Giver of Good Gifts
Notes
Transcript
It seems appropriate that we would look at gift giving - and the giver of all good gifts the first Sunday of Advent.
And as of Friday, we begin hearing Christmas music everywhere. I have been listening to Christmas music for a month already but now the world forces us to listen to the dumb Christmas music like:
Christmas Shoes,
Grandma Got Run Over by A Reindeer
Hippopotamus for Christmas.
Last Christmas… ugh
and while not as bad as any of those…
The 12 Days of Christmas…
I’ve convinced that song is full of terrible gifts to give. No one needs that many birds. And all those dancing ladies and leaping lords are clearly sinning…
And we all like good gifts… but when someone gives us a bad gift we try not to make a big deal of it - but if someone were to give you a partridge and a pear tree you might be a little perplexed - and certainly if they gave you any of the other gifts of that bizarre song - except maybe the golden rings - you likely might be tempted to do all sorts of sinful things. That many drummers drumming, that many different birds all cooing and cawing…
Just because you don’t like the gift doesn’t mean that it’s a bad gift.
geese laying eggs means food.
French hens make good pets… but also are good for laying eggs… and for dinner. So even though the song is annoying, and some of the gifts would be annoying - it wouldn’t be fair to call that a bad gift so much as a
How you respond to the gift, or the temptation to respond a certain way, isn’t the giver of the gifts fault. If someone gives you 12 days worth of noisy birds - you might be tempted to cuss at them… But that’s a you problem.
And this text brings us to the distinction of good and bad gifts. As well as the idea of the good gift giver - and how we respond to trial. One of James’ main points in this text is to demonstrate what God gives and what God doesn’t give.
There are Gifts that God Never Gives
and
there are Gifts that God Does Gift
Gifts God Never Gives
Gifts God Never Gives
As we begin to look at this section of James today, I want to look back first to verse 12. And so while Jim addressed this last week - Jim and I were a little divided on which section it belonged with - and coincidentally so are most scholars. So I am going to backtrack and glance at this connecting statement between the first section and the section we will be looking at today.
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.
And I bring this up because verse 12 serves as a connecting verse - one commentary even described it as the hinge between 2-11 and 13-18 - but also shows us the context of the temptation that is referenced in verses 13-18.
Yet as we traverse into verse 13-15, we need to remember that those who endure in the midst of testing and trial will be giving the crown of life. Endurance is a key to the Christian faith. The crown of life being eternal life is given to those who hold fast in faith in the midst of all of this life. We are saved by grace though faith in Christ Jesus, but endurance in the midst of trial is an evidence of that.
With in this background of trial - and remaining steadfast under trial, James further teaches the point of where trial comes from.
So he begins by teaches us the kind of gift that God never gives. That is temptation. God never gives us temptation.
You might think that temptation is not a gift… and I would agree but that’s the point but I also don’t think that 10 drummers drumming is a gift either.
13-15 - God is not a giver of temptation.
James gives as a proof that temptation does not come from God and then he gives two reasons for this:
God cannot be tempted with evil.
God tempts no one.
God does test us, and he does discipline us. But he does not tempt us.
Testing is an occasion that brings about the exercising and proof of faith. Where as temptation is that which leads one to desire to sin.
Temptation may often come during trial or testing. But they are not the same.
One example of this is that Jesus is tested by God in the wilderness, but he is tempted by Satan.
Temptation may also come from two sources. Temptation sometimes comes as a result of a spiritual attack from those who hate God who desire to see Christians fail - this could be a human party, or it could be a demonic party. But temptation may also come about because of the internal. We are sinful people, and sometimes we just really want to sin.
Ed Sullivan Show, 1970 - Flip Wilson sketch where he describes a conversation he is having with a preacher and the preacher begins to tell a story about how how his wife bought three dresses in a week…
The devil make me do it…
We cannot be of the mind that every time we fall into sin because we fell to temptation that the devil made us do it.
The devil didn’t open your mouth and cause your vocal chords to generate gossip. The devil isn’t the reason you drink too much. The devil didn’t log into your computer and put your credit card information in on that website and cause you to lust… though the devil very well may have created that website, or those magazines.
And James makes exactly this same point in verse 14
14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.
v. 14 - each one is tempted when by his own desire he is dragged out and baited.
So while temptations certainly can come from external sources - James is focusing on sins temptation and sins that arise from our sinful desires. Our desires are corrupted by our sin nature - that we inherited from Adam and Eve… sinful people desire sin.
15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
15 - child birth metaphor - but this isn’t a cute baby. The result of temptation and desire yield sin - not beauty. As the offspring of a drake is a duck so the child of sinful desire is sin. You cannot expect for temptation and desire to give birth to righteousness.
Yet the oddity of sin, is that it produces an ugly baby, and some can tell that it’s an ugly baby… while others unfortunately might find the sin breathtakingly beautiful.
Which is why sometimes we play with and entertain temptation to the point of sin… we fool ourselves…
5 more minutes of temptation and then I will pray, 5 more minutes of secret sinful desires and then I will read my Bible… But that is not how sin and temptation work. Rather indulging in that desire and temptation will yield sin.
And that produce of sin will bring forth death. And again this sounds very familiar to the language of Paul in Romans 6:23 where he teaches us that the wages of sin is death.
But again we think back to verse 12, where a blessing is spoken to those who remain steadfast under trial. And James’ language sounds quite similar to Jesus’ in the sermon on the mount… but instead of blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth - it is blessed are those who remain steadfast for they will receive the crown of life.
But the core of James’ argument is to understand where temptation comes from. It does not, and cannot come from God, but temptation does instead come from ones own desires.
verse 16 - transition statement to assert that anyone who might think that God is one who gives temptation, or that God might be tempted by evil is deceived. However, instead of thinking that God might be a tempter do not be fooled - understand that temptation is not the sort of gift that God gives. Which leads him into the sort of…
Gifts God Does Give
Gifts God Does Give
Compared to temptation which God never gives to anyone, James further states that every good and perfect gift is from God.
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.
God gives good gifts… he gives every good and perfect gift. He does not give Lords a Leaping… or more importantly he does not give us temptation.
It seems that James has also included a play on words here. There is not shadow due to change in the Father of Lights.
And this sounds similar to what John teaches us in 1 John 1:5
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.
There is no variation or shadow of change with God. He is immutable. God is perfect. Because he is perfect he cannot change, there is no room for God to improve or corrupt. And James makes this connection because it guarantees us that we can always trust this about God. God is unchanging so he will never change to give bad gifts. Or to affirm a more positive statement:
God will always and only give us good and perfect gifts.
So what are those gifts?
As we have already seen in James, in verse 1:5, his wisdom.
12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
His Spirit.
Though sometimes God gives us discipline and in the moment of discipline we may think of it as a child views socks or underwear on Christmas morning. It’s a good and necessary gift - but we don’t necessarily like it upon opening.
Yet the scriptures teach us that the discipline of the Lord is a blessing.
12 Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O Lord, and whom you teach out of your law,
And from that verse we learn that not only is God’s discipline a blessing, but so is that God’s word, and the instruction we gain from his word.
There are all sorts of other good gifts that the Father of Lights gives us such as those we would place in the category of common grace. The good things that he gives to everyone. Air, water… he causes it to rain on the just and the unjust. However, to catalog all of the wonderful gifts that the Lord has given us would take me more time than I have.
Just because we do not like a gift does not mean that it is not a good gift. There may be instances in life where a truly good gift seems like a raw deal - yet it still works for our good.
Verse 18:
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.
He has brought us forth. Once again, James refers to childbirth. But this child is instead a kind of firstfruits of creatures. This is not a unique illustration given by James, this brings up the same sort of language that Jesus uses in John 3 when he is speaking to Nicodemus - and tells him “unless one is born again he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
God’s good gifts: the regeneration of believers. That they might be born again. Given a new heart, a new life, a new flesh.
God’s will is what brings about the salvation and regeneration of sinners. By the word of truth - which is the gospel.
Firstfruits - this conveys language that is common to the Old Testament. The concept of firstfruits connects us to Passover and Pentecost. This is especially made clear when we see NT connections between firstfruits and our salvation.
The Feast of Firstfruits occurs on the first day AFTER the Sabbath that occurs during passover week. (See Lev. 23). To put this familiar calendar - if you consider the week of Jesus’ passion he died on passover, and he rose again at the Feast of Firstfruits. This feast of firstfruits finds it’s culmination at pentecost - 50 days later - when the grain harvest is completed. The concept of firstfruits are the first and best of the harvest of crops, produces, animals, and even firstborn sons. These things were devoted to God. And the regeneration of believers as the firstfruits is of how Jesus is making all things new but he has begin with the hearts of his people.
God is the giver of all good gifts, and yet the greatest gift that he has given is his son Jesus.
The Greatest Gift
The Greatest Gift
That’s what we celebrate at Christmas time. The birth of Christ - and yet we celebrate Christmas because of Easter.
That we might look upon the once crucified, now risen Christ and find our sins forgiven.
Forgiveness when we deserve wrath is a grand gift. The record of our debt cancelled because Jesus took our place is better than whatever is on your Christmas list.
We come to the table in a few short moments…
Do not come to the table if you are not yet a Christian.
Don’t eat Christmas dinner before you have opened your presents.
