God's Steady Goodness: A Truth We Must Experience
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Introduction
Introduction
Last week, we thought a bit about the temptation to blame God for our temptations especially during a trial. James argued that God is not capable of this and we should look at ourselves as the issue. Today, we continue in the same pattern of thought. In addition to blaming God for temptation, we can often question God’s goodness as we experience circumstances that are negative and unpleasant. James corrects this behavior in the verses we will study today.
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. 18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
PRAY
We must be on guard against deception.
We must be on guard against deception.
Do not be deceived - Here is another command. He calls them to be not lead astray or to wander off. This is language used of sheep. They are not be to be tricked. They are not to be fooled by anyone including themselves. The stakes are high and he reminds them through this command to avoid error and incorrect thoughts concerning the nature of temptation. Do not take the bait.
J.I. Packer explains the importance of avoiding deception related to God’s character, “Note that errors about the nature of God are very dangerous. There is nothing more natural to us than to have wrong thoughts about God, and nothing is more dangerous. All behavior depends on keeping the glory of God unstained in your understanding. Wrong thoughts about God harm the spirit and make people lose their sense and their desire for piety. Do not let the glory of God be tarnished in your thoughts; abhor whatever comes into your mind or may be suggested by other people if it tends to eclipse the divine glory in your thinking.
My beloved brothers - James reminds his readers of his affection for them as he tells them not to be tricked. This is very good lesson for us when we are speaking soberly to someone. Do they know we love them? Do we love them?
We must behold the character of God.
We must behold the character of God.
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above - That which is beneficial, helpful, useful or good is granted from heaven above. In addition, that which is complete, not lacking or perfect comes from heaven above. The sense is this. If it is good, it comes from above. It is not good, it does not come from above. Why? Consider the source.
Coming down from the Father of lights - The gifts are above in the presence of the Giver and he sends those heavenly blessings down to us. He grants good and perfect things to us in the course of our lives. God is exceedingly generous. He gives super abundantly.
He gives as the Father of lights - He is the Creator of the starry hosts.
R. Kent Hughes writes, “This means that God fathered the lights of the universe, giving birth to each of its ten octillion stars in their individual brightnesses, ordering them in their distinctive constellations, and framing the physical laws that keep them on their courses, as well as ordering and sustaining the suns and planets and moons of the solar systems—all of which exist in such perfection that he pronounced them “good” (Genesis 1:18).”
25 To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One. 26 Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name; by the greatness of his might and because he is strong in power, not one is missing.
Not only is this a reference to God’s power and wisdom, it points us to his eternal, essential attributes of holiness and purity.
5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
13 I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, 14 to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.
5 And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
In addition to God being the giver as the Father of lights, he is also the giver With whom there is no variation or shadow due to change - He is unchanging in all of his attributes and perfections. In God, there is no variation. The is not change is condition or quality. In God, there is no shadow due to change. There is no corner or crevice in the being and character of God where there is shadow. In God, there is all light upon light, radiance upon radiance, brilliance upon brilliance and shining upon shining. This attribute of unchanging existence is often called God’s immutability.
Stephen Charnock writes, “He is “without any new nature, new thought, new will, new purpose or new place.” “God is a necessary being; he is necessarily what he is, and therefore is unchangeably what he is.” Hughes adds, “This also means that He does not experience an emotional life in the same way that we do. Since He has always known everything there is to know, nothing takes Him by surprise and upsets His “emotional state.” He does not have changeable passions as we do.”
25 Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. 26 They will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away, 27 but you are the same, and your years have no end.
6 “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.
The lesson James is teaching his beloved is that God is good. God is always good. God will always be good. Therefore, do not falsely charge him with wrong when you are tempted during a difficult trial.
One other note on the verb translated “coming down”. It is a present active verb which carries the idea that the good gifts and the perfect gifts that God give come and keep on coming down to us perpetually. He is a giver that never ceases to give.
We must be mindful of our miraculous birth
We must be mindful of our miraculous birth
Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth - James continues with an additional claim for the benefit of this readers. Here, he describes with specificity how they have experienced the goodness of God.
Of his own will or one could say by his choice. The root of God’s saving activity toward his people is found in him. What did God chose to do? He brought us forth. This is language of birth. Of his will he gave us birth. What kind of birth is James speaking about here? James is not referring to physical birth in this case. He is describing spiritual resurrection by the word of truth.
12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;
1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
That we should be kind of firstfruits of his creatures - James highlights the results of God’s goodness concerning his readers. The end is that they were the firstfruits of the great harvest of souls God would complete on the earth during the course of humans history.
Practical Application
Practical Application
Consider how the Word of God protects us against deception.
24 Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life. 26 I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. 27 But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.
Consider some evidences that you are questioning God’s goodness.
You have a growing joylessness
Complaining and grumbling becomes acceptable whether internal or external. There is a shift from the humble cry, “why?” to the arrogant thought of “this should not happen to me”.
You lose desire or seem to have a lack of purpose. You are passive in spiritual things.
Fleshy pleasure seeking
You are always seeking an escape mentally, emotionally and/or physically.
There is a consuming desire for a change in circumstances.
You exhibit impatience with others and/or do not have concern for their difficulties or challenges.
Consider the goodness of God and pray.
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
Consider the goodness of your salvation in Christ.
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,
Consider that you must be born again.
5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.