What’s So Great About Temptation?
James 1:1-18
Baby Boomers are coasting into the golden years in record numbers nowadays, bringing with them the trappings of a somewhat new phenomenon: Peter Pan Syndrome. While the surface indicators may not take the rest of us by surprise, the facts are clear about Baby Boomers. They detest the idea of growing old and settling down like their parents and grandparents before them.
Never before have sports cars and Disney World been made to look so appealing to the fifty-plus crowd. No generation prior has been catered to by pharmaceutical companies marketing products like Viagra. Products and services for the new generation of seniors are popping up left and right, and the AARP reports record growth. And did I mention that the progenitors of the Boomers are not dying out as fast as predicted? This growing senior population leads us to a comparison between the world and the church.
Christians, you see, have always suffered with Peter Pan Syndrome. The only problem in the church is that most believers never make it even to the maturity level of Peter Pan in their Christian lives. It may be more accurate to describe our problem as Permanent Nursery Status. Churches today more than ever are plagued with long-term baby Christians who require high maintenance and low spirituality.
Much of the quarreling and in-fighting in churches is a direct result of the lack of spiritual maturity on the part of church members. While a part of this can be attributed to unregenerate pseudo-spirituality (basically a church member who has never been converted), the fact that our efforts at discipling new converts have failed in recent years offers a simple, if embarrassing explanation to the problem. We haven’t called believers to “grow up” in their faith (Ephesians 4:15).
It is easy at this point to place blame in any number of areas, but the fact that Christians are not maturing in their faith is painfully clear. Unless the church acts now to clean up the mess, there is no telling what kind of situation our children may face if Jesus tarries his coming. It is time to call believers to a growing, vital faith in Christ that transforms them from whimpering babes in arms to the level of bold ambassadors for Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20).
James, the half-brother of Jesus and patriarch of the Jerusalem church, knew well the kind of immaturity we are facing today. A look at the book of Acts shows us the kind of problems the first church faced in vivid detail. We know that the Jews persecuted the Christians in Jerusalem to the extent that believers were forced to flee the city and live in the surrounding areas. While this may have been good for the cause of Christ, it had questionable effects on these new believers. The purpose of the book of James was to address the need for growing maturity among believers.
It is interesting indeed to note that the first object of his instruction was the subject of temptation. Who of us is holy enough to admit that we have never had a problem with temptation, be it in the area of our bodies or our minds? Each of us has dealt with struggles either to eat less or spend more time in meditation rather than entertainment, or any one of a thousand different challenges around us on a daily basis. James recognized this from the beginning, and he addressed it with very little pomp or persuasion.
Josephus tells us that that is how James was in his relations to believers. He said that James was the kind of person who lived a life of such personal holiness that he commanded great respect among believers, especially Jewish believers. He commented on James’ habit of prayer, interceding daily in the temple in Jerusalem. It was only by a political fluke, in fact, that James’ life ended so prematurely.
It seems that Annas the Younger, high priest in the temple, took advantage of an interim period between Roman governors to do away with several of his opponents. Josephus recorded that James was stoned in A.D. 62, along with several other key Jewish leaders. His holy lifestyle and brutal honesty brought an untimely end to one of early Christianity’s great leaders.
But what of James’ words on temptation? It strikes me as odd that he would begin by saying, “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations” (v.2). Joy and temptations do not fit together well in my vocabulary, let alone in the same sentence. Being tempted is not an easy thing to deal with, let alone finding the joy in it. But Paul did say in Philippians 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I say: Rejoice.” The tough question, though, is why?
James sets about to answer this question in the verses which follow. As we study these verses, may we come to understand three things about temptation. First, we’ll look at the products of temptation. These are the things that temptation brings into our lives, the results of our facing temptation, if you will. Secondly, we’ll consider the origins of our temptation. Let me say now, in case you didn’t know, that it doesn’t start with God. Finally, we’ll look at the help for temptation. Christians should not worry about temptation for the simple reason that God has already provided help. That, my friends is good news indeed.
The products of temptation are manifold. I see at least four listed in verses three through twelve. Let me list them and then describe them individually. They include: maturity (perfection), sincerity, equality, and longevity. These twelve verses may appear to function as several disjointed thoughts, but I believe they fit together to produce a conclusive whole.
1. Maturity is the first product of temptation. By undergoing these assaults on our faith, believers reach new levels of understanding and discernment. James refers to this maturity as “perfection,” a word used interchangeably with maturity throughout the New Testament. Paul referred to it often, most notably in Ephesians 4:13 and Philippians 3:15. Almost every appearance of the word “perfect” in the New Testament refers to either Christ or the believer’s position in Christ. With this in mind, it becomes clear that Romans 8:28 is more than a hollow voice of encouragement in tough times. It lends new credence to the saying that “God is working all things together for our good and His glory.”
2. Sincerity is the second outgrowth of temptation. It is described in verses five through eight. As an example, James cites the lack of wisdom a believer may experience. He says to his reader, “If you lack wisdom, ask God for it, because he stands willing to give it to those who ask. Remember, though, that your responsibility to God is to have right motives and a pure heart. Otherwise, you’re only wasting your time.” Jesus himself said that it was impossible to inherit God’s kingdom without a childlike faith (Luke 18:17). James returns to this theme later as he addresses the double-mindedness of believers who try to serve God while maintaining worldly standards. Their ultimate need, he asserts, is to make God’s will their standards and bring everything else into line with it.
3. Equality is a product of encouragement for some believers, while for others it brings pain and uncertainty. James says in verses nine through eleven that temptations come to the poor as well as the rich, although it appears that he has less to say to the poor man than to the rich. This also follows on the heels of Jesus’ teaching regarding the ability of a rich man and a camel to pass through the eye of a needle (Matthew 19:24). The truth of all this is that, the less we have, the less likely we are to be tempted. Adam and Eve had everything in the Garden except access to the tree of knowledge. Yet, with all these riches, it was this one thing which led to the Fall. In the same way, Balaam had the gift of prophecy as a man outside the covenant family of Israel. Yet, his sin came not in using his gift against the Israelites (God would not allow that), but that he took Balak’s gifts and lied to him. Temptation reduces everyone to the same level – the bottom line – and those who are poor live a little closer to it.
4. Longevity is probably the best product of temptation. Verse twelve represents one of the most positive thoughts in the context of chapter one. It is important to note that James says that a person must endure temptation in order to be found worthy to receive the crown of life, not that a person simply experience temptation. I am reminded of the adapted words of “Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus,” which say, “To him who overcometh / a crown of life shall be / he, with the King of Glory / shall reign eternally.” I am not certain whether George Duffield, the hymn writer, was thinking more of Christ’s promises in Revelation or James’ words recorded here, but I believe the truth of the hymn is accurate and in line with the Biblical record. We must not simply let temptation wash over us as if we were the sands of the sea. No, we must endure the tides of temptation as the very Rock of Gibraltar, standing firm and yielding little to the pounding of the waves! That is the kind of endurance that receives the crown of life. That is the kind of endurance put forth by those who truly love the Lord.
We have seen the products of temptation. These are the results of our experiences in temptation. They represent the character-building of Christians that prepares us for eternity. No one ever said they would be easy. In fact, other New Testament writers agree with James on the necessity of temptation. Look at the words of 1 Peter 1:5-7, where he says, “[You] are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.”
Peter says that the greatest product of our temptation is our standing with Christ when he returns. Faith that is tested is faith that is free of impurities and excess baggage. Would that we had a faith that were tested more by the temptations and trials our early brothers and sisters faced, a faith not unlike that of the Persecuted Church around the world even today! I am reminded of Isaac Watts’ words: “Must I be carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease, while others fought to win the prize, and sailed through bloody seas? Are there no foes for me to face? Must I not stem the flood? Is this vile world a friend to grace, to help me on to God? Sure I must fight if I would reign; increase my courage, Lord! I’ll bear the toil, endure the pain, supported by Thy Word.” If we would see the products of our temptation, we must endure that temptation to the full.
The source of temptation is manifest. Verses thirteen through sixteen call to mind a very important fact about temptation: God doesn’t cause it. James says that God, in his holiness, cannot experience temptation, and furthermore, he doesn’t dole it out to his children. As a parent, I have often enticed my children into doing something that I wanted them to do. How often I have held out a favorite toy to encourage my toddler to crawl or walk to me. I have offered a piece of chewing gum or a coveted piece of candy for the favor of a kiss. If we are honest, we have all done things like this from time to time. The fact, though, is that God does not do this kind of thing with us.
God doesn’t hold out the proverbial carrot before us as dumb animals, coaxing us along the road of life to his rewards in heaven. He never tempts us for his own good purposes, nor does he tempt us to see if we will fall. I had originally entitled this message, “The Devil Made Me Do It” in order to discuss satan’s role as the tempter and father of lies, as contrasted with God’s role as the Father of Truth. I decided, however, that that approach gives too much credit to the evil one, and he doesn’t need any more attention than he’s already gotten. The point is that God never tempts us for either good purposes or evil ones. He is not “out to get us” and he has no intentions of enticing us to do anything. He is simply who he is, and that does not include being the source of temptation.
This leads us naturally to the question of the origin of temptation, which James answers handily. It’s us, or put more grammatically correct, it is we (although I have a hard time saying it that way with a straight face). Our human lusts are the sources of our temptations. We are weakest in the area of that which we do not possess. God proved that fact in giving the Ten Commandments. Every commandment deals with an area of desire that God saw as unhealthy both in our relationship to him and our relationship to other human beings.
James makes a strong case for the source of our temptation. He even describes lust’s involvement in the downward spiral. The outcomes are obvious, too. We often fail to associate lust with its ultimate outcome, but Romans 3:23 reminds us, “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” This is naturally followed by Romans 6:23a, “The wages of sin is death.” The progression moves toward a logical ending, with the only determining variant being the salvation afforded to believers through Jesus Christ. The only way we can overcome the temptations brought on by our lusts is through him
Galatians 2:20 and Romans 6:6 remind us of the need to put to death our flesh and its lusts, that we might be made alive in Christ. This is the only true way of conquering the source of our temptation. It is not enough to simply acknowledge the source. That would be the same thing as calling a plumber and having him tell us we have a burst pipe that is spraying gallons of water all over the house, but not allowing him to fix it. We must deal with the source of our temptations directly and daily.
James concludes this section with the words, “Do not err, my beloved brethren.” I believe these words tie up the discussion of the source of temptation by saying in a sense, “Don’t be mistaken on this subject, my dear brothers.” It adds an air of conclusion to an important discussion.
The help for temptation is magnificent. Two of the richest verses in the New Testament are the seventeenth and eighteenth verses of the first chapter of James. He speaks of God’s ability to give good gifts, and he tells us what kind of gift he has given to his servants. In describing God, there are a couple of details worth mentioning. First, if a gift is truly good and truly perfect, then it has to come from God. You may say that my interpretation of Scripture is overly literal and simplistic, and you are probably right. But I would be remiss to avoid the opportunity to let God be himself under the simplest of terms. We may say at Christmas or on a birthday that someone received “the perfect gift,” and Ron Propeil has trademarked the concept of “the perfect gift” for his Ronco products, but the truth is that only God really gives perfect gifts.
Secondly, God is called the “Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” I believe this description is intended to literally enlighten us on the person of God. 1 John 1:5 tells us that “God is light; in him is no darkness at all.” Genesis 1 tells us of the lights God created to rule over the day and the night. He is the one who created the sun and the moon and the stars. If it is light, God made it. To look on the appearance of God is to look on perfect light. When he turns to one side or the other, there is no shadow to see. God has no dark side. If he were to look at the camera, he wouldn’t have to raise his chin to improve the lighting on his face.
The significance of all this “light” talk is to underscore the fact that God has no dark side. His nature will not permit him to do bad things. As we stated earlier, God is not “out to get us.” There is no hidden agenda in God’s plans. God doesn’t give gag gifts. He doesn’t place things in our lives that give him an excuse to have a laugh at our expense. As the Father of lights, God can only give gifts that bring light to our lives. Has that not been the idea all along?
As we move forward with the discussion, of exactly what kind of gift God has given us for dealing with temptation. James writes, “By his own will he gave birth to us through the true word, so that we might become the highest parts of the created order” (paraphrase mine). There are several key elements in this verse as well which merit discussion.
First, God does nothing that is not according to his will. When we speak of God’s will, let’s be clear. We are not speaking of some capricious, here-today-gone-tomorrow decision process whereby God decides moment-by-moment what it is he will do in a given situation. God, by the sheer fact of his omnipresence, is in the present at every moment in history. He is already in the future. He is in the past as well. This is why Jesus could say, “Before Abraham was, I AM” (John 8:58). It stands to reason, then, that God has determined his plan from the very beginning. He knows what he will do. Before he placed Adam and Eve in the Garden, God had set in motion his plan for our salvation. Although I cannot fully explain or comprehend it, I know that God’s will is one of the greatest things in Creation.
Secondly, James says that God “begat us with the word of truth.” Begat in itself is rich in meaning, implying that we were born of God. This has to be referring to our salvation, with the word of truth representing the Gospel of Christ. What he says here is that we who are facing this temptation are the ones who, according to the providential will of God, have been born as spiritual children of God through the perfect means of God’s plan of redemption. Wow!
Finally, the eighteenth verse concludes with the description of what we have become: the firstfruits of his creatures. There are two implications of the idea of firstfruits. One is that regarding other descriptions of Christ as the firstfruits of the dead, meaning that he is the first of many yet to come, the archetype of the product God was producing. In this sense, believers are the pinnacle of the created order, the best of the new heavens and the new earth predicted by John in Revelation. The second sense of the firstfruit is in the Old Testament usage, where the first and best products of the harvest are offered as a part of a ritual feast of the Jews. In this sense, believers represent the very best of God’s handiwork in the present created order, the redeemed things of the fallen era of history.
So what is the help for temptation? It is that we have received salvation by God through Christ Jesus. It is the best and most perfect gift ever given, in that it came from God, who is light. Our salvation has raised us to the level of spiritual sonship with God, making us the greatest and best parts of this world and the world to come. Even in our weak and sinful state, God has chosen to help us by giving us a way to overcome temptation through his perfect gift of salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the magnificent kind of help that we need.
The original question was, “What’s so great about temptation?” Hopefully these verses from the epistle of James have shown us the products of temptation, the source of our temptation, and the help for temptation. It is important to realize that enduring temptation, not merely experiencing it, bring us to the place where we are fit for the glories of heaven. Christians, if you are not experiencing temptation in some form, get ready. Your moment is coming. You may only now be coming out of a difficult time of testing into a period of rest. Get ready. As sure as there is life, there will be more temptation. Count it all joy, brothers and sisters, when temptation comes your way.
Hear these words C.S. Lewis penned in closing:
A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means.This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting against it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of the wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it; and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means – the only complete realist.
(from Mere Christianity)
