Introductory Consideration
1. Why are here this evening? Why are you not at home relaxing or doing some things with your family? Why do some of you drive great distance to worship God in the vening when you have already done so in the morning?
2. Its not because you have to, at least unless you were told to be here by parents.
3. It may be that you want to worship God. It may be that you desire the fellowship , But I believe that, as well as I know you, you are also here because your faith is important to you and you do desire to become mature in your faith. You want to become more and more the person whom God wants you to be. And so the worsd of James are very important to us.
4. For he is teaching us how to be mature and complete.
5. One area that frustrates us is the struggle we have with sin. We want to live for God and yet we seem to do the opposite .
6. Reminds of time when I was struggling with stress. Easy to come home and get upset with children. Each day before I went home I’d ask God to help me not get upset. I was determined to be gentle and kind. Then suddenly, without warning something set me off. Iit seemed there was no way out. So it may seem with areas of sin.
7. What is the sin that you struggle with? What is it that seems to so easily make you feel defeated?
8. Whatever it is, our passage this evening, can help us deal with this struggle and overcome it, so we may be more mature.
9. We need to be aware of how sin works so we can not fall into its trap.
10. It is easy to misinterpret these verses and become wrongly discouraged, so we must look closely to what James is saying.
Teaching
1. In vs, 12 James say "blessed or joyful is the man who perseveres under trial.
a. The joy here is a "distinctive religious joy" which is one of the benefits of salvation.
b. Almost sounds like vs. 2-3, in which James talked about joy, trials and perseverance
2. While this theme continues, there may well be a difference in the meaning of the ideas of trials.
a. Greek word can mean either an outward circumstance of trial or a temptation to sin.
b. It is debatable from the teaching here which meaning James is referring to.
3. Does vs. 12 belong with what goes before or after?
a. If before (trials per NIV), if after temptation (per KJV) - could be either (show it makes no difference).
4. KJV says "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation". To endure is to stand the test - to not fall because of it. Remember that temptation is not sin but it is that which can lead to sin.
5. Why are we blessed?
a. Because we will receive the crown of life - the victor’s crown of eternal life.
6. There is a great danger in how we read this verse. It can make us say that it is in resisting temptation, to not sin, that we receive salvation. And so salvation is something to receive by not sinning. True to extent but we would all fail.
7. And so, Gene Getz says, to withstand temptation means to not give up one’s faith in the midst of trials and difficulties. But that does not do justice to the meaning of word as temptation. So we still faced with idea that we arev saved when we do not sin.
8. Yet we read passages that seem to dispute what James is saying.
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
Rom 10:9-10 "That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved."
9. How deal with this?
a. Remember the purpose of testings (including temptation). To prove that something is real or not real. (eg. said few weeks ago - if gold tested under fire, if there is anything left it is real gold, at least what is left is real.)
b. James writing to believers (perhaps also those who think they are will read it), and so he is not saying that our actions bring salvation but is evidence of our salvation.
c. He is not saying that because we withstand the test we will get the crown, but when we withstand the test.
d. When we withstand test we will show we are genuine. That we really love the Lord. Ffor the crown is given to those who love the Lord
10. But we still have a problem here. If we do not stand, if we do sin, does that prove that our faith is not genuine? Does that mean if I sin I am not a true believer?
a. If that was case, then Paul would not have had true faith, for he openly admit his struggle with sin.
b. We find an answer in this passage.
c. In verse 15 Paul differentiates between sin and full-grown sin. In South Africa there is a strange vine known as the matador. Beginning at the foot of the tree, it slowly makes its way to the top. As it grows it slowly kills the tree and when at last the top is reached, it sends forth a flower to crown itself. Matador means killer and just as sin it leads to death - unless we have repented and put our trust in Christ that He paid for our sin
d. If the vine could have been stopped it would not have killed the tree. One aspect of withstanding temptation is to not let sin become full-grown. So sin is in all, but what is it that controls our life - sin or Christ.
e. Gal 5:19-21 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
f. My concern with homosexuality is not so much in fact that it is a sin but that it becomes a lifestyle that is accepted. When sin is full-grown it means that it is accepted as a way of life for us and if that is the case, are we really believers.
g. Then we are deceived
11. And so, our salvation is not the result of withstanding temptation nor is it lost because we sin. Our salvation, the crown of life is given to those who are called by God to be His children. Those who have His law written on their hearts. Who seek to live for Him and to obey Him.
12. Lets go on to verse 13. The question James now deals with is where temptation comes from.
a. It is easy to say that temptation comes from God - that he places temptations before us to see whether or not we will sin.
b. It is true that God allows trials to come to us so we may become mature.
c. But to say that God is tempting us is to say that He is leading us to evil.
d. And how can that be? God himself cannot be tempted by evil.
i. Isa 57:15 - For this is what the high and lofty One says-- he who lives forever, whose name is holy: "I live in a high and holy place,
ii. Psa 99:9 - Exalt the LORD our God and worship at his holy mountain, for the LORD our God is holy.
iii. Hab 1:13 - Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong.
e. God is absolutely holy and righteous.
f. Christ was tempted as a man but God cannot be tempted. And God does not tempt us to sin
g. As Spiros Zodhiates said "God will never deliberately lead you to commit sin, for that would be completely contrary to His original and ever-present desire and yearning to have His creature be fully in the image of his Creator"
h. We know that it is Satan who is the tempter, not God. He tempted Christ and tempts us to sin as well.
13. James goes on to talk about temptation and how it leads to sin. We will look at that next week.
14. Instead we go to verse 16 which tells us what God does gives to us.
a. James says that we must not be deceived into blaming God for temptation.
b. Iinstead every good and perfect gift is from above. What God gives us must be good and perfect in itself.
15. The problem is not with what God gives us but what we do with it.
a. Take a knife for example. What would we do without knives. A very good and useful instrument - to peel potatoes and to prepare food. But it can be use for evil. Can be used to hurt someone. Would we then blame the maker of the knife for making it. No, we would blame the user.
b. Same with food. Iimportant, necessary for life, but can be used sinfully when we overindulge. Or with drugs or sex. Or even say nuclear power
c. These are good gifts from God.
d. But we take them and use them for evil.
e. God’s gifts are good. There is no darkness or evil in God and there never will be. There is no shadow or darkness with God. His light is pure and remains so. Not like sun which moves and creates changing shadows.
16. His purpose remains the same. Not to tempt us to sin but to give us His word - the Gospel through which we may hear the good news and be born again. So that rather than controlled by sin we might be controlled by the Spirit.
17. We have only begun - to see what temptation is not. Next week we continue and see how to overcome temptation.
18. See how promise of 1 Corinthians 10:13 works: "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it."
