Don't Ignore the Cracks

It is easy to see the cracks in someone else's life. Their bad decisions. Their anger. Their compromises. Their sin. 

But what if James wants to inspect a different house?

In this sermon from James 1:13-15, Pastor Jason Barnett explores where temptation really begins, why our desires make certain bait attractive, and what happens when the cracks within us are ignored. James challenges us to stop blaming God, the devil, our circumstances, or the people around us long enough to honestly examine our own hearts.

But recognizing what is broken isn't the end of the gospel. Jesus offers more than better behavior or stronger willpower. Through the cross, resurrection, and transforming work of the Holy Spirit, we can receive forgiveness for sin and experience real transformation from within.

Faith does the hard work of confronting what is broken within. What crack has God shown you're finally willing to let Him repair?

Linkoln shares his story on why he started coming to Ravenna Church of the Nazarene and shares why you should consider doing the same.

Ravenna Church of the Nazarene
530 Main Street, Ravenna, KY 40472

Transcript

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SPEAKER_03 0:00

The devil may bait the hook, but the bait only works because something in us wants it. I'm Pastor Jason Marnet, and this is the Dirt Pastorman Podcast. I'm glad you're listening today. But before we get into this message, I need to let you know that this one is episode is gonna be a little different. Our live stream decided it had enough church for one Sunday and quit on us. So we're about to hear a re-recording of the message I preached at Ravenna Church of the Nazarene. And I'm honest, honestly, I'm I'm glad we don't just let these disappear that we do these re-records. So some of the things that you might hear in person might be a little different, but the gist of the message, the chunk of the message will remain the same. Now, temptation is something every one of us deals with. But we're not always very good at recognizing where the real problem begins. And when temptation comes, it's easy to blame the devil or circumstances or other people, or even God sometimes. But James takes us somewhere much more uncomfortable. He asks us to look inside. But the good news is this isn't a message about beating yourself up over everything that's wrong with you. It's about trusting Jesus enough to let him work on what is broken. So settle in, grab your coffee if you've got some. And we're we're beginning a series to James called Faith in Work Boots. And this first message is called Don't Ignore the Cracks. Now we haven't done this in a while, but Nicole and I love watching HGTV. Especially the fixer-up upper type shows. And over the years, we've watched enough of them to know how every episode works. How it goes is something like this. Somebody buys a fixer-upper, right? Like the whoever the host of the shows is, whether it's the Property Brothers, the Gaines, or whoever, they sh they help them realize that they don't have the budget to buy their dream home, but they have enough to buy a fixer upper and then potentially turning into their dream home. They show them what it what it could possibly look like in the future. And so the person buys the fixer upper, right? And and the plan is simple. It's about re- they're gonna remodel the kitchen, they're gonna remodel the bathrooms, uh, they're gonna build grandma a room in the basement. And during this planning process, there's no wall that cannot be knocked down to make the living room bigger or kitchen more open, right? So they're going through making all these plans. After the plan, that they plan everything out, and then you learn the budget for the remodel is $30,000 and it's gonna take six weeks. And everyone is excited to get started. The couple's excited because it's they're gonna get their dream home. Yeah, the house they just bought doesn't look like it right now, but they're getting their dream home. The contractor is excited because they're gonna get paid. And you and I, as the viewer watching this show, we're excited because we know this episode has 20 more minutes. And they're not just gonna show you the house going back together easily, right? And then so what happens is demolition starts, and as demolition starts, a major problem is uncovered. And so the the contractor has to go to the family and break up the bad news. And and it could be water damage, they could find terminites, they could find electrical wiring issues, like because it's the electrical wiring was installed by a YouTuber and his blind uncle. Or they discovered that the wall that they were so that they said they could move, they can't move because it's low-bearing, right? And if you move a low-bearing wall, uh the places above it will do things that it shouldn't do. Uh like Nicole and I once lived in a parsonage where a low-bearing wall was removed and the entire upstairs of the parsonage was sloped. Now we didn't do that, it wasn't our choice, that's just what happened. But anyway, the the people in the show learned that they can't remove the wall. But whatever, whatever the issue is, it blows up the budget and it turns that that six-week project, that six-week remodel into three months. The worst part of all that, every time, is during all that planning, that problem already existed. Opening the wall didn't c cause the problem. It was already there waiting to be exposed. And whatever the dilemma is in the and in the that those fixer-upper shows, it's always it always the the dilemma becomes what to do with this big problem. Paint over it? Could you put some duct tape on it, maybe fix it? Maybe just put a picture over the hole that you've created to discover this, or or pretend you didn't see it and hope for the best, right? But the real but any of those options I just listed, any of them, only leaves what is broken still broken. I wonder how often we do the same thing ourselves. Bad attitudes start showing up in our life. And we keep doing things we know are wrong, but instead of opening up the wall and and dealing with the problem, we excuse it or we explain it. But what if the problem showing up on the surface is not really the problem? Maybe the bad attitude isn't really your problem. Maybe the fact that you keep doing this wrong, you've developed this bad habit and you can't quit doing it. Maybe maybe it's a symptom of something deeper in your life. And that's where James takes us today. And let me warn you, James is a tough home inspector. So we're in James chapter 1, I'm gonna be reading verses 13 through 15, and it says, No one who is tested should say, God is tempting me. This is because God is not tempted by any form of evil, or nor does he tempt anyone. Everyone is tempted by their own cravings. They are allured away and enticed by them. Once those cravings conceive, they give birth to sin. And when sin grows up, it gives birth to death. This is the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. And so over the next few weeks, we're gonna be camped in the Book of James, and we're gonna be doing a series called Faith in Work Boots. And in this letter, James is not interested in faith that just knows the Sunday school answers. And he's not interested in faith that just sits on the shelf looking pretty like another book in our collection. No, James wants faith that goes to work. This the book of James is a book where faith learns to leave footprints. And James wastes no time putting on work boots here. Rather than point us to everything wrong in the neighbor, right, or in the neighbor's house, James brings us to our own front door. So as we look look now at verse 13 a little more closely, it's important to know that James has been writing up to this point about trials and testing. And so verse 13 begins with, No one who is tested should say, God is tempting me. Now the Greek word here can mean both testing and tempting, right? So by that I mean if you see the common English has the word tested, and then when it says no one who is tested, and then it goes on to say God is tempting me, that's the same Greek word, right? The great same Greek word can mean both, testing and temptation. So what James is trying to say here is a trial can test our faith. Faith. Test our faith. It can test our faith, but that testing can become a place where we encounter temptation. Right, let me say that again. James is saying a trial can test our faith, but that testing can become a place where we encounter temptation. And that goes back, and James James reasons that, and the reason I think that is because of what James says. He says, this is because God is not tempted by any form of evil, right? Because God doesn't, so he says, God doesn't tempt anyone because God is not tempted by any form of evil, nor does he tempt anyone else. God's not going to tempt somebody else when he's not tempted by it. So it wouldn't make sense for us to say that God's intentionally taking us to a place where we're going to be tempted. No, God's going to take us to a place where our faith is going to be molded and shaped. But that place where our faith can be molded and shaped, that can become a place where we encounter temptation. It's like this uncomfortable collision between our humanity and the holiness of God. It's like a collision between our brokenness we're trying to escape from and the kingdom of God we're trying to live as citizens of. Again, and I said, James reasons this, this is not because God is this is because God is not tempted by any form of evil, nor does he tempt anyone. Again, God may lead us through difficult places. And a good example of this is Jesus. If you read the temptation of Jesus in Matthew 4, it says Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. It was the Spirit of God that led Jesus. But who Jesus was God in the flesh too? But he's Jesus was, while he was God in the flesh, was living this life as you and I would live it, being led by the Spirit, as you and I would be led in the Spirit. And so after he's baptized, the Spirit leads him into the wilderness. Why? For a time of spiritual formation. But while he's in that wilderness, Jesus encounters temptation. But it was not God. God was not the one tempting Jesus. The one that was tempting Jesus was the devil. God doesn't manipulate us, he always leads us, right? And sometimes he will lead us into places where we may encounter temptation. But that's not God's will. That's what happens. That's why Jesus in the Lord's Prayer also says, what is it? Um lead us not into temptation. That's part of the Lord's prayer, is that prayer of and the Lord lead us not into temptation, right? It's don't lead us into a place where our our following you is going to encounter temptation along the way. But sometimes that happens. Our humanity is gonna brush up against the holiness of God. Alright, so so if God doesn't tempt us, then we would expect in the next verse that James would place the blame on our temptation to the devil. He would say the devil's the reason you do it. But that's not what James does here. James doesn't blame the devil for us being tempted in these next verses. Instead, James makes us very uncomfortable. Because he writes everyone is tempted by their own cravings. They are lured away and enticed by them. He uses that word their own. And that word own is personal. Right? It's it the tip the what lures somebody away and what entices them is not something outside of a person, but a person's very own cravings. Something that they are desiring in their own heart, in their own mind, that is what will tr will what can lead to them being tempted. Now let me say something important here, because this is important to know. James is not saying having desires and needs are wrong. We all have physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. And desires are not necessarily sin, right? We all are hungry. We all need to be loved, we all desire community. Um desires are not necessarily bad, but because we have these real actual needs in our lives, these real things that we desire and crave, they become the bait the enemy uses. And notice the words that James uses here in verses of verse 14. He says he uses the word lure and entice, and these words in the Greek are words that are have to do with with baiting for hunting and fishing. Right? So that's a metaphor he's using here intentionally. He's using something that people in this culture would have understood, right? Their encami was had a lot of to do, had a lot of basis in hunting and fishing. So he's referring to allure and entice, again, as to bait, right? And so fish don't bait a hook, or I'm sorry, yeah, fish don't bait a hook because they don't have fingers. But fish do not bite a hook because they like piercings, right? Fe fish aren't into that type of that type of body art like we are. Uh fish bite a hook because they want the bait, right? They whatever the bait is on that hook, that's what they're interested in. Um we don't want the hook either, right? We don't want sin. We don't want to give in to sin. We want what is we want what is wrapped around it, and that's where temptation comes. The enemy baits us with our actual desires and needs, but inside that that that bait that looks enticing is this hook that's going to the hook us and drag us away. And that craving for what is connected to danger is the crack in our foundation. You see in verse 15, James warns us about what happens if that crack is left unaddressed. He says, once those cravings conceive, they give birth to sin. And when sin grows up, it gives birth to death. So James shifts his imagery here from hunting and fishery to pregnancy. And pregnancy was back in this time period, it was a risky, risky thing. I mean, it's not without risk nowadays, but uh it's believed that depending on which scholar you read, one percent of all mothers, you know, had I'm sorry, the fatality rate for mothers in pregnancy during this time period was around 1%, and they don't even have a number for for the babies in the process. But you also have to understand, too, they didn't have birth control in the same way we did. And so women, the more they had pregnancy they got pregnant, the more risk it carried for them. So he's using this imagery here. That's what James is grabbing hold of. It was real, it was something they could grab a hold of. They had seen mothers die during childbirth, and then they had seen mothers giving birth successfully in the past and then die later or give birth to stillborn babies. So James is using that type of imagery to describe what sin does. So we have these cravings for sin in our life, and we give into it, we take the bait, and when we take the bait, that sin grows up and it gives birth to death. So again, what started as a desire met up with a real desire, but even maybe even based on our real need and craving, meets up with temptation. And the reason we're tempted by that is we want to meet that need in a way outside of God's will and design. We want to meet that need a sinful way. And sin leads to death. And we kind of start off in a position of brokenness because we as humanity are prone to sinfulness. We have a sinful nature, we are sinful at the core of our being. And so it's easier for us to give in to temptation and do it outside of God's will and design than it is to trust him and go with he wants. All right, now it's important for me to say this too. Temptation is not sin. Jesus was tempted and did not sin. And that's important because if Jesus really wasn't tempted, then the book of Hebrews is lying to us because it says we have a savior who was tempted in every way like us, or is it a high priest? But anyway, it says he was tempted in every way like us, but he did not sin. So if tempt so temptation can't be sin because Jesus has to be sinless, but Jesus really had to be tempted in order for that word to be true, and also for him to be the human that we need for the sacrifice on the cross. So again, Jesus was tempted and did not sin, and temptation itself isn't sin. But James in this verses is telling us what happens when our sinful humanity corrupts our desires, and that's why happens. We have real needs and wants, but our sinfulness corrupts them. And then that those desires that are corrupted collide with temptation. And so what happens is we entertain the craving, then we feed it, and then we embrace it. And so the crack that starts small ends up spreading until the whole house collapses. And James is again, he's using imagery that is uncomfortable. See, when it comes to a house, the problems that show up outside reveal something that's happening inside. You might see a crack on the outside in the foundation, but that crack is pointing to a problem somewhere. There might be a leaky basement or a leaky crawl space. There might be a low-bearing raw wall that would be removed. And again, that would be external factors to influence the crack to create it, right? And somebody has to remove that wall for that to shift the foundation like that. Or there has to be water running down a hillside or flowing in a way or a new pattern that's causing an influence upon and creating this crack. But at the end of the day, the crack is the house's problem, not the external factors. And that's why James addresses temptation in this way. Yes, there's an enemy who tempts us, and yes, people really do hurt us. And yes, we have real needs that need to be met. And yes, life can put pressure on us, but James does not let us blame the bait. James says we take the bait because we want it. James says we give in to temptation because we want what it is temptation is offering us. Without regard or considering the hook involved.

SPEAKER_00 19:32

We're no different than the fish. Now, most of us, we have a bait or two that always gets us.

SPEAKER_03 19:44

And the question we have to ask is why does this particular bait appeal to me? And that is a hard question. It could be you desire something beyond what God wants you to have. Right? You could be you could you can desire things that are outside of God's kingdom and outside of God's design for us to have. That is entirely possible. Although I think most of the time like the desires that get us in the most trouble are not those ones. Because most of the time our desires come for something that we really do need, but it's not getting met. And that becomes the bait that the enemy uses. Right? You're angry. You're you're angry at the world, you're angry at everybody around you, you're a But that's not through anger isn't is just a symptom of the real issue, right? The real issue is maybe there's a lot going on in your life right now that you have no control over. Maybe you're you're a teen and you're living in a house where your parents are splitting and everybody's fighting all the time and they're all making decisions for you, but you you have and you feel like you have no choice of your choices of your own. You're just being told what to do, right? And you get angry over that. That need for control is driving that anger. And so what the enemy does is to get us to give into our anger and to do things and react in our anger that are outside of God's will for us, that are sinful ways, he puts that that need for control on a hook and and slowly lures us toward it. Maybe you're jealous, right? Maybe you're jealous of somebody, but again, jealousy isn't the real issue. Jealousy is the symptom, right? It's underneath jealousy is the real issue. The real issue you're feeling is insecurity. Maybe you you've gotten close with someone in the past. Maybe you've loved somebody, you trusted somebody, and they hurt you, or they cheated on you, or or they left you and abandoned you, and and that destroyed you. That destroyed your trust in people, that destroyed your your your belief in who you are. So the real issue isn't that you're jealous, it's that you're insecure, and that insecurity needs to be healed. But the enemy, what's the enemy do? He takes that need for security and puts On a on a hook and and it plays on our emotion of jealousy, and we get jealous over our friends when they have other friends. Maybe you gossip. Maybe that's the bet you take all the time. You gossip, and you know God doesn't want us to gossip. You know how harmful and destructive gossip is. But maybe gossip is isn't the real issue. Maybe gossip is a symptom of what the real issue is. The real issue, the real crack in the foundation, comes from a need to feel important. Right? You just want people to notice you, to know you exist, to know that you matter. And so what happens is you hear these tidbits of stories or or things that are happening in people's lives, and you know how important and powerful they are, but rather than be a respectable person and be a good confident, you instead of keeping those to yourself, you realize how juicy it is and you use that. You use that to supply that need, right? That the enemy gives you that bait, and then rather than to just get go to you use that need to make yourself feel that that story you've been shared, that juicy detail, you use it to make yourself feel important. Maybe you just simply want relief, right? Maybe you're just in pain. You've been carrying pain for a long time, you're tired of hurting, you're tired of being in pain. So the enemy puts that pain, a relief, this idea of relief on a hook, right, as the bait, and offers you all these different ways to find relief, whether it's through the through a whether it's through alcohol or or other types of drugs, right? Or or other types of ways to satisfy the pain that you're feeling, right? It what happens though is sin always promises an easier way to get it. And it's easier because we think we're doing it ourselves rather than relying on God to provide for our needs. But what happens is we end up doing providing for our needs in a way that's sinful and outside God's design. And again, we're prone to do that because we're sinful as human beings. But that's why, too, when we talk about holiness, holiness has to go beyond behavior. Holiness has to be more than not smoking, drinking, or chewing, or running around with the girls who do. I think I got the phrase wrong, but you know some of you have heard that before. Holiness is more than behavior. It does involve behavior to an extent. But behavior is a symptom of what's really going on underneath. It's our behavior stems from cracks in our foundation. And here's the thing: Jesus did not come to simply teach us how to manage our cracks better.

unknown 24:38

Right?

SPEAKER_03 24:38

He's not just simply teaching us to put duct tape over the crack in the foundation. He's not interesting in just covering it up. Jesus came to transform them. Jesus forgives sins that have already matured in our lives. The habits that we're that we keep practicing. Jesus has offered forgiveness for those sins, but he also gives us the Holy Spirit, right? So that way we don't have to keep tripping over those same cracks again or ignoring him. He gets the Holy Spirit who can transform our desires to match God's desires and to teach us to trust God with our needs. That Jesus dying on the cross was for more than just forgiveness of our sin. It was so he can make us holy. And he makes us holy by giving his Holy Spirit. And his Holy Spirit helps us to transform the cracks, to actually fix the foundation, to actually get rid of what's broken. You see, we don't ever become robots incapable of being tempted. How do we know again? Adam and Eve were created with Adam's sin nature, and they still chose sin. Again, Jesus was sinless, but Jesus was tempted. So we don't ever become robots incapable of choosing wrongdoing. But through the help of the Holy Spirit, based on our faith in Jesus, we can become people who freely love God enough to trust him more than take the bait the enemy is dangling in front of us. Because remember, God doesn't lure us, God leads us. Alright, remember the fixer-up houses from the beginning that we talked about? You know, somebody opens the wall, discovers something they didn't want to find. Opening the wall did not cause the problem, remember? Opening the wall revealed what was already there. So maybe James has opened up a wall for you today. Maybe God, through this mess, has shown you a crack in the foundation of your life. And it could be a craving you've been feeding. It could be tied to anger, bitterness, pride, lust, fear, or something. Whatever it is, it's something you've gotten really good at hiding or explaining away. Hey, but the wall is already open, it's already exposed. Don't put the drywall back up. Don't paint over it. Don't disguise it. Don't don't put the duct tape there, right? God has opened the wall up. God is here not to shame you, God is here to deal with your house. And as he's dealing with your house, don't point it at the neighbor's house trying to distract him. Don't blame God for it. And and and stop blaming the devil. Yes, the enemy may have baited the hook, but James tells us the bait works because it's what you and I want. The devil didn't make you do it. The devil devil offered you what you wanted and you decided to take it. And that's where the crack formed. And that crack will destroy your whole house if you don't address it. But whatever it is, be honest with God. Bring that craving to Jesus before it conceives. Bring the crack to Jesus before it spreads. God's not going to trap you. God's not not exposing it because He's wanting to punish you. God loves you. God wants to heal you. God wants to transform you. Jesus knows what's what is behind the wall. He knows every crack. He knows every craving. And he still went to cr the cross for you. He died and rose again to save us from sin. And that is more than trying to make the house pretty on the outside. He's not trying to put lipstick on a pig. He's he gives us the Holy Spirit so he can put the whole house in order. To make the whole house right. And he's going through he'll go through every closet, every room, even the basement, even the utility closet. So he can check for cracks and he so he can put it back right again. You can surrender your will to his. You can trust God with your needs. You can let the Holy Spirit change what you desire and teach you to walk in the way that leads to life. Open the wall. Trust Jesus enough to let him work on what is broken. Because here's the thing: faith does the hard work of confronting what is broken within. The Holy Spirit through James has inspected your house today. What crack has God shown you today that you are finally willing to let him repair? Alright, before we step away today, I want to give you a chance to respond to this because I think anytime we hear the Word of God preached, it through it, the Holy Spirit is asking us to respond to Him. So James has opened the wall. And maybe while you're listening, the Holy Spirit showed you something you've been covering up. Craving you've been feeding, a hurt that's turned into bitterness. Maybe a need you've been trying to meet your own way. Something you've blamed on somebody else for a long time. Friend, don't put the drywall back up. You don't have to hide it from Jesus. He already knows it's there. And he's not wanting to punish you, he loves you. He went to the cross and rose again so that sin and death would not get the final word in your story. So be honest with him. Confess what needs to be confessed. Surrender what needs to be surrendered. And trust the Holy Spirit enough to let him work on what is broken within. Let's pray together. Lord, thank you for loving us enough to show us the cracks we've been we would rather ignore. Forgive us for the times we have blamed you. We've blamed the times we've blamed others or covered up what was happening within us. Give us courage to be honest with you today. Jesus, forgive our sin. Take the cravings and desires we have tried to satisfy apart from you, and teach us to trust you with our needs. Search us and cleanse us and transform us. Put our hearts in order, and teach us to desire what you desire, to follow where you lead. For the person listening who knows exactly what crack you've exposed today, give them the courage to leave the wall open and let you work. Remind them that your grace is greater than what is broken. In Jesus' name. Amen. Friend, I would genuinely love to hear what God is doing in your life. You can email me anytime at dirtpathpastor at gmail.com. Again, that's dirtpathastor all lowercase, all one word, no the at the beginning, no capitals at gmail.com. Tell me what Jesus is teaching you. Tell me how he's working in your life, or maybe even how the Dirt Pastor Member Podcast has been helping you along the way. I love hearing the stories of the people on the other side of these headphones. And if this episode helped you, share it with somebody who might need to hear it. And make sure you subscribe or follow the podcast so you can join us as we continue through the Faith and Work Booth series. And remember, if you choose to support the Dirt Plasterman podcast, I am forever grateful. But also, no, you're not supporting me by supporting that. You're supporting the Nazarene Compassionate Ministries Emergency Relief Fund. Uh through that fund, uh the NCM helps local churches around the world. And they they respond when people are facing natural disasters, wars, famines, and other crises. And we and they help them meet immediate needs while walking alongside communities toward long time, long-term physical, economic, and spiritual recovery. So when you give to the show, when you support the show, that's what you're supporting. So again, your support helps this little podcast keep walking the dirt path. But more importantly, it helps the church put on its work boots and show up for people when life is falling apart. And as you head into your week, don't be afraid of what Jesus showed you today. The crack is not the end of your story. Don't cover it up, don't explain it away. Don't grab the duct tape. Bring it to Jesus. Trust him with what is behind the wall. Trust the Holy Spirit to keep working. And remember, faith is the hard work in confronting what is broken within. Until next time, grace and peace to you in the name of Jesus.

Pastor Jason 33:09

Thank you for listening to this episode of the Riven Passment Podcast. It's recorded by the Ravinature Smash Read, located at 530 May Street. To learn more about the Ravinature Smash or visiting Ravenmaster.com. If you'd like to send me a message, just simply use the link in the show.