Tested Faith
James 1:2-18
“Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.” vs. 12
The Bandit
There’s a folk story of a bandit named Jose Rivera, who became notorious in several little towns in Texas for robbing their banks and businesses. The people of these towns got tired of the constant robbing, so they hired a Texas Ranger to track him down in Mexico and retrieve their money and valuables. The ranger arrives at a desolate rundown shack of a cantina. At the counter he sees a young man enjoying his beer and at another tables, he sees a man with his hands over his stomach, hat over his eyes, and fast asleep and snoring. The ranger approaches the young man at the bar and says he is on a mission to bring Jose Rivera back to the Texas, dead or alive. “Can you help me find him?” he asked. The young man smiled, pointed to the other man whose asleep, and said, “That is Jose Rivera.”
The ranger approaches the sleeping bandit and tapping him on the shoulder he says, “Are you Jose Rivera?” The man mumbled back, “No speak English.” So the ranger turns to the young man and asks for some help translating.
It was difficult at first but they finally develop this rhythm of first the ranger speaking, then the young man translating, Jose responding to young man and then the young man telling the ranger what Jose had said. It got to the point where the ranger finally warned Jose Rivera and that he had two choices; the first was to let him know where all the loot he had stolen was hidden, in which case he could walk away a free man. The second choice was that if he would not reveal where the money was stashed, he would be shot dead instantly.
Jose Rivera pulls himself together and said to the young man, “Tell him to go out of the bar, turn to the right, go about a mile, and he will see a well. Near the well he will see a very tall tree. Beside the trunk of that tree is a large concrete slab. He will need help in removing it. Under the slab is a pit in the ground. If he carefully uncovers it he will find all the jewelry and most of the money I have taken.” The young man turned to the ranger, opened his mouth…swallowed… paused—and then said, “Jose Rivera says…’Go ahead and shoot!’”
We can be tempted to do something wrong often in life. What are we supposed to do and how are we to act? How are we to handle temptation? Let’s read about this in James 1:1-18 Please stand if you are able as we read God’s Word.
Read Passage – James 1:1-18
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings. 2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do. 9 Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. 10 But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower. 11 For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich will fade away even while they go about their business. 12 Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. 13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. 16 Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. 17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.
Testing and Temptations
Today we begin a study from the book of James. Some people avoid James because they see it as a book about actions and some interpret that as an attempt to earn our salvation by works. That can be a bit short sighted. Faith in Jesus saves us but that our actions have a lot to do with how others see us and that the way we conduct our life and the faith we profess. Our passage brings up something that can be a struggle for some people, testing and tempting. This comes from verse 13:
“When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone…” vs.13
Some people see God as a big punisher. A God who sits up there and dangles evil in front of us hoping we do something wrong so he can thump us on the head or punish us for doing the wrong thing. They look at God as mean and someone who takes pleasure in our pain. How do you see him? Is he your loving Father or some evil ruler or even someone who takes pleasure in others pain?
Our passage brings up two things we need to distinguish between; testing and tempting, especially in the face of the difficulties we face.
1) Tempt – Tempt is to entice someone to do wrong. It usually includes the allure of some type of pleasure, fulfillment or gain
Ex. You are tempted to cheat on taxes to get more money, to gain something
2) Test – To produce a reaction with the intent of identifying or developing character, skill, or knowledge.
Ex. You study hard in school, takes tests, etc. to learn a skill or to gain knowledge to help you in life
Why is this so important? James makes it clear that God does not tempt us. Understanding this gives us a guide to discern when struggles and difficulties come if are they meant to lead us to do wrong, which tells us they are not from God, or if they are meant to hone our skills, our faith, our character, then we know that it could be God testing us. God is not tempting us to do evil, he is protecting us.
Ex. A loving father would not let his child run into the street while playing because it is dangerous. We look at it as an infringement on our rights. The father is trying to protect the child and do what’s best for them.
The Deception of Satan
That is important because James tells us in verse 16:
“Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters.” vs. 16
Satan is a liar, he will attempt to deceive us into believing that God is trying to tempt us when, in fact, he is behind the temptation. We can also be deceived into believing that the good things in life are from Satan so James makes it clear in verse 17 that all good gifts are from God. God will never tempt you, God will never deceive you, God only wants to understand that good gifts are from him, and Satan wants to take credit for those. I Peter tells us Satan is like a lion prowling around looking for someone to devour, to buy into his lies.
So we need to be discerning when it comes to the circumstances of our lives. When we understand what God is trying to do for us, build our character, make us stronger and healthier, and that Satan is trying to deceive us, we can move forward with greater clarity and strength.
Four Choices for Hard Times
James addresses four choices we have to make during the hard times of life. So I am going to give you 8 words in 4 examples that you face in life when it comes to hard times.
1. Joy vs. Happiness
The first choice, realizing that we all face struggles and difficulties, is what are you looking for, joy or happiness? He says in verse 2:
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds…” vs. 2
Anybody going through some tough issue this week and you said to yourself; “I am so joyful right now?” Probably not likely. I am using the NIV and it uses the word consider. Some of you may be using a version that uses the word count. Whichever is good but understand that this an accounting term. It means to take stock of. Consider carefully. Investigate fully. Line up all the numbers them add them all up. This is where it is so important to discern the truth. God calls us to be joyful. That is truth. God does not call us to be happy.
Happiness – a temporary pleasure.
Ex. I am happy when I eat ice cream. (I am not as happy later when I have to work it off at the gym or when my diabetic numbers are out of whack.
Joy – deeper delight; A deeper state of well-being; longer contentment.
Ex. Marriage-I love my wife but I am not always happy. We can be in a disagreement or sees things differently and that’s okay. I might not be happy at the moment, but I am joyful that I am married to her and I don’t want that to change.
I found this saying about joy: Joy is the byproduct of obedience. -Author Unknown So, what James is saying is make the hard choice about wanting the long term joy and sometimes that means giving up the temporary happiness. Not always, but sometimes it is necessary. Paul wrote in Romans 15:13:
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13
Notice it says as you trust him. Circle that. Your choice here is to choose God and his ways. It might not feel good at the time, might not give you happiness, but in the long run you find his joy.
2. Perseverance vs. Quitting
The choice we have James confronts us with in verse 3:
“…because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” vs. 3
James really helps us here in our decision making because he tells us in the middle of this verse that “the testing of you faith.” Circle that. You will be tested. But that is good. Testing builds perseverance. I will be honest, sometimes it’s easier to quit. But if we want long term results, it comes through testing. Think about it, we don’t get stronger or build character by being stagnant or stationary. Perseverance, endurance and strength come in testing and working and challenges. But perseverance is hard.
Now there are some things that are worth quitting. Things that hurt us like smoking, over eating, lying, etc. But there are things we need to push through to really find the benefit and perseverance we need.
Ex. Hiking – in Tahoe and wanting to give up. If you quit too soon you miss the beauty and incredible views from the top. (Show picture)
Paul writes in Gal. 6:9:
“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Gal. 6:9
Notice again this is a trust issue. Do you trust God? His timing? It says in the verse “at the proper time.” We want our time but we need to trust God’s timing and his plan.
3. Maturity vs. Immaturity
The third choice comes in verse 4 where we are called to maturity vs. immaturity:
“Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” vs. 4
This is really the test of building our character. It’s long-term. The best way to grasp this is to think about the mature person compared to the immature person.
Immature – selfish, yell, get angry, have fits, unforgiving and basically hard to be around.
Compare that to the mature person.
Mature – thinks of more than themselves, doesn’t need to yell or scream, may get angry but is angry and still in control, forgiving because they realize their own shortcomings, usually enjoyable to e around.
No one wants to be around a grown up acting like a child. Paul encourages us in Colossians 3:14-15 to:
“I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things.” Col. 3:14-5
Press on, that is the idea of working through it and toughing it out. But notice something else, circle “which God has called me.” God calls us to maturity. You were never meant to remain a child. Paul likens this in Hebrews and 1 Corinthians as eating meat compared to drinking milk. Milk is necessary for infants but adults, mature people, need solid food, something with substance.
4. Wisdom vs. Foolishness
Finally, the 4th choice is to choose wisdom or to choose foolishness, verse 5:
“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” vs. 5
I think most of us want wisdom, we want to be wise, and we want to be knowledgeable. I would even say that we have something in us that wants to have the answers and to be wise about life. But James touches on something we often forget and he calls us to put it first, it’s in the middle of the verse, “you should ask God.” Bear with me on this but this is what we are being challenged to:
Foolishness – trusting yourself and relying on your wisdom
Wisdom – asking God for insight and trusting and relying on him.
We don’t have to know it all. We don’t have to have all the answers. Solomon, a wise man in his own right, wrote in Proverbs 8:11:
“…for wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her.” Proverbs 8:11
We do have knowledge, we do have people with lots of intelligence and knowledge, but the ultimate wisdom and knowledge comes from God.
Receiving the Crown of Life
James says that it all comes down to this, what we find in verse 12:
“Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.” vs. 12
The result is that having “stood the test,” we receive the crown of life. This is where we realize that we cannot do it on our own. No matter how good we are, how hard we try, and how much we accomplish, we still cannot do it on our own. But…Jesus could and Jesus did. He can do what we could not. We are called to be more like him and though we can never make it on our own, we don’t have to because he did it for us. Christ accomplishes what we couldn’t. So when we trust him, through his power and strength, through his example and his sacrifice, we receive the crown of life. His work gives us the strength to make the hard choices.