Have We Trials and Temptations?- James 1:1–18 (Part 2)

Have We Trials and Temptations?- James 1:1–18 (Part 2)

James 1:5–8

Last week we examined James 1:2–5 and focused on this main thought: God-centered living views trials as maturing-gifts from the Master.

We learned that there is a specific state needed to view trials as maturing-gifts from the Master, and this involves a biblical view of God and requires a state of joyful contentment, all realizing the goal by the hand of God to bring us to maturity.

But if you are like me, you immediately think: this isn’t possible! Sure, I can see being late for an appointment as an opportunity to reflect on the gift-giving hand of God in that trial.

But to think this way when I find out my car, my only means of transportation, is not working? Or, when sickness has pillaged my home for months?

Or, when my closest friend has betrayed me?

Or, I have doctors appointments one after another?

Or, I have cancer?

That is when “considering it all joy” seems impossible. And as I mentioned last week, it is humanly impossible. The word but appears at the beginning of verse 5, and what a wonderful conjunction this word is!

Because James is going to help those of us who do not have this view of trials. This view of trials, God-centered living which views trials as maturing-gifts from the Master, can be shorthanded with the word wisdom.

If we need to live God-centered lives which view trials as maturing-gifts from the Master, we need wisdom, because we do not have it.

But what we need (i.e., wisdom) we cannot get on our own. This wisdom, this view of life, is unattainable to a human being.

But we are not just human beings, we are, as James reminds us, brothers, slaves of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

But if any of you lacks wisdom…here is what you need: wisdom. And thankfully:

God-centered living depends on wisdom from the Master

I. The Need Stated- 1:5a

“But if any one of you lacks wisdom…”

We should, or need, or must have a God-centered view of trials as maturing-gifts from the Master.

However, we lack that wisdom. It is a need we have.

Let us consider how broad this need is, how perpetual it is, and finally how humbling it is.

A. The Need is Broad

Our need for wisdom, particularly as it relates to viewing trials as gifts from the hands of our Master, is broad. In other words, it covers every individual in every circumstance.

Were we to take the time this morning, we could come up with one thousand different instances in which we need this wisdom.

The need ranges from the mundane to the mammoth.

We need this type of wisdom when the cashier accidently charges us for the bananas twice and we have to go back to get our $45 back. We need it when the website takes forever to load up. We need it when we have to make a late-night run to Walmart for our kid’s project due tomorrow.

The need for wisdom covers the mundane, but also the mammoth. That is, those catastrophic events (several of which I have already spoken). We need wisdom when a loved one dies, or we receive terrible news from the doctor, or an accident occurs.

The need for wisdom is broad. As we align our views with a God-centered focus, every situation (i.e., trial) will be another demonstration of our desperate need for wisdom. The need is indeed broad. It is also perpetual.

B. The Need is Perpetual

The need is for the now and then.

We will not spend much time on this point, but will remind ourselves that our entire lives on earth present us with an innumerable amount of trials, and each of those trials is a demonstration of the need for wisdom. It is a perpetual need, because of the regularity of the trials themselves, and also because we are works in progress.

There are days where we find obeying the Lord easier. There are other days where serving the Lord is far more challenging. For example, let’s say your power goes out at 1:00 am, and your children wake up and do not go back to sleep. Your tiredness will make it harder to live a God-centered life. The need for this wisdom is perpetual.

But the need is also perpetual because some trials are life-long trials.

Because our needs our broad and perpetual, they are also humbling.

C. The Need is Humbling

The need points us away from ourselves to God.

This need is a reality for us. It is not really a matter of “if.” We need wisdom, and we are reminded of our shortcomings, or slow growth, our failure to be mature disciples of Jesus Christ.

No doubt the recipients of the letter to the Hebrews felt this way when Paul wrote to them…

Hebrews 5:11–12 “About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food,”

The need for wisdom is clearly stated in James and positively evident in our daily lives. But the need for wisdom points us to the Need Meeter.

II. The Need Meeter- 1:5b

We saw in part 1 that God, according to James, is a remarkably gracious and kind God. It makes sense, then, that, knowing our need, we turn to the Need Meeter.

In this half of verse 5, we get a glimpse of the Need Meeter, and in this brief discussion we have a warm invitation in the midst of our need for wisdom.

A. The Meeter’s Condenscension

Our familiarity with God and the Bible can limit our appreciation for the wonder of this phrase, “…let him ask of God…”

We, fallen and finite creatures, have the unimaginable privilege of asking God for help. The Son of God teaches a similar thought in Matthew 7:10–11.

Matthew 7:10–11 (NASB95)

“Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he?

“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!

God hears us. He condescends to us. You have a need, you have a Need Meeter who will hear you. But as marvelous as this is, God could hear us but simply ignore us. He does not do so, because He is gracious.

B. The Meeter’s Graciousness

He gives to all generously, or sincerely, or liberally. There are none who, upon genuinely asking that will not receive wisdom. His offer is a gracious offer, and it matters not if you have been saved for 5 months of 50 years. It does not matter if you are a man or a woman, boy or a girl, spiritually mature or immature, a deacon or teacher. He is gracious to all.

Again, these are wonderful, but what if the Lord was short? What is He became irritated with our constant barrage of requests for wisdom? But He is not so, He is gentle.

C. The Meeter’s Gentleness

“Without reproach…” is how James describes God’s answers to our need for wisdom. He does not find fault with us. He does not say, “Again!? You need wisdom again!? Did I not give you My Word and My Spirit and my salvation through My Son!?”

No, He does not find fault in us. He knows exactly what we are: His children in need of His wisdom. He is gentle. This point in particularly is sweet and so convicting to me as a parent. There are times when I can become irritated at my kids for asking for help with something. Our gentle God is not so. The Need Meeter is gentle, and oh how this gentleness invites us to ask for our need for wisdom!

But all of these things, as marvelous and wonderful and soul-stirringly sweet as they are, would be meaningless if God did not answer our requests for wisdom. But this concern is forever eliminated because of the Meeter’s Genuineness.

D. The Meeter’s Genuineness

“And it will be given to him.” We need wisdom, James says ask God, and we will receive wisdom. It is truly that simple. It sounds similar to the brother of James, in Matthew 7:7–8

Matthew 7:7–8 NASB95

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

Our Need Meeter is genuine in His invitation to ask for wisdom. But there are certain requirements, however, though not difficult to meet they be.

III. The Need Requirements- 1:6–8

When we hear the word “requirement” we may be tempted to despair, for how can we who lack wisdom meet the requirements to obtain wisdom?

But do not be discourage, the requirements are easy (echoing, no doubt, the words of the Lord Jesus in Matt. 11: 30).

There are two needs, one assumed and one stated.

A. The Need Requires a Humble Realization

This need for humility will appear in James many times (1:10, 4:6, 10 specifically), and woven throughout the letter (see sermon notes).

Humility in James Chapter 1: 1:1- slave (or servant) of God 1:5- acknowledging a lack of wisdom 1:9–10- economic humility 1:12–17- the possibility of deception acknowledges our failure to know everything or offer true evaluations of life 1:18- humble acknowledgement that our salvation is from God and not ourselves 1:19–27- realization that without a Word-based, Spirit-empowered life, we deceive ourselves

The need assumes humility, it is a humble realization that we both need wisdom and that the need is met outside of us. This is the assumed requirement, but James gives us a stated requirement: wholehearted faith.

B. The Need Requires Wholehearted Faith

Wholehearted faith, that is, faith that both knows the Need Meeter’s ability and believes that the Need Meeter’s offer is genuine.

Any other response is sin. It is a doubt, either of the ability of the Need Meeter or the genuineness of His offer. This includes, by the way, using ourselves as possibilities for the failure to obtain this wisdom (i.e., a person like me could never have that kind of wisdom!).

“Here ‘faith’ refers not to initial belief, but to a continuing confidence in the identity and nature of our God.” (Blomberg and Kamell, 52)

“To doubt his character can also imply that a person is unwilling to trust God with their life or that they do not believe that he is who he claims to be.” (Blomberg and Kamell, 52)

God-centered living depends on wisdom from the Master