Last week, we started a year-long journey chronological study of the New Testament today. Hence the reason we are calling this message series Chronos. It's a word that means “time.” We will be journeying through time back to the start of the early church. We will be doing this by walking through the books of James, Thessalonians, Galatians and Corinthians. We will take a few detours along the way for the major Christian holidays. However, we will be opening up our bibles each week to unpack the scriptures as they were present in the early church.
For the first few years after Jesus’ ascension to heaven, the “way” as it was called, was considered a breakaway sect. It was a time in which the word that we have today was passed from one person to another through story from those who knew Jesus. The movement grew by the power of the Holy Spirit for almost 20 years without a comprehensive account of what had taken place. There were no gospels written by Mark, Matthew, Luke or John. It was a messy spirituality powered by the Holy Spirit, personal testimony and strong relationships. It was spirituality marked by an indifference to government and pursuit of a fully committed life to God and his creation.
We start with the book of James because it is the earliest writing determined by present day scholarly dating.
It is the first book or letter written to this new ‘church’ or gathering.
It was written by Jesus’ half brother, James.
It was written to those Jews who had come to believe Jesus was the Messiah and those Gentiles who had become aware of and believed in Jesus.
It was written to straighten out some of the bad actors and their practices that were stunting the movement’s growth.
It is a very straight forward set of writings and is very applicable for us today,
Each week this year we will be walking through small sections of the scriptures. I’d encourage you to read ahead. Read all six books a few times this year and get ready to mark up your bible. This is going to be a great year!
Let’s pick up where we left off last week with chapter 1, verse 13. But before we do, let me remind you that James has been emphasizing the larger ideas that faith becomes stronger when it's challenged and as such builds our character. Our perseverance when tempted will ALWAYS pay dividends.
13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone;
Have you ever stopped to consider the words in the Lord’s prayer - “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil”?
In those words taught by Jesus is one of the great questions, What is temptation and who leads us into those situations?
Temptation is an opportunity to accomplish a good thing in a bad way, out of the will of God. Therefore, temptation is a shortcut to good results. It’s not wrong to want to make a living but to do it by stealing from others is a sin. We often think of sin as a single act but God sees it as a process A process, James will describe in four stages.
14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed.
The first stage of temptation begins with desire. God has placed within all of us basic desires for human survival. They are good. However, when those desires become an all consuming pursuit for more, they become trouble. Eating is normal; gluttony is not. Sleep is normal; sloth like behavior is a sin. Whenever a basic instinct becomes a sole focus, we have entered the sin cycle. Our emotions become attached to the idea of more of a good thing and our intellect begins to justify and rationalize which leads us to the second stage of the sin process or cycle.
The second stage of the temptation to sin cycle is deception. Sin never comes to you as something undesirable. It’s often wrapped in a bright and shiny package. Temptation carries an appeal that overrides our other basic instincts or natural desires.
When King David looked at his neighbor’s wife, he would have never committed adultery had he’d seen the tragic consequences of his actions: the death of his son, the murder of a brave solder and the violation of his daughter.
There was a video in the 80’s that helps us understand this even more - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBpwnKSY8yQ
15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
The third stage of the temptation to sin cycle is disobedience. Once the emotions and intellect have been sold on the idea the body will follow. Any addict will tell you, they made a commitment to use the substance or person long before they actually did the deed.
Jesus was tempted three times in the wilderness right after his baptism. In each case, the evil one used justification and rationalization to tempt. In each case, Jesus retorted with scripture. Paul wrote to his protege Timothy that “All scripture is God breathed” and therefore incredibly helpful in seeing the evil ones schemes. Scripture is a living word and by staying connected to God through it, you become more and more attune to what is really happening around you.
Scripture is the magnifying glass to see the hidden agenda of the evil one and his minions which leads to the ultimate goal and the fourth stage of the sin cycle: death.
There are three aspects of death: physical, emotional and spiritual.
The sin cycle began in the garden of Eden with the evil one. In humanity’s desire, the evil ones deception and Adam and Eve’s disobedience, everlasting life with God was ruined. Perfection tainted. As such, a way to eradicate the virus needed to be established. Perfection requires justice and therefore, physical death became a reality.
Accompanying this physical death is an emotional death. A nagging sense something is missing in life. A hole in our existence that no instinct desire can fulfill. This then ushers in the the third death, the spiritual. Spiritual death is exponentially more serious because it is eternal. The apostle John describes it like this:
But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death (Revelation 21:8, ESV).
As you can hear, death is not a destination. It’s a connecting terminal between the only two eternal destinations (heaven and hell) and you get to choose now.
As the scriptures go on to say;
16 Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. 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.
The evil one’s greatest trick is to insinuate that God is holding out on you. That He doesn’t really love you or care for you. However, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, believing in the goodness of God is one of the greatest defenses we have against the evil ones. God is good.(repeat)
James, the ultimate church planting pastor/bishop tells us four truths in this verse.
What does God give? gifts. God gives gifts (repeat)
How does He give? Perfectly. From heaven. Imagine getting any gift stamped, “Made in Heaven.” Seriously. Could there be any greater craftsmen? God gives perfectly. (repeat)
When does God give? Continuously. “Coming down” is a phrasal verb without end. God is always giving us gifts. God gives continuously. (repeat)
Why does God give? What did we tell you about the ‘Why’ question and its answer in church? ‘Why does God’ questions should always be answered with the words, ‘Because He loves us’. God gives with love.(repeat)
It’s true God is love and that will never change. He cannot change for the worse because he is holy. He cannot change for the better because he is perfect. He is an unchanging God and therefore we shouldn’t question his love or doubt his goodness no matter what our circumstances. When these doubts arise, we need to look inside ourselves to find the answers of why we are failing to trust in His love.
The next time you are tempted in life (and we all tempted regularly) ask yourself:
Is this GOD giving me a gift perfectly wrapped in love and does my acceptance further God's will for humanity? God's will is that all will come to know him. Or a short form: does this do harm anyone, does it do harm to anyone or does it keep anyone from knowing Him today or in the future?
If there is doubt, STOP. Meditate on the goodness of God in your life. If you think you need something, wait on the Lord to provide it. For God gives gifts, perfectly, continuously and with love. Anything else is from the evil one.
