Devoted to Loving God
James 1:16-18
With God’s help, we can be devoted: putting God’s love at the center of our lives.
SLIDE #1
INTRODUCTION
• Today we wrap up our four-week series on the subject of being devoted to God.
• How does one foster an attitude of devotion to another person?
• Remember, the word DEVOTED is defined as follows, zealous or ardent in attachment, loyalty, or affection.
• If I choose to be devoted to someone, what would be a helpful trait for me the possess so I can be devoted to them?
• What keeps a couple together after years of marriage when life is on the downhill slide, all the fun and games have turned into watching your loved one slowly fade away either mentally or physically?
• What is it that keeps one devoted to their spouse, no matter how bad things get?
• Love. Love can lead us to do things we never thought we could do.
• When you love someone or something, you have a devotion to what you love.
• The things and people I love, I am devoted to them. GO CARDINALS! Well. Maybe next season.
• We all need to realize that love is a choice; it is a choice we make.
• I believe as our love grows deeper, so does our devotion.
• This is why you see a couple who have been together for years, be there for each other when their health is failing.
• Why do we love someone? Do we just do it for no reason?
• There are usually reasons we love someone.
• In our passage, James puts perspective and foundation to all he has taught us about faithfulness, staying on course, and not wavering: God is the giver of good gifts, and he does not change.
• The life God calls us to is good; his plan and promises span eternity and cannot be shifted or toppled like a shadow, like a boat on the waves.
• When we keep our eyes on God’s love, we will not be deceived.
• Today I am going to share three reasons we can be devoted to loving God.
• God gives us every reason to be devoted to loving Him.
• Let’s turn to James 1:16-17 together!
SLIDE #2
Bible Verse
James 1:16-17 (CSB)
16Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters.
17Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
SLIDE #3
We can be devoted to loving God because…
1. I. God is the giver of good and perfect gifts.
Explanation
• One of the ways God shows His devotion and love to us is by the fact that He is the giver of every good and perfect gift!
• In the first part of verse 16, James tells the readers to STOP being deceived. The verb tense of this statement is a command to stop doing something they were already doing!
• The first phrase of verse 16 either applies to the previous verses or the verses that follow.
• If it refers to the previous, Then James is telling the folks not to be decided into thinking that God is leading them into temptation.
• If it refers to the following verses, then the prohibition deals with thinking that God would give anything other than that which is good and perfect.
• I lean toward this referring to the previous verses, which then leads into verse 17, where James explains that God does not lead people into temptation, but rather what God gives to people is good and perfect.
• God’s nature prohibits him from doing evil toward humanity. He is consistent in giving only good and perfect gifts. Holloway, G. (1996). James & Jude (Jas 1:16–17). Joplin, MO: College Press Pub.
• God’s character of a giving God was introduced to us by James in verse five when James spoke of God wanting to give wisdom to those who ask Him generously.
• We can be devoted to loving God because He is devoted to giving you what is good and perfect.
• The use of the word GOOD refers to the act of giving, while the second word PERFECT emphasizes the gift itself.
• God’s act of giving is GOOD, which implies that the act of God giving is good in general; the act is profitable for those who receive them.
• The word PERFEC Tis a word that means complete, mature, full-grown. When God gives gifts, they lack nothing.
• Recently we put together a new puzzle, and the end of all the work we put into putting the puzzle together, there was a piece missing!
• Have you ever had that happen? It is such a letdown. It feels like we did not complete the puzzle. It was very frustrating for me.
• God’s gifts will not do that to you! Nothing will be missing!
• God showers His gifts from above.
• When you take stock of your life, you can see the ways God has blesses you if you take some time to think about it!
• Think about the greatest gift God has to offer, ETERNAL LIFE!
• Eternal life is AWESOME, but with that gift, God gives us the forgiveness of sins, also removes the guilt we used to be chained to because of our sins.
• God gives you FREEDOM in this life and the next!
• The gifts from God are pictured as continually coming down from Him according to the grammatical structure of the verse!
• The gifts are good and perfect because they come from a good and perfect God!
• God is the creator of light, and that same creator is the one who gives you the gifts you have!
• It hurts me to see so many Christians chose to live their life in the realm of guilt, shame, and defeat.
• These attitudes are not from God, nor are they gifts from God!
• You can be devoted to loving God because He not leave you or forsake you. He will be with you all the days of your life.
SLIDE #4
Bible Verse
Luke 11:11-13 (CSB)
11What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead of a fish?
12Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?
13If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”
Explanation
• God will always take care of you!
• Let’s look at verse 17 again.
SLIDE #5
Bible Verse
James 1:17 (CSB)
17Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
SLIDE #6
We can be devoted to loving God because…
2. II. God is unchanging.
Explanation
• Have you ever been around someone who is unstable?
• Or maybe someone that from one day to the next you did not know what expect?
• I worked for a supervisor who was like that once.
• One day you could come in a joke with her and laugh it up, the next day, that same thing would get you fired, and it did get one of my best friends fired.
• Have you ever been with a person who you could not trust? They would promise you they were going to do something (UNDONE HONEY-DO’s do not count), yet they never would follow through with their promises?
• If you have any experience with those types of people, you know how hard it is to trust them, yet love them.
• If you worked for a place that changed the rules at every turn, it would be confusing, frustrating, and hard to deal with.
• Imagine following a god who always changed his mind. One minute he demands one thing, then later, you are expected to do the total opposite.
• This verse reminds us that with God, He is STABLE. He is unchanging.
• I do not have to worry that after following Him and serving Jesus during my lifetime, that God will change His standard of receiving eternal life when I stand before Him.
• The standard has ALWAYS been, and will ALWAYS be Jesus!
• The blood of Jesus MUST cover me; I must be clothing with Christ through baptism into Christ.
• Galatians 3:27 (CSB) — 27 For those of you who were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ.
• Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow! Hebrews 13:8!
• You can be devoted to loving God because He will ALWAYS love you, that will NEVER change!
• The word CHANGE translates a word which means variation from which comes our scientific term PARALLAX, which is used to describe the change of position, real or apparent, of the stars, the moon, and the sun. (Gareth Reese Commentary, James).
• James seems to say that the stars, sun, and moon have their changes, but not so with God. God does not change!
• There is no God of the Old Testament and God of the New Testament; there is just GOD!
• When God gives gifts, they are ALWAY good!
• We know when the earth rotates around the sun, we can use a sundial to tell the time because the position of the planet changes relative to the light of the sun.
• At high noon we experience full sunlight (except in Missouri, then we move to twilight, then to no direct sunlight at night.
• You can count on God! You do not have to worry about God cheating on you, changing the rules on you, because God is unchanging.
• How devastating is it to devote yourself to love someone who cheats on you, hurts you, abuses you?
• God will NEVER do those things to you! You can devote yourself entirely to loving Him, and you need not worry about being burned by it!
• Let’s look at verse 18 together!
SLIDE #7
Bible Verse
James 1:18 (CSB)
18By his own choice, he gave us birth by the word of truth so that we would be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
SLIDE #8
We can be devoted to loving God because…
3. III. God keeps His promises.
Explanation
• This thought goes back to the last point!
• God will keep His promises to you!
• We see in verse 28 that by His own choice, He gave us salvation made possible by Jesus through the Gospel!
• He gave us a new birth through the word of truth!
• God does not leave our destiny to chance. He intentionally planned to give us new birth just as he created the stars in the beginning, and so is “the Father of lights,” so now he has chosen to begin a new creation by “giving us birth through the word of truth. Holloway, G. (1996). James & Jude (Jas 1:18). Joplin, MO: College Press Pub.
• Word of truth” most likely refers to Jesus the Word (John 1:1) and the truth (John 14:6) who brings new life.
• The fact that God is good all the time is best seen in His provision for the salvation of lost people.
• Salvation is made available because of the choice of God and the exercise of His will!
• This goes back to the previous section, where we see that God does not tempt us to sin.
• Instead, He has willingly and deliberately provided a way of salvation.
• Many folks think that God is against them. I used to think that way. I used to think that God was out to get me and that he wanted to punish me instead of loving me.
• That is what religion taught me.
• When I looked to Jesus, I came to realize none of that is true.
• Think about this for a second. Why would God provide me a way to be saved, and why would God send His son to die for me, if He wanted me to fail?
• Why would He try to get me to sin so I would be a failure?
• Why?
• The answer is, He would not!
• We are told we are given this opportunity so we can be s sort of a firstfruits of His creatures!
• Those who have been born anew are “firstfruits” of a new creation.
• In the Old Testament, the first crops were dedicated to God in sacrifice (Exodus 23:16; Leviticus 2:12).
• Those who are born through the word of truth also present themselves as sacrifices to God (cf. Romans 12:1).
• “Firstfruits” might also imply that those born again are a preview of the new creation (cf. Romans 8:22–23).
• This birth to life contrasts with the birth of sin to death (v. 15). Holloway, G. (1996). James & Jude (Jas 1:18). Joplin, MO: College Press Pub.
CONCLUSION
• In every trial and temptation, Christians through the ages have declared—with Paul and the church in Rome—“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?” (Romans 8:35).
• Truly, the beginning and end of the Christian life is this truth: we cannot be separated from the love of God poured out in Christ.
• Whatever trouble may come our way, we are anchored in God’s love for eternity.
• As with the early church celebrating the astonishing resurrection, may we live lives that are faithful and steadfast, grounded in the truth of God’s love and resurrection.
Application
By learning to recognize God’s love and his good gifts, we can stay focused and faithful amidst life’s cacophony of options.
