James 1:1–18
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There are a lot of things in life that we would never sign up for. No one ever says that I hope that today is the morning that we wake up and the whole house gets the stomach bug and that we're out of clean sheets by noon. No one says that. No one ever schedules that on Tuesday at 7.15 a.m. the car won't start on the morning, that you cannot be late.
These moments just come. They're uninvited, they're unscheduled, they're unwanted, and then there are the bigger ones, the ones that don't resolve with just a nap and a cup of coffee, The phone call that comes with a diagnosis you didn't expect. A season opens up that you did not choose, you did not want, and you don't know how long it will last.
Here's the question we rarely say out loud, but we feel it. What is God doing when life does that to me? Is this just meaningless pain that I have to survive? Or is there something here that I'm supposed to see? It's a strange pattern in the believer's life. Some of the things that we would never choose are the very things that God uses to produce what we need most. What if the trial that you didn't choose is not God forgetting you, but it's God forming you?
Because when you're in a trial, you're not just suffering, you're being spoken to. And the question is, which voice are you going to trust? But here's the unsettling part. Sometimes the most dangerous promises don't come from outside of you. Sometimes they rise up from within. Open your Bibles to James chapter 1. And while you are turning there, let me give you a little background for the passage that we will be looking at for this morning.
James opens up his letter in verse 1 with James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the 12 tribes in the dispersion. Greetings. It's short. It's direct. But it gives us the context right away. Who's writing, who he's writing to, and the kind of moment they're living in. This is James, Jesus' half-brother. He doesn't lead with family credentials here. He just calls himself a servant.
And he's writing to Jewish Christians who have been scattered across the Roman Empire. Not just relocated, but displaced. These are believers that are following Christ far from home. They're rebuilding life in places that don't feel familiar or safe. And the pressure is on them, coming from every direction. The world around them is unstable.
Political tension, corrupt leaders, economic pressures, much like we can relate to today. Many have walked away from jobs and family to follow Jesus, but now they're rebuilding in foreign cities. Some are poor, exploited, and isolated. Two, Jesus for Jewish neighbors, and two, Jewish for Gentiles. And here's what makes it more complicated.
Not everyone is suffering equally. A few are starting to do better financially. And you can feel the tension rising, especially as you read through the book of James. The struggling feel forgotten. The comfortable feel entitled. Suddenly the church isn't just dealing with a hardship that's out there. There's division in here. Doubts creep in. Frustrations flare up.
people start snapping at each other. Because you know what prolonged hardship does. It doesn't just hurt, it tempts. It tempts you towards bitterness. It tempts you to get sharp with your words, quick with your anger, guarded with your heart. And then your faith begins to fray. And this doesn't always happen in just one dramatic moment. but slowly over time.
And honestly, that's why James still hits us so hard. Because we're different in a thousand ways, but suffering still tempts us towards the same old lies, the same old shortcuts, the same old corrosive patterns. Let's read our passage. We'll be reading James 1, verses 1 through 18. James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the 12 tribes in the dispersion greetings.
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness, and let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.
For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double-minded man, unstable in all of his ways. Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass, he will pass away. For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass, its flower falls, and its beauty perishes, so also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits. Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. Let no one say that when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.
Then desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change of his own will. He brought us forth by the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. Here's our main idea. God uses trials to mature our faith, gives wisdom without reproach, and remains the unchanging giver of every good gift.
Let me repeat that. God uses trials to mature our faith, gives wisdom without reproach, And remains the unchanging giver of every good gift. And what I want to do today is I want to work through three questions as we look at our passage. I'm going to give you all three questions here. Here they are. The first one is, what is God producing in my trials? Our focus here is on verses 2 and 4.
What is God producing in my trials? The second question, what does God provide when I lack clarity? Our focus here is verses 5 through 12. What does God provide when I lack clarity? And then finally, our third one, how do I respond when temptation twists God's character? And finally, this will be our focus for verses 13 through 18. How do I respond when temptation twists God's character?
All right, here's the first question James puts in front of us in verses 2 through 4. What is God producing in my trials? Or to say it another way, will I interpret the trial that I'm in as God's tool for my maturity or a meaningless pain that I have to escape as fast as possible? Now, before we even get into James's command here, let's be honest about what running or escape can look like because it's not always obvious.
When we hear run, we might imagine someone walking away from the faith saying that I'm done with Christianity. And yes, sometimes it does look like that. But most of the time, if we're honest, running is quieter. Running can look like numbing, staying busy so that we never have to feel. Running can look like isolation, pulling back from people, from the church, from honest conversation because we don't want anyone to see how weak we feel.
Running can look like anger because anger feels like control. Running can look like bitterness, replaying the story of how this is not fair. how God shouldn't have allowed it. And running can look like shortcuts, anything that promises quick relief, even if it costs obedience. And when we're in pain, we justify it. We say things like, well, I'm under a lot of stress.
I've been through a lot. This is a hard season for me. And that is true. Sometimes it is. But James is going to do something that is loving and bracing. So listen to his words in verse 2. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds. James is telling you don't waste your trial by running from the very work that God wants to do in it. Now let's be clear, James is not saying that the trial itself is joyful. He's not telling you to fake a smile or pretend that it does not hurt. The Bible gives room for lament.
Jesus modeled this, bringing his sorrow to the Father in honest prayer. The Psalms are filled with cries and sadness. James is not calling you to deny reality. So what does he mean to count it all joy? He means interpret it rightly through reframe. See it through the lens of faith. Don't treat this as a random, purposeless suffering.
Joy here isn't a feeling that's forced. It's a conclusion that you reach. It's faith saying, I don't like this. I did not choose it, but I believe that God is doing something in it. James immediately gives us the reason. Look down at verse 3. For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
Trials are a testing of faith. And when we hear testing, we tend to imagine God as a harsh teacher with a red pen trying to catch us failing. But that's not it. testing here is more like proving or demonstrating its genuineness. Like what happens when something that's put under pressure and it shows what it's really made of. Steadfastness is the art of staying. It's the believer who keeps returning to God, not because life is gentle, but because God is good. Steadfastness doesn't always look like victory.
Sometimes it does look like tears and trembling still. Still, I trust. Still, I obey. Still, I hope. It's faith with calluses. The quiet, repeated yes to God when nothing feels impressive. If you feel tired, hear this.
Steadfastness isn't, it's not pretending that you're okay. It's bringing your weakness to God and refusing to walk away. Steadfastness isn't measured by speed. It's measured by the direction. You keep turning towards the Lord. And as you do, God meets you there. God does not despise the small and stubborn faith. He strengthens the knees that are shaking.
He honors the believer that wakes up again and opens the word again. Who repents again and keeps going. Not because they are strong, but because their Savior is. Trials reveal what our faith is actually attached to. When life is smooth, it's easy to think, I trust God. But when you're stuck, you discover what you're really leaning on.
Is it God? Or control? Maybe it's your own comfort. Maybe it's the approval of others. Maybe you just want a predictable life. Look down at verse 4. And let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. James pulls back the curtain here and shows us the goal.
That word perfect does not mean sinless perfection. It means that there's a process of maturity that is taking place, something that is becoming whole or stable. It's not a double allegiance here where part of you wants God and part of you wants the world. It's not a shallow, convenience-based faith that only works when life is easy. James is describing a faith that has depth, has weight, and has durability.
So here's the refrain that James forces on us here. The first question in suffering is not, how do I get out? The first question is, Lord, what are you producing? Now, James isn't saying that you can't pray for relief. We know that Jesus did. You can take wise action and seek help. But even while asking for relief, don't miss the deeper work that God is doing.
We shouldn't treat growth as optional or a trial as meaningless. So let me bring back the question. What is God producing in my trial? If you're in a trial right now, again, I'm not asking you to smile or ignore the pain. I'm asking you to work to see it as James has told us, depending wholeheartedly on the work of the Spirit to help you.
To say, Lord, I don't want this, but I trust you. I don't understand everything, but I believe you are working. So don't let me waste this. Don't let me run in a way that ruins me. Produce steadfastness in me. Make me mature. Make me stay. And this leads us right into our next question. Because once you're in a trial and you're not trying to run, You'll find yourself saying, okay, but what do I do?
How do I think? How do I respond? So question number two, what does God provide when I lack clarity? The pain and pressure of trials do something to our minds because trials threaten what we love. Our heart starts to react fast. Fear starts talking out loud and we begin interpreting everything through just urgency or worst case outcomes. Pressure clouds our minds. It narrows our vision.
It makes us feel stuck. You're not only asking how long will this last, you're asking what am I supposed to do? What should I say? What's the next step? Well, James assumes trials will make you feel this way. And he gives a direct command in verse 6, verse 5 and 6 here. Look down at 5 and 6. If any of you lacks wisdom, Let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
But let him ask in faith with no doubting. Wisdom here is not merely knowledge. Just because we know something doesn't mean that we will always have clarity. There's a lot of smart and brilliant theologians, faithful people who need wisdom. Your pastors here at Third Avenue Baptist Church need wisdom. Part of being a Christian is needing wisdom.
In James, wisdom is receiving God-given discernment to apply God's truth to real decisions and to take the next obedient step. So catch that. Not necessarily having the whole picture just painted before you, but to be able to take the next obedient step. Often we don't see clearly on our own. So God uses others in the church to help us gain perspective and make wise, faithful choices.
Wisdom is the ability to say, okay, I'm overwhelmed. So what does that next faithful step look like right now? It's important to see here that our text tells us that our God is a generous God who likes to give wisdom to you. That is incredibly encouraging. So we should pray for wisdom.
But James immediately adds something sobering. Look again at verse 6, 6 through 8. But let him ask in faith with no doubting. For the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. he is a double-minded man, unstable in all of his ways.
Now, hear James carefully here. He's not saying that you can't have questions. The psalmist asked why and how long. We see that in the psalms. James is not forbidding you to struggle. What James is confronting here is double-mindedness, a divided heart. It's split loyalty. It's asking God for wisdom while keeping the right to ignore him.
If his wisdom is going to cost too much, it's saying, Lord, guide me. But really underneath, Lord, approve what I've already decided. That's why James uses that image. The doubter is like a wave, up and down, tossed around. One day confident, the next day collapsing. James calls this being double-minded, literally two-souled, unstable in all of his ways.
If you're split inside, you're not going to be steady on the outside. Why does this happen? We're under pressure. We reach for functional saviors, control, approval, escape, certainty, relief. Doubt grows where we subtly suspect God's wisdom isn't as good as our own Or where we fear that God won't, His will won't be as kind for us, right?
Doubt is often, it's a heart problem before it's a head problem. So what's the correct response? James doesn't call you to pretend that you have no questions. The issue is when you bring confusion to Him without surrendering to Him. Faith is a posture. It's a posture that you assume being confident in God's character and also being willing to submit to his answer.
So what does this practically look like? So I'd say, name your dividedness. Lord, I want wisdom, but I also want control. Confess the competing love. Ask with a yielded will, not my will, but yours. And take the next obedient step that God makes plain. Jesus immediately shows us where that divided heart gets tested here.
It tends to show up where you look for security. And for many of us, that's what we have or what we lack and what we think that says about us. So verses 9 through 11 here are a posture check. They teach us how to think when life feels not enough. And how to think when life feels more than enough. James addresses two believers. He gives both of them the same command.
Tells both of them to boast. Boast. But boast in the right thing. To the lowly brother, the poor, the overlooked, the struggling, James says, boast in your exaltation. When circumstances say you don't matter, answer with the gospel. In Christ, you are a child of the king. You don't measure life by what's in your hands, but you measure it by who has a hold of you.
To the rich believer, the one who has more, James says, boast in your humiliation. Why? Because wealth is a convincing liar. It whispers, you're safe, you're set, you're secure. You don't need the things that those other people need. And James says, don't let that voice disciple you. then James drives it home with a picture here.
Riches are like a flower in the field. Look down at verse 11. For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass. Its flower falls and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits. The flower can be stunning today. It's lush. It's beautiful. It's impressive.
But it's gone tomorrow. One market shift, one diagnosis, one phone call, and what you thought was solid turns out to be a vapor. Here's what James is doing. He's not telling you that money is evil. He's saying that money is a terrible God. And if you're trusting in what you have, instead of trusting in the God who gives, you're building a life on something that can't hold weight.
But James knows something about trials that we need to hear. It's in verse 12. Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. Notice, blessed is the man who remains steadfast, not who never struggles or who figures it out fast. It's blessed is the one who stays. When you've stood the test, you receive the crown of life, not a trophy for your performance, but it's God's gift to those who love Him.
If you're barely hanging on, God calls you blessed because you're still here, still turning to Him. But here's where the trial gets the most dangerous, not just when it's hard, but when it starts to whisper lies about God himself because when you're hurting long enough temptation doesn't just offer you relief it starts offering you an explanation and that explanation almost always involves rewriting who God is so our third question how do I respond when temptation twists God's character.
Let me ask it this way. When temptation rises, will I blame God or will I name my desires honestly and cling to God's unchanging goodness? James draws a sharp line in verse 13. Take a look. He says, let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God. Trials come from the outside and they test our faith.
Temptations arise and entice desire. God is never the author of evil. He cannot be lured by it. In suffering, one of the enemy's most common strategies is to twist God's character. It makes you think God is against you. God is withholding. God is the problem. And James forbids that conclusion.
James is doing two things at once here. One thing he's doing, he's defending the holiness of God. We see that. And he's exposing the problem of sin within. When temptation hits, our hearts instinctively look for an outside cause so that we can feel less responsible. That's why the blame shift is so ancient. Adam, the woman you gave me.
Eve, the serpent, deceived me. We do the same. God made me this way. God put me in this spot. If God cared, he would remove this. Temptation feeds that narrative because it accomplishes two deadly goals. It says that sin is unavoidable.
It's my only option. I had to do it. And the second thing it does, it reframes God as suspect. And once God is viewed as suspect, you can't trust him. Then your disobedience starts to feel justified. So let me ask you, when you are tempted, who or what do you blame so that you don't have to own your own sin? At that moment, do you see God as good?
Or do you start to doubt him, to excuse what you want? Pride wants to keep a good self-story intact. James is crystal clear. Look at the middle of verse 13. God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. God is not morally neutral here. He is the light. There is no darkness in him.
So when trials come, we must not treat God as the source of sinful desire. God can ordain tests that expose and strengthen faith, but he does not lure anyone into sin. His purposes are holy. to mature his children. Temptation's purposes are the opposite, to draw our hearts away from God and into sin. Look down at verses 14 and 15. James locates the real hook here.
But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin. And sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death. The bait may be external, an image, an opportunity, a pressure. But the hook sets because there's something internal that wants it.
Now, desire itself can be a good thing. We all desire to eat. We're hungry. We all desire to get rest and comfort. We all desire respect. Those are all good things. But desire becomes dangerous when it becomes a ruling desire. When it stops being a servant and becomes a master. When it demands satisfaction on its own terms regardless of God.
and here's the key. The bait works because there's an appetite. The hook sets because something in you wants it. I mean, James, his birth imagery here is very practical. Desires conceive and give birth to sin. That's what happens when we entertain the bait, When we negotiate with it, when we savor it, when we justify it, when we rehearse it.
Sin is seldom instant. It's usually incubated over time. It grows in the womb of the imagination. That's fed by secrecy and rationalizations that we have until it's born into action. and when it's fully grown it brings forth death not only someday but we start to experience that even now a dulled conscience eroded joy a heart hardened a dim appetite for God so what's the right response when you feel the impulse to to blame God we'll start where James starts settle in your heart that God is good and be honest about what you want
Father you are not tempting me you are good help me see what I want more than you right now and then get concrete identify what it is and answer it with God's word and his promises and then James here anchors you in what is most true about God look at how James describes God in verses 16 and 17 do not be deceived my beloved brothers every good gift and every perfect gift is from above coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
Father of lights, the one who made the sun, the moon, the stars, those lights shift, they rise, they set, they cast shadows depending on where you stand but our God does not shift. He does not change. There's no variation, there's no shadow across his goodness. When you're in a trial and your emotions are all over the place, this is your anchor.
God is not changing on you. He's not good one day and harsh the next. He's not near when you're obedient and distant when you're struggling. He is steady. He is light, and every good thing that you have ever received has come from him. So when temptation whispers, God is holding out on you, you can answer with this verse.
And the greatest proof is redemption. In verse 18. of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures god didn't wait for us to fix ourselves or or choose him first of his own will he acted in mercy towards sinners who were spiritually dead Through the word of truth, the good news that Jesus Christ lived without sin, died for our sins, and he rose again.
He gives new life to everyone who repents and believes. This new birth isn't just forgiveness. It's a new identity. It's a new future so that we belong to God as his treasured people. And like first fruits, our changed lives become the beginning evidence that God is making all things new through Christ.
You fight temptation not as a condemned person trying to earn God's favor, but as a reborn person learning to live in your father's goodness. You don't obey to become a child of God. You obey because you are one. So let me ask, what voice are you listening to?
Thomas Brooks, an old 1600s Puritan, said this. Satan promises the best, but pays with the worst. He promises honor and pays with disgrace. He promises pleasure and pays with pain. He promises profit and pays with loss. He promises life and pays with death, but God pays as he promises. All of his payments are made in pure gold. Trials come uninvited, unscheduled, unwanted, and in those moments you're not just suffering, you're being spoken to. Temptation promises relief and pays death, but God is the giver not the tempter every good gift is from above and he does not change and by
his own will he brought forth you by the word of truth so count it all joy let's pray father we thank you for your word in james so clear so searching but also so full of hope when trials come uninvited and unwanted we ask that you would give us wisdom to see what you are doing.
Where our hearts are divided, make us single-minded. Quick to ask, but ready to obey. We ask that you would steady our faith. We also ask that you would guard us from the lie that you are against us. We ask that your spirit would renew in our minds so that we can be able to count it all joy.
Remind us that every good and perfect gift comes from you and that you do not change. We ask this in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.