SERMON TEXT

James 1:12 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. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. 16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 17 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.

INTRODUCTION

Many churches struggle to rightly emphasize practical help in living the Christian life and theological depth in understanding the character and works of God. Some churches major on practical help in living the Christian life and minimize theological depth. Other churches major on theological depth and minimize practical, how-to Christian living.

If we were to place James in one of these categories, I suspect we’d put him in the practical category. The book has over 50 imperatives in 108 verses. James is constantly telling us what to do and not do. But one of my aims this morning is to show you how James brings together the practical bent with complex explanations of God and his relation to the world and to us.

 

FROM TRIALS TO TEMPTATIONS

In chapter 1, James teaches that Christians should expect trials and own their pain while counting them all joy (1:2), and that God does his most important work in us through trials. Trials test our faith and produce steadfastness, leading to maturity (1:3-4). God grows us up into full and complete people through various trials, and promises a reward—a crown of life—if we endure through trials (1:12). We believe that God uses trials, even that God ordains trials for good and wise purposes, and promises to compensate us in the next life for the suffering and hardship that we endure in this one. The Westminster Confession testifies to this big God theology:

God from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass; (Westminster)

“Whatsoever comes to pass.” All things, including trials, hardships, sufferings, are ordained by God for his glory and our joy. But this creates a danger, a potential deception, namely, that if we believe that God ordains trials, we must believe that God tempts us to evil.

This misunderstanding is enhanced by the fact that in Greek, the word for trial and for temptation is the same (1:2, 1:12, 1:13-14). James is telling us that this is not simple. Yes, God sends trials to test our faith and mature us. No, God does not tempt you to do evil. We need new categories; otherwise, we’ll be deceived.

So what are these new categories? I find one key in comparing 1:13 to 1:17. The key for James here is that, while all things are from God, all things are not from God in the same way. We could say it like this: Good things are from God directly. Bad things, hard things, evil things (like trials and temptations) are from him indirectly. Or, God is the source, origin, and author of good things, because he is good; he is not the source, origin, and author of evil things in the same way, because he’s not evil or tempted to evil.

We can grasp this better by thinking about the phrase “Father of lights.” Think with me about sun. Both light and darkness are “from the sun.” But they are not from the sun in the same way. The sun causes light by its presence; light comes from it directly. The sun causes darkness by its absence; darkness comes from it indirectly.

So also with God as the source of good things and hard things. Light and darkness, well-being and calamity (or evil) come from God. God sends both good things, and he sends hardships and trials. But he is not the source of them in the same way. God gives good things directly; he sends trials indirectly. And this is important to James, lest we be deceived, and in our deception, be unable to endure trials faithfully and receive gifts gladly.

 

PRACTICAL HELP IN OUR VISION OF GOD

How does that clarity—that avoidance of deception and error—help us to live? What happens if you flatten out those distinctions or deny one side of the truth? You might deny that God sends trials to produce maturity in us. You might say that he doesn’t have anything to do with hardships, pains, sufferings. And so you face them believing that they are ultimately meaningless, that your pain is pointless, that God is powerless to help you. And so in the midst of trials, you despair.

But let’s say that you believe that God sends trials, but you flatten out that distinction. On the one hand, you’ll try to deceive yourself into thinking that hard, painful things are good in themselves. You think that faithfulness means pretending hard things aren’t hard. Another possibility is that in the trial, you’ll start to blame God. You’ll say, “God has sent this trial to test my faith. Therefore, if I fail, he is to blame.”

Another possibility is that you’ll view God as a cruel sadist, as someone who delights in your pain. And therefore, you won’t run to him in your pain. You won’t rely on his strength and compassion to endure the trial; you’ll try to rely on your own (because that’s all you have) and you won’t make it for long.

But this deception won’t simply affect your experience of hardships. It will affect the good things in your life as well. God is kind and blesses you. But because you believe that he sends trials, you can’t really enjoy the goodness, because you’re terrified that “Behind a smiling providence, he hides a malicious face.” The goodness you have now is just God fattening you for the slaughter. This is what the gods of the ancient religions were like. As one person said, “We are their bubbles. They blow us big before they prick us.”

The result is that your view of God is constantly distorted. In hard times, he is a cruel sadist. In good times, he is a trickster waiting to spring his trap. It’s impossible to live the Christian life under such distortions and deceptions. And so James is adamant that good gifts come down from a loving Father, and there is no shadow of turning with him. He’s not playing a trick on you. Good gifts are from him and designed to lead you back to him, and hard painful things are not from him directly but are instead designed to produce steadfast faith and maturity.

 

PRACTICAL HELP IN RESISTING TEMPTATION AND FIGHTING SIN

So if temptation doesn’t come from God directly, where does it come from? James describes the process of sin and temptation in terms of four stages.

Stage 1: God gives good gifts, which we desire to enjoy. Stage 2: Those desires go astray, and we begin to want things at times or in ways or in degrees that God has forbidden. Desire is now enticing and luring us away from God and toward evil. Stage 3: Desire conceives and gives birth to Sin. We pass from temptation to concrete, deliberate, willful disobedience to God. Stage 4: That willful disobedience grows and becomes stronger until it gives birth to spiritual death. We have hardened our hearts.

Desire and Temptation are not the same. Temptation and sin are not the same. Sin and death are not the same. These distinctions have practical, real-world effects.

Here’s one: this process of temptation and sin shows us the danger of little sins. We want to play with the lures, dabble in fantasies, nurse small grievances. We think, because the sins seem so small in comparison to some, that it’s no big deal. Until it is a big deal.

Here’s another: if we fail to distinguish godly desire for God’s gifts from enticing desire and allurement, then we’ll treat the gifts of God like idol traps. He gives us good things, and we view them with suspicion and hostility because he’s dangling temptations in front of us. Or we feel guilt because we want something other than God.

Here’s another: if we fail to distinguish temptation from deliberate sin, then every experience of temptation brings the full weight of condemnation down on our head. We develop a hypersensitive and false conscience.

Here’s another: if we fail to distinguish deliberate sin from its consequences in spiritual death, then we won’t believe that the gospel is for us. If we knowingly and willfully disobey God, we’ll think that we’ve gone too far, we’ve out-sinned his grace, and we’re doomed. But the reality is that in this life, we’re never doomed. There’s always a way back. The gospel is always good news. You may have been a prodigal. You may have willfully despised your Father and spent the good and perfect inheritance that he gave you on your own sinful pleasures. But it’s never wrong to be the prodigal coming home. You can still come home.

 

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