Episode 822 Values of Faith
[00:00:00] Scot Maderer: [00:00:00] Thanks for joining me on episode 822 of the inspired stewardship podcast.
[00:00:07] Annie Purdue Olsen: [00:00:07] I'm AnniePurdue Olson from leading better together. I encourage you to find the courage to lead in ministry. And one way to be inspired to do that is by listening to this, the inspired stewardship podcast with my friend, Scott Maderer.
[00:00:23] Scot Maderer: [00:00:23] instead, we've got to actually first really pay attention and make sure that we're listening to what's going on and only then do we put it into action, but that action has to be out of alignment with the fundamental values that our love and taking care of those who cannot take care of themselves.
[00:00:46] Welcome and thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcast. If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent and your treasures [00:01:00] for your true calling and the inspired stewardship podcast. We'll learn to invest in yourself.
[00:01:05] Invest in others. And develop your influence so that you can impact the world.
[00:01:13]And today's spiritual foundation episode about investing in others. I talk with you about James chapter one verses 19 through 27. I explained the value of this passage and why this passage talks about the link between values and action. James chapter one verses 19 through 27, goes like this, know this, my beloved brothers, let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
[00:01:46] Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant, wickedness and receive with meekness, the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word and not hearers, only deceiving [00:02:00] yourselves for if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer. He is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror for, he looks at himself and goes away at once forgets what he was like.
[00:02:12] But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of Liberty and perseveres being no here who forgets, but a doer who acts, he will be a blessed in his doing. If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God.
[00:02:33] The father is this to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world. One of the things that Stacy and I talked about on Monday is this idea of getting in tune with your values over and over. We've talked about how out of knowing your roots or your center branch or your values comes the benefit of being able.
[00:02:56] To serve and to treat and to do well with others. [00:03:00] And this is one of many passages in the Bible that I see as reinforcing that idea of coming back to our core values. First, think about how it starts. No, this let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger. Why. For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
[00:03:23]That the truth is we spend a lot of our time being offended by things. We get angry about things. And by the way, if you're in the world today, if you tune on Facebook for about 30 seconds, there's something you can be offended about. And what's more, you can be offended on both sides of the same issue.
[00:03:43] Let's take the Dr. Seuss books. There were some Dr. Seuss books that the Dr. Seuss. Foundation has decided to stop publishing. And there are people who are offended because they see this as this cancel culture, this idea of [00:04:00] canceling things we don't agree with. Now, the reality is the group that decided to not produce them anymore is the group that owns the copyright and owns this material.
[00:04:09] It wasn't brought on from outside. No one came in from outside and said, you must stop producing this book. So I don't agree that as part of cancel culture, But there are people who are offended because those books are no longer going to be published. And they see this as white washing history and ignoring the fact that there were materials in the Dr.
[00:04:29] Seuss books that weren't popular. And it's ignoring that the value of that. And that's all true. That could be accurate. It could be a way of looking at it. And then there are people on the other side who see this and say, a business or a individual should have the right to stop publishing it.
[00:04:47] And this isn't brought on from outside. And even if it was brought on from outside and there was public pressure, these materials are not appropriate in the world as we live it today. And we should not. [00:05:00] Put out material that sort of glorifies this action, whatever it is. And the truth is that in both of these cases, people are trying to live their values and put them into action, which is exactly what this passage is talking about.
[00:05:17] It's talking about, don't just hear the word, but put it into action. The problem is of course, how do you know that the way your putting it into action is the way there's an alignment with what God wants. And if you look at this, there are several things in this particular passage that I think are relevant.
[00:05:37] If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. Don't just talk about it and don't even talk about it. Don't. Lash out at others. Don't see this as an opportunity to call other people's views wrong. Instead, the action that is taking [00:06:00] care of those people who maybe can't take of them, care of themselves in this case, widows and orphans, that is the value.
[00:06:08] Add that ability to serve others and especially serve those people. Who are struggling. Those people who are having trouble, those people who aren't able to take care of themselves. There's a, I love it. That people will talk about how there's not a movement, the social justice in the Bible, but that's exactly what this is talking about.
[00:06:30] Don't be angry. Listen, first, get up, get all the information, get all the facts because the truth is a lot of the people angry about Dr. Seuss think that this was brought on from outside, but it wasn't. It wasn't cancel culture. It was a business decision. These books weren't doing well. They didn't like what they represented.
[00:06:50] They didn't like the way it represented their brand. So they stopped publishing them, but we don't listen. We just immediately assume and react to that. And then once we [00:07:00] do, we're not open to listening to more information. This is talking about that very thing. We but be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving yourself when we listen and we don't put things into action that take care of people that can't take care of themselves.
[00:07:20] Then we aren't really living it out. We aren't really doing it. We aren't living the law instead. We've got to actually. First really pay attention and make sure that we're listening to what's going on and only then do we put it into action, but that action has to be an alignment with the fundamental values that are love and taking care of those who cannot take care of themselves.
[00:07:50] Thanks for listening.
[00:07:52]thanks so much for listening to the inspired stewardship podcast as a subscriber and listener, we challenge you [00:08:00] to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you enjoy this episode, do me a favor. Go over to facebook.com/inspired.
[00:08:16] Stewardship and like our Facebook page and market that you'd like to get notifications from us so that we can connect with you on Facebook and make sure that we're serving you to the best of our abilities with time and tips there until next time, invest your time. Your talent and your treasures develop your influence and impact the world. .