Real Faith for Real Life: James One
Scott Bayles, pastor
Blooming Grove Christian Church: 9/30/2012
You know one of the best things about the church is that it’s like a family, which is also one of the worst things about the church. Families don’t always get along.
It is like the story of a mother who heard her seven-year-old son screaming. She runs into the next room to see what is wrong, and discovers her two-year-old daughter is pulling her brother’s hair. The mother gets the baby’s hand unclenched and says, “I’m sorry, honey. Your sister doesn't know what it feels like to have her hair pulled.”
The mother goes back into the kitchen when she hears the daughter screaming. She runs back into the room and says, “What happened?”
The boy answered, “She knows what it feels like now.”
Do you imagine Jesus’ family was like that? I wonder sometimes how he got along with his brothers and sisters. Jesus had a younger brother named James and I can only imagine what it must have been like for him growing up in Jesus’ shadow. Can’t you just hear Mary saying, “Why can’t you be more like your brother Jesus?”
When Jesus first started his ministry, James thought he was crazy. In fact, he never really believed in Jesus, until Jesus died and rose again. But after Jesus rose from the grave and appeared to him, James not only became a believer, but a leader in the Jerusalem church. He even wrote one of the books of the New Testament.
As Jesus’ brother, James had a unique perspective and a unique faith. I think James was a pretty down-to-earth guy. Before he believed, he didn’t want his brother going off any flights of fancy. He was happy being a carpenter. He was concerned with real needs in the real world. But once he saw the evidence and became convinced that his older brother really was the Son of God, not just the son of Mary, he had real faith. And that shows up in his writing.
All throughout his letter, James defines real faith and how it works in real life. He deals with the real troubles that we all endure, the real temptations that Christians face, and the real truth about Jesus. James is all about where the rubber meets the road—real faith for real life. And he starts his letter by talking about Christians and their burdens.
• CHRISTIANS AND THEIR BURDENS
In regard to the burdens we bear and the trial we face, James makes once of the most peculiar statements. He says, “Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing” (James 1:2 NLT).
Is there anyone here who understands trouble? Big-time trouble? I’m not talking about you lost your keys trouble or you and your wife had an argument on the way to church trouble. I’m talking about huge, faith-shaking trouble—the kind of trouble that makes you look toward heaven and just belted out, “Why, God!?” Do you ever feel like God is just some bully that keeps knocking you down and you wonder how you’re ever going to get back up?
Giraffes know all about that by the way.
In A View from the Zoo, Gary Richmond tells about the birth of a giraffe. It’s a rather strange thing. The first things to emerge are the baby giraffe’s front hooves and head. A few minutes later the plucky newborn is hurled forth, falls ten feet, and lands on its back. Within seconds, he rolls to an upright position with his legs tucked under his body. From this position he sees the world for the first time.
The mother giraffe lowers her head long enough to take a quick look. Then she positions herself directly over the calf. She waits for about a minute, and then she swings her long, pendulous leg outward and kicks her baby, so that it cartwheels head over heels.
If the baby doesn’t get up, she takes another swing at it. The struggle to rise is momentous. As the baby calf grows tired, the mother kicks it again to stimulate its efforts… Finally, the calf stands for the first time on its wobbly legs.
Then the mother giraffe does the most remarkable thing. She kicks it off its feet again. Why? She wants it to remember how it got up! In the wild, baby giraffes must be able to get up as quickly as possible to stay with the herd, where there is safety. Lions, hyenas, leopards, and wild hunting dogs would all love a baby giraffe dessert! If not for the mother’s seemingly cruel treatment, that baby wouldn’t last a day.
Maybe everything is going your way right now. Maybe life couldn’t be better. But in an hour or a day or a week or month, maybe next year or the year after that, the bottom is going to fall out and trouble is going to come your way. We may not understand why we’re being kicked around, be we have to trust God, trust Jesus and persevere. “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete” (James 1:2-4 NIV).
But what about when the trouble isn’t coming from some external circumstances, but coming from within? Well, James goes on to talk about Christians and their battles.
• CHRISTIANS AND THEIR BATTLES
Temptation comes in many shapes, sizes, and levels of intensity. Whether it’s the box of donuts tempting you to cheat on your diet or a flirtatious co-worker tempting you to cheat on your spouse, we all face temptations—large or small—on an almost daily basis. Several years ago, the magazine Discipleship Journal asked readers to rank the area of temptation with which they struggled the most. See if some of these hit home:
1. Materialism
2. Pride
3. Self-centeredness
4. Laziness
5. Anger, Bitterness, and Sexual Lust including porn (tie)
6. Jealousy
7. Gluttony
8. Lying
According to James, the first thing we need to know about temptation is that it comes from within. “And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, ‘God is tempting me.’ God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else. Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away” (James 1:13-14 NLT).
It seems like out gut reaction, when we’ve given into our sinful desires to blame someone else. It goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. When God confronted Adam about his sin, he said, “It was the woman you gave me.” When God turned to Eve, she said, “The devil made me do it.”
Some people still try to get away with that one. This woman comes home and shows her husband the expensive dress she just bought. When her husband gets upset about how much she spent, she jokes, “The devil made me buy it.” The husband says, “You should have said get thee behind me, Satan!” The woman said, “I did and he said it looked as from the back as it does from the front!”
Regardless of what’s tempting you, we have no one to blame but ourselves. We need to take responsibility and redirect our desires, or we’ll discover—as James points out—that temptation can be very destructive and dangerous: “These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death.” (James 1:15 NLT). This is something that Jason focused on at the Sportsman’s Dinner last week. The key to hunting a coyote is temptation. You get their attention, entice them into the open, they make themselves vulnerable, and bang—you got him.
A man and his wife were shopping at a mall and a shapely young woman in a short, form-fitting dress strolled by. The man’s eyes followed her. Without looking up from the item she was examining, his wife asked, “Was it worth the trouble you’re in?”
It’s never worth the trouble. Yielding to temptation has destroyed families, businesses, churches, and souls. So how do we avoid temptation?
Well, that same study I mentioned revealed that 84% of respondents were able to resist temptation through prayer, 76% by avoiding compromising situations, and 66% through Bible reading—which may just be why James goes on to talk about Christians and their Bibles.
• CHRISTIANS AND THEIR BIBLES
James tells us that real faith means getting into God’s Word and getting God’s Word into us! Here’s how he puts it: “Humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls. But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.” (James 1:20-24 NLT).
This is what real faith is all about. And not only will this help us endure trouble and avoid temptation, but it’s the true test of Christianity. Maybe you read your Bible every day. Maybe you enjoy a good sermon. Maybe you even say “amen” every once in a while. That’s great! God wants us to be active listeners. But then what?
If all you’re doing is listening, then you’re only fooling yourself. Jesus said the same thing: “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter” (Matthew 7:21 NLT). Being a Christian is a lot like playing Simon Says when you were a kid. When you play Simon Says, you have to listen carefully to make sure you hear what Simon says, but then you’ve got to do what Simon Says.
When you become a Christian you start playing Jesus Says. Jesus says, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus says, “Treat others the way you want them to treat you.” Jesus says, “Seek first his Kingdom and his righteousness.” Jesus says, “Make disciples of every nation.” But a lot of us don’t play the right way. We listen to what Jesus says. We memorize what Jesus says. We have small groups to discuss what Jesus says. But don’t always do what Jesus says.
I love how Fancis Chan explained this one time. He said, “If I tell my daughter to go clean her room, she knows better than to come back a couple hours later and say, ‘Dad, I memorized what you said. I can even say it in Greek. In fact, I’m going to have some friends over later and we’re going to sit in a circle and talk about what it would be like to clean my room.’”
A nineteenth century industrial baron once told Mark Twain, “Before I die I mean to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, climb to the top of Mount Sinai and read the Ten Commandments aloud.” Mark Twain replied, “Or, even better, you could stay home and keep them.” That’s what real faith is all about. Don’t just read your Bible. Do what it says. Get into God’s Word and get God’s Word into you!
Conclusion:
Christians and their burdens, Christians and their battles, Christians and their Bibles—that’s what James 1 is all about. And we need real faith for each one. When you’re burdened by trouble or battling temptation, real faith helps you preserve and overcome. When you’re confronted with Biblical truth, real faith not only listens, but does what you’re called to do.
Over the next several weeks, I want to delve a little deeper in the book of James and discover what real faith looks like in real life.
Invitation:
In the meantime, if your life is full of trouble right now or you’re wrestling with temptation of any kind—I want you to encourage you to put your faith in Jesus. Trust in him and rely on him to help you and see you through. If you’d like someone to pray with you or the church to pray for you, come forward while we stand and sing.
