Laughing is good for the soul.  Someone has done a study of the physical help laughter can bring in healing.  They found that it helped some. Laughter is good for the soul according to the book of  Proverbs. Notice what it says in Proverbs. 17:22 A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.  The average child laughs 150 times a day, while adults laugh on the average only 15 times a day.

 

Some of your have probably heard of Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship in Toronto, Canada. This is the church where the laughing revival called "The Toronto Blessing" began. Supposedly this is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, where the evidence of revival is uncontrollable laughter. They have a web site and on Wednesday AM I watched a good part of one of a past Friday evening revival service.  From what I watched it was mainly a praise song and testimony services.  This morning we shall see the evidence of real revival is weeping.  God's movement among his people is characterized by weeping rather than laughing.

 

I. The Christian's Communion with God . . . (v.8)

Here’s a searching question for you. Does God consider his people sinners?  In Christ we are perfectly righteous.  How is that?  At salvation the righteousness of Jesus Christ is put to our account and we are declared righteous.  But we often find in the  scripture God calling his people sinners, such as we do in this verse.  How can this be?  I believe the answer is found in how the Christian is living their life.  If they are living according to the leading of the Holy Spirit of God then sin will not have preeminence in their life.  On the other hand, when Christians are living according to the flesh, like the people James has described in James 4:1-5, then that Christian is allowing the old flesh and nature to have the upper hand and sin(s) are committed.

 

Scripture explicitly says I was brought near to God "by the blood of Christ" (Eph. 2:13). In what sense are we, as people reconciled to God by the blood, to draw near to God?  That’s what I want us to look at first.

 

A. To draw near to God speaks of an intimate relationship

Christianity is not just a set of rules and regulations, but rather a personal relationship with God.  There are too many Christians that have been taught that if they follow a particular set of rules and regulations they will have an intimate relationship with God.  They follow those rules and find an emptiness.  Don’t take me wrong here - I believe God’s Word makes it clear how Christians are to dress, to act, to speak, to worship, ect.  But just doing those things will not necessarily draw you nigh to God.  There are other things that are missing.

 

Illustration: Roman Emperor Frederick Agrippa want an evil experiment performed.  He gave a command that nurses in a particular ward of orphan infants not to speak to the infants at all, at any time.  His purpose was to find out what language was the original language.  Result of his experiment: All infants died within a few months for lack of an intimate connection to people.

 

I know that we are brought nigh by the blood of Christ, but here we are called to draw nigh to him.

 

Application: How close are you to God?  How intimate is your relationship to God through Jesus Christ?  What is your devotional life like?  What is your prayer life like? 

 

Do you feel far away from God yet know that your are a child of God?  Consider drawing nigh to God in every aspect of your life.  This is a normal place for every Christian, not an abnormal place.

 

B. To draw near to God speaks of an interesting responsibility.

Thomas Manton, "To draw near to God is not the duty of an hour . . . but the work of our whole lives."

 

God draws us unto Himself and then requests we draw near to Him. Just because we belong to a sound church, attend worship, and read our Bibles does not necessarily mean we have "drawn nigh to God." To draw nigh to God means: You think of Him constantly, talk to Him continually, and look to Him confidently.

 

Application: Therefore, what kind of communion with God do you have, brothers and sisters in Christ? 

 

[Before our communion with God is what it should be, there is something that we must do.]

 

II. The Christian's Confession of Sin . . . (v.8).

What keeps a Christian from drawing close to God? What keeps you from an intimate walk with God?

 

A. Unconfessed sin is a barrier in your communion with God

It makes no difference how often you come to church, or sing, or pray - we are nowhere near God until we have confessed sin.

 

1. Dirty hands refer to sin unconfessed.

The priests of the Old Testament washed their hands before entering God's presence.  The Brass laver where the priests cleansed their hand was not just for physical cleansing, it was also a picture of needing spiritual cleansing before worshipping God and serving God.

 

The New Testament declares every believer a priest unto God, and just like the priests of the Old Testament who prepared themselves physically and spiritually for worship of God, we need to do the same thing.

 

It is very strange when people are in the midst of sin and yet says and act like they can continue worshipping or laughing.  This is just not right.

 

Illustration: Jonah decided to not obey God.  As a result he had no communion with God. When we live out of communion with God there will be no worship and fellowship with Him and He will break us until we confess that sin.  Jonah finally came around and when given God’s command the second time obeyed. 

 

Unclean hands are types of unconfessed sin. Wash your hands -- repent!

 

2. Divided hearts refer to inward desires and motivations and are evidence of no communion with God.

"Dipsuchoi" is the Greek word for divided and literally means "two souls."   We have already seen this word once before in this book of James.  It is in James 1:8 “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”

 

"Jesus, Master, whose I am, purchased Thine alone to be;

By thy Blood, O spotless Lamb, shed so willingly for me;

Let my heart be all thine own, let me live to Thee alone."

 

B. Cleansing and purifying opens up your communion with God.

Purify means to cleanse from defilement.  Some of you may have some form of water purification on your water system in your home.  These systems are designed to remove all dirt particles, water borne bacteria, etc. and make your water better tasting and possibly safer. God is telling us here that he wants every one of His children to have a sin purification system attached to their life.

 

What happens with your relationship with your husband, wife, boss, friend, ect when you get things right with them over something that you said or did that offended them?  Most of the time your relationship and fellowship with them improves greatly.  You are able to share with them more openly and freely. 

 

God seeks the same from us.  Is there a need in your life, brother or sister in Christ, of cleansing your hands and purifying your heart before God?  If you know you should and refuse to do so, you will not be drawing nigh to God and He will not be drawing near to you. Is that what you really want? 

 

III. The Christian's Comfort in Life . . . (v.9).

James is very clear that there are times when the best thing a Christian can do is weep! In fact, the evidence of people drawing close to God is their mourning and heaviness of heart! Three words are used in this text to describe the Christian's brokenness:

 

A. Be afflicted (afflict yourselves) -- This word is used just once in the New Testament; that is, the Greek word used here. It's root in the original is the same as “O wretched man that I am!" (Romans 7:24). The word itself in Greek comes from two greek words being put together.  The first part of the word means “to bear, undergo“, and the second half of the word originates from a greek word that means “a hard substance, a callus.”  Strong’s Concordance gives this definition: to realize one’s own misery.  The meaning of this word doesn’t sound like something you would be laughing about!  This word’s meaning and what it is telling us to do will result in us seeing ourselves for who we really are in the sight of God when we have been allowing sin to reign in our heart and life. 

 

When was the last time you experienced worship and you cried that you were such a wretched person.  James says that this is drawing nigh to God.  You don't get close to God by doing different ministries.  No.  You and I begin the process of drawing nigh to God when we see the sin in our life and feel the misery that sin brings upon us and upon others.  This affliction is not a physical affliction; rather, it is a spiritual and moral affliction of the heart.

 

B. And mourn -- which is the same word used in James’ day to describe the death wail. What is a death wail?  Some of you have experienced it, and some of you have heard it.  It is that wail that comes from the very soul of a person when they have just found out that a loved one has died.  For instance, in Mark 16:10 after Mary Magdalene had seen the risen Jesus, she “went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept.” James is teaching here that we need to mourn the sin that is found in our life.  Paul instructed the church in Corinth to do just that over the issue of the man who taken up living as a husband with his stepmother.  Notice how Paul writes to them in 1 Cor. 5:2 “And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned,...”  Oh, that verse seems to describe so many Christians today in regard to sin in their life and in the life of their fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.  Nothing happens.  There is no response at all to sin.

 

Application: When is the death wail going to escape from our lips because of the sin that is in our lives, brothers and sisters in Christ?  When are going to finally stop and take a look at the horrible picture that is being painted by our lives when sin is allowed to reign in our lives?  When are we going to mourn the sin in our life, in our church, in our town, in our state, in our country?  This doesn’t sound like a laughing matter, does it?

 

C. And weep -- this is the very opposite of "holy laughter." It is "holy weeping." This the result of truly mourning.  The promise of this text is clear: Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you.

 

The true evidence that God is near is when people fall on the floor weeping not laughing.  When people do this He will fill them with His presence.

 

Is there someone here who has been basing their closeness to God on what they are doing rather than confessing that sin which needs to taken out of their li