You Can Listen to the Full Sermon Here:-
http://www.nec.org.au/index.php/listen-to-a-sermon-series/practical-faith/
Message
James 1:1-18 - “Trials and Temptations”
Today we are going to begin an 8 part sermon series on the book of James. When you start a series it helps to have a bit of insight into some background issues about the author and those who he is writing too. A good place to start is James 1:1.
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings.
James 1:1
James = the brother of Jesus
- initially not a believer.
- but became a leader in the early church
Twelve tribes = another way of saying “to my fellow believers”.
- reminds us of the OT ... twelve tribes.
- so, more focused on Jewish believers, therefore the letter is very early.
Scattered = official word is Diaspora.
- Early believers were persecuted in Jerusalem and Israel.
- Many left and went to other nations ... believers out into a Gentile world.
- So the letter is not to a specific church like Corinth or Philippi.
- It is more like a tract that was sent out to a whole group of believers who were scattered all over Palestine and Asia Minor.
The main issue that James is addressing is this one:-
No matter where we find ourselves in society there should never be a difference between our beliefs and our actions.
Our circumstances do not dictate how we act.
The people who we are with do not dictate how we act.
The challenges of life do not dictate how we act.
The pressure to conform does not dictate how we act.
Our belief in Jesus and His calling on our lives dictates how we act therefore we should stop compromising with worldly values and behaviour and give ourselves wholly to the Lord.
These are the themes that are going to come out again and again.
Now the first area of life that James deals with is trials and temptations.
James 1:2-18 (read)
When Corianna and I were first married we moved to Geelong to start my theological training. After being there 3 months:-
- we were entering winter but our house had no heater.
- we had $1 in our bank account.
- Corianna was lonely and homesick and heavily pregnant.
- I was working and studying all the time.
- Our house didn’t have a shower and only 3 out of the 6 rooms were liveable and we were spending all our spare time renovating.
And we would get to the end of the day and say,
Isn’t this great – I’m so excited and happy about our life at the moment.
... ...
You don’t believe me do you? About the bit about being joyful?
Fair enough.
We wanted it to be like that because in James 1:2 it says, “Consider it pure joy, whenever you face troubles of many kinds”. But the reality is that the road of troubles didn’t always cause us to be joyful. In fact the road of trouble often led to the Why-me-road.
“Why is God putting me through so much difficulty?”
“Why can’t God make our life different?”
“Why doesn’t God sort it out so it is all a bit easier?”
You’re with me on this aren’t you when I say often we do not consider trials as pure joy, in fact we sometimes even consider them as pure hell.
But when we do that we forget what God is really up to in our lives.
Difficulties and trials are not the defining moment of our lives ... the defining moment is our response.
We should be less focussed on what is happening to us.
And more focussed on what is happening in us.
Most of us have gone on long journeys with children. At some point in the trip there will come a phrase that every child who has travelled in a car has used. Are we there yet?
Why is it that they can’t understand that when the car is still going we are not there?
Do they expect you to keep on driving past your destination just for the fun of it?
The reason they ask questions is because they are too immature to understand the nature of the journey. They want to be at the destination without the travel necessary to get there.
As adults we can be the same … especially when it comes to trials. We don’t like what we are going through.
Are we there yet?
Why me?
I want it to be over.
But if we don’t take the journey we don’t get the blessing. If we keep on wanting to stop the journey before we get to the destination, how will we ever mature? That is the point James is making in verse 3-4
Testing leads to perseverance.
Perseverance leads to maturity.
Maturity means that you do not lack.
Not lack what? We will not lack having a life which completely reflects our trust in God. You see the one thing that really makes Christians stand out in this world is the way they act when they are going through difficulties.
It is a teaching that James has taken right from the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. There Jesus says:-
Blessed are the poor in spirit, because theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus here is focussing on those who know that they do not have any strength in and of themselves to get through each day.
Their security is not found in a healthy bank balance, or money stored away for a rainy day.
Those who are poor in spirit are not looking for the praise and honour of people, or acceptance of loved ones.
Those who have the kingdom know they have nothing bargain with … nothing which will put God in a position that He owes us. They are fully dependant on the Lord and His grace.
Because that is the case they stand out.
It’s all about what you value. When you value God and your relationship with Him then, even if trials come your way, you can still have a sense of joy. But when you value something else the joy just will not be there.
If we value comfort more than character, trials will upset us.
If we value the material more than the spiritual, we won’t be able to count it all joy!
If we value only the present and not the future, trials will make us bitter not better.
So James is confronting us with a very significant question.
When it comes to our ability to deal with trials it all comes back to our relationship with Jesus. Is this relationship the beginning and the end of our existence? Or will we find excuses.
Excuses ... they are defined as “The skin of a reason stuffed with a lie”. It is lie sausage and when it get put on the frypan it bursts – and the real truth is known. Too easily we make excuses about our lack of faith. James is very much aware of this issue and he highlights one of those excuses in verses 13.
When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me”. For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone.
James 1:13
Some people in Jame’s day looked to God and basically thought He was a type of fisherman. He puts temptation onto a hook and then throws the line out. Slowly He reels it in and, in doing so, we look at the bait and we get tempted.
God’s trying to trap us.
He is the expert.
How are we ever going to fight against Him?
It’s all His fault.
That is how they though in James day. Basically they were accusing God of setting them up for failure. You still hear the same accusations today.
People say things like:
“I’m struggling with anger because my parents struggled with anger. They didn’t raise me in the right way or give me all that I needed. So I can’t help it – of course when I am tempted to be angry I’m going fall”.
What they are really saying is:
“Lord You gave me the wrong parents. You had and could have put me in a different family. If You did this I wouldn’t be struggling so much”.
People say things like:
“I’ve been born with a melancholy character. Everyone knows that a melancholy character is going to create a person who is prone to depression and bouts of self doubt. If I was more phlegmatic this wouldn’t be happening. I can’t help it”.
What they are really saying is:
“Lord, You’ve made a mistake, I’ve been given the wrong personality. You could have made me to be so much different … more outgoing. You can’t expect me to stand firm when You made me like this”.
The accusation is clear - God is setting me up for failure … so of course I will fall into temptation. But that is not how God works at all. In fact the reason we are tempted is completely different. We struggle with temptation because temptation has a great ally.
An ally is someone who works closely with you.
In war countries like Australia and America and Britain are allies.
Often we think that the ally of temptation is Satan. I’ll agree. Satan does play a role in the whole scenario.
In 1 Peter 5:8 we read about our enemy the devil who prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Satan is out there.
• Waiting for us to drop our guard.
• Seeking the right moment to make us fall.
• Tempting us in new ways so that we may be deceived.
Satan is doing his best to turn us against God.
But here is the issue. Satan cannot force us to do anything that we ourselves don’t want to do. When we are in Jesus we have to remember who we are:- we are the people who believe in an empty cross and the empty grave. We are people of victory.
Sin … which separates us from God … Christ has defeated it.
Death … which is a punishment for rebellion against God … Christ has defeated it.
Satan … who constantly seeks to turn us against God … Christ has defeated him.
We are not the children of darkness, we are the children of light. Satan is a pain and a tempter … but he is not the main ally of temptation. The main ally of temptation is … us.
Each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is fully grown, gives birth to death.
James 1:14-15
Temptation has it pretty easy when it tries to get us because it is working with a soft-target.
A young couple, deeply in love, have sneaked down to the beach. "Why can’t we go all the way? What’s the difference between our parents and us? They love each other, and so do we. A piece of paper and a wedding ring don’t make a difference". A desire has been enticed
Back at home mum and dad are filling in the tax return. "Why do we have to pay so much tax? I work hard for a living and all I do is give it to those cozy politicians. What have they ever done for me? How will they ever know our income? They won’t, if we don’t tell them". A desire has been enticed
Difficulties and trials are not the defining moment of our lives ... the defining moment is our response. The way to get through trials and stand out is not to play the blame game. The way to get through is to get real help.
Don’t be deceived. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
James 1:16-17
That’s where real help comes from. And how do we access that help?
If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
James 1:5
Maturity will not be the result of testing if our prayer life is not consistent, or if our prayer life is full of doubts and questions. Why do we go to God in prayer? Because He gives with an open hand without reservation.
Remember your birthday when you were young? Your Mum would come to you and say, “Who do you want to invite to the party?” You would think of as many people as you could because you knew the more people you invited the more presents you would get. You gave an invitation because you wanted to get something in return.
God is not like that. He does not give in order to receive. He’s not going to come to you in the future and say, “Remember that blessing I gave you? Well now you owe Me one”. God is not like that. He wants vitality to be present in our prayer life. Vitality which enables us to pray with great expectation. The expectation that God will bring us through any trial, difficultly or temptation in such a way that we will not lack.
Again it comes back to choices. Some people choose not to move forward.
They choose to remain in their anger, in their past — nurturing feelings of loss, bitterness, victimization, doubt, senselessness, meaninglessness, unforgiveness. They isolate themselves from others, from life and from God.
The situations are varied: A broken engagement. Sexual abuse. Infidelity in marriage. Divorce. Unemployment. Unhappy singleness. Disappointment. Broken promises. Unfulfilled expectations. Betrayal. Death.
All of these things are allowed to be in control. But think about this question. Is that where you want to be one year, five years, ten years from now? Let me repeat what I said earlier.
Difficulties and trials are not the defining moment of our lives ... the defining moment is our response.
We should be less focussed on what is happening to us.
And more focussed on what is happening in us.
Deep down inside we know that God is in control. We have heard enough stories where people experienced huge pain, but in the end saw the grace and working of God. God is working for us … even when it doesn’t feel like it. To see how He might work let me finish with this story.
One day a farmer’s donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally the farmer decided the animal was old and the well needed to be covered up anyway, it just wasn’t worth it to retrieve the donkey. Since it was a deep well he invited all his neighbours to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well.
At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone’s amazement, he quieted down. A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well and was astonished at what he saw. When a shovel of dirt hit his back, the donkey would shake it off and take a step up. As the farmer’s neighbours continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would continue to shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon the donkey was able to step over the edge of the well and trotted off!
Congregation life will have trials. Dirt of all kinds is going to be shovelled onto you. You can look up and cry out “Why me” and then be buried. Or you can take hold of the hand of God who has promised to give you all you need to shake it off and take a step up.
Trials are a road to greater faith.
Trials are a road to maturity.
Trials are a road to wisdom.
When trials come … and they will come … don’t waste the opportunities God gives you to prove Himself as He pours these blessings onto you.
Prayer
