Chuck Swindoll tells of a mountain man from West Virginia who had never seen a city, or bright lights and modern inventions. He married a girl of the hills and they spent all their married years in the backwoods. Their one son, creatively named “Junior,”
reached his sixteenth birthday, [and] his dad began to realize it wouldn’t be too many years before their son would become a man and would strike out on his own. It troubled him that his boy could reach manhood and wind up getting a job in the city, not prepared to face the real world. He felt responsible and decided to do something about it.
He and his wife started saving for a trip the three of them would take to the city. About three years later the big day arrived. They tossed their be-longings in the ol’ pickup and started the long journey over winding, rough roads to the city. Their plan was to spend several days at a swanky hotel and take in all the sights. As they approached the outskirts of the metropolis, Papa began to get a little jumpy: “Mama, when we pull up at th’ hotel, you stay in th’ truck while Junior an’ I go in an’ look around. We’ll come back and git ya, okay?” She agreed.
Flashing neon lights and uniformed doormen greeted them as they pulled up. Mama stayed put as Papa and Junior walked wide-eyed toward the lobby. Neither could believe his eyes! When they stepped on a mat, the doors opened automatically. Inside, they stood like statues, staring at the first chandelier either of them had ever seen. It hung from a ceiling three stories high. Off to the left was an enormous waterfall, rippling over inlaid stones and rocks. “Junior, look!” Papa was pointing toward a long mall where busy shoppers were going in and out of beautiful stores. “Papa, looka there!” Down below was an ice-skating rink — inside.
While both stood silent watching one breathtaking sight after another, they kept hearing a clicking sound behind them. Finally, Papa turned around and saw this amazing little room with doors that slid open from the center. “What in the world?” People would walk up, push a button and wait. Lights would flicker above the doors and then, “click,” the doors would slide open from the middle. Some people would walk out of the little room and others would walk inside and turn around as, “click,” the doors slid shut.
By now, dad and son stood totally transfixed. At that moment a wrinkled old lady shuffled up to the doors all by herself. She pushed the button and waited only a few seconds. “Click,” the doors opened with a swish and she hobbled into the little room. No one else stepped in with her, so “click,” the doors slid shut. Not more than twenty seconds later the doors opened again — and there stood this fabulously attractive blonde, a young woman in her twenties — high heels, shapely body, beautiful face — a real knockout! As she stepped out, smiled, and turned to walk away, Papa nudged his boy and mumbled, “Hey, Junior …go git Mama! [Charles R. Swindoll, Living Above the Level of Mediocrity (Waco: Word Books, 1987), 147].”
That old mountain man wanted an instant transformation for his wife. Like him, we often want instant spiritual alterations. The Book of James offers no such false hope. We can’t instantly transform either our wives or our lives. This short epistle makes it abundantly clear that the Christian life is a process.
True faith is most often displayed by its reaction to trouble. The Greek word translated “trials” in v 2 where the emphasis is on the trials and tests that develop maturity, is translated “tempted” in v 13. External trials produce opportunities for growth and development in the Christian life. Temptations come as enticements to sin.
When James writes about temptation he’s dealing with real stuff. These are not wistful thoughts from a pastor’s musty study, but painful, uncomfortable realities of life. Temptation strikes in the executive suite, but also in the home. It affects parents as well as children, teachers and students, management and labor, pastor and parishioner. And it is always present. James leaves no question that it’s assault will come. The question is never “if” it will attack, but when. In this life we will never know a time when we are not susceptible to arousal toward wrongdoing.
I. THE SOURCE OF TEMPTATION - vv. 13-14
When temptation assails and you reach the point of yielding, you may look for a scapegoat. When no one else can be blamed you may even accuse God. But James says, no matter what the circumstances, temptation is
1. Not from God – v. 13
The excuse is offered, “God is tempting me.” The human tendency to blame another is as old as the race. It began in the Garden of Eden where Adam tried to pass the buck by saying, “It’s the woman’s fault!” Eve said, “No, it was the serpent!” Adam ultimately blamed God, “You gave me the woman!” Proverbs 19:3 warns: “A man’s own folly ruins his life, yet his heart rages against the Lord.”
Robert Burns, the poet wrote:
Thou know’st that Thou hast formed me
With passions wild and strong;
And list’ning to their witching voice
Has often led me wrong.
He essentially blamed God for his misconduct, saying he behaved as he did because God made him that way. Flip Wilson, the comedian became famous with his line, “The devil made me do it.” Satan is an active agent in temptation, but he’s often given more credit than he deserves. It’s up to you to resolve that you will not attempt peaceful coexistence with temptation. Avoid the things that weaken you, whatever they are. Chuck Swindoll says, “There’s a name for folks who linger and try to reason with lust: victim. [Swindoll, Three Steps Forward, Two Steps Back (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1980), 94].
James warns that our personal responsibility cannot be evaded. God may put us to the test, but He will never lead us into sin. He coins a word used just this once in the entire New Testament. He writes literally, “untempted” is God. God is untemptable. He is so holy that there is nothing in His nature to which evil can appeal. It is against His nature to tempt someone to do what is morally wrong. God could never take such action. The Source of temptation is
2. Human – v. 14
The singular noun, “each one” shows that the universal experience of temptation is ultimately individual. No one is exempt. The source of temptation lies within — “his own evil desire.” Desire is a neutral term and may be either good or bad depending on the situation. Great achievements come only through proper desire and motivation. No one achieves athletic prowess without such desire, but when desire is self-centered and contrary to God’s will it is evil.
To describe the effect of evil desire, James paints a word-picture of a baited fish. “Dragged away and enticed” are words from a fisherman’s vocabulary. The angler casts his tempting morsel to draw a fish out of his lair and with each toss enchants and entices with the alluring bait until the fish hits and is hooked. That’s how desire works. It lures and entices until a person is caught in the snare of sin. J. B. Phillips translates this verse, “A man’s temptation is due to the pull of his own inward desires which can be enormously attractive.” The process is the same in all temptation.
II. THE CONSEQUENCES OF YIELDING - v. 15
When temptation is indulged, an entire chain of events is set in motion. One writer says, “[This is] the story of three generations: the grandmother is lust, the mother is sin, and the daughter is death.” [D. Edmond Hiebert, The Epistle of James (Chicago: Moody Press, 1979), 147].
Human nature is responsive to sin’s siren song. We resonate to the temptation. John White in The Fight, illustrates this well:
Have you ever fooled around with a piano? Open the top. Press the loud pedal. Then sing a note into the piano as loudly as you can. Stop and listen. You will hear at least one cord vibrating in response to the note you sang. You sing — and a string in the piano picks up your voice and plays it back. Here then is a picture of temptation. Satan calls and you vibrate. The vibration is the “lust” James speaks of. Your desire is to go on responding to his call. If pianos have feeling, I imagine they are “turned on” when the cord vibrates. There is nothing bad about vibrating. The cord was meant to vibrate and to vibrate powerfully. But it was meant to vibrate in response to a hammer — not in response to a voice. The appropriate response, then, is not to vibrate rapturously to the voice of the devil but to release the loud pedal and close the top of the piano. [John White, The Fight (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1976), 79].
When we enjoy the temptation and allow it to linger a conception takes place with disastrous consequences. If we deliberately encourage and nourish evil desire until it becomes full-grown and strong, it will inevitably result in sin.
The sin is not necessarily sexual, but a sexual picture is explicit. Desire, when indulged, impregnates with sin. The sin develops and grows until it, too, is capable of reproduction. But the product of this illegitimate action is death.
Verse 15 creates some confusion. What is the meaning of death here? It obviously cannot mean physical death or we would all be corpses. It can’t mean spiritual death, because that contradicts the biblical doctrine of the believer’s security. It must mean something like the death of an illusion. You think, “if I could have that man, or go to bed with that woman, or land that job, or that money, or that car then I would live happily ever after.” It is an illusion. Instead of positive results, a negative lifestyle is always the payoff. The pleasures of sin last only fleetingly. Then, without the expected fulfillment, sin takes its toll in frustration, emptiness and loss of joy.
Judith Viorst captures this frustration in her tale of Alexander, Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday:
It isn’t fair that my brother Anthony has two dollars and three quarters and one dime and seven nickels and eighteen pennies. It isn’t fair that my brother Nicholas has one dollar and two quarters and five dimes and five nickels and thirteen pennies. It isn’t fair because what I’ve got is …bus tokens. And most of the time what I’ve mostly got is …bus tokens. And even when I’m very rich, I know that pretty soon what I’ll have is …bus tokens. I know because I used to be rich. Last Sunday. Last Sunday Grandma Betty and Grandpa Louie came to visit from New Jersey. They brought lox because my father likes to eat lox. They brought plants because my mother likes to grow plants. They brought a dollar for me and a dollar for Nick and a dollar for Anthony because — Mom says it isn’t nice to say this — we like money. A lot. Especially me.
My father told me to put the dollar away to pay for college. He was kidding. Anthony told me to use the dollar to go downtown to a store and buy a new face. Anthony stinks. Nicky said to take the dollar and bury it in the garden and in a week a dollar tree would grow. Ha ha ha. Mom said if I really want to buy a walkie-talkie, save my money. Saving money is hard.
Because last Sunday, when I used to be rich, I went to Pearson’s Drug Store and got bubble gum. And after the gum stopped tasting good, I got more gum. And after that gum stopped tasting good. I got more gum. And even though I told my friend David I’d sell him all the gum in my mouth for a nickel, he still wouldn’t buy it. Good-bye fifteen cents....
I absolutely was saving the rest of my money. I positively was saving the rest of my money. Except that Eddie called me up and said that he would rent me his snake for an hour. I always wanted to rent his snake for an hour. Goodbye twelve cents. Anthony said when I’m ninety-nine I still won’t have enough for a walkie-talkie. Nick said I’m too dumb to be let loose. My father said that there are certain words a boy can never say, no matter how ratty and mean his brothers are being. My father fined me five cents each for saying them. Good-bye dime.
Last Sunday, when I used to be rich, by accident I flushed three cents down the toilet. A nickel fell through a crack when I walked on my hands. I tried to get my nickel out with a butter knife and also my mother’s scissors. Good-bye eight cents. And the butter knife. And the scissors. Last Sunday, when I used to be rich, I found this chocolate candy bar just sitting there. I rescued it from being melted or smushed. Except the way I rescued it from being melted or smushed was that I ate it. How was I supposed to know it was Anthony’s? Good-bye eleven cents.
I absolutely was saving the rest of my money. I positively was saving the rest of my money. But then Nick did a magic trick that made my pennies vanish in thin air. The trick to bring them back he hasn’t learned yet. Good-bye four cents.
Last Sunday, when I used to be rich, Cathy around the corner had a garage sale. I positively only went to look. I looked at a half-melted candle. I needed that candle. I looked at a bear with one eye. I needed that bear. I looked at a deck of cards that was perfect except for no seven of clubs and no two of diamonds. I didn’t need that seven or that two. Good-bye twenty cents....
Last Sunday, when I used to be rich, I used to have a dollar. I do not have a dollar any more. I’ve got this dopey deck of cards. I’ve got this one-eyed bear. I’ve got this melted candle. And …some bus tokens. [Judith Viorst, Alexander Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday (New York: Macmillan Publishing Co, 1978].
When we yield to sin, our dreams die and we end up with worthless bus tokens, or worse. So James warns, “Don’t be deceived...” (v 16). “Don’t believe a lie. Those who believe a lie will begin to live it as well. Temptation builds its case on deceptive thoughts.
III. AFFIRMATION OF GOD’S CHARACTER …vv. 17-18
James concludes this section with an affirmation of God’s character. The warning in verse 16 points in both directions. Looking back to verse 15 it says, “don’t be deceived about the source and consequences of sin.” Looking forward to verse 17 it says, “don’t be deceived about the character of God.” Verses 17-18 refute the claim that God tempts men.
1. God is The Giver of All Good Gifts v. 17
God’s gifts are “good and perfect,” useful, and appropriate to the needs of those who receive them. God cannot possibly be the author of sin when He is so generous! And his gifts just keep coming! The tense of the word, “coming down,” indicates an unending succession of gifts.
The source of this abundance is “the Father of the heavenly lights.” He created the heavenly bodies that “declare his glory.” Yet the sun, according to our perception, rises and sets and changes it relation to the equator with changing days and seasons. The moon drifts through its monthly cycle, and the shadow varies throughout the day. But God is unchanging. He is better than His great gifts. His promises never vary through the changes and chances of our circumstances. Temptations attack and we may waver greatly, but “...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” (1 Co 10:13). Let His promise be an anchor to your faith!
2. The Source of Salvation v. 18
So far from originating temptation, God is actually the initiator of salvation. “He choose to give us birth ...” Sin brought death, but God was unwilling that we should perish. He offers new birth.
James continually requires that behavior demonstrate the reality of our salvation experience. He asserts that God is the source of our salvation. New birth came through the word of truth. In His own temptation, Jesus often referred to the Scriptures, saying, “It is written.” We too can experience deliverance through the “word of truth.” As the firstfruits of His creation, we are to overcome temptation, and serve as the pledge of the full gospel harvest to come.
Everything you need to resist temptation is found in your life in Christ! How are you handling the battle with temptation today? Are you feeling the pull to take the wrong course, to make a decision that will lead to death and disaster? That desire may seem so good to you right now. You may even feel cheated or deprived as you imagine that God is holding back on you and violating your rights. Perhaps you feel cheated of something life owes you. If you experience those feelings, you are listening to the voice of the Tempter. Let the Father deliver you and give you His strength right now.
