James 1:1-18

Intro

Hey y’all, welcome to the first Wednesday night back,

Glad to be back with you. I know we have some new faces here. SO I’m glad we get to kick off 2024-2025.

Seniors, last first night.

But I want to start this year off by looking at the book of James.

In doing so, I want you to think, what is your relationship with Christ like? some of you do not know Christ, some of you think you know Christ but you may actually not, some of you know christ but feel stuck in your walk, in stead of walking, you’re doing more standing. and some of you are walking faithfully, you just need some more shoes.

But the first thing that I want to tell you is that we walk together with Christ.

We do not walk alone.

In here, we are here to worship and to celebrate what the Lord is doing outside of these walls.

So if you feel alone in your walk, press in here, find your community through what we do in here. Find your people.

We are family.

Other thing, Christ is worth following. Our partners up north say, In all of life, for all of life. Christ is worth following.

My hope for you this year is that you see the goodness for who Christ is, and that in all of life, you would follow him.

Context

SO tonight we are going to be in James, and we’ll go through James for most of this semester. So if you have a bible go ahead and flip over there to James. If you don’t have a bible, throw a hand up and we will get one to you.

One of the things we want to do in here is have our bible, we really feel that it is important to have scripture in our hands. I know you can have it on your phone, but everything else is on your phone, which means distractions.

So if you need a bible, throw a hand up and we’ll get one to you and if you don’t have one at home, take that one home with you. We want you to have one.

So James 1:1-18, let me set the stage for you.

James is written by James

So who is James?

When he wrote this, he was one of the leaders in the early church in Jerusalem. But he wan’t always that.

James was also the half brother of Jesus, and he didn’t always believe in who Jesus was. This was his brother.

so this guy grew of with Jesus and didn’t believe him.

And We have some extra biblical sources that attest that James actually tries to get Jesus to come back home and stop being weird.

If this was your brother what would you do? If I had a brother that claimed to be God, I’d probably be weirded out too

James only came to believe Jesus was who He said He was after Jesus came to him after Jesus was resurrected, which is like the greatest “told you so moment”

But we see James went on to become one of the first christian leaders in Jerusalem.

Went from a skeptic to full on believer.

Then from believer and church leader to early church martyr.

not too long after this is written, James is actually beat to death by a mob in Jerusalem.

SO that is James.

And James is writing to Jewish Christians who are in Jerusalem and abroad. They’re kind of everywhere. verse 1 says to the dispersed.

What this tells us is that this is written not as a letter to a specific church of something like that, when you think of Paul’s letters, they are written to a specific church, about specific things.

James is different, this letter would have been circulated around to different churches.

One theologian said that it has more in common with the wisdom literature of the Old Testament than a pastoral epistle. That you can read it almost like you would read it like you might read Proverbs.

It’s general advice and best practices for a christian living in a hostile land.

Because think about it, christians who were jewish would have been kicked out of their families, the Romans were starting to take note of Christians, it’s only 30 years after the ressurection that Nero starts rounding them up, and this letter is written at around that time.

So this is a wisdom epistle. A letter of wisdom to those christians scattered and living is a hostile land. To the dispersed and despised.

So with that in mind. Let’s read this together, whole thing. And while we are reading it, think about how it sounds like Proverbs.

But before we do that, Let’s pray for our time in the word.

pray with me

pray

Cool, read this with me.

James 1:1–18 ESV

1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings. 2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6 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. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. 9 Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, 10 and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. 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. 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. 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.

P1 - Fight against the complacent life

Okay so I want you to note something here, this is where we have to read the bible very carefully, because if read the bible in a vacuum, if we pull small parts out of the bible we can do harm to one another.

The second verse is a great verse, but if we misapply it will turn us in to fatalistic robots, we will be come cold emotionless beings.

“Count it all joy, when you meet trails.”

Is that a good way to counsel someone who is going through it or suffering?

Like let’s say something bad happens to you in your life. You get pretty sick, or you don’t make the team or what ever? And someone comes up to you, sees you visibly upset and is like, “Hey, i see you’re having a hard time, but you really need to be joyful” and they point to this verse. If you were to smack them, no one is going to blame you.

Does God have a purpose in suffering yes, can all thing be used for His glory, yes, but remember God is outside of time and we are not,

Look even at the example of Jesus, when Lazarus dies, his old friend, when Jesus gets to Bethany and sees Lazarus sister, what does Jesus do?

Is he like, never fear, Jesus is here, no. Jesus weeps.

Jesus breaks down.

Knowing full well that he is going to raise him from the dead. Jesus weeps with the ones who are weeping. Jesus weeps.

So what is James getting at here?

Count it all joy.

Because think about it, christians who were jewish would have been kicked out of their families, the Romans were starting to take note of Christians,

Remember it’s only 30 years after the resurrection that Nero starts rounding them up, and this letter is written at around that time.

Is he saying, “Just take it on the chin, you’ll be okay.”

I don’t think he is saying that exactly.

I think there is an aspect of that.

But this tells us something about trials and tells us something about Joy.

When it comes to trials, James is saying to one,

be ready. This is not an if you experience trials, but a when.

Look what he says, Count it all joy, when you experience trials, when trials come.

I heard one pastor say it like this, James is the study guide for a resilient life, you want to have a life that is enduring, do you want your walk with the Lord to be stead fast? Do you want to spiritually endure? Here is what you do. Do these things, then when the test comes, you know the answers.

This is what the Lord is saying, that if you structure your life in this manner, this is how you should react. This will be what you fall back.

When they train pilots, they have to have a crazy amount of time flying, there have been studies on plane crashes, and pilots who are able to get out, and probably 95 % of the time the pilots who are able to safety land, it wasn’t because they remembered something the read in a book one time, or some one lectured them on, what they did was return to the training, the reverted back to their training. So that when the stress level gets ramped up, when it is now do or die, they are able to do.

James is saying, this is the training, this is how you fall back on the Lord, we say all the time, run to the lord in times of struggle and that is 100T% the right thing to do, James is saying here are some running shoes to help you get there.

So there is that. Trials are coming,

And Joy, I know he starts this off by saying Count it all joy, but this is the end goal. A steadfast life, and enduring life, a steadfast persevering life of following Jesus, leads to a life that is able to count it all joy.

The sanctified life leads to a joyful life that present circumstances can’t kill. That trials cannot corrupt.

Count it all joy.

P2 - Desire v Contentment

SO then here, James is going to spend some time painting a picture of a man at a cross roads.

So think about which path you are one or which path you might take.

Look at what James says, James 1:12-15

James 1:12–15 ESV

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.

One is blessed and one dies,

and in those terms we all what to say, of course, I’m going to choose the one that doesn’t lead to death.

But it is not always that simple.

James paints this picture of a man at a cross road. here is what the choice comes down to.

God or Ourselves?

The way he creates this picture is by looking at desire.

So here is the choice for all of us, this is choice we are given and it’s the choice the people James is written to would have seen as well.

Who rules our life?

Unchecked desire or Christ centered contentment?

Who is ruling? You or Christ?

And how do you know? What drives you?

Christ or your desire.

You or Christ?

When you boil it down. This is what it comes to.

P3 - What is Desire? Covetness Ex. 20 Romans 8

Desire -

So let’s define some words here, what is a desire?

What does desire mean?

Want? Like, I see someone eating Gravy biscuits from DQ, i will now desire gravy biscuits.

It can mean that,

It can also have long range terms like i would wager a good bit of you in this room desire to be married one day.

or you desire to go to college?

OR you desire to get a drivers license.

All of those things.

But this word here we translate it as desire, is the greek word for “Evil Craving”

Which kinda sounds weird, but this is what desire means in this sense,

any want or longing that displaces affections away from Christ. Anything that, refocuses your affections on something other than God.

Anything that refocuses where you get your joy from.

Look around at the world that we live in, our entire economy is made up of people wanting to create a sense of joy, they hit at your desires for something greater.

Do this when you go home and you’re watching what ever it is you watch, when you see a commercial, try to see if they actually advertise the product for what it does.

Like if it’s a coke commercial, are they saying, Coke tastes better than Pepsi,

Or Taco Bell, our tacos are designed to be better after 11 pm.

No Coke is literally Taste the feeling, Taco Bell is Live Mas.

They aren’t selling coke and tacos to you, they are selling the sense of Joy.

They are selling a longing for something.

I’m not dunking on coke and taco bell, they’re advertisement clearly worked on me.

But this is happens in our own mind.

We sell ourself on the idea that if just had this, if i just went here, if I could just drive this car, or have this device, or have this job, or have that girlfriend or boyfriend or make this team, or win this ball tournament.

Then my life would be joyful.

James is waring against that line of thinking, because where does it lead? It leads to death,

if you you make your whole life about fulfilling your wildest dreams or achieving your desires merely for yourself, then all you will have are those things.

And none of it will last.

What James is getting at here is that he is not warning against all desire, because you can have a desire to follow Jesus.

There are desires that lead to following Jesus closer.

That’s not the desires James is talking about.

Remember we said this reads like wisdom literature.

This reads a little like proverbs, if proverbs were an epistle.

You’d get James.

So If you were to go and just start reading Proverbs, with in the first 10 chapters there is a whole story about a young man being lured and destroyed by a prostitute. Desires that kill

James is picking up on this theme of unchecked desires, desires outside the scope of following Jesus. Following corrupted desires.

James is saying, don’t do that.

Christ is better.

Christ is worth more.

P4 - How do we fight unchecked desires? Truth & Trust

So how do we fight our unchecked desires?

Through truth and trust. By handing over your desires and asking Christ to change them, to make them more like his. To take your will and mold it in to his.

Look at verse 5 James 1:5-6

James 1:5–6 ESV

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6 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.

you want wisdom? You want truth? Ask for it.

Think of the wisest person that you know, for me that’s my dad, dude is a wealth of knowledge and wisdom. And I can go and ask hims stuff.

That is the sort of access we have to the father, saying come and ask me. He will pick up he phone.

Not only will he give you wisdom, he is asking for you to ask Him. He wants to generously give you wisdom. He will generously give you truth.

With out reproach, meaning, you don’t have to feel bad about asking, feel weird about asking, think you are not good enough to ask.

Ask the Father for wisdom and he will generously give it to you.

Count it all joy, and when it’s hard, run tot he father for help. When you don’t understand. You have the father.

I want you to understand that we have a father who is wanting us to ask, delights when we ask, and nothing makes him happier when we ask.

I’m a dad to a rambunctious little girl, and I love when she asks me for things. I want her to ask me things. It is a delight to have your two year old ask you things, and ask you for things.

and when she asks, i don’t hold back. if she asks for milk, i’m not just pouring her an almost empty glass, only full pours here.

How much more with the Lord give you when you ask for wisdom. that is what James is saying, that is the sort of access you have to the ruler of all things, to the king, to the eternal Father.

Then when we ask, trust Him that he will answer.

And when he does answer, trust that it is good.

We have to remember that we are still human, we still will not understand everything the Lord does. So when we ask we trust Him, we have faith in Him to do what is best. Not best in our finite eyes, but what is best in his infinite wisdom.

Timeless Truths: Christ is Greater and worth more than anything this world can throw at us. Our desires can destroy us if left unchecked.

So what does all of this mean?

Here is the question that James is starting with and the theme that is going to run through out this book.

What is authentic faith, and how do you know you have it? What this text is telling us is, that our lives and perspective should be one of endurance, a one of running to the father.

That trials that come are to test your faith, to proof your faith.

That the trials are there to make us rely on Christ. To run to the father. To turn our desires toward his desires.

Authentic faith, faith that is genuine is not focused on the temporary, but on the eternal. That trials do not destroy us but strengthen us. That our foundation is set on Christ.

Truth for us in this context: Desire is an all consuming pit. Our whole world has shifted to be a desire based world. Want this, want that. We need to cultivate a desire for fulfilment in Christ.

For us here, in this time and place, this text is saying, check your desires.

Ask yourself, what has your affections? What has your focus? Desire is an all consuming pit.

You can never have enough of this world because you weren’t meant to be satisfied by this world.

If you flip over to 1 peter, Peter paints the same picture James does but I love the imagery. 1 Peter 1:6-7

1 Peter 1:6–7 ESV

6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

What you have in Christ is worth more than gold, worth more than anything this world can offer.

Ask yourself, do you know christ.

As we start this new year, start by following christ, start by knowing him. Ask him for genuine faith, ask his to change you desires. Ask him to show you truth and to show you wisdom.

Genuine faith, authentic faith cultivates a desire to walk with Jesus.

Gospel - Christ is the one who was tempted in every way as we are, but without sin, who is the truth.

You only do that by walking with Christ, you can only have your desires changed by following Christ. We can’t do that on our own. We can’t satisfy ourself.

Christ is the one that does this.

We can’t do this.

This is the gospel. This is the good news. you were dead and made alive. Christ in your place.

It is not that you were bad and you needed to be made good, or even that you were good and you need to be made better.

But that you were dead and need to be made alive.

That Christ raised you out of death in to new life.

If you do not know Christ, you are dead in sin, nothing you can do can make a way out. But Christ, being rich in mercy, calls us in to new life.

That on the cross Christ died in your place, and in the grave he broke the chains of death and rose again.

This makes a way for us to have relationship with him.

That he is the only thing that is going to last. That all things will fade away.

So ask yourself, do you know Him? Do you know Him as savior and do you know Him as lord?

IF you have questions, come talk to me. Christ is calling.

Come see Christ as Lord, Come See Christ as king.

Y’all pray with me

pray