Bona Fide
A study of James
Genuine Christian Living
Part 3
“The Jake Spoon Syndrome”
James 1:5-8
If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. 6 But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. 7 Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.
As we continue our series through he book of James this morning
We come to a passage of scripture that I have spent quite a bit of time
Studying
Reading
Contemplating
And asking God for guidance to fully understand
James moves from the topic of overcoming pressure
As we studied last week
To the topic of wisdom
And then quickly to a topic that if we move to quickly does not seem to fit here
But as we slow down
And
Read James in context
Connecting the dots
We will see that it all ties in together
To show us how to live the Bona Fide
Christian Life
Last week we spent the entire time I am blessed to get to spend with you talking about trials
Temptations
Wrecks
Storms
What we referred to as pressure
And we began looking at several ways that the Bona Fide
Believer
Those who look at trouble as a chance to grow
As a chance to walk closer to God
A Joy- James says
Stand a much better chance at withstanding the pressure
The bend test
And developing endurance
Perseverance
And
Truly finding that joy that we all should be seeking
So verse 8 gives us yet another tool for becoming
Bona Fide
Wisdom
We know that there are two types of wisdom In this world
God’s wisdom
And the worlds
Wisdom
To become Bona Fide we must trust in God’s wisdom
As anything else will fail us when we need it most
You may have heard me or maybe someone else say this before
But
Listen
God always answers prayer
He says Yes- No – or wait
But did you know that there are two prayers that he always answers yes to?
The first is the prayer of salvation
God says all who call on the name of Jesus will be saved
When someone comes to God with a truly repentant heart
And cries out for salvation
Places their faith and trust in Jesus for that salvation
God willingly
Joyfully
Says in cowboy terms
Here you go!
The other is Wisdom
Look back at verse 5 with me
James 1:5
“If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.”
If you need wisdom
Not the worlds messed up idea of wisdom
But true life changing wisdom
Ask God
And he WILL
Give it to you
James
Goes on to say he will not rebuke you for asking
You ever ask someone for something
Or ask them a question
And you get what you wanted
Or the answer you wanted
But they made you feel like an idiot for asking?
James says God does not do it like that
He says to ask and he will give it without reproach- without correction
Without rebuking you
In simple terms without making you feel stupid for asking
So like I said
Last week we talked about pressure and overcoming pressure
And this week James shows us that it is God’s wisdom that helps us get that done
Remember I told you that the world does not in its wisdom see trouble as a reason to rejoice
But God Does
We are going to spend a lot of time on wisdom
God’s verses the worlds in a few weeks when we get to chapter 3
But for today
I want to concentrate on verses 6-8
Please open your bibles back up to James 1:6-8
6 But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. 7 Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.
Notice James starts out with that word that we sometimes love to hate
But
He says
Ask God for wisdom and he will give it to you
Without making you feel like an idiot
But
But
Make sure your faith is in God alone
In other words don’t doubt
Don’t ask God for the wisdom to get around a problem and then say
Well
Thanks God
But I think I’ll try another way
You see for salvation we must believe and place our faith in Jesus and Jesus alone
For wisdom
We must
James says
Be sure our faith is in God alone
And not
Waver
Not
Crawfish
Not seek the world’s wisdom when we don’t like God’s answer
In our study of Hebrews we talked about drifting
That applies here as well
You see to overcome pressure
To become Bona Fide
We must call on God for his wisdom
And then believe his answer
Or
Look again at verse 6b-8
---for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. 7 Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.
This is the real meat of today’s message
Standing on God’s wisdom to get through the tough times
Pause
For me other than “The Cowboys “starring John Wayne
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry is the best Western movie of all times.
I have seen the movie and read the book so many times that I if I was to visit a professional counselor they could add a chapter to their next book or thesis on “Lonesomedoveism”
In one particular scene that I believe gives us a good picture of what James is teaching
Jake Spoon played by Robert Urich
Is sitting on his horse next to his new running buddies The Suggs Brothers
They are surrounded by his old and true friends Captains Call and McRae and the boys
And the boys are throwing Jake and his new friends a party
Unfortunately it is not the kind of party that you want to get invited to
The old Cowboy movies and western novels I grew up on
Would refer to it a neck tie party
So there Jake and the others sit
Hands tied behind their backs
a noose around their necks
It is a sad a somber scene
You see
Jake had been one of them
He had been a Texas Ranger
He had ridden with them
And fought with them
And now here he sat on the other side of the law
How did this happen?
How could this happen?
Look again at verses 6b-8
“Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. 7 Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.
Jake wavered
Jake allowed himself to be blown by the wind and moved by the waves
He gave into the wisdom of the world
Instead of sticking to what he knew was right
At this point in the scene
Gus looks up at Jake and says
” I’m sorry it us that’s got to hang you Jake, but you know the rules- Ride with and outlaw die with an outlaw,
I’m sorry you crossed the line Jake”
Jake replies – “I didn’t see no line Gus, I was just trying to get through the territories without getting scalped”
Jake goes on to say” I was planning to leave them as soon as we crossed the territories”
To that Gus replies” A man that will go along with five killings is taking his leaving a little slow”
In this scene Jake has like James warns against in James chapter 1 wavered
He allowed himself to go against what he knew was right
James 4:17
“Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.”
I use this verse often
Knowing right and choosing wrong
No matter the reason
No matter for how short a time
Is sin
Jake wavered in his integrity
Jake wavered in his morals
Jake down his guard and allowed himself to be deceived
Jake knew right from wrong
But he chose wrong
He was blown by the wind
One of the fastest and easiest ways for a believer to come unhooked from Jesus is for them to surrender to this same type of temptation or worse yet to ignore the consequences of the sin that surrender brings
Christians of all ages and all levels of maturity often become like tumble weeds completely at the mercy of the winds
Let me tell you
Wind can be extremely powerful
It has shaped mountains and canyons
It has destroyed the best that man can build
Winds come in many forms
Those winds that destroy buildings are natural physical winds
But the winds I speak of are unnatural winds
Typically winds we cause or allow into our lives
Old Things can be winds in our lives
Old friends, old relationships, old habits, old excuses
We get hooked with Jesus. We are doing well
We think we are Bona Fide
And then the pressure comes
And we turn to our own ideas instead of God’s
And then we let down our guard maybe just for a moment and we end up back doing the things we did before we came to know Jesus
Maybe to the point that no one can even tell you are a believer
Winds often come in the form of New Things
One man I know lived a “good” Christian life for years
Then at more than 50 years of age
He let down his guard; he allowed winds into his life
At first the wind seemed like a good thing
He received a promotion to a powerful position
More money
And money brings happiness right?
Wrong
People began telling him how special he was
How great he was
And
He started believing what they were saying
Then Pride caused him to surrender to the temptations that were increasing daily
In a short time the wind blew so hard that he
He was sitting with a noose around his neck
He had been married for years to one wife, had never drank
In the eyes of the world he was a Good Christian
And then the winds increased
He let down his guard, relaxed his position
Like Jake
The line became blurred or he ignored the line
And he wavered
Pride led to Adultery, which led to divorce, which led to an entire change in this man’s life
The once strong relationships he had with his children were now dysfunctional
Alcohol became a problem, his integrity began being questioned, and he was asked to leave the church where he once served as a deacon
He still has the position and the respect of those who placed him there
But he gave up way more than he gained
Look at Verses 7-8 again
“7 Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.
His story is not an unusual one
Temptations, physical, mental, emotional …..
When succumbed to lead to many things
The excitement of salvation, the joy of redemption is squeezed out by the winds of this world
The winds and our submission to them cause us to divide our loyalty
No longer placing Christ first, sometimes he is not even on the list
The lines become blurry or so obscured that we forget there ever was a line
I have no doubt Jake felt remorse for his new life and remorse for the way his life was no ending
I have no doubt the man from my story, if he truly ever knew Jesus will one day feel the same type of remorse
But for now he is being blown by the wind, he is being controlled by Old Slick
He has become unhooked from Jesus and he is no longer producing fruit
Winds sometimes come in the form of
Death of a friend or family member,
Heath problems
Money problems
Kid problems, the list could continue --into infinity and beyond as Buzz Lightyear from “ Toy Story “ is so fond of saying
Remember James says we will have troubles
To the point
No matter the problem
Problems of this life cause pressure
And how we deal with pressure defines our character
The pressure of life can build to the point where it seems unbearable
Maybe we blame God for the loss of our loved one, even though we know as believers that we will all close our eyes in death
Maybe we blame him for our health issues, even the ones we caused by our choices
Maybe your life has not turned out as you had hoped or expected in so many areas
You had no plans of working at a low paying job well past retirement age just to keep the lights on and gas in the truck
You had no plan losing all of your savings to an internet scam or medical bills.
You may have cried out
This is not what I expected God, this is not how my story is supposed to go
And we wavered, doubted
We turned to the world’s idea of wisdom
So a bitter wind blows, an angry wind blows, a resentful wind blows
And our grip weakened
Listen
Not allowing the wind to blow us takes discipline
The writer of Hebrews in his book writes in chapter 12:12-13
12 So take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees. 13 Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall but become strong.
So once again it is my prayer to give you the tools you need to become Bona Fide
To overcome
Preserve
And
Prosper in your spiritual walk
Remember
We all have problems
Believers
And non believers
We as believers are not singled out but neither are we immune
Our attitude, reaction and responses can and will affect the outcome of those troubles
We were never intended to face our troubles alone
God always has a purpose for our troubles even when we can’t see or understand them
And God uses these problems as a way to bless us
When the heat is on
And we are tempted to waver
We must
Must
Seek God’s wisdom
We must ask him for the strength and wisdom to only withstand the pressure
But to actually grow stronger through he trials
We must use his wisdom to change the way we look at and think about the pressures of life
And listen
Here is a key
A big Key
When he gives us the answer
Stop asking the question
Accept his wisdom as the final authority
Stop trying to fix it yourself
Stop listening to the lies of Satan and the world
Don’t waver
don’t doubt
Don’t cross the line
When you can do that
You are well on your way to becoming
A Bona Fide Believer in Jesus Christ
Close from the heart
Pray
