James Chapter 1:9-18
Poverty and Temptation
Let's turn to James chapter one, verse 9.
Jam 1:9-11 Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted: But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withers the grass, and the flower thereof falls, and the grace of the fashion of it perishes: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.
Jam 1:12-15 Blessed [is] the man that endures temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to them that love him. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempt he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death.
Jam 1:16-18 Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
James has quite a few things to say concerning the rich.
• That is, those who are possessed by their riches.
• In chapter 2 God rebukes church people who pay special respect to the rich.
• Here in chapter one, it appears James is speaking out against the rich, but in reality he is not speaking out against the rich, but to the poor who are tempted by riches.
• He starts by encouraging the poor man to be appreciative of his humble situation:
Let the brother of low degree (humble estate) rejoice in that he is exalted:
• From our earthly perspective we do not view being financially challenged as a virtue
• From God’s Heavenly perspective, he sees it as a virtue
o It keeps us coming to him in prayer
o It keeps us from arrogance
o It keeps us obedient (if you have little and you know that sin will cause you to loose even more, you will not sin.
• He warns the poor through the truth of the rich man by saying,
"The rich are going to fade like a flower in the field. They're going to pass away."
Then God extends the example to explain why:
For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withers the grass, and the flower thereof falls, and the grace of the fashion of it perishes: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways (along his journey).
• In the end the rich end up no better off than the poor, they both pass away leaving everything.
o The person of humble estate looses very little, but loses it all
o The person of wealthy estate looses much, but loses it all
In the final chapter of the book, he says, "Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for the miseries that are come upon you. For you've laid up your gold and silver for the last days ( that means retirement). But now it's worthless" (James 5:1-3).
But there is an issue, being of humble estate, we all deal with, “Temptation.”
James states in verse 12
Blessed is the man [or happy is the man] that endures temptations
• The man of humble means is challenged by his financial situation.
• How is he challenged?
• He is tempted by Satan to resolve his financial situation either through:
o Theft
o Deception
o Fraud or
o Lying
But James says;
Blessed [is] the man that endures temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to them that love him.
Someone might say, “Why would God place me in a situation that would tempt me to do wrong? God is the author of my temptation!”
But James says;
Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempt he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death.
• God places us in situations that challenge us to seek Him.
• We are not placed in these situations to tempt us to evil.
• That is not the heart of God.
• But temptation begins in the heart. It’s an evil man that says:
o I need to steel because God isn’t taking care of me.
o I need to deceive because God has deceived me.
o I need to defraud because God has defrauded me.
o I need to lie because God has lied to me.
• You say, I never said those things about God.
• Yes you have! If you are doing these evil things
God is our caretaker, but our own evil heart refuses to come to him when we are in need.
We will not get down on our knees in submission and request for what we need, but we will go out and try to resolve the problem ourselves, to our own hurt.
God wants to be our Heavenly Father. He wants us to seek him for things.
Matthew 7:7-11 (Good Gifts)
John 14:12-14 (Asking God)
Do you realize that the
It's important that the faith be tested because we are so prone to deceive ourselves. In the next chapter, actually in this chapter he's going to talk twice of self-deception.
If you're a "hearer of the word only, you're deceiving yourself" (James 1:22).
It is important that faith be tested. It's important that I know where I am.
That I know what God knows about me.
That I not think more highly of myself than I ought to.
That I am not deceived and living in a false sense of security. But that I know the truth. And God allows the temptations, the testing, in order that I might know the truth about myself.
God said to the children of Israel, "For forty years I suffered you in the wilderness, and I tempted you and I tested you, to see what was in your heart" (Deuteronomy 8:2).
• Not that God would see what was in their heart, He knew it but they didn't know it.
• So He tested them so that they could see what was in their heart.
"For the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked" (Jeremiah 17:9).
• It is deceitful and we are guilty so often of deceiving ourselves.
"Be not deceived," Paul said (1 Corinthians 6:9).
• The truth about me comes out in the time of trial. Again, when everything is going great, everything is running smooth; I don't know the truth about me.
• God allows adversity so I can see the truth about myself and how I respond.
• When adversity comes do I respond after the Spirit or after the flesh
• The truth will drive us to repentance. Then:
When we've been tried, [we] shall receive the crown of life (Jam 1:12),
Now Jesus to the church of Smyrna in His letter to the church of Smyrna in book of Revelation 2, He spoke about the trials that they were going to go through. But He said, "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give to thee a crown of life" (Revelation 2:10). And so this glorious crown of life, that eternal life that we have through Jesus Christ.
Now let no man when he is tempted say, I've been tempted by God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, and neither tempts he any man (Jam 1:12,13):
• God doesn't solicit any man to do evil.
• Satan solicits man to evil. Satan solicited Eve to evil.
When there were the five thousand who had followed Jesus to a wilderness place and it was evening and Jesus said to Philip, "You better go in town and buy bread for this multitude" (John 6:5). And John said, "This He said proving him" (John 6:6). The word "prove" there is the same Greek word as "tempt." This He said tempting him because Jesus knew what He was going to do. He just wanted Philip to say, "Oh man, what do you mean, Lord, you know. Where can we buy enough bread for all these people?"
• And so Jesus said this testing him. Proving him.
• The Greek word is the same used for tempting him.
• But it wasn't a solicitation to evil.
• It is how are you going to respond; in the flesh or in the Spirit?
A man said: "Oh God really tempted me today, you know. I saw a man drop his wallet and I could see a hundred-dollar bill in it. Boy, I was tempted by God to keep that money." No, no, no! You weren't tempted by God to keep it.
Now there is deep within every man a great desire for fulfillment. There is deep within every man a thirst, which creates sort of a frustration with life. A awareness that there's got to be more to life than this. Jesus was referring to that in the seventh chapter of John in the great day of the feast when He said, "If any man thirst, let him come to me, and drink" (John 7:37). He's talking about the spiritual thirst that man has. Not the physical. There is this desire, deep desire that I have for meaning, for fulfillment in life.
Now Satan comes along and he suggests to me that in order to have fulfillment I don't have to be patient and walk the path that God has set before me. But temptation usually involves the idea that I can have immediate fulfillment if I will just turn aside from God's path. Now when Satan came to Jesus, that was the whole idea behind the temptation.
You've come to redeem the world. You've come to bring the world back under the sphere and dominion of God. God has sent You for that purpose, to redeem the world. And God has purposed that you go to the cross and that you suffer and you die in order to redeem the world. Tell you what. You can escape the cross. You don't have to take God's path by way of the cross that's a painful way. You can have immediate fulfillment. Tell you how. If you'll just bow down and worship me, I'll just give you all the kingdoms of the world. You see, the idea was turn aside from God's path and you can find immediate fulfillment right here.
Now that is what Satan is always using, the concept of immediate fulfillment. And to different people he holds out different enticements. You don't have to take God's path. You don't have to follow the word of God. You see, God is restricting you. God is holding you back. That's what he said to Eve. God's keeping you from something good. Here you have fulfillment, it's right here. It's in this fruit, Eve, and God's trying to keep you from something good because He's afraid that you're going to be as wise as He is when you eat of it because this fruit contains the knowledge of good and evil. God doesn't want you to share this knowledge with Him. He's holding back from you. Now you can have immediate fulfillment, Eve, eat and you can have immediate fulfillment.
And so he holds to us forbidden fruit. Something that is contrary to the word of God. Oh, you don't have to take God's path. You can have immediate fulfillment. It lies in this relationship. Maybe fornication, maybe adultery. But oh, he holds it up and you know, here's immediate fulfillment. You don't have to follow God's path at the cross, denying yourself, denying the flesh. No, no, the it lies in turning aside from God's path and indulging the flesh. You can have the fulfillment now. This is what you're really desiring. And he holds out the enticement of immediate fulfillment.
But what happens to the man who is filled with the Spirit? He has that fulfillment. He has a sense of well being. He has peace. He is a relaxed person. And the man who is joyful in the fullness of the Spirit has exactly what the other man is really looking for and searching for. But he's turned aside from God's path & he's searching in the wrong place.
So every man when he is tempted is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. There's a great desire inside. Satan is pointing to this path and saying, "Hey, hey, don't have to go the way of the cross. You don't have to deny yourself. You don't have to take up the cross and follow Jesus. Tell you what, you just follow my path and I'll give it to you instantly. You don't have to wait; you can have it right now."
Now when this desire has conceived, it brings forth sin (Jam 1:15):
The sin isn't in the temptation. We all of us experience temptation. Even Jesus was tempted of the devil. The sin doesn't lie in the temptation. The sin is there when I give into my desire of my flesh and I turn after the path that Satan suggests. That when the lust is conceived, it gives birth to sin. That's the beginning of sin.
and sin, when it is finished, brings death (Jam 1:15).
Spiritual death; ultimately, physical death.
But James says:
Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift (Jam 1:16,17)
Now the Greek word here is different from the second Greek word for gift, this is "dosis" and the second one comes from "didomi."
• The first one refers to the giving of the giver The act of giving a gift.
• i.e. “every act of giving a good gift”
and every perfect gift is from above (Jam 1:17),
• There is that word again “teleios” – perfect, mature, or complete
• The gift of God to us is from above
We, in our humanness never really focus on where the gift comes from, just the gift.
But the origin of the gift is of the utmost importance.
• Is the gift from Satan? Or
• Is the gift from God?
God promised Abraham that he would have an heir. Although his wife Sarah was barren and no longer able to have children, God promised him he would have a son. After years of believing and not seeing God’s promise fulfilled, His wife Sarah had a great idea.
“Abraham, take my Egyptian handmaiden as your wife for baring children, and fulfill God’s promise. After all Abraham, God expects us to have a part in this.”
Now I want you to look around at the world we live in today. The Islamic terrorist who want to destroy everything non-Muslim, they are the offspring of that illicit relationship between Abraham and the Egyptian handmaid, Hagar, Ishmael.
Was that a gift from Satan or from God?
This what happens when man takes matters into his own hands instead of taking them to God in Prayer.
But James says:
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. (Jam 1:17)
In other words,
• if it is a good gift (gift of God)
• if it is a perfect gift (complete & whole)
• it comes from above – from God
• There are no strings attached
If it is from God no harm will come with the gift. I can name you many things that appear to be gifts, but come with many harmful strings attached.
• Look at the great new house God gave us and our mortgage is only $2000 a month for 30 Years. In other word the great gift God gave you, of which the bank told you you would be paying $250,000 for really cost your $390,000.
• Look at the great new car God gave me. My car not is only $450 a month for 7 years at 6.5% interest. You thought you paid $35,000 for the car, but really are paying $43,000.
• Look at the spouse God brought me, oh he or she ain’t a Christian, but God told me it would be ok.
• We could all go on for ours talking about our Ishmaels.
James finishes this thought with:
Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be kind of firstfruits of his creation (Jam 1:18).
Interesting. In John chapter one, the gospel, it says, "Who were born," talking about being born again, "not by the will of man, nor by the will of the flesh, but by the will of God" (John 1:13). Have you been born again? How is it that you were born again? Because you chose to be born again? Not really. Because God chose that you should be born again. You were born again "not of the will of man, nor of the will of the flesh but of the will of God."
Jesus said, "You didn't choose me, I chose you, and ordained that you should be my disciples and that you should bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain" (John 15:16).
That to me is a glorious truth that God chose me. That thrills me that God would choose me. It thrills me because God chose me on the basis of His foreknowledge. "Whom he did foreknow, he did also predestinate" (Romans 8:29). And on the basis of His foreknowledge, He chose me and I have been begotten again by the will of God. I've been born again by the will of God. You've been born "not by the will of man, nor the will of flesh, but by the will of God."
I love it that God should choose me. I love it especially because He chose me on the basis of His foreknowledge, which means He knew the end from the beginning. And He chose me on the basis of what He knew would be the end of my walk and fellowship with Him.
Peter in his first epistle said, "Thanks be unto God who has begotten us again" (1 Peter 1:3). But you know that that's but how would you say, Who has borned us again. But that's literally what it is, who has borned us again. My being born again is a work of God, God has chosen me and I was born again by a work of God's Spirit, not by even my own will. "Not the will of man nor the will of the flesh but by the will of God."
So here again, Of his own will, He begat us with His word of truth.
New creatures in Christ.
