiring testimony; you might belong to a good church, but you might still be taking God’s grace for granted. Because the more you’ve experienced God’s blessing, the more you’ll be tempted to take Him for granted.

It is a new academic term. Cambridge students will spend the coming weeks “shopping” for a new church. Maybe that’s you. Instead of looking for a church where you will “fit in”, where you can serve - important things to mature as a Christian - why not look out for a church where God’s word is heard and God’s people are held accountable. Look out for a church where the leaders call you to repentance every single Sunday.

That is the purpose they meet as the church in Joshua 24. To hear God’s word and to respond to God’s grace. Joshua confronts Israel with God’s word (verse 2, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says,”) and challenges Israel to respond to God’s grace (verse 14, “Now fear the LORD and worship him.”)

Notice how worship is a response. God calls Israel to himself, saves them from slavery and blesses them with the Promised Land; and in response, Israel is to serve God. That is, you do not serve God in order to be saved. God saves you so that you might worship him.

Paul says the same thing to Christians in Romans Chapter 12:

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God - this is your true and proper worship.

Romans 12:1

Meaning: Worship is the proper response of the redeemed; Those have been saved by God are called to serve the living God. And yet, this does not happen automatically. Paul has to urge us to respond - to consider all that God has done - and to consciously offer up our lives as a sacrifice in worship.

Joshua does the exact same thing in Chapter 24 with one big exception: He challenges them to make up their mind right there and then. If they will not serve God, then they should choose for themselves that day whom they will serve. There will be no delays; no excuses.

That’s the first thing we see: Joshua pressing Israel for a decision; Joshua challenging Israel to worship God.

2. You are not able to serve the LORD

Look at Israel’s response in verse 16:

Then the people answered, “Far be it from us to forsake the LORD to serve other gods! It was the LORD our God himself who brought us and our parents up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we travelled. And the LORD drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites, who lived in the land. We too will serve the LORD, because he is our God.”

Joshua 24:16-18

Just before (verse 15), Joshua proclaims, “As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD,” to which they answer, verse 18, “We too will serve the LORD.” In other words, “You’re not the only one on God’s side, Joshua. He is our God, too.”

Before that, Joshua reminds them of God’s abundant blessings (Abraham, the Exodus, the battles) and in verse 17, they repeat the same stories back to Joshua, effectively saying, “Duh! We went to Sunday School.” So on the surface at least the people seem to be saying, “We agree with you.” What a positive response from God’s people!

But look again at their first, initial response in verse 16. They actually begin by disagreeing with Joshua. Verse 16: “Far be it from us to forsake the LORD!” What they are saying is, “No way! This will never happen!”

Bearing this in mind, look at Joshua’s critique in verse 19.

Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the LORD. He is a holy God; he is jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins. If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after he has been good to you.”

Joshua 24:19-20

“You cannot serve God!” Joshua says; to which they reply “No!” Again, in the negative, they say, “No! We will serve the LORD.” (verse 21)

Now don’t get me wrong. Of course it is encouraging to hear of Israel’s commitment. Imagine how disastrous it would be if they turned around and said, “I’m off to worship the pagan god Molech. So long, Joshua!” Obviously, Joshua did not want them to abandon God. But if so, why challenge them to worship other gods?

Because some of them were, in fact, worshipping other gods.

Remember how he began in verse 14, “Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods (of) your ancestors… and serve the LORD.” Joshua says again in verse 23, “Now then, throw away the foreign gods that are among you.” Why does he keep coming back to the subject of foreign gods?

My parents aren’t Christians. Every year at Chinese New Year, my mum lays out an altar to ‘Pai Tee Kong’ - to pray to the Chinese god of heaven - and she tells me that it’s OK for anyone to come and worship this god, saying, “Even Christians do it.” Now, I’m not sure if these guests actually burn joss sticks at the altar but suppose that they are genuine believers who trust in Jesus and confess him as Lord? Is it OK for them to ‘Pai Tee Kong’ just once a year out of respect and tradition?

Israel have committed themselves to worshipping God alone. Yet Joshua reminds them - twice - to get rid of idols. Why? Because it is not OK to bow to idols. Because Joshua knows that some of them have idols hidden away at home. “Throw away the foreign gods that are among you.” (verse 23)

In doing so, Joshua is questioning their commitment to God. That’s not a nice thing to do, Joshua! Can’t you see how enthusiastic they are? And yet, he says in verse 19, “You are not able to serve the LORD.” Isn’t that too harsh; too much for a young Christian? Well, remember that Jesus said the same thing to the crowds in Luke 14:

Large crowds were travelling with Jesus, and turning to them he said, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters - yes, even their own life - such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”

Luke 14:25-27

This is much more radical than forsaking idols. “Unless you forsake your father and mother... unless you forsake your own life, you cannot follow me.” The crowds followed Jesus because he was popular, because he did miracles but Jesus says, “Unless you follow me to the cross, you cannot be my disciple.”

A friend from twenty years ago got in touch on Facebook last week. I wrote, “Good to hear that you are still following Jesus.” The response I got was, “To whom shall I go? He has the words of life.” (a quote from John Chapter 6) Friends, the longer you walk with Christ, the more you realise how dependent you are on Christ. The longer you are a Christian, the more you depend on Christ to remain in Christ.

That is what Joshua is getting at when he says, “You are not able to serve the LORD.” They were blind to their sin (keeping idols at homes). But more seriously, they were blind to their pride. “We can do it!” They seem to be saying, “We will prove ourselves to God.” (Or as my friends back home would say, “Malaysia Boleh!”)

In a climactic scene from the Dreamworks animation movie, Kung Fu Panda, the bad guy, a Snow Leopard named Tai Long confronts Master Shifu, a tiny Red Panda (voiced by Dustin Hoffman). As Tai Long strikes blow after blow in rage against his frail Shifu, he says, “All I ever did, I did to make you proud! Tell me how proud you are… tell me!” Tired and solemn, Shifu replies, “I have always been proud of you. And it was my pride that blinded me.”

Joshua is wise enough and loving enough not to make that mistake. A mother whose wayward son left home to pursue a sinful life prayed this prayer to God, “Lord, do everything and anything that needs to be done to bring him to his knees.” Parents would you dare pray that for your children? “Do everything and anything to bring my son, my daughter to their knees and confess you as Lord.”

Joshua does not mince his words. Verse 20: “If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make and end of you, after he has been good to you.”

...Which is why he makes a big deal about witnesses. Towards the end of the section, Joshua make them witnesses against themselves (verse 22), he writes everything they say down in the Book of the Law (verse 26) and even sets up a stone (in verse 27) as a “witness against us”. A friend from my church group sets up reminders on his iPhone to read the bible; his wife sets up reminders to pray for her friends. Why? Because they are a forgetful couple? No, because they want to be faithful Christians.  Joshua does the same thing: He makes them witnesses (against themselves!); he writes everything down as a legal contract; and he sets up the stones as visual reminders (ala iPhones) of their promises to God. Why? To keep them accountable to God and to keep them accountable one another.

A friend told me this week why he and his wife decided to join a bible study group. “To be accountable,” he said. (I replied, “Only a Christian would say that!” - not because it was Christian but because it was cliche. Still, it was a good answer!) Being accountable means you are living your life before God and before God’s people. Not unlike Christian weddings: The husband and wife make promises before God and their church, saying, “Help us to keep our promises to one another.”

So the second thing we see in this passage is Joshua questioning their commitment - partly because he knows how prone his people are to idolatry - but mainly because he knows how prone we all are to pride. We cannot do this by ourselves. We need God’s help to walk in faithfulness and holiness before him. Graciously, God gives us that help though his Spirit that he places in us and through his people he gathers around us.

3. After these things

But finally, we see that Joshua dies.

After these things, Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of a hundred and ten. And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnah Serah in the hill country of Ephraim north of Mount Gaash.

Joshua 24:29-30

In this last section, Joshua dies. A whole bunch of other people die as well (his elders; Joseph, who is really just a bag of bones; and Eleazar the son of Aaron, also long dead). The good news is: They each receive their inheritance - the piece of land that God promised them - an indication of the fullness of God’s blessing. We see this in Joshua’s age - a hundred and ten - symbolic of a full life. All this is saying is that this generation died having lived well. They died having seen all of God’s promises fulfilled.

But what about the next generation?

The sad thing is, Joshua’s faithfulness died with him. Turn to next page and the first words you read are, “After the death of Joshua...” Read the book of Judges and you find the entire nation descending into moral decay. “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.” (Judges 21:25)

Joshua did not appoint a successor (he wasn’t supposed to). While his elders were still around, things were stable (verse 31) but as soon as they were gone, the nation abandoned God. What a sad end to his legacy.

The main point of all this is to say: It is not enough. You can have a great leader like Joshua, but it is not enough. You can force everyone to come to church, go to Sunday School, do quiet time, but there are no guarantees they will not go astray. I think Joshua realised that, hence the big meeting he called in Shechem. He was concerned: “Are they truly following God or just faking it?”

What we need is faithfulness that transcends death. What we need is a Joshua whose death results in more faithfulness, not less. And that is precisely what we have in Jesus. If there’s one thing you need to know about Jesus it’s this: He died. He really, really died - a horrible death - condemned as a criminal and hung naked on a cross.

But here’s the thing: When Jesus talked about the cross, he called it his glory.

Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell you the truth, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honour the one who serves me.”

John 12:23-27

“Unless a grain of wheat… dies, it remains a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” With Joshua, they continued to worship God while he was still alive. Not so with Jesus. His death is the reason we worship God. His death is the reason we worship Jesus as God. “My Father will honour the one who serves me,” Jesus says.

I don’t know if anyone has ever asked you this before, but: Will you follow - will you serve - this Jesus? This Jesus who lived the life you should have lived; and this Jesus who died the death you absolutely deserved to die? Will you give your life to him and serve him all the days of your life as your Lord and Saviour and God?

If your answer is Yes, then know this, my friend:

You are a Christian.

Tell me how proud you are, Sifu

Tai Lung was out for revenge. He had been locked up for twenty years. But it wasn’t the incarceration that drove him to madness. It was his master. Sifu.

I caught the last half-hour or so of Kung Fu Panda last weekend. That’s right. Kung Fu Panda. This was a cartoon meant for kids. And yet, with all the Jack Black jokes, with all the furry creatures doing kung fu, even with Jackie Chan voicing Monkey, this one scene stood out as unmistakably real - with its raw emotion, pathos and a darkness that seemed almost spiritual in nature.

* As Tai Lung beats his ageing master to a pulp, he lashes out at him in anger.

“I rotted in jail for twenty years because of your weakness.”

“Obeying your master isn't weakness!” Sifu replies.

“You knew I was the Dragon Warrior. You always knew. But, when Ugway said otherwise what did you do? What did you do?”

“Nothing!”

“You were not meant to be the Dragon Warrior,” says Sifu. “That was not my fault!”

Sifu’s denial sends Tai Lung into a rage. “Not your fault? Who filled my head with dreams? Who drove me to train until my bones cracked?”

“Who denied me my destiny?” Tai Lung pins his master to the ground.

“All I ever did, I did to make you proud! Tell me how proud you are, Sifu! Tell me! Tell me!”

His final blow sends Sifu flying across the room, landing in a heap at the foot of the stairs.

Tired, solemn and sad, Sifu replies, “I have always been proud of you. From the first moment, I've been proud of you. And it was my pride, that blinded me.”

“I loved you too much to see what you were becoming. What I was turning you into.”

“I'm sorry.”

With Tai Lung, it is obvious what the ill-effects of pride are - self-delusion, self-justification, self-importance. We tend to associate pride with the strong, the boastful and the arrogant.

But you see, Sifu confesses, that he, too, was blinded by that same illness called pride.

Though Sifu sincerely loved his pupil, Sifu’s pride kept him from admonishing him, from disciplining him and most importantly, from teaching him lessons of humility at an early age.

The Apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the Corinthians, “We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honour, but we in disrepute… We have become, and are still, like the scum of the earth.”

But then he tells them the reason for addressing them in this way. “I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children.” (1 Corinthians 4:10, 13, 14)

The wrong term for this is tough love. That’s not what this is. This is humble love. The only way to expose and deal with pride, without ourselves becoming proud and self-deluded, is with humility. “When reviled; we bless; when persecuted, we endure.” (1 Corinthians 4:12)

And there are times in life, when the only effective way to address the wise of this world, is for ourselves, to become fools.

*Source: Adapted from https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kung_Fu_Panda

John Calvin on Ephesians 1:7-10

Read transcript

Another unicorn

Me: What can we pray for you?
Kid: I want to pray for... a unicorn.

Me: Oka-ay. So you love animals. That's good(!) Are you sure we can't pray for anything else?
Kid: No, I want a unicorn.

Me: How about this: We'll pray for your unicorn ... if you tell me one more thing I can ask God for you.
Kid: OK!

Me: If you could ask God for one more thing, what would it be?
Kid: Another unicorn!

(Unfortunately, a true story.)

Here I am, here I am

You see then that the thing in which God’s goodness shines forth most to us, is that by the preaching of the gospel to us we have, as it were, a token that he has pitied us, loves us, calls us and allures us to him. But when the doctrine preached to us is received by us with heart and affection, that is yet a further and more special token by which we perceive that God intends to be our Father and has adopted us to be his children. 

Not without reason, then, St. Paul says in this passage that we are blessed by God even according to his election of us beforehand. For it is not that we have come to him; it is not that we have sought him. But the saying of the prophet Isaiah [65:1] must be fulfilled in every respect, namely, that God shows himself to such as did not seek him, and that such as were far off see him near at hand, and he says to them, ‘Here I am, here I am. Although you have despised me, yet I vouchsafe to come to you because I have a care of your salvation’.

John Calvin (1509-1564), from his sermon on Ephesians 1:3-4

Lowliness (Ephesians 4:1-2)

What situations in life come to mind when you think of the word ‘humble’?

I think of a high school student ten year older than all his classmates, having dropped out of school once before, but now doing his utmost best to graduate, to save up enough money to get a flat so that he can get married to his girlfriend.

I think of a young married couple intentionally choosing to work as cleaners to support themselves while training for ministry, partly so as not to burden the church, but mainly to learn dependance on God as they prepare to their hearts and minds for mission.

I think of a brother giving his testimony at baptism, confessing honestly his struggles with private sins. As he named them one by one, you could hear gasps coming from the congregation.

To be humbled is to be brought low. In status. In position of life. To be humbled is to be brought low in your own eyes and in the eyes of those around you.

It can be painful, as in the case of an illness stripping away your health, your youth, your looks. But most often, it is simply embarrassing. Losing your job can make you feel like you have lost your dignity, perhaps even, your whole identity.

And yet, Ephesians 4:2 says to us as Christians to be completely humble. More than a choice, it is a command. We must be completely humble and gentle, bearing with one another in love, Paul says.

If anyone, Paul knows what it means to be brought low in life. He begins in verse 1 with and introduction: “As a prisoner for the Lord, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” Here is a pastor, who is, at the same time, a prisoner. Rather than be embarrassed about his current situation, Paul is all the more insistent because of his current situation: As a prisoner for the Lord. “It is because I am a prisoner of Jesus Christ that I am urging you to be completely humble.” In fact, nowhere in the whole letter does Paul say, “Remember how I planted your church? Remember how I personally trained up all the elders for two whole years?” We read that in Luke’s record in Acts 19 and 20. But not here. We assume that Paul is writing as their founding pastor, when again and again, Paul asserts that he is writing as Christ’s prisoner. He even says to them, I am in prison for your sakes. For your benefit. “For this reason, I Paul, a prisoner for the sake of you Gentiles” (Ephesians 3:1, cf. 3:13)

In other words, his humility marks his authenticity.

Paul says, “Live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” He is not talking about scoring straight A’s in school, or being all that you can be. He is not talking about making full use of your gifts or realising your full potential in life. No, he is saying, “Be humble. Love one another.” You are not auditioning for X-Factor. God is not looking for the best and the brightest worthy to be in his kingdom. No, God is calling you to live a life marked by sacrifice, by servant-heartedness - but most importantly - by submission to Jesus Christ as your only Lord and Saviour.

Three components make up that command in verse 2: (a) Be completely humble and gentle; (b) Be patient; (c) Bear with one another in love.

1. Be completely humble and gentle

The first (“to be completely humble and gentle”) is not so much a command but the characterization of the command. The command, as we have seen, is found in verse 1 - “Live a life worthy of God’s calling” - but then, the characterisation of that command carries on into verse 2 with, “by being completely humble and gentle.”

Why is this important? Because God’s calling is more clearly seen through changed character than changed circumstance.

You see, we tend to think that God affirms his calling in our life by changing the circumstances of our lives. So when we get that promotion, we think it means that God really wants me to excel in this job. When our ministry grows, God must be blessing us as a church. Or conversely, when I get demoted, God must want me to leave my job. Or when attendance numbers drop, God must want me to switch to the more vibrant church down the road. You see this in the kinds of things we pray for when we ask God to “open doors” so as to reveal his will; to let us know which path to take in our decision-making according to his will.

But God’s calling is seen not in changed circumstance. Verse 2 tells us: It is seen in changed character. You live a life worthy of the calling your have received by being completely humble and completely gentle.

I am told that in the Old Testament, this combination of “humility and gentleness” occurs 250 times, standing in contrast to the “proud and arrogant” - a description not only of those who oppress the “lowly and poor” (ie. the humble and gentle) but also a description of those who set themselves up against God in disobedience and defiance against his commands.

The lowly and poor naturally turn to God. They instinctively ask for God’s help. And he responds by hearing their prayers and lifting them up (James 4:6, cf. Prov 3:34). The proud and arrogant, on the other hand, have no need for God. In fact, the reason why they are oppressive to the poor is because they are oblivious to God.

So for Jesus to say to his disciples, “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs in the kingdom of God… Blessed are the meek (or gentle) for they will inherit the earth,” (Matthew 5:3 and 5) he is describing the character, not the circumstance, of God’s true people. One day, their circumstances will change. They will inherit the earth. They will receive all the blessings of the kingdom. But right now? You recognise them from their character. They are lowly. Meek. Gentle.

What situation in life is God using right now to teach that to you those valuable lessons of humility? What circumstance might God put you in for you to be able to say, “This is good for my humility”?

An African brother shared with me how surprised he was to see so many rich and educated people in church. “All these Cambridge students and professors are here worshipping on a Sunday! Back home, it’s only the poor who come to church, not the rich.” I said to him, “You have now spent four years in Cambridge. When you go home, will your friends see someone who is four year’s smarter smarter than before, four year’s richer than before and four year’s more successful than before?

Or will they see someone four year’s more humble, four year’s more loving and four year’s more servant-hearted than before?”

Every circumstance in life will lead us either one of these directions - towards greater pride and arrogance; or towards deeper humility and self-forgetfulness. Towards arrogance or gentleness. It’s not that God can’t use blessing and wealth to teach us these lessons. The church that my African marvelled at was truly blessed and is truly faithful with their blessing. Yet it is not for nothing that Jesus warns us, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 19:16-30) God knows our hearts. He knows that we often learn the lessons of humility when we find ourselves in humble circumstances.

The combination of the words “humble and gentle” are helpful in pointing us towards God and one another. They establish how we are to relate to God and to one another.

Before God, we are humbled because of our sin. That’s a good thing, actually - to have our eyes open to our own wretchedness, forcing us to lower ourselves to where we truly are in relation to a holy God who hates sin and who stands in judgement over our sin. We have rejected him again and again as God. We ignore him as if he did not exist. James says to Christians - and I must stress this, he is writing to fellow believers and not non-believers when he says, “Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” (James 4:8) He continues, “Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.” (James 4:9) And why does James want believers to come to a point of such deep anguish of sorrow and repentance? The answer is: Humility. Humility before gracious God. “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” (James 4:10)

This leads to the second element of gentleness, that is, in relating to other people’s sins. The old English word, “meekness”, makes you think of someone like Ned Flanders from the Simpsons; essentially a pushover (always being taken advantaged of by his neighbour, Homer). But meekness or gentleness, in this context, is relational. That is, you are being gentle with someone in dealing with their sin.

The best person to learn meekness/gentleness from is Jesus. He says, “Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Adding, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me.” Why? “For I am gentle and lowly in heart.” (Matthew 11:28-29) We go to Jesus burdened with our worries - burdened with our guilt and shame and sin. Why? Because he takes our sin upon himself. But also, notice verse 29, because he is gentle and lowly in heart. Meaning, he is tender in dealing with us in our weakness. You hear those words and doesn’t something in you go, “Yes, there’s no other place I’d rather be than with you, Jesus.”

And that’s the way need to deal with others when they are struggling with guilt and shame. Do they see in you someone they can trust to love them and not condemn them?

A student was giving his first sermon and asked me for advice on how best to prepare. He was surprised when I said to him, “Be gentle.” He knew his bible (and I knew that he knew his bible). But I wanted to impress upon him the importance of loving his brothers and sisters to whom he was addressing God’s word in the bible. Especially in dealing with sin (he was preaching on Romans), we want to be all the more clear to whomever we are speaking, that they are not alone in their fight with sin nor in their struggles with temptation nor in their guilt and shame. We want to “restore him gently” (Galatians 6:1); to “bear one another’s burdens” (Galatians 6:2) and in so doing, “fulfil the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:3). (Read on the following verses and see how Paul naturally progresses to deal with pride and arrogance). It is remarkable how Paul counsels Timothy in the pastorals to be kind, not quarrelsome and to instruct gently as the Lord’s servant (2 Timothy 2:24, 25). Pastors, are you gentle in dealing with the sins of your congregation?

With God, we rightfully humble ourselves before him. Jesus did. On the cross, he humbled himself to the point of death, submitting himself to the will of his Father. Humility means lowering yourself under another’s authority. We are saying to God, “You have every claim over every part of my life.” And in due time he will lift us up - as he did with Jesus, raising him and exalting him to his right hand - so he will with us. If will but humble ourselves before him now.

With one another, we lower ourselves for the sake of our weaker brothers. That is how I would define gentleness, or meekness: You are willingly and sacrificially lowering yourself to make yourself accessible/available to their situation in life, so that you can help them to bear their burdens. We do this naturally with kids, don’t we? You talk to a six-year-old by bending down and speaking directly to them with words that are simple yet loving. Paul says, we need to do this with one another.

Be completely humble and gentle.

2. Be patient

The second component to verse 2 is the call to be patient. Essentially, Paul is telling us, quite frankly, that loving your brothers and sisters in Christ is a hard process. It takes time. It will test your patience. (In Cantonese, we would say, “Teng Chui”)

I met a couple of graduate students working on PhD’s in theology, an effort that will occupy four years of their lives in painstaking study of the bible and ancient manuscripts. I asked them if they would be willing to exchange those four years of study with four years of ministry, but to just one individual. You don’t get a degree at the end of it. There would be no impact in journals and publications. And no one would see all the work you’ve done. Yet all your time and effort would be invested in that one person.

The blood drained from their faces.

But isn’t that what we are called to do with our spouses? With our children? To devote, much, much more than four years to these individuals, to love and care for them. And the joy and satisfaction of having done far surpasses any high-impact paper you could produce at the end of academic stint, even in a place like Cambridge.

And that is what Paul calls all of us to do here, in saying, “Be patient.” Literally, it reads “with patience,” again, another characterization trait expanding upon the original command to live a life worthy of God’s calling.

It will take time.

Quantity time - and not just quality time - is what is needed for any relationship to grow and flourish. Older bible translations use the word “long-suffering”. Not the most flattering description of Christian relationships, but a helpful one. Long-suffering.

Because, by practical implication, it is saying that we should stay in relationship with our Christian brother or sister precisely when it gets on our nerves. The most loving thing you can do to help strengthen and stabilize your church community is simply to spend time with them; to commit to stay with them. This is true of pastors: Your congregation is not a stepping stone to another bigger, more vibrant, more challenging ministry. But just in case I am being too critical of leaders, I think that this is all the more true for us as church members, especially if you have been here longer than the leadership in your church. Do your years and experience in church reflect a greater generosity in spirit? Are you slower to speak and quick to listen (and forgive)? Or are you that cranky old guy who sits at the back of council meetings who keeps saying, “Back in my day…”?

Walk in a manner worthy of the calling you have receive, Paul says, by being patient. After all, God is patient in dealing with our sinfulness. How many times have we been stubborn in resisting his will? How many times have we been slow in coming to repentance? Yet he continues to work in us, by his Spirit, that fruit of salvation seen in our repentance confession of sin, as well as, in our own patience and tolerance with others.

3. Bear with one another in love

Finally, the last component is love. We bear with one another out of love for one another.

This is not description of love you expect from two newlyweds, who might say, “Oh, how cute he is!” Or, “She’s the most amazing, beautiful woman I know. I love her to bits!” Rather, this is more like what Britain’s oldest married couple, Ralph and Phyllis Tarrant, did say when they put their long-lasting relationship down to “getting on with each other, exercise, avoiding cigarettes and a tot of whisky each night.”

Love bears with one another’s quirkiness, insecurities, annoyances and such. More accurately, love bears with one another’s sinfulness. You are loving the unlovely.

Bearing with one another in love is unnatural. It means God is calling you to love the very people you don’t naturally get along with; with people you don’t have “chemistry” with. Otherwise, it would be meaningless for Paul to command us to “bear” with them. To be patient with them. To humble ourselves and be gentle with them. Everything inside of us might want to scream at them, avoid them, criticise them and condemn them. I suggest to you, if anyone in your church or bible study comes to mind at this point, those are the very people God is calling you to love.

“By this all people will know you are my disciples,” Jesus says, “If you have love for one another.” (John 13:35) Love is more than affection. It is visible action that makes the world sit up and go, “These guys are weird. They must be Christians.” Jesus loved his enemies. Jesus died for sinners. “Just as I have loved, you also are to love one another.” (John 13:34)

Love is not affection. Love is action. It is one thing to post on your Facebook page how much your love your wife, your kids, your bible study group, your church gatherings or your pastor. But understand this: the world will see it as publicity - as yet another marketing stunt - on how “lovely” your wife, your kids, your bible study, your church and pastor is, not how “loving” they truly are.

Love is action, by which I’m not referring to flowers or gifts or grand gestures. No, if we are to love as Jesus did, loving someone means first and foremost, forgiving someone. It means sacrificing our good for that someone. It means patience. It means humility. It means bearing with one another in love. So rare and unnatural is such love, that for Christians, it is to be what marks us out in this world as Christians. Our love for one another.

Conclusion: In-built opportunities for humility

I was at a talk this afternoon by a well-known speaker and pastor. His last point touched on humility - specifically, the importance of cultivating humility amongst church leaders. The question from the floor was: How do we do this? And how did this well-known speaker and pastor guard his own heart from pride and arrogance?

He said (and I paraphrase), “The pastors who are here will know that there many in-built opportunities for humility that come with the job. Being a pastor is not glamorous.” I think he said that because many who turned up today thought that it was. Perhaps few aspired to be as famous (or perhaps, the more acceptable term is “faithful” or “effective”) as this pastor. But according to him, God has built into his church and his communities, opportunities for us to humble ourselves and to naturally guard ourselves from pride.

In other words, your bible study group is there to keep your pride in check. Your church community is God’s appointed training ground for you grow in holiness, in humility and in submission. It isn’t glamourous. People will test your patience. Loving your brothers will take up considerable time. When you face one of those moments that test your patience, when you hear those trying words from a brother or sister that seem to cut you down a few notches, keep reminding yourselves, “This is good for my humility. This is good for my humility.”

Why? Because it will be worth it. Live a life worthy of the calling you have received. God is calling you to be partners with him in an eternal investment secured by Jesus on the cross: his church. It will be worth it to see the lives of those you love grow in holiness and submission to Jesus. But actually, it’s even bigger than that.

Imagine God using your life to display the worth of his Son. But that is precisely what God calls us to do! To live a life worthy of the gospel; worthy of the salvation we have received in Jesus Christ our Lord. How? By being completely humble and gentle. By our patience with one another. Through our bearing with one another in love.