The Testing of Life 2

James 1:9-20

1 August 2007

Review:

I. Humble Perspectives 9-11

A. James gives us some practical insight here as we move along. In verse 9 he is saying “to be a Christian and to be poor” is an oxymoron. James 1:9 (NKJV) “ Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation,” This means someone who is lowly, afflicted, poor, brizoke… has a reason to be rejoice. In fact a better translation is to boast! If I look at someone with everything that I want then my attitude is going to be bad. If I look at someone with a big house, a nice car, lots of money, lots of friends, and think about how much I would like to have that stuff I am going to be disappointed. Pastor Bruce has been challenging us with this in his Heaven series. Colossians 3:2 (NKJV) “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.” There is something that we need to realize, that is that all this stuff is going to burn one day, or be left behind when we leave and it aint going to make a difference.

That is why James wants the “poor to boast, brag and make a big deal and show our confidence in our high position or exaltation.” 1 Peter 1:3-6 (NKJV) “ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials,”

We have everything in Christ. So if you are a Christian and you say you have nothing think about what you are saying. Colossians 3:2 (NKJV) “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.” Easier said than done, I know. Remember last week we are to “count it all joy” God is in control of our circumstances.

B. The wealthy are to rejoice when the trials come because like we talked about last week it helps them to see that there uttermost dependence comes from God and not wealth or material things. We are to find our true comfort and joy in God and all his glory. Because He is the only thing that is constant, He is the only thing that has sustaining power. James paints the picture for us with what happens to our material things. James 1:10-11 (NKJV) “ but the rich in his humiliation, because as a flower of the field he will pass away. 11 For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits.” Turn with me to ISA 40:6-8. As I was looking at these verses it made me think plastic surgery, liposuction, face lifts, Botox, oil changes, tune-ups, flat tires, broken bones, wrinkles, cracks in drywall, flooding, leaky sinks… everything is falling apart and we constantly have to fix things to make them look better. Everything in the world is deteriorating. If you go clear back to the first book in the Bible, Genesis, you see that God made everything good, in fact it was very good. Then man ruined it. The curse came into the world and jacked it up. Romans 8 talks about how the who creation groans for everything to be restored.

The overarching thing to see is, the world and all of brokenness gives us a picture of our relationship to God. BROKEN. Without Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior we are broken spiritually. It is worse than a broken bone, a flat tire, and wrinkles around our eyes. The outcome of death with Jesus is eternity without God and all His grace and mercy in a very hot place the Bible calls hell.

Nothing on this earth can satisfy us. If you have everything this world can offer be thankful, but don’t depend on it.

C. Higher Up!

If you tear down a sparrow's nest the bird will soon build the nest again in the same place as it was before. However, if you pull the nest down a couple times, the sparrow will seek a new place--a location that is higher up, and beyond your destructive reach.

Sometimes God's creatures are wiser than Christians. Too many Christians form dwelling places in this temporal world - places of security in money, relationships, power, fame, and status - only to see them pulled down time after time. Yet after each brief interval of hurt, frustrations, and pain, they begin building all over again in the same places.

They never realize that through their affliction the Lord is directing them to put their security higher up - not building here, but in heaven.

II. Persevere to the End 12

A. The bottom line is in all our trials and temptations are: “To keep on keeping on” The Christian life is not a sprint where the gun goes off and you are gone and done in a 100 meters. It is mile after mile, hill after hill, one foot in front of the other. And eventually we get to the end, we get to the finish line and get our prize. Romans 5:3-5 (NKJV) “ And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” The temptation to give in is all around us. We are bombarded with do what you want; there are no consequences. Yesterday Sara and I were at Wal-Mart and we saw a sign in the bank there that said “Great rates on a vacation loan.” That is such a ridicules idea to me. If you cannot afford to go on a vacation and you have to take a loan out to do it, you don’t need to be going on vacation. That is please yourself now society mentality. Here take this $5,000 loan out, go to Bora Bora, swim, snorkel, get fat on shrimp. Have a great time forget about your problems at home and enjoy yourself now. People want immediate satisfaction that is why there are 14 year old girls getting pregnant, people do drugs, people get drunk, and people have massive debt. They want what they want and so they get it.

It is the same thing with temptation and trials people may be strong at first. I am not going to drink this weekend, I won’t even go to the party… Well okay maybe I will at least go to the party so no one gets hurt and so I can be with my friends. Well I am here I might as well have a sip the next thing you know your puking your guts out in the toilet for the next hour because you thought you were just going to have a sip.

God wants us to endure to the end. He wants us to focus on Him no matter what the temptation or trials is and stay true to Him in doing so. We never know how long a temptation may last or how long we may have to live with some kind of sickness or how long people will ridicule us for believing what the Bible says… We don’t have to know we just know we are supposed to stay faithful to the end. For some that may be the death bed for others it may be the next day. He promises us something if we do.

B. He promises us eternal life. The direct translation here is Eternal life. We have to be careful here as we look at this. Those of you who were in SS here on Sunday what the one distinguishing factor is true Christianity has that no other world religion has. GRACE. Every other religion or belief system involves works at some point they say you have to do this to go to heaven or this or that. What James is saying and we will see it later in the book is this. Resisting temptation and not giving up on God in the midst of trail is not what saves us it is the evidence of our faith in Jesus Christ. Those who endure to the end will receive. We can all change our habits and behaviors to please the people we are around we can trick people to think that we are something that we are not. Eternal life in Heaven is only for those who have recognized that they are sinners and they can’t do anything about it. And freely accept God’s gracious gift of eternal life. Someone who has truly recognized their brokenness and their need for God can endure to the end. 1 Corinthians 10:13 (NKJV) “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” God’s word says what it says. We have to accept for what it says and live by it not the other way around.

III. Be Killing Sin or Sin Will Be Killing You 13-20

A. Okay I know you guys are very sad not having hear this saying in awhile. You have been crying yourself to sleep many a nights waiting for it to pour off of my lips into your ears “Be killing sin or sin will be killing you.”

James 1:13-17 (NKJV) “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. 16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”

Here is what James is saying. Our tendency when we sin our first reaction is to blame shift. “I had sex before I was married because my boyfriend made me.” “I got wasted last Friday night because my friends talked me into it.” “It is not my fault I gossiped about _____________________ my parents shouldn’t have told me about __________________ to begin with.” “I was talking about_____________ behind his back, but so was____________.” You see a few words in all of these responses that give us some real insight. The first thing to see is the word “I” the second is (because, it’s not my fault, and but…) we all use them. The bottom line is when I sin I am making the choice to disobey God. We say “Forget you God I am going to please myself, I am not going to trust in you for this.” Some people even go so far as to blame it all on God. “Well if God is completely in control than it is really his fault that I sinned.” That is bogus. God may allow trails in our life and when we take our focus of Him we end up sining. Look at the verses right there in your Bibles: “ 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. 16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.” It ain’t nobody’s fault but your own. Accept your sins for what they are. Ask God to forgive you, ask Him to give you the grace to repent and move on.

We all face temptation we all face trials look at v. 14 “BUT EACH ONE” When we are dragged away by our desires and being enticed by them. It is a lot like fishing: the fisherman throws the bait into the water, the fish desires it, he is enticed by it and then he bits the hook and then gets reeled in gutted and eaten. Yum Yum! That is the process we go through when we sin. Look at it like this: This is completely an illustration! Take me and Sara for example, she saw me and thought wow he is hot, smart, funny, cool I could go on forever, but I will stop there haha. She wanted to go out with me, I asked her out then we got married and she died in a sense to everyone else around her. She isn’t anyone else’s just like I am only hers.

Think about that with Sara and I and our relationship we did not just get married one day out of the blue. It was a serious of events. We saw each other, we talked to each other, we dated each other, we got to know one another. It was a serious of events that led to the ACT of marriage. When you are dating somebody you should always be looking at them and analyzing them. Is this who I want to spend the rest of my life with in sickness and in health. Dating has the potential to lead to marriage just like seeking your own desire has the potential for sin.

B. God being responsible for our sin is ridicules. It goes against the very character of God. Everything that you have that you enjoy is a gift from God. We never think about this in life. My car, my wife, my job, my paycheck, the Chinese I had for lunch, my mother, brother , dad, the laffy taffy I had when I got back from lunch, my cool awesome t-shirt, my bike, the air I breath, my ultimate Frisbee skillz, the canoe trip, my friends, my dog, my Bible, my cell phone, cold water, hot water and A\C. James 1:17 (NKJV) “ Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”

Absolutely every good gift that I have is by God’s grace that He shows me.

All this to say be thankful for what you have everything that you have because if it is good and you enjoy it it is a gift from God.

Job 2:10 (NKJV) “But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.”

Think about that verse in light of what we talked about last week and at the beginning of tonight’s lesson.

Conc.