MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK SERIES
ENTRAGGED UNDER PRESSURE
JAMES 1:13-18
#JAMESatCCC
INTRODUCTION… MADE UP WORDS (http://www.jasperfforde.com/madeupwords.html) + Ian
Huggle (verb) A cross between hug and cuddle. Lasts slightly longer than a hug and is good when comforting mildly upset people.
Confrazzled (noun) The state of being simultaneously confused and at the end of one's wits
Hattitude (adjective) Having an attitude but with a hat on
Jobfusticate (verb) To arrange matters to other people so that your job appears to be so complex and technical that nobody else, especially your boss, can understand exactly what it is you do, thus leaving you to do pretty much what you want the way you want to do it.
Scrittle (verb) To scratch gently
Plug-Out (verb) To remove a cord from a socket, opposite of plug-in (Ian)
Yeet (interjection) A multi-use word of exclamation and surprise and approval and celebration (Ian)
I also made up a word for our sermon today. I was reading in James chapter 1 and saw a few key words that James uses, and for some reason I just made up a word. So let’s read from James 1 today and then I will share about the word I made up.
READ JAMES 1:13-18
When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone; 14 but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. 16 Don't be deceived, my dear brothers. 17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, Who does not change like shifting shadows. 18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all He created.
The word I made up is ENTRAGGED. Entragged is a verb and is a combination of the words Enticed and Tempted and Dragged from verses 14 and 15. Enticed + Tempted + Dragged = Entragged. Now this is a serious word because it has to do with temptation and sin and serious spiritual issues. Today we are talking about being entragged under pressure… which immediately makes me wonder what being “entragged without pressure” is like, but I made up the word so I’m not sure how to answer that.
To begin to unpack being “entragged,” I’d like to review two passages from the Book of Genesis first and then go back to what James says. We need to remember that James is looking back on his very Jewish upbringing and thinking back on his life with his parents and his half-brother who happened to be Jesus Christ. He came to faith after Jesus rose from the dead and yet he had a lifetime growing up with Jesus. I can imagine that perhaps he and his brother talked about being enticed and tempted and dragged into sin at some point because James saw Jesus resist temptation every single time. James is relaying to us solid practical living advice as we seek to be more like Jesus.
TWO STORIES ABOUT TEMPTATION FROM GENESIS
So let’s read from Genesis 4 and Genesis 39 and reflect on two Biblical stories that play out very differently and then we will focus on what James is speaking on.
READ GENESIS 4:3-10
“In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. 4 But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. 6 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it." 8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. 9 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" "I don't know," he replied. "Am I my brother's keeper?" 10 The LORD said, "What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground.”
Here we have a story from the first family. Adam and Eve, the first people, have two sons Cain and Abel whose relationship seemed fine until one day presenting an offering. Both men offered sacrifices to the Lord, but God only looked on Abel’s with favor. Hebrews 11:4 tells us, “By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings.” What was the difference between the two offerings? Hebrews 11 tells us it was faith and the heart behind the offerings given. Cain must have brought his offerings grudgingly, but Abel did so with a clean and pure heart.
As we think about James chapter 1, it is important for us to see in this passage the progression of Cain and the end result. Cain offers a sacrifice without much faith and this is unfavorable to the Lord. Who did that? Cain did all by himself. Cain also got angry at God and at Abel all by himself. Cain also looked downcast all on his own. Cain also decided not to reoffer his gift, but let it be.
We should not overlook verse 7 which shows that Cain is on the avenue of temptation, but has not yet exited into sin. God says “sin is crouching at your door” and God says that Cain must master the desires that are coming into his heart. If he doesn’t master the desire in his heart, he will sin. Evil will win. Temptation will win and sin will result.
What happens? Cain is entragged under pressure. Cain doesn’t deal with his own actions and allows the anger in his heart to overwhelm him and he kills his brother on purpose. We not only see pre-meditated murder, but also lying to God directly. So, for Cain in Genesis 4, we see the progression of a wrong motive and action which led to disappointment which lead to anger mixed with resentment at his brother which lead to him planning physical harm which lead to murder.
Let’s look at a second passage in Genesis which has some similarities, but ended up differently.
READ GENESIS 39:6-12
“So he [Potiphar] left in Joseph's care everything he had; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, 7 and after a while his master's wife took notice of Joseph and said, "Come to bed with me!" 8 But he refused. "With me in charge," he told her, "my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. 9 No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?" 10 And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her. 11 One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. 12 She caught him by his cloak and said, "Come to bed with me!" But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house.
Here we have a story from descendants of Abraham. Abraham was important because it was through Abraham that God promised to make a whole nation for Himself and to send the Messiah. God would bless all nations through the children of Abraham. Joseph was one of those descendants and we read about his life in the last half of Genesis. Joseph is sold into slavery by his brothers and ends up a servant in Potiphar’s house. He obviously does well because verse 6 shares with us that Joseph is in charge of everything except his master and his master’s wife.
The desire for Potiphar’s wife (we’ll call her Mrs. Potiphar), was physical and sexual in nature mixed with selfishness and probably a need for control. Mrs. Potiphar had decided to give into her desires and so she wanted to act sexually in ways that were sinful. She asked for Joseph to join her in it day after day. The desire for Joseph was physical and sexual in nature as well.
As we think about James chapter 1, we see that Mrs. Potiphar is definitely trying to drag Joseph into sinning with her. She tries to entice him day after day to betray himself, his master, and as Joseph points out in verse 9, against God. Ultimately all sin is betraying God.
We should not overlook verse 10 which shares with us that Joseph would not allow the desires Mrs. Potiphar or his own desires to come to action. Verse 10 says he refused. Verse 10 also says that he did not put himself into the situation where he would be tempted to do what she already wanted to do. He refused day after day and removed himself from the situation day after day until Mrs. Potiphar set him up.
What happens? Joseph is entragged under pressure. Joseph deals with his desires and does not allow the lust or need to not be lonely to overwhelm him and he avoids sin. He honors himself. He honors Potiphar. He also honors Mrs. Potiphar even though she doesn’t care. He honors God. So, for Joseph in Genesis 39, we see that when desires and temptation came Joseph’s way, he ran away. He literally ran away.
I want to remind us of James 1:13-18 because now that we have looked at these two stories in Genesis, I hope you can see what James is describing in a very practical way. James frames temptation properly for us and shows us how desires lead to temptation which leads to sin.
READ JAMES 1:13-18
When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone; 14 but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. 16 Don't be deceived, my dear brothers. 17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, Who does not change like shifting shadows. 18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all He created.
It is very important that we understand that sin is our fault. Your parents didn’t make you do it. Your spouse didn’t make you do it. Your boss didn’t make you do it. A bad dip in the gene pool didn’t make you do it. Satan didn’t make you do it. And most especially, God didn’t make you do it. The fault for every single sin you and I ever commit lies with us. We are guilty. Each one of us is guilty when our own desires tear us away from God and leads us into sin. We do that. We lust that. We covet that. We steal that. We cheat that. We bad attitude. We say that. Most of the time we like to blame someone outside of ourselves, but James clues us in that the reality of sin is that sin begins as a seed of desire inside ourselves and grows into temptation and then into sin.
ILLUSTRATION… New Truck Wreck (p)
In May of 2018, I bought my dad’s truck for $1. My dad takes good care of his vehicles and so getting his truck was a blessing and it was also a truck that was in good condition. I flew from Florida to Houston and drove the truck back to Florida. It is a stick shift and I was still getting used to driving a stick shift again. Everything went smooth until I drove home.
I had driven about 4 hours from my parents’ house heading back and my first stop was for gas in Louisiana north of New Orleans. I filled up my truck with gas. Got a snack. Got a drink. I drove towards the exit of the gas station and was waiting behind a semi-truck to exit. The semi-truck was sort of just sitting there and then the backup lights come on. I see white lights shining in my direction. The semi-truck started to back up in the exit of the gas station! I threw the truck in reverse but I could not get out of the way in time and the back of the semi-truck trailer smashed into the front of my dad’s perfectly clean never been wrecked truck that I had only had for 4 hours.
I lost my brain. I got out of my truck and I yelled so loud the people in the gas station heard and came out and we were some distance from the store. I don’t remember cursing, but I do remember yelling at the driver over and over, “I just bought this yesterday you complete stupid idiot!” I yelled that loud and over and over and over. I lost self-control. My anger overtook me. In my anger, I completely sinned. When the police officer asked what I did for a living, I ashamedly admitted I was a minister. I also got angry when the police officer told the truck driver that it did in fact look like the damage was recent and matched the back of his trailer… the driver had made the assumption I was making it up that he hit me because he didn’t feel a thing.
Who made me sin? Who made me lose my temper? I certainly could say it was the truck driver who backed up his semi-truck in the exit to the gas station. I could say it was the police officer who assumed I was running some kind of scam. It wasn’t. It was me. I allowed anger to overtake me and it came out in my tone and attitude and I am pretty sure even my pores. I was sweating anger. No one but me has guilt and blame for that. Just me. I sinned.
Enticed + Tempted + Dragged = Entragged.
What do we do when we are entragged under pressure?
TWO ACTION POINTS WHEN ENTRAGGED UNDER PRESSURE
There are two action points I think that are presented in this passage. The first is in verse 15 and is implied… we must attack the desire. The second is in verses 16-18 which is stated… we must trust in God’s goodness. Both of these we are to do when we are entragged under pressure.
Attack the Desire (verses 14-15)
Verses 14-15 share with us that all of us have a sin nature which creates in us a great desire to go the opposite way of God. This desire is all about self. This desire is self-centered and self-importance and self-driven. This desire is self-absorbed and self-directed. The sin isn't in the desire. The sin isn't in the temptation because Jesus was tempted and was without sin (Matthew 4, Hebrews 4:15). All of us experience temptation. Sin is there when I give into my desire of self and I turn towards a choice that God would not want for me. Giving in to the desire is where sin begins. Cain shows us that. Joseph shows us that. James tells us that.
We need to attack our sinful nature desires when we are entragged by praying that our desires would be changed by God into something else guided by Him:
* Psalm 51:6 says, “Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.” We can pray that God would change us to desire truth.
* Psalm 73:25 says, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you.” We can pray that God would change us to desire the ways of God and a relationship with God.
* Isaiah 26:8 says, “Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts.” We can pray that God would change us to desire to make Jesus famous and that our lives would reflect that we are forgiven imperfect people who serve a loving God.
* Hosea 6:6 says, “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.” We can pray that God would move our desires to focus on mercy and acknowledgement of God in all we do.
Trust in God’s Goodness (verses 16-18)
Verses 16-18 share with us that not only should we attack the desires of our sinful nature in God’s power, but we also need to trust in God’s goodness. James is very very clear. God is always good and God is not under evil’s power at all, but is righteous over evil always (verse 14). God does not send temptation (verse 14). God is the giver of every good gift we ever receive (verse 17). God is always full of light and life and goodness and wants the best for us (verse 17). God is always completely good and always stays completely good with no shades of anything else (verse 17). God is about truth and leading us to His Son who gives us life (verse 18). James is very clear that we serve a God who is always good and always loving and is always for us and so we need to trust in Him that His ways are best for us. This is motivation to say no to sin when we are entragged under pressure.
As I was looking over Scripture passages and studying, I also came across Romans 9:16 which says, “It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy.” In context, the Apostle Paul says that our God is just and worthy of our trust and even when we fail… because we will… we have a God who has mercy on us. Part of trusting in God’s goodness is that we realize that we are not perfect and we need God’s grace when we fail. God’s grace is not a license to sin (Romans 6:1-2), but God’s grace gives us freedom to pursue God even after we fail. We didn’t have freedom to do that before Jesus Christ! We were stuck in sin and had no freedom to pursue a relationship with God at all. We have a good God who lavishes grace on us and we can trust Him to care for our souls when we are entragged under pressure.
APPLICATION: HERE IS WHAT I WANT YOU TO REMEMBER
When we are #entragged under pressure, we must seek God’s power to change our desires and we must trust in His goodness.
INVITATION
For those of us who are not yet believers, I want to mention something for you to think on. Every single one of us has desires that lead to temptation and then sin. All of us have sinned. Those who have accepted Jesus Christ have forgiveness of sin and the freedom to pursue God in a personal relationship. In John 3:5 Jesus says very clearly, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.” In John 14:6 Jesus also says very clearly, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior in faith and being immersed into faith is the pathway back to God that He has prescribed. There is no other way. We are all guilty. We are all lost. We all think we can do it on our own, but we simply can’t. We needed Jesus to come and live a perfect life and give Himself for us on the cross. Confession and baptism is accepting that. We all need Jesus. You need Jesus.
PRAYER
