Sunday message · The Heart Matters series
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Message Summary
In the third week of The Heart Matters, a series in the spirit of Lent that prepares hearts for Holy Week, Pastor Phillip Santillan preaches James 1:13–18 as the church gathers online. After earlier weeks on humility and forgiveness, this week’s prayer is “Lord, it’s my fault,” an admission that something inside us, not outside us, leads us to live our way instead of God’s.
James, the brother of Jesus, writes to people who blamed God and their circumstances for living by the flesh rather than by faith. Phil admits we do the same: if only God would make my spouse less frustrating, I would be more patient; if only my church were more spiritual, I would get involved. James makes clear that God tempts no one. Each person is drawn away by his own evil desire, which gives birth to sin, and sin, fully grown, gives birth to death, while every good and perfect gift comes from the Father of lights, who does not change. A commentator Phil quotes adds that we can never shift the blame for sin onto God, who is on our side in the struggle, and that resisting temptation begins with an honest look at ourselves.
Phil also draws on Larry Osborne’s book Thriving in Babylon, which argues that hardship reveals whether our faith is genuine, and that people who walk away from God in their suffering do not do so because the test was too hard.
He hopes we will become desperate for God to change our hearts, until we can confidently say that Jesus is Lord of all, especially of our own lives. Then he asks who wins when, in the face of trials, we doubt God’s sovereignty. Growing anxious and afraid is not a sign that God has abandoned us. It is a sign that something inside us, and the evil one outside us, wants us to believe God is not sovereign, not our shield and not our healer, so that we try to take control and protect and provide for ourselves.
With the coronavirus spreading around the world and into our own backyards, Phil says this moment can be a test of our faith or the place where faith in Jesus becomes most distinct and alive. We can be swept up in the hype, or we can let a deep-seated confidence in God’s sovereignty and character shape how we evaluate our circumstances and make decisions. It can be scary, but we do not have to live in fear. This is an opportunity to be light, proving by how we live, gather and love that we believe in a God who gives good gifts, heals and protects.
He ends the message with a prayer confessing that it is not his circumstances, the people around him, his job, his family or his church keeping him from living God’s way, but himself, and asking God to make him a bearer of hope so that more people would see with clarity who Jesus is. A time of worship and communion follows.