(remember, these are unedited/draft show notes, not a transcript — listening is always better…and if you listen AND follow along below, you’ll see how)
Focus Question:
What good would a robotic God be?
Intro:
What good would it be if God was like a robot?
This might seem like a weird focus question for the day, but it not only relates to something we’ll read today as we finish up James, it also might be an interesting concept for you to use when you talk to someone else.
New Testament segment:
Passage: James 5
Translation: CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 20
Words: ~456
James is a straight-shooting realist particularly concerned with your walk with Jesus being the real deal. And part of that, we just heard him argue, is that living in community may include calling someone else out on their junk. You may even be part of saving their life eternally. So what about this robot God question?
Do you remember the movie The Stepford Wives where these dudes decide that if they turn their wives into robots, they’ll never again have conflict? What do they discover? That when their wives contradict them, they actually grow. They learn that without those contradictions, marriage lacks intimacy and being personal.
Now imagine if God was a robot. He never contradicts you. You never read something in the Bible that gets in your biz, pisses you off or challenges the cultural norms around you. Your Stepford God God would basically be of your own making.(1)
So how might this apply to your conversations in community? We just heard James say that if you correct someone, you might even save their life. Correcting them means contradicting them.
As we often do, I’ll add one idea to this in our Bottom Line closing segment.
In Jeremiah we’ve been reading about both his struggles with God and his problems with people. And today finishes up that section including even Jeremiah questioning his calling.
OLD Testament segment:
Passage: Jeremiah 18-20
Translation: CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 56
Words: ~1660
<you’ll just have to listen>
Wisdom segment:
Passage: Psalm 79
Translation: CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 13
Words: ~213
The bottom line:
Tell me…does this sound familiar?
The wounds of a friend are trustworthy, but the kisses of an enemy are excessive. Pr 27:6, CSB
That’s one of those aphorisms that we hear, forgetting that it comes from the Bible: Faithful are the wounds of a friend. You know what that’s called? An act of love. In fact, there’s another aphorism that’s related, and it happens to be the final line in the book of James: Love covers a multitude of sins.
If God were a robot, he wouldn’t get in your business. But then he wouldn’t be God, he’d be what you made up. Similarly, you’re not a friend if you don’t — in love — confront the junk of another.
You might just save their life in the most important way possible.
Love you!
Roger
ForTheHope is a daily audio Bible + apologetics podcast and blog. We’ve got a passion for just keepin’ it real, having conversations like normal people, and living out the love of Jesus better every single day.
Roger Courville, CSP is a globally-recognized expert in digitally-extended communication and connection, an award-winning speaker, award-winning author, and a passionately bad guitarist. Follow him on Twitter -- @RogerCourville and @JoinForTheHope – or his blog: www.forthehope.org.
Sources and resources:
(1) Credit where credit’s due, the “Stepford God” idea came from Tim Keller, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism, (Penguin reprint, 2009) p. 113-114.