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Andy Stanley - Be Rich 2026 Serving · Andy Stanley Sermons

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Speaker 1: So if it's your first time with us, or maybe,
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Speaker 1: as I said, the first time in a long time
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Speaker 1: at any of our churches or watching online, last week
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Speaker 1: we kicked off Be Rich. Be Rich is our annual
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Speaker 1: generosity campaign to our local communities and to some communities
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Speaker 1: around the world. And we always launch Be Rich every
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Speaker 1: year with Be Rich Give. And Be Rich Give is
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Speaker 1: our opportunity to do a little bit that we put
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Speaker 1: together and do a lot. And if you weren't here
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Speaker 1: or if you were here and just weren't paying attention...
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Speaker 1: We ask everyone, those of you in all of our churches,
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Speaker 1: those of you who watch online, all the Christians, all
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Speaker 1: the non-Christians, all the former Christians, and people who don't
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Speaker 1: even like Christians, we ask everybody to make a one-time
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Speaker 1: gift of $ 39. 95. We ask for 100% participation, and then
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Speaker 1: we give 100% of it away. We're able to do
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Speaker 1: that because of the people who give on a regular basis.
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Speaker 1: We don't have any shipping and handling costs or any
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Speaker 1: of that stuff. Anyway, we give it to these nonprofit
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Speaker 1: organizations that are knocking it out of the park in
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Speaker 1: our local communities. About 80% of it stays in our
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Speaker 1: local communities. About 20% to some organizations that are doing
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Speaker 1: amazing things around the world. both faith-based and non-faith-based organizations,
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Speaker 1: because we want to partner with the best in our communities,
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Speaker 1: and we've been doing that for years, the people who
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Speaker 1: are getting the job done. We go to these organizations
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Speaker 1: and say, hey, give us your wish list, give us
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Speaker 1: your dream list, and then we're going to try to
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Speaker 1: make your dreams or some of those dreams come true.
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Speaker 1: These organizations focus on a variety of things, kind of
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Speaker 1: the primary topics that we intersect with or the primary
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Speaker 1: needs that they intersect with are addiction recovery, food insecurity,
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Speaker 1: foster care, housing and homelessness, health and medical care, human trafficking,
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Speaker 1: job training and education, and relief and disaster response, among
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Speaker 1: other things. So here's the thing. Here's the push. If
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Speaker 1: you have not contributed, you're $ 39. 95. You need to do it.
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Speaker 1: I want you to do it today. day in fact
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Speaker 1: the pastor's given you permission to do it during the
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Speaker 1: sermon if the sermon kind of lags it's like well
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Speaker 1: i might as well get this done before i forget
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Speaker 1: again and the best way the easiest way to give
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Speaker 1: it all of our churches have an app if you
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Speaker 1: haven't downloaded your local church app it's the easiest way
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Speaker 1: to keep up with things it's also the easiest way
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Speaker 1: to give so you download the app go to where
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Speaker 1: it says give there's a drop down menu click be
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Speaker 1: rich and participate. Because in a few weeks, we're going
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Speaker 1: to celebrate. And if you haven't participated, you're going to
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Speaker 1: clap along with everybody else and think, yeah, I'm so
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Speaker 1: glad somebody else did that. So we want you to participate.
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Speaker 1: And our potential, because we're such a large church, is huge.
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Speaker 1: So again, I just don't want you to miss that.
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Speaker 1: Now today, we're moving on. We're launching what we call
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Speaker 1: Be Rich Serve. And I'm going to explain what that
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Speaker 1: looks like in just a few minutes. And in all
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Speaker 1: of our churches, somebody's going to come up and explain
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Speaker 1: how to serve and how to engage with some of
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Speaker 1: these amazing organizations. But before we do that, I want
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Speaker 1: to spend just a few minutes answering a really important
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Speaker 1: question that honestly, I was confused about this for many
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Speaker 1: years as a young Christian, but I want to talk
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Speaker 1: for just a few minutes about why, why we do this,
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Speaker 1: why we're engaging in such a way to help people
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Speaker 1: that can't help themselves, because this is the way I
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Speaker 1: used to think, Isn't that what the government does? I mean,
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Speaker 1: the government, the federal government, local government, county. I mean,
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Speaker 1: there are so many agencies that already address all of
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Speaker 1: these things that we're addressing. So why are we doing this?
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Speaker 1: I mean, doesn't a percentage of my taxes go to
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Speaker 1: these things? And the answer is yes and yes. And
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Speaker 1: that was my way of thinking until I to borrow
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Speaker 1: a phrase from the Apostle Paul, and this isn't meant
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Speaker 1: to be offensive. Actually, this might be a good offense.
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Speaker 1: Until I put away my childish way of thinking and
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Speaker 1: grew up in my thinking and grew up in my faith,
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Speaker 1: and until I finally started giving attention to those other
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Speaker 1: statements in the New Testament, until I started giving more
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Speaker 1: attention to those other things that Jesus taught Because, you know,
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Speaker 1: I was mostly focused on the things Jesus taught about
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Speaker 1: me and my personal relationship with God. And I want
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Speaker 1: to be a moral person and an ethical person. And
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Speaker 1: all the things that had to do with a lot
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Speaker 1: of one another's, I just for some reason either didn't
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Speaker 1: see them, skipped over them, or they weren't preached a
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Speaker 1: lot about in the church, you know, that I was
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Speaker 1: raised in. And it just took me too long. And honestly,
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Speaker 1: it's kind of embarrassing. But I will give myself a
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Speaker 1: little bit of an out and give some of you
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Speaker 1: an out. It's not completely my fault because all of us,
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Speaker 1: regardless of what your faith tradition is, whether it's Christian
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Speaker 1: or something else, all of us to some extent are
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Speaker 1: products or maybe you might say victims of, products or
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Speaker 1: victims of the version of faith that we were brought
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Speaker 1: up on. So like a lot of people, and I
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Speaker 1: think specifically, you know, because this, you know, I want
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Speaker 1: to talk to my team, to Christians specifically, um, I
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Speaker 1: had a bit, to use this common term, I had
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Speaker 1: a bit of deconstructing to do and then some reconstructing
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Speaker 1: to do in my faith. Not in terms of the
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Speaker 1: theology that I was brought up on, And here's a
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Speaker 1: word that we don't use a lot, but the theopraxy.
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Speaker 1: Theopraxy means the God practice. I had some growing up
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Speaker 1: to do as it relates to what it looked like
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Speaker 1: to actually practice my faith outwardly. I had the inside
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Speaker 1: part going good. I had a prayer life. I had
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Speaker 1: a devotional life. Read my Bible every day. Check, check, check.
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Speaker 1: Tied through the church. Check, check, check. But in terms
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Speaker 1: of what my faith was to look like in the
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Speaker 1: community and what it was to look like outward as
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Speaker 1: it related to other people, I had some growing up
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Speaker 1: to do. Theopraxy is the application of theology, the doing.
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Speaker 1: And the tradition I was raised in, which I'm very
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Speaker 1: grateful for, and maybe you can relate to this, we
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Speaker 1: were so focused on salvation by faith alone that we
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Speaker 1: left much of the things that Jesus taught alone. I mean,
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Speaker 1: we were just very focused on this very vertical faith
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Speaker 1: formation and approach to faith. That the horizontal piece, honestly.
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Speaker 1: It just got left out. It just wasn't a priority.
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Speaker 1: And then I started reading the New Testament on my
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Speaker 1: own or for my own. And then I went to
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Speaker 1: school and learned how to really study the New Testament.
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Speaker 1: And suddenly it's everywhere that as a follower of Jesus,
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Speaker 1: I have a responsibility to people who aren't my people
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Speaker 1: and people I may never meet and people in places
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Speaker 1: that perhaps I will never visit. So why do we,
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Speaker 1: this is what I want to talk about. Why do
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Speaker 1: we do for others what others cannot do for themselves,
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Speaker 1: and perhaps would not do for us even if they could.
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Speaker 1: And to compound or to add to the question, is
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Speaker 1: doing this kind of like extra credit? Like, hey, God's
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Speaker 1: looking at you, you're a really moral, ethical person, obey
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Speaker 1: the law, obey the rules, you're nice to people. And
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Speaker 1: then you do some of this above and beyond stuff
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Speaker 1: and God's like, oh my goodness, that's like extra credit.
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Speaker 1: And the answer is no. That this is essential knowledge.
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Speaker 1: This is central. It's not essential in the sense that
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Speaker 1: if we don't do something for someone, nobody else will
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Speaker 1: do something for someone. This isn't essential in the sense
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Speaker 1: of if we don't, it won't. It's not that. Now,
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Speaker 1: there are examples of that, and there are cases where
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Speaker 1: if somebody doesn't step in, nobody else is going to
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Speaker 1: step in. In fact, we saw an amazing example of
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Speaker 1: that last Weekend, Janine and Ian Maxwell with their Project
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Speaker 1: Canaan and Heart for Africa, what they're doing in that
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Speaker 1: part of the world. They saw a need that nobody
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Speaker 1: else was meeting, and they stepped in to meet it.
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Speaker 1: But the reason what we're talking about is essential for
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Speaker 1: all Jesus followers, and the reason it is essential for
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Speaker 1: all Jesus followers to engage with those who can't help themselves,
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Speaker 1: those who are in need, is that we do it
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Speaker 1: for a different reason, not because nobody else will do it.
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Speaker 1: And that was my excuse. Somebody else is already doing it.
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Speaker 1: The government's already doing it. Why do I need to
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Speaker 1: do it? But when I read the New Testament, as
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Speaker 1: I say to you, follow Jesus through the Gospels, it
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Speaker 1: becomes apparent that the reason that we do this is
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Speaker 1: the same reason Jesus did it. Because we actually, not
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Speaker 1: in theory, but in reality, if you're a Jesus follower,
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Speaker 1: We actually care about, are concerned about, believe something must
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Speaker 1: be done on behalf of people. We actually care about
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Speaker 1: people because God our Father cared about us and cares
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Speaker 1: about In fact, Jesus is so clear about this. This
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Speaker 1: is the part I missed for so many years, that
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Speaker 1: my love for God is best demonstrated not in my
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Speaker 1: prayer life, which I had that covered, not in my
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Speaker 1: Bible study. I love to study the Bible. Not in
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Speaker 1: my church attendance. I don't like to ever miss church.
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Speaker 1: Our love and devotion to God is best demonstrated and
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Speaker 1: authenticated in our love and compassion and concern for other people.
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Speaker 1: That's what it means to be Christ-like. To be Christ-like
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Speaker 1: is to, this is what Jesus said, to be Christ-like
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Speaker 1: is to be like our Father in heaven who didn't
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Speaker 1: simply feel for us but became one of us in
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Speaker 1: order to do for us what we could not do
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Speaker 1: for ourselves, what I could not do for myself. And
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Speaker 1: so we are to do and we are to be
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Speaker 1: like Jesus. him as his followers. Now, here's something. I
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Speaker 1: think I've said this two or three times, so pardon
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Speaker 1: me for repeating myself, but this is something I can't
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Speaker 1: get over. And again, the more I read the New Testament,
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Speaker 1: there's just the Bible in general, but the New Testament specifically.
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Speaker 1: So try to picture this if you can. It's hard
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Speaker 1: for us. Imagine how ridiculous it sounded when Jesus gathered
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Speaker 1: a group of disenfranchised, overtaxed, occupied because they were an
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Speaker 1: occupied region. Rome occupied Judea and Galilee and Samaria and
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Speaker 1: that whole part. So they're occupied. They're overtaxed. They've lost
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Speaker 1: their independence. They've lost their freedom. They're disenfranchised. Jesus gathers
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Speaker 1: this group of people together who have, you know, are
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Speaker 1: leaning in toward following him. And he makes the following statement.
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Speaker 1: I mean, this just sounded ridiculous. He says, you, talking
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Speaker 1: about that group of people, are the light of the world.
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Speaker 1: These are people who rarely traveled more than 20 miles
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Speaker 1: away from where they lived. You are the light of
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Speaker 1: the world. And you know what they thought? They thought,
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Speaker 1: you are confused because Rome is the light of the world. Rome,
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Speaker 1: the city of Rome is the eternal city. Rome is
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Speaker 1: the light of the world and we live in the
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Speaker 1: shadow of the empire. And little did they know, they
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Speaker 1: couldn't even begin to imagine this, that within a few generations,
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Speaker 1: Rome would declare the crazy young guy on the hill
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Speaker 1: a God, a divine son of the one and only God,
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Speaker 1: the divine son of God. And the reason it would
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Speaker 1: happen is because this unimportant, disenfranchised by population standards, tiny
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Speaker 1: band of followers, would take his instructions to heart, that
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Speaker 1: they lit up their world with uncharacteristic generosity and with
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Speaker 1: uncharacteristic compassion. Because in ancient times, it was not a
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Speaker 1: virtue to do for someone what someone could never do
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Speaker 1: for you. That wasn't considered a virtue. That wasn't considered
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Speaker 1: somebody of integrity. That was considered a bad thing. Why
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Speaker 1: in the world, why in the world would you do
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Speaker 1: a favor for someone or do something for someone who
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Speaker 1: couldn't return the favor? That's just a waste of resources.
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Speaker 1: That's a waste of time. And Jesus comes along and
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Speaker 1: flips the script And this tiny band of Jesus followers
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Speaker 1: began to do for others who could never return the
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Speaker 1: favor because they understood God in heaven by sending his
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Speaker 1: son had done exactly that for them. Uncharacteristic concern for
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Speaker 1: those who could not care for themselves. That's what marked
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Speaker 1: the early Jesus movement and it rocked the world. You
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Speaker 1: are the light of the world. You're like a lit
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Speaker 1: up city light. On a hill. And they had to
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Speaker 1: look at each other like, you know, up until this point,
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Speaker 1: we could take this guy seriously. What? And he says this,
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Speaker 1: so here's what I want you to do, you light
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Speaker 1: of the worlds. I want you to let your light
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Speaker 1: or your life shine before others. I want other people
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Speaker 1: to see what you're doing. That's what happened. I want
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Speaker 1: you to let your light shine before those that they
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Speaker 1: may see. Don't hide this. See your good deeds. Not
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Speaker 1: see what you believe because you can't see what you believe.
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Speaker 1: They can't see what you believe. I want them to
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Speaker 1: see the outpouring, the overflow of what you say you
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Speaker 1: believe about me. See your good deeds and connect the dots.
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Speaker 1: I want them to see the way you live, your compassion,
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Speaker 1: your generosity. And I want them to connect the dots
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Speaker 1: between your good deeds and your understanding of, your love for,
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Speaker 1: and your devotion to your Father in heaven. And that
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Speaker 1: is exactly what they did. They made their faith practical, visible,
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Speaker 1: and tangible. Which means for me, for you, if you're
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Speaker 1: a Jesus follower, for Jesus followers, it's not enough to
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Speaker 1: be good. We are called to do good. And this
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Speaker 1: is the part that gets confusing sometimes because there's something
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Speaker 1: else in the New Testament that's not a conflict. It's
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Speaker 1: just a misunderstanding. According to Jesus. We must be seen.
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Speaker 1: We must be seen doing good. The church, the corporate church,
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Speaker 1: the reputation of the local church in any local community,
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Speaker 1: the reputation of the church in the world must be,
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Speaker 1: that is a group of people that believe some crazy things,
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Speaker 1: but they accomplish so much good in the world. They
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Speaker 1: are so for people. They are the most compassionate and
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Speaker 1: generous people in our community. And they say it's because
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Speaker 1: of their love for God who has been compassionate and
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Speaker 1: generous to them. Now, interesting kind of fun fact. I
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Speaker 1: think it's a fun fact. After Jesus' resurrection, James, his brother,
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Speaker 1: becomes the leader of the church in Jerusalem. Now, this
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Speaker 1: is amazing because James doesn't show up in the narrative
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Speaker 1: until after the resurrection because James and Jesus' other brothers
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Speaker 1: and sisters, they all held back because there's a couple
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Speaker 1: of sections in the New Testament where they kind of
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Speaker 1: think he's crazy. He's kind of lost his mind because
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Speaker 1: he's making all these claims about himself. I'm the bread
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Speaker 1: of heaven that's come down. I'm the bread of life
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Speaker 1: that's come down from heaven. They're like, we knew you
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Speaker 1: when you were six years old and 10 years old. Anyway,
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Speaker 1: but after the resurrection, they all engage. You know why?
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Speaker 1: Because when you see someone crucified and bleed to death,
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Speaker 1: and then they show up for lunch later, you change
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Speaker 1: your mind. It's like, I just believe whatever you say
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Speaker 1: about yourself because we saw you die. So the resurrection
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Speaker 1: brings their faith back to life. So James is the
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Speaker 1: leader of the church in Jerusalem, and he writes a
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Speaker 1: document that is in the Bible. It's in the New Testament.
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Speaker 1: In other words, there is something written by the brother
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Speaker 1: of Jesus. Maybe you didn't know that. It's reason enough
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Speaker 1: to go find an online Bible and say, wait, the
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Speaker 1: brother of Jesus wrote something? Yeah, they The New Testament,
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Speaker 1: the people that put the Bible together years and years
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Speaker 1: later just called it James. We call it the book
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Speaker 1: of James. It's not even a book. It's just a
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Speaker 1: first century document. Anyway, so James reiterates everything Jesus taught
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Speaker 1: in this capacity. And he underscores the necessity and the
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Speaker 1: essentiality or the essentialness is the word. The essentialness of
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Speaker 1: faith in action. Faith that has feet. Faith that... Does things.
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Speaker 1: So I'm going to show you James' rather famous take
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Speaker 1: on this because if you grew up in church, you've
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Speaker 1: heard this before. And like his big brother, Jesus, he
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Speaker 1: starts with an open-ended question. And it's directed to people
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Speaker 1: like I used to be. People who had a very
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Speaker 1: vertical faith and forgot about the horizontal others part. People
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Speaker 1: who were morally and ethically good, but we weren't doing
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Speaker 1: much good. Good. Here's what he said. Let me say
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Speaker 1: one more thing real quick. If you're not a Christian
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Speaker 1: or not a religious person or you left the church
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Speaker 1: when you were young because of the version of church
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Speaker 1: you grew up in or the version of faith you
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Speaker 1: grew up in, I hope if nothing else, these next
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Speaker 1: few verses would maybe re-incentivize you to explore faith, the
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Speaker 1: faith of your childhood, but maybe a different take on
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Speaker 1: the faith of your childhood. Here's what James says. He
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Speaker 1: asked the question, he says, what good is it This
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Speaker 1: is so great. What good is it? In other words,
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Speaker 1: what good is accomplished? How is anything better? What good
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Speaker 1: is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to
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Speaker 1: have faith? In other words, they claim to believe things. Unfortunately,
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Speaker 1: in the West, the United States specifically, Christianity has been
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Speaker 1: dumbed down to basically a list of things people believe. Oh,
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Speaker 1: I'm a Christian. I'm a Christian. I believe Jesus died
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Speaker 1: on the cross for my sins and was raised from
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Speaker 1: the dead on the third day and went to heaven
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Speaker 1: if I put my faith in him. I believe, I believe,
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Speaker 1: I believe. Leave me alone. Yeah, but look what you're doing.
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Speaker 1: Look what you're not doing. Look how you're treating. Hey, hey,
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Speaker 1: don't judge me. I'm a Christian. I believe, I believe,
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Speaker 1: I believe, I believe. What good is it, my brothers
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Speaker 1: and sisters, if somebody claims that they believe things, but
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Speaker 1: they don't have any deeds? In other words, there's nothing
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Speaker 1: in the way they treat people, and there's nothing in
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Speaker 1: the way they behave that reflects what they claim they believe.
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Speaker 1: There's no deeds that reflect or substantiate that faith, those
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Speaker 1: belief claims. He's asking the question, what does that kind
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Speaker 1: of internal faith accomplish? What does that kind of faith do? do?
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Speaker 1: He's going to dig pretty deep and twist the knife
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Speaker 1: a little bit. He's like, what does that kind of
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Speaker 1: faith accomplish for anyone other than the person who claims
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Speaker 1: that they have faith? Isn't that kind of a selfish,
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Speaker 1: self-centered faith? Then he asked another question. Can that kind
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Speaker 1: of faith, the faith that doesn't do anything outside of
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Speaker 1: some interior, internal kind of thing, can such a faith
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Speaker 1: save Now, this is so brilliant. This is why I
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Speaker 1: read the New Testament. I think, goodness, it's just so brilliant.
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Speaker 1: James is so brilliant. He's kind of sneaking up on
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Speaker 1: our blind side. Here's what he's getting at. So here's
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Speaker 1: my take on what he's saying. He's saying, look at this.
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Speaker 1: He says, can faith that hasn't done anything do anything?
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Speaker 1: Has faith that hasn't done anything in the real world
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Speaker 1: do anything for the person that claims to have faith?
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Speaker 1: In other words, if someone's version of faith doesn't translate
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Speaker 1: into action that benefits others, should they be so sure
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Speaker 1: that that version of faith will benefit them? And then
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Speaker 1: all of us who've been Christians for a long time say,
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Speaker 1: by faith alone, we sit up straight like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
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Speaker 1: And James wants us to sit up straight and go, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
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Speaker 1: If one's faith in Jesus doesn't reflect itself in a
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Speaker 1: life or a lifestyle or a character that reflects or
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Speaker 1: priorities that reflects Jesus, Does a person really have faith
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Speaker 1: in Jesus? Is it possible? And I think the answer
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Speaker 1: to this question is yes. Is it possible for us
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Speaker 1: to believe that we believe something, but we don't really
20:22
Speaker 1: believe it? Because we've reduced it to a list of
20:25
Speaker 1: just statements. Is it possible for one to believe they believe,
20:29
Speaker 1: but they don't really believe? Again, James wants us to
20:32
Speaker 1: be concerned. He's writing to people who claim to be
20:34
Speaker 1: Jesus followers. He goes on, he says, let me give
20:38
Speaker 1: you an illustration to show you how absurd faith without
20:42
Speaker 1: deeds is. He says, suppose, it's an imaginary situation. Suppose
20:46
Speaker 1: a brother or sister, this is somebody who's another Christian even,
20:49
Speaker 1: somebody close. Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes.
20:52
Speaker 1: I mean, they lack clothing, something's happened. Or in daily food,
20:56
Speaker 1: so it's an extreme, it's a bit of hyperbole. If
21:00
Speaker 1: one of you says to them, oh, that's terrible. Oh, look,
21:04
Speaker 1: you've lost all your clothes in the fire. Somebody broke
21:07
Speaker 1: it and stole it. You had to flee your village
21:09
Speaker 1: or town and you're here and you only have the
21:12
Speaker 1: clothes on your back and you don't know what you're
21:13
Speaker 1: going to eat the next day. That's terrible. Go in
21:16
Speaker 1: peace and keep warm and somehow I hope you're well fed.
21:24
Speaker 1: Your situation breaks my heart. I feel for you. Thoughts
21:28
Speaker 1: and prayers. But does nothing about their physical needs, what
21:38
Speaker 1: good is it? What good is that kind of compassion?
21:44
Speaker 1: What good is that kind of love? What good is
21:48
Speaker 1: that kind of anything? What good does it do? What
21:51
Speaker 1: good was done? No good. If somebody doesn't do anything,
21:55
Speaker 1: if someone does nothing in light of that, why should
22:00
Speaker 1: we believe that they actually care? They believe they care.
22:05
Speaker 1: Of course they care because they have these internal feelings
22:07
Speaker 1: of care. But according to James and according to Jesus,
22:11
Speaker 1: if we don't care, I wasn't going to just leave
22:15
Speaker 1: it like that, but if we don't demonstrate care, we
22:20
Speaker 1: don't really care. The short version is if we don't care,
22:25
Speaker 1: we don't care. Then he goes on like we need
22:29
Speaker 1: more of this, right? In the same way, look up here.
22:32
Speaker 1: In the same way, faith or belief would be the
22:34
Speaker 1: word we would use. In the same way, faith or
22:38
Speaker 1: belief by itself, if it is not accompanied by action,
22:43
Speaker 1: this is the statement you may have heard growing up,
22:46
Speaker 1: is dead. It's a corpse. It's worthless because it's lifeless.
22:54
Speaker 1: And in other terms, he uses it's useless because it's
22:58
Speaker 1: pointless because it doesn't do anything. And if it doesn't
23:03
Speaker 1: do anything in the real world, why should you have
23:06
Speaker 1: confidence it's going to do anything for you in the
23:09
Speaker 1: life to come? And we're all like, oh, my gosh.
23:17
Speaker 1: If we claim to care, we must show we care.
23:23
Speaker 1: Because the claim, apart from the show, is dead. It's worthless. Now,
23:28
Speaker 1: you know what? I bet most of us, I bet
23:31
Speaker 1: most of us have been on the receiving end of
23:33
Speaker 1: this in some way. You needed help. You needed care.
23:38
Speaker 1: You needed money. You needed somebody to pay a bill
23:41
Speaker 1: or you needed somebody. You just needed something. And people
23:44
Speaker 1: just kind of glanced and, you know, they, people that
23:46
Speaker 1: you knew, they, they're like, and you know what we
23:49
Speaker 1: say as Christians. Okay. If you're not a Christian, let
23:50
Speaker 1: me just go ahead, air a little bit dirty laundry. Us,
23:53
Speaker 1: you know, we Christians do. We go, I'm going to
23:54
Speaker 1: pray for you. I'm like, that's really good. But that's
23:58
Speaker 1: not what I need. I need you to write a check.
24:02
Speaker 1: I need you to come take care of my kids
24:04
Speaker 1: because I got to go be with him or her.
24:07
Speaker 1: Thank you for your prayers, thoughts and prayers. But I
24:11
Speaker 1: don't need corpse faith. I need do faith. I'm always
24:18
Speaker 1: saying to you, and this is part of it, doing
24:20
Speaker 1: is what makes the difference. Doing is what makes the difference.
24:23
Speaker 1: Doing is what made the difference. James is about to
24:25
Speaker 1: take this to another level. Here's the thing. Doing is
24:28
Speaker 1: what makes the difference in the real world. But James
24:33
Speaker 1: is making the point, and Jesus makes the point, that
24:35
Speaker 1: doing makes a difference in us as well. Because, don't
24:39
Speaker 1: miss this, this is his point. Doing is what authenticates believing.
24:45
Speaker 1: Doing is how you know you actually believe. Doing is
24:52
Speaker 1: how you know you are actually trusting in Jesus as
24:57
Speaker 1: your Savior. James says, if you want to know, if
25:00
Speaker 1: you actually believe what you claim you believe, don't look inside.
25:07
Speaker 1: Look outside. Look at what you're doing. Look at what
25:12
Speaker 1: you're refusing to do. Monitor your actions, and most importantly,
25:17
Speaker 1: perhaps your reactions. Again, because doing... is what authenticates our
25:24
Speaker 1: faith to us. But as or more important, doing is
25:29
Speaker 1: what authenticates our faith to the people in the world.
25:33
Speaker 1: This goes back to what Jesus said, to be in
25:35
Speaker 1: the light of the world. Doing authenticates our faith to
25:38
Speaker 1: the people around us as well. Doing demonstrates to outsiders
25:42
Speaker 1: that our faith is genuine. And this is, if you're
25:44
Speaker 1: not a Christian or maybe you used to be, or
25:46
Speaker 1: you've considered it, or you're on the outside looking in,
25:50
Speaker 1: one of your beefs with us, I get this, is, hey,
25:52
Speaker 1: I I know what you guys believe. My problem isn't,
25:56
Speaker 1: I don't know what a Christian believes. I mean, so
25:58
Speaker 1: many people have told me what Christians believe and I
26:00
Speaker 1: need to believe what you believe. But here's the thing.
26:03
Speaker 1: I'm not sure you believe what you believe because if
26:06
Speaker 1: you really believe that, I think you would be a
26:10
Speaker 1: different kind of person. You would be a kinder person.
26:14
Speaker 1: You would be, and here's the other thing. If you're
26:16
Speaker 1: not a Christian, you're gonna love this. You may not
26:19
Speaker 1: be biblically literate, but you know enough about Jesus to
26:22
Speaker 1: know whether or not we're reflecting Jesus, right? And you
26:26
Speaker 1: are correct to hold us accountable to that. That the
26:28
Speaker 1: issue isn't being smart biblically. The goal is to be
26:32
Speaker 1: like Jesus, to be Christ-like, and to do for others,
26:36
Speaker 1: and to respond to others, and to react to others
26:38
Speaker 1: the way God through Jesus responded and reacted to us.
26:43
Speaker 1: So Doing demonstrates to outsiders that our faith is genuine.
26:47
Speaker 1: We're not just, as I say, sermons and songs. And
26:51
Speaker 1: here's the thing for us modern Christians. Personal engagement, personal engagement,
26:57
Speaker 1: even on a limited periodic basis with people who are
27:01
Speaker 1: in need is an essential. It is an essential. Even
27:05
Speaker 1: if somebody else can do it, even if the government
27:08
Speaker 1: is planning to do it, it is essential for us.
27:11
Speaker 1: It's essential to the Christian faith. and to make things
27:15
Speaker 1: even more challenging for me and to make things even
27:18
Speaker 1: more challenging for you. Unlike the people in the first
27:22
Speaker 1: century or second century or any ancient times, unlike Jesus'
27:25
Speaker 1: original audience or James' original audience, we modern Christians have
27:30
Speaker 1: to be more intentional than his audience had to be.
27:35
Speaker 1: And here's why. In the first, well, not just the
27:38
Speaker 1: first century, in ancient times, in ancient times, Everybody lived
27:43
Speaker 1: among the needy. Everybody lived among the poor. Because of transportation,
27:50
Speaker 1: villages were small, communities were small, and even in the
27:54
Speaker 1: larger megacities like ancient Rome or Alexandria or some of
27:58
Speaker 1: those cities, Everybody was mixed together. Even the wealthy, wealthy,
28:04
Speaker 1: wealthy who lived behind high stone walls, when they left
28:08
Speaker 1: their gate, they were confronted with, and in some cases,
28:11
Speaker 1: accosted by the poverty, the beggars, the people in need,
28:16
Speaker 1: the people that injured soldiers who could no longer work,
28:19
Speaker 1: the women who'd been abandoned. Everywhere they went, you were
28:22
Speaker 1: confronted with, you smelled, you saw, you heard the voices
28:27
Speaker 1: of the poor. In other words, This isn't a criticism.
28:31
Speaker 1: This is my life as well as it is yours.
28:33
Speaker 1: Nobody drove by poor people. Nobody drove through an area
28:40
Speaker 1: of town that was in need. Nobody drove. You didn't
28:44
Speaker 1: drive by. You walked out into it. Opportunities appeared. abounded.
28:51
Speaker 1: You knew the names of beggars on certain corners because
28:55
Speaker 1: they were there all the time. In fact, in the
28:56
Speaker 1: New Testament, there are illustrations of this. I mean, there's
29:00
Speaker 1: an illustration of Jesus healing a blind man, and the
29:02
Speaker 1: author of that account of the life of Jesus gives
29:05
Speaker 1: us the guy's name because everybody knew his name. He
29:07
Speaker 1: was there all the time. That's Bartimaeus. Yeah, he's been
29:09
Speaker 1: around forever, right? So for us, this is even more
29:14
Speaker 1: challenging than For us, this is more difficult, which means
29:18
Speaker 1: for us, it requires far more intentionality. And so we
29:25
Speaker 1: want to intentionally give you some opportunities. Many of you
29:28
Speaker 1: do this all the time because you're on boards of nonprofits,
29:30
Speaker 1: you serve with nonprofits. But for many of us, it's just,
29:34
Speaker 1: we just drive by or we live in communities like
29:36
Speaker 1: I do where you just don't see it. Now, this
29:41
Speaker 1: isn't a guilt thing. This is a, okay, let's, this
29:44
Speaker 1: is a get with it thing, right? So here's how James,
29:47
Speaker 1: here's how James lands the plane on this whole discussion.
29:50
Speaker 1: This is so powerful. and it's convicting in a good way, right?
29:54
Speaker 1: Listen to what he says. This is so extreme. I
29:56
Speaker 1: think if I got up here and said this and
29:58
Speaker 1: didn't quote James, you would think I'd taken this too far.
30:00
Speaker 1: It's kind of some sort of guilt trip. Listen to
30:02
Speaker 1: what he says. Religion that God our Father accepts, religion,
30:08
Speaker 1: in other words, religious practice, the theopraxy, the way this
30:12
Speaker 1: works out, the what we do part, religion that God
30:16
Speaker 1: our Father, this is the brother of Jesus, okay, that
30:19
Speaker 1: God our Father accepts as pure and faultless. In other words,
30:23
Speaker 1: if you want to get an A, God doesn't grade.
30:25
Speaker 1: But I mean, if you want God to go, whoa,
30:27
Speaker 1: that's the real deal there. Or if you want other
30:30
Speaker 1: people to look at you or to look at us
30:32
Speaker 1: as a community of churches and say, that's the real
30:34
Speaker 1: deal there. Here's what he says. This is what it
30:37
Speaker 1: looks like. Here's the litmus test. You go to the
30:39
Speaker 1: next slide. It's to look after orphans and widows and
30:42
Speaker 1: their distrust. Wait, it's not prayer life, Bible study, church attendance.
30:50
Speaker 1: I mean, all that is critical. In other words, those
30:53
Speaker 1: things are critical and essential because they fuel what he
30:55
Speaker 1: is saying. He's saying it's to look after orphans and
30:58
Speaker 1: widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being
31:01
Speaker 1: polluted by the world. Now, this don't be polluted by
31:05
Speaker 1: the world. When I was a young Christian, I was
31:07
Speaker 1: good at this. I'm first born. I'm a preacher's kid.
31:12
Speaker 1: you know, when I've told you when I sinned, I
31:13
Speaker 1: knew the chapter and verse, you know, where my sin
31:16
Speaker 1: was located. So, I mean, I was good, good, good, good, good.
31:19
Speaker 1: I was really good, but I didn't do much good.
31:23
Speaker 1: And James puts these in the order and this order
31:25
Speaker 1: on purpose. He says, yeah, you need to be moral.
31:28
Speaker 1: You need to be ethical. You need to be a
31:30
Speaker 1: good person, but it's more than that. The practice of
31:33
Speaker 1: faith that honors God the most is to look after
31:37
Speaker 1: orphans and widows in their distress. Now, Why does he
31:42
Speaker 1: focus on these two? Because in the absence of legitimate
31:45
Speaker 1: money-making opportunities for women in the ancient world, they were
31:50
Speaker 1: in a tough spot. It was easy to divorce a woman.
31:53
Speaker 1: A woman couldn't divorce her husband in most cultures, but
31:55
Speaker 1: a man could divorce his wife and leave the kids
31:58
Speaker 1: and let her go with the kids because he wanted
31:59
Speaker 1: to start over. So consequently, the most vulnerable, the ones
32:03
Speaker 1: that would struggle the most in terms of a category
32:06
Speaker 1: were widows. Those not just whose husbands had died, that
32:09
Speaker 1: was certainly included, but women who were abandoned on their own.
32:15
Speaker 1: So one test for us of our actual faith, belief,
32:21
Speaker 1: is helping the helpless, helping those who are distressed, whether
32:26
Speaker 1: it's orphans, the widows, the impoverished, the disabled, the unemployed,
32:32
Speaker 1: whatever it might be. These are just the two predominant
32:34
Speaker 1: categories in his culture. Ours are so much more. broader.
32:38
Speaker 1: And I love this. The social services that our government provides,
32:42
Speaker 1: local and state and national, our counties, all these wonderful things, city,
32:46
Speaker 1: the social services that our counties and communities provide and
32:50
Speaker 1: our modern governments provide, the reason we have those, the
32:54
Speaker 1: reason we have those, they are a reflection of our
32:57
Speaker 1: Christianized culture. That's a good thing, but they don't relieve
33:03
Speaker 1: Jesus followers of our personal responsibility to do In order
33:07
Speaker 1: to be like our Father in heaven. To do for
33:11
Speaker 1: those who can't do for themselves. And that's what we've
33:14
Speaker 1: been doing for many, many, many years. And that's what
33:17
Speaker 1: we're going to continue to do this year corporately. And again,
33:20
Speaker 1: I want to say this again. Many of you, you've
33:22
Speaker 1: got this. I'm preaching. You're the choir. I'm preaching to
33:24
Speaker 1: the choir. You are so in here. Again, you serve
33:26
Speaker 1: on boards. You serve with nonprofits. You look for opportunities.
33:30
Speaker 1: All of us, to some extent, are generous when somebody
33:32
Speaker 1: has a specific need. But some of you, you just,
33:36
Speaker 1: because you don't have the opportunity, you drive by because
33:38
Speaker 1: of where we live. You just, you don't see it.
33:40
Speaker 1: You don't feel it. You don't smell it. And it's
33:42
Speaker 1: just easy to forget about it. So we want to
33:45
Speaker 1: give you an opportunity, even though it's just a snapshot
33:48
Speaker 1: a few times a year, an opportunity to engage with
33:52
Speaker 1: those who can't help themselves. And we've created several amazing
33:57
Speaker 1: opportunities for you to do just that. And before I
33:59
Speaker 1: tell you more about that, I just want to make
34:01
Speaker 1: a declaration on all of our behalf, okay? So on
34:04
Speaker 1: behalf of all of us, we don't have time. Right?
34:11
Speaker 1: We don't have time. It's like, Andy, I can't disagree
34:13
Speaker 1: with any of that, but you don't understand. I know.
34:16
Speaker 1: We don't have time. So we're asking you to carve
34:19
Speaker 1: out just a little bit of time. And who knows?
34:21
Speaker 1: What you experience as you interface with some of our
34:23
Speaker 1: intersect partners and what we're doing in our local communities
34:26
Speaker 1: or even in different parts of the world, who knows?
34:28
Speaker 1: It may become a habit. So at this time, at
34:32
Speaker 1: all of our campuses, I wanna invite somebody up. They're
34:34
Speaker 1: gonna come up on stage and talk about the opportunities
34:36
Speaker 1: you have in your local community. So welcome them to
34:40
Speaker 1: the stage. And that would be me. So here's what
34:43
Speaker 1: we're gonna do. This is so good. To explore, look
34:47
Speaker 1: here a second. Okay, real quick. I know, another QR code.
34:49
Speaker 1: We're shocked, you know. Okay, so basically, this QR code,
34:53
Speaker 1: or you can text. This is the easiest way to text.
34:55
Speaker 1: NPSERV to 51255. NPSERV 51255. They'll take you to a website.
35:01
Speaker 1: And we're going to direct you, we're going to give
35:02
Speaker 1: you a menu of opportunities to serve between now and
35:06
Speaker 1: basically between now and Christmas. There are in-person opportunities where
35:10
Speaker 1: you actually get to show up on site for some
35:12
Speaker 1: of our Intersect partners. There's so many things we can do.
35:14
Speaker 1: For those of you who are here with me at
35:16
Speaker 1: North Point, North, you know, North Point, I mean, North
35:19
Speaker 1: Fulton Charities, there's always opportunities to volunteer there. There's in-person opportunities.
35:23
Speaker 1: There are family-friendly opportunities. There are things, we've made it
35:27
Speaker 1: so simple, there are things you can actually do from
35:30
Speaker 1: home that would help some of these organizations. So we've
35:33
Speaker 1: listed all of those. There are Global X opportunities. You
35:36
Speaker 1: wanna update your passport if you got a passport or
35:38
Speaker 1: get a passport. We will put you on a team
35:40
Speaker 1: that actually goes to some of the places internationally where
35:43
Speaker 1: we're doing some of the things that are similar to
35:45
Speaker 1: what we're doing back here at home. But imagine what
35:48
Speaker 1: could happen if even half, even half of everyone who
35:52
Speaker 1: attends one of our Atlanta area churches just did one
35:55
Speaker 1: serve project this year before Christmas. We would unleash not
36:00
Speaker 1: just a wave of financial generosity, but we would unleash
36:03
Speaker 1: a wave of service opportunities and service generosity for to
36:06
Speaker 1: all these amazing organizations that serve our communities and make
36:10
Speaker 1: our communities better. So check out the opportunities. There are
36:14
Speaker 1: opportunities to do by yourself, as a couple, with your family,
36:18
Speaker 1: or if you're in a community group, a small group,
36:20
Speaker 1: engage your small group in one of these opportunities. You
36:23
Speaker 1: will be so glad you did. And don't put it off.
36:26
Speaker 1: Just check these things out this week, okay? I'll be
36:31
Speaker 1: back next weekend, as I said, with a super important
36:33
Speaker 1: message for our church. You're gonna get an email about
36:35
Speaker 1: it today, so make sure you don't miss that email.
36:39
Speaker 1: Check this out. Thanks for being the most amazing group
36:42
Speaker 1: of churches I've ever heard of, and I'm so grateful
36:44
Speaker 1: to be a part of this, and I will see
36:45
Speaker 1: you next week. You're dismissed.