Exemplify Daily Christlikeness | James 5:12-16 | 6-21-26 | Sunday PM

**Pastor Andrew Montoro** (0:00)
Let's make our way to James 5, Growing Into Christ Likeness is our series title. And so James, it's hard to believe, we're almost through the Book of James. We could have slowed down and spent, we really could have spent a lot of time. We could take almost every section of James and preach a couple sermons from it, but just trying to keep the flow, trying to keep the context of what James is saying here and instructing us in the way of Christian maturity. And so you pray for pastor, my voice is kind of hanging in there. It might completely disappear by the end of the service and we'll have a shorter sermon, no guarantees or promises there. But we'll try to see, pray for the Lord just that we can make it through. But James chapter 5, he's continuing the series, the thought here with dealing with being patient till Christ's return. But then in verse number 12, he pivots and begins dealing not with looking forward to Christ's return, but what we're dealing with right now. And really, he's going to hit some of the same themes that he's already hit before. But we need the reminders. And he's going to give some very practical application here. He says in verse number 12, But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath, but let your yea be yea, and your nay be nay, lest ye fall into condemnation. Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray. Is any merry? Let him sing psalms. Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up. And if he hath committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. So we'll move into the effectual fervent prayer. We'll spend that, that's going to be more a focus in our next sermon. But really, what James is talking about is living with Christ likeness, while here in daily situations. And so our title tonight is this, Exemplify Daily Christ Likeness. There needs to be a daily Christ likeness in our behavior, in our responses to the daily situations of life. So let's pray, ask the Lord's help, because we need help with that, right? Amen, here we go. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you, Lord, that you are a God who has the power to change us. You have the wisdom and the grace that we need. I pray, Lord, for your power, just in explaining and teaching and preaching your word. Help me to say only what your word has said, but help me to say it with clarity, with power, with conviction, Lord. I pray that you would help our hearts to be open to your word. Lord, I pray for just you to work and to bless, speak to our hearts tonight, help our time to be well worth it, Lord. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
There are daily situations that we each face that need a Christ-like response. We live in a world where there is problems and situations, and not just the problems. Sometimes the areas where we struggle the most is when things are going smoothly.
And we'll deal with that as we get in. But it's easy to respond to life situations with immaturity. Okay, if something's going wrong, complaining, whining, frustration, faithlessness, right? Isn't that an easy, isn't that the way we naturally respond, right? There's a reason, okay, why we tell little kids grow up, stop acting, okay? You're not two years old anymore, you're 22 Start acting like an adult, right? There needs to be some maturity that is expressed. Okay, just keep moving at this point, okay? We don't want to get stuck here, all right? But at the same time, in a Christian, from a Christian perspective, there is a need for Christians to respond in life situations with Christ likeness, with maturity. And sometimes we can fall into the rut, or we can simply ignore what is happening, and we can begin to respond, instead of responding as Christ would respond. Okay, there was a book that was written years ago, and there was a big to-do about it. What would Jesus do? Has anybody ever heard of that? What would Jesus do? And there was books written. I don't know if there was movies made or not, but I mean, there was people carrying bracelets, WWJD. What would Jesus do? Okay. The only problem is you and I can't do what Jesus would often do. We can't feed the 5,000. We can't open blind eyes, right? But the way my dad put it is, what would Jesus have me to do? Okay, that is the question we need to ask. What does Jesus want me to do in this situation? And what God wants us to do is to respond with Christ-like attitudes, to respond as Christ would respond. Jesus didn't walk around, crossed his arms frustrated because the people weren't listening. He was trusting his father. Jesus wasn't walking around kicking the dog because he had a bad day. No, no, no. Jesus was literally calm and at peace and showing the grace of God even to those who did not deserve it, showing the truth of God to those who were putting their fingers in their ears. He continued to show grace and wisdom and kindness and love even to Judas. That was Jesus. And so, because Christ is living within us as we grow closer to Christ, if you're not growing, something's wrong, right? As a Christian, we need to be growing so that we, instead of responding how a worldly person responds, we begin to respond more and more as Christ would have us to respond. So here in the beginning, he says, in the beginning of our text, he says, but above all things, brethren, so this means, hey, we need to pay attention to this one.