What in the World

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the

Apostle Paul said, But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered -down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you.

By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we're called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her

King. Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry.

My name is Mike Abendroth. And in real time, it is October 2nd on Friday, about four in the afternoon.

We have some folks coming over, some visitors who've been visiting

Bethlehem Bible Church. We're going to have them over for dinner tonight, and they get to ask me theological questions.

What do I need to tell you? Israel, I think, is going to be kaput.

We'll have to postpone that for a year. We will make the formal announcement probably

November 1st. Sad to say that. You can order in the month of October as well,

September and October. If you order Sexual Fidelity, you get a free copy of Things That Go Bump in the church.

Sexual Fidelity, I think, is $11 .99. And if you want to buy 20 or more,

I can probably get you around $7 a book. That would be good for some men's studies here at Bethlehem Bible Church.

One Sunday night in October, one Sunday night in November, one Sunday night in December, we're going to have kind of a men's night.

How to deal with temptation is the gospel for Christians as well.

Can you be forgiven for pornography, viewing how to resist pornography, what to do, sexual temptation, all that stuff.

So we're going to use the Heath Lambert book, finally free, and Sexual Fidelity by Mike Havendroth.

If you're here, you can get that book for $6. But if you're online, you order the one, you get the other one free,

Things That Go Bump in the church. Are you stressed? What do you do when you're stressed?

What do you do when the world's trying to get you, seemingly? Of course, today

I wake up to find our president and the first lady have COVID, the COVID. People could get stressed from that,

I'm sure. Presidential debates, presidential election, crackdowns on churches in terms of meeting.

What about all these issues? I looked online, if you'd like to deal with stress, here's some of the ways.

Exercise. Okay, not bad. Relax your muscles. How do

I do that? I actually kind of pull the muscle and it makes where I think my heart is hurts.

And so to the point that I even had to go to the like urgent care people and they had to do

EKGs and stuff and blood tests to see if I was having some heart attack or something. I don't know.

It felt like I was, but shouldn't be chewing on these aspirin as much. How do you get stress relief?

Deep breathing. You ever that? It kind of hurts my heart when I do it.

I just was praying today because I'm 60 years old and I prayed, Lord, I'd like to live another 10, no, no, maybe 15, how about 20?

Could I live 20 more years? Do I want to? Eat well.

I just thought I was going to say eat. Take a break.

Come on, take a no -co break. Make time for hobbies. No -co.

This is a hobby, right? I always say to people, I don't have time to like edit and sometimes I'll interview a guest and they'll say, well, could you edit that out?

No. This is a hobby. I don't do that. I mean, if somebody swore or if somebody said something that was heretical,

I'd have Spencer take it out. But besides that, we let these things roll. Talk about your problems.

Get some fresh air. You can get some vitamin D boost and a little serotonin levels might go up a little bit.

That probably is not bad. People say if you put some plants in your workplace, you get lower blood pressure.

Here's a dumb one. Visualize calm. Find a quiet space, close your eyes, focus your breathing and transport yourself to your happy place for a few minutes each day.

I thought that was called no -compromise radio. If you do guided imagery,

UCLA says, you know what? Your body produces less of the stress hormone. Come on.

Blue ocean. Relaxation. What if you're hydrophobic and you're afraid of water?

Then the last thing I can tell you before we get to the spiritual application, take a bath.

Did you know water has an innate soothing effect on the mind and body since it connects us back to our time in the womb?

Have a regular soak in the tub with some aromatherapy candles or bath beads, lavender, jasmine, and stress reducing.

Okay. I bet you that's relaxing. It just sounds dumb when I read it, but it probably is.

Good benefits physically at least, right? So now here's the hinge. What about spiritually?

When you're really stressed out, what do you do? I'm not trying to say our body's disconnected from our spirit.

I'm not trying to say that. I'm just saying, is there anything else? Is there something more? Is there a

Christian response to stress? Knowing that Jesus is alive and he's your savior and he's coming back, do you live differently?

I mean, all the things that I just told you unbelievers could do, right? So what about the Christian? What else does he or she do?

And so today we're going to take a look from the book of James, good response to stress.

Now James 5 is what we're going to look at. And you say, well, what happened to James like three and four?

I was out of town. I was taking an aromatherapy bath.

When you go to James, remember, James isn't Paul, therefore you're like, duh, therefore instead of this organized structural writing like Paul, you're going to get something different.

It's really much more different than Peter, than the author of Hebrews, than Paul, James has his own unique style, different than John.

And he writes, you might think flow of consciousness, but things are linked and kind of one thought leads to another, but they're tied together.

And you see that if you could read the Greek in chapter one, or even some English words that are very exactly the same or similar linking things.

And so this is a Jewish way to teach. And you might think of, as one commentator said, a string of pearls, one to the next to the next.

I did not say string of rosemary, rosemary beads, rosemary beads.

That is how tired I am. Rosemary beads are rosemary meats.

Make the sign and say Apostle's Creed, say our father, say three Hail Marys, say glory be to the father, announce the first mystery, say

Te Adonai, Hail Marys, say glory be to the father, announce the second mystery, then say our father, repeat six and seven, ten

Hail Marys, say glory be to the father, Henno.

By the way, if you don't know what Henno is, while I thought I was going to take evangelicalism by storm and become the next evangelical celebrity, that never happened.

It will never happen, and it's good that it never happened. But I guess my contribution to evangelicalism is

I added a new word into the thesaurus, into the evangelical dictionary, into the

Christian nomenclature. It's the word

Henno. So there's actually some people, some very high uppers, there are some

PhD people, Oxford people, they know what Henno is. It's traveling around the world, and I like it when people sheepishly say, what does

Henno mean? I was watching that documentary the other night on Netflix about social media,

I don't know what it's called, unplugged, not that, but something like that. I'm like, oh brother,

I'm not going to make any rash decisions, still going to be on Twitter, but I would hootsuite things onto Facebook regularly.

But you know what, I might just not, not so keen on it anymore, but maybe

I'll just leave that to Ben. I'll let him deal with the temptations. I don't want it on my phone,

I don't need it. What am I going to do? Look for comments that say good things about me?

Okay, done that, check. I sound like Jocko, check.

See if anybody's saying anything nasty, they use some bad words or say some ad hominem, then

I will delete them, check. What else is there to do?

I know the Lord has used me to help some people. I know the Lord probably is grieved when

I've been sinfully stupid toward people, so I need a bath, man,

I need an aromatherapy bath. Maybe I should take a bath.

When's the last time? I mean, I've taken a bath on my last house I sold for the kingdom.

Hey, I know pastors that sometimes people pay off their mortgages and such. I haven't met those clientele yet, although you can go to Patreon.

We have 12 supporters. I'm thankful for them, and I still have no millionaires supporting

OcoRio. Okay, back to the point.

See what happens here? This is how tired I am, all because I said something wrong about rosemary meads.

Back to James, right, James. It's like a string of pearls, that's the point. Even though there's a lot of imperatives in the book of James, Jesus has lived,

He died, rose, ascended, promised to return, and therefore we're living in light of the truths of the gospel.

So if you think about law gospel, and I hope you do, because many an error has been, have been, has been, will be caused by people that don't understand the difference between law and gospel.

So many people don't understand law gospel. I mean, like at the highest levels.

Somebody said, the latest table talk, somebody wrote an article in there, and they don't even understand law gospel, like, well, if they're not a

Ligonier, then what kind of hope do we have? There are a lot of laws in James without atoning work discussed explicitly.

But the atoning work has happened on earth, and then 15 years later, we get this first book James, and doesn't it make sense that the first book written is in light of the historical facts of the gospel and Jesus, that there would be

Jesus on earth, gospel, Jesus died for sinners, gospel, Jesus rose from the dead, gospel, joyful proclamation of that, and then our response, out of gratitude, is obedience to these laws.

This is how Christians live. Knowing that Jesus has been raised from the dead, here's how we live, and we should do good works.

Why? Because Christ, Heidelberg Catechism 86, having redeemed us by His blood, also renews us by His Holy Spirit, after His own image, that with our whole life we show ourselves thankful to God for His blessing, there you go, and also that He be glorified through us, then also that we ourselves may be assured of our faith by the fruits thereof and by our godly walk when also others to Christ.

We show ourselves thankful to God while we do these things, when we do these things, as we do these things.

We're not trying to earn our salvation, no, no, you've been saved, right? And then now you obey, because this is what creatures do.

So if you looked at all of James chapter 5, essentially it boils down into two bigger sections.

I could maybe give you a few more, but this is how I'm going to preach it, I think, unless this really bombs.

When people are stressed, they resort to things to make them unstressed.

How would a Christian that's feeling the stress of persecution, trials, difficulties, how would they respond?

And James 5 gives the answer. This is important because James 1, 1, these tribes are dispersed and they're on the run and I'm sure they are stressed, so what do you do when you need some relief?

And the spiritual, the Christian response is pretty simple. Be patient because Jesus is going to return.

And number two, be prayerful because God answers prayers. That's it, that's

James 5. And if you just work through James 5, that's what you're going to see.

Be patient, Jesus will return, that should take the edge off of things, the stress isn't going to go on forever.

And number two, pray, right? Ask the Father for things by the work of the

Spirit because of the atonement of Jesus and the life of Jesus.

So be patient, be prayerful. I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, that doesn't address verses 1 to 6 because those bazooka verses, those scud verses, wow.

Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you.

Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth -eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire.

You have laid up treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you.

And the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and self -indulgence.

You have fattened your hearts in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you in the world.

When I say that, I sound like an Ebenroth because I think Pat says that all the time.

What in the world? Who's he talking to?

Holy Spirit, James. Who is

James addressing? Who are the recipients? To whom is he addressing?

He's addressing him. To whom? So we have him, whom, that's to whom is he addressing these things.

Now some say they're rich believers in the church and he wants to set them straight.

There's no way. There's no way that's true because you got verse seven is going to talk about brothers, right?

I've got to make sure I have my Bible open here. That's always helpful when you teach the Bible. Be patient, therefore, brothers, five, seven.

So I don't think this section's for that. Say, well, was there any other reason why you don't think that?

How much hope is given in that section for the rich that are doing the wrong thing, but if you do the right thing, you're going to be okay.

Any language of repentance? No, no. It's judgment.

It's weeping. It's wailing. It's misery. No, no. Calvin said, a straightforward declaration of the judgment of God to strike them with terror and to remove all hope of pardon.

So he's not talking about rich believers in the church. This is not, you know, first Timothy six stuff, teach the rich people to be generous with good works and to do good things and all that stuff.

No, no. Say, well, maybe it's rich unbelievers. Maybe they're in the church. And this is all getting back to how can this section be under the auspices of be patient.

I'm stressed. I'm supposed to be patient that Jesus is coming back. What in the world? I'm going to call

Pat right after this. What in the world? What about rich unbelievers in the church?

Now, it could be some rich unbelievers in the church, right?

They just show up, right? He calls them you rich, right?

He didn't say you rich brothers. So maybe there are unbelievers that are there. Some would say, you know, here's the sermon, our sermon snippets.

And so I regularly address the unbelievers in the church. I don't think

I've ever talked to him like that. But that's what people, you know, it could be a possibility, but there's something else.

There's another option here that many people don't really think about that I think

James is stressing. I think what James is doing, and I'm not the only one that thinks this.

If I was the only one, I might be right, but most likely I'd be wrong. He is attacking rich unbelievers that aren't even in the congregation.

They're not even hearing this with the purpose that the believers in the church can be encouraged and to take heart.

He's rebuking the oppressive rich so that the believers who have been oppressed by these rich people know what's the end of these rich people so they can be patient.

Oh, Bengal said James was probably speaking out against rich Jews less for their sake than for the sake of the

Christians who are being persecuted by them. Okay. There's one person that said that,

Kistemacher, a great commentary, by the way, apparently these rich people were not part of the

Christian community, but were oppressing the believers who lived in poverty. The poor and oppressed in the

Christian community derived comfort and encouragement from the knowledge that God knew of their hardship. See how that leads to patience?

So you have this oracular, this oracle -like delivery. Sounds like an

Old Testament prophet just excoriating, just, can you say reem, reeming?

I would say that if I was in Nebraska. What in the world? This sounds like a

Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Joel, Amos type of thing. Denunciation.

Wham. That's what it sounds like. Prophetic oracle. That's what it sounds like.

Prophetic oracles would say, you know what? People that oppress you, who are ungodly, it's not going to last forever.

That was a regular thing. Doesn't that sound like it? With the purpose of what?

God knows. He knows what you're going through and these people are going to get it at the end and this isn't going to last forever.

And lastly, as Daniel Doriani says, these kinds of oracles, these scuds, they reveal

God's standards. You know what? When you are rich, you should use it not to just hoard, but to use it for other people.

This is rhetoric. This is invective. This is James trying to help encourage persecuted believers to be patient and persevere no matter what kind of treatment they have.

Calvin, he therefore does not address them in order to invite them to repentance, but on the contrary, he has a regard to the faithful that they hearing of the misery and of the rich might not envy their fortune.

And also that knowing that God would be the avenger of the wrongs they suffered, that they might with a calm and resigned mind bear them to be patient.

There it is. So, this first section, he wants believers to be patient knowing that the

Lord is going to return. And then in verses 7 through 11, it's Lord, verse 7,

Lord, verse 8, Judge, verse 9, Lord, verse 10, Lord, verse 11, Lord, verse 11, a real focus on the return of Jesus, the purpose of God, God's compassion and His mercy so that you might be patient.

Well, my name is Mike Abendroth. We didn't get very far today, but that's important to just set everything up so you can understand

James chapter 5. And if this is the only thing you learned today, you think, okay, in times of stress, external stress, government control, all these other things, you know what?

The Lord knows you can be comforted and you can be patient. Jesus is going to return. That sounds like, that sounds pretty good.

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life transforming power of God's word through verse by verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. We're right on route 110 in West Boylston.

You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.