Get Real -- James II

I want to remind everyone that we are in the midst of collecting our annual Annie Armstong Easter offering. Our goal as a church this year is to give $1000.00. This offering is great because every dollar given is directed directly towards supporting missionaries, church planters, and support groups around this continent and our nation’s territories. Let’s do what we can to further support Church planting and let’s try to reach or even surpass our goal!

James - Intro

Ok, so last week I bit off more than I could chew, I wanted to get all the way through the first 18 verses of the book of James, but we didn’t make it! We talked about Trials but we didn’t make it Temptation. Before we dive right in, let’s do a little review.

James was the brother of Jesus

James did not grow up a believer

James choose to not follow Christ before the crucifixtion and resurrection.

Jesus Appeared to James and Changed everything I Corinthians 15:7

James became a leader in the church

Paul and Peter went to James as their pastor

James made major decisions about the church, her doctrine, and her future

The Book of James was one of the first books of the new testament written

James was martyred for his belief in Jesus

James 1:1-18

Get Real

A Study in James

Through the Storms (James 1:1-18)

Real quick, how did you do? did you read the book James a few times this week? Did you remember? If so, Awesome! If not, well lets try again this week. You can do it! As Norm suggested Tuesday, maybe even commit some of These great passages to memory! Write God’s Word on your heart! It will change your life!

So we are looking at how to face the storms of Life, mainly Trials and Temptations.

James wrote to Christians to address several problems. Like, divisiveness, intolerance, favoritism, and the overpowering desire for wealth and power.

Last week we learned in order to face trials we need to have to Focus on Eternity. We have to look at what God is doing. In other words, we have to change our perspective. In reality, no matter the trial you are facing, if you ask God for Wisdom, ask God to show you what He would like for you learn from the Trial, He will help you through it. All you need to do is commit to prayer. Pray your way through that trial, seeking His wisdom.

Now, that just about covers last week and catches up to this week. We left off at Verse 12 of our passage. Let’s look at verses 12-15

James continues in Vs 12 by going back to his main point on how we are to deal with trials and temptations. The Storms of our lives.

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.

He begins to discuss the difference between trials and temptations. Trials are the things that come into our lives which may come from God that has a purpose of making us grow. Temptations come from ourselves or Satan.

Temptations come from ourselves or Satan.

Never from God. Sometimes though it is hard to know the difference.

He tells us that if we make it through the trials there will be a reward. Something on the other side of the storm to look forward too. Again, He is telling us to focus. We must focus on eternity.

We must focus on eternity.

There is the sun on the other side of the Storm. James reminds the readers of this letter to keep eternity in view.

We are told through the Bible that God often tests His children, but he never tempts them.

So what about temptations? How do we handle those? We Must Find and Identify the Source

We Must Find and Identify the Source

First we have to recognize where they come from so that we can understand how to deal with them. Temptations come from Satan and from us. They come from Satan because that is what he does. He tries to destroy what God has built.

Temptations come from us because we are sinners. We have a sinful nature. Even after we become a Christian we still have this sinful nature. This is not a popular idea these days. Our culture does not like the fact that humans have a tremendous capacity for evil. Our society believes that humans are essentially good and that the universe is a place of safety and support. All one has to do is look at a person like Vladimir Putin and see the folly in this kind of thought.

One author puts it this way, “James teaches us this: There are forces in us and around us that are opposed to God, and within us exists a bent to oppose God, to hide from God, to disobey. We may not like the fact that we have the capacity to sin. We may not like bearing the responsibility for our action. But however much we may wish it were not so, our wishing cannot change what is. And so James discusses this capacity for sin within us, because he does not want us to fool ourselves.” — anonymous

So how do you handle temptation? First you need to know what tempts you! This is different for everyone! You cannot defend against an enemy you can’t see.

A lot of Christians go to I Cor. 10:13 when discussing temptations.

1 Corinthians 10:13 ESV

13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

Is that really helpful to you though when you are facing your temptation. The one that seems to own you. The alcohol, the tobacco, the lust, the addiction, the television, the movies. Does this verse help you?

I have been in ministry a long time. Even before I went to college I was in ministry teaching children’s church and hosting Bible clubs. In college we had prayer groups that would meet, and we would share prayer requests and share our struggles and ask for prayer. I would often hear stories of guys who had, “gone too far” with a girl. They would say that this verse didn’t make any sense to them. They were in a dark basement with a girl watching a movie and it just happened. They say, “where was my way out?” The key here is this. There were numerous ways out, they just failed to see them. For starters, they could have stayed home, they could have chosen to not watch a movie in a dark basement at 2 in the morning when no one else was around!

To not give in to temptation takes work. Everyone is different. We each have different temptations and different ways of avoiding them. Some temptations are more dangerous than others. Some hurt only you and others can hurt your entire family or even your entire community. Maybe you are tempted to sacrifice your family time or your God time or your morals for an advancement at work, for some overtime pay. Maybe you are tempted to look at things that you shouldn’t, maybe you are tempted with things that could destroy your family and your life, maybe it is something smaller. Maybe you are tempted with food. If you are tempted by sweets, don’t have them in the house! Whatever the temptation, the best way to over come it is to remove it. Remove Temptation from your life.

Remove Temptation from your life.

I used to have a terrible soda addiction! I was addicted to Mountain Dew. I would drink between 8-12 cans of mountain dew a day! It was not until I got rid of all the soda in my house and stopped buying it, that I actually kicked the habit and got rid of the addiction. After a while, once I had beaten it, Mountain Dew took on a new flavor to me, I actually dislike the flavor, the thought of it makes me a little sick!

That is how all sin should be to us, what we once loved and desired, we should ask God to allow us to see it, smell it, taste it, hear it, as He does. O Lord make that which is detestable to you, also detestable to me!

You need to know what your buttons are. You need to know when you are most likely to give in to temptation. Know your weaknesses and make provisions to avoid them.

Know your weaknesses and make provisions to avoid them.

Flee from them. James says later in this letter, in chapter 4 verse 7, Resist the Devil and he will flee from you! that fleeing should go both ways I think! I am not running from the Devil, he should run from me as a Child of the King, But I will run from his temptations. David should have ran away from that roof top, Samson should have ran away from that Delilah, Judas should have ran away from those 30 pieces of silver. Flee from Temptation.

One more thing about temptation. Just because you are tempted to do something doesn’t mean you have sinned. The mall is a terrible place. Everywhere you look, you will find pictures of people not wearing anything. They are trying to sell wallets, watches, deodorant, cologne. Why naked people make people want to buy things is beyond me, but just because you have seen that accidentally, doesn’t mean that you have sinned. It is sin when you choose to act on what you have seen.

James 1:16–17 (ESV)

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.

James closes this part of his letter by saying that every good and perfect gift comes from a God who loves you. He puts eternity back in perspective by saying, here is the point, here is what I am saying, this is where good things come from. When we go through storms, it is important to remember eternity, to keep the big picture in mind. To ask the questions, what is God trying to show me?

Right now everyone in this room is dealing with some kind of temptation. Maybe it is gossip, pride, control, cheating, (financially or relationally), food, doubt, working to much, whatever! Maybe you are fighting those temptations on your own. You are being owned by those temptations because you can’t let go of them and will not allow God to work in your life to bring you out of them.

There is a way out. It might be very hard for you to choose. It might mean saying no to money, you might have to confront a friend that makes it easy to sin, you might have to confess for not being honest about something. What ever it is , you need to confess it to God and ask for God’s help to break free of that sin. The other side of making that tough decision is something better. The Sun on the other side of the storms are the gifts that God wants us to have. The life that he wants us to experience. So Let’s be Real with ourselves, Real with God, and Real with each other. God wants authentic followers.

We are going to celebrate Communion or the Lord’s Supper this morning. And I think it is important to read what Paul wrote to the Corinthians about Communion.

1 Corinthians 11:27–32 (ESV)

27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. 31 But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.

Paul and James, while their letters seem to be in disagreement about certain things, we will dive more into that in weeks to come, they are actually in complete agreement and are complimentary to each other.

In this, I know Paul and James are walking side by side in agreement. Before we take communion, before we remember the broken body and split blood of Jesus that was offered as a sacrifice for our sins, we need to take a moment and, as Paul says, examine ourselves. What sin and temptation are you struggling with? Choose to acknowledge it and confess it to God today! Why wait? Please do not eat and drink condemnation onto yourself this morning!

Let us take a moment right now to look inward. What in your life do you need to make right? What relationship should you, right now, get up and go make right? What person should you call and seek restoration? Let us go to the table of communion with a pure heart and a clear conscience. Let us enter the throne room of God and eat at his table with boldness, not because of anything we have done, but because of what Jesus has accomplished for us and what we have proclaimed boldly in faith. Let us take just a few moments right now to seek Him and His forgiveness and restoration.

Pause for silent prayer and reflection.

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 (ESV)

23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.