I. The Giver of Every Good Thing 00:01
Lord Jesus, we come before you this morning bringing our hallelujah before you, lifting up your praise, that in the midst of whatever part of our life we are in, we might declare your goodness. Help us to hear and see the things you would communicate to us this morning, and set us free by the word of your truth. In Jesus’ name, amen.
So it’s still a week for us as a church family that has this connection with our family in Selma, Alabama, Christ the King out there. For those of you who don’t know, they lost a young sixteen-year-old man who by all accounts was one of the many shining lights of their community, and they’re still wrestling with that. The funeral is coming up on Wednesday, and so a lot of our people are either there or are traveling there. And so I do want to start by just asking everyone to keep Selma in your prayers. Especially keep the Tier family, for those of you who know them. They’re wonderful. And we’re sending a bunch of our people over there that I would love for you to pray for, for traveling mercies in this time.
God’s moving powerfully in this season. And you heard the word from Thomas that really resonated with the readings this morning. Thomas was talking about the process that God does in our life, where he cleanses us of the things that would hold us back, where he prunes back the weeds that would choke out his purposes in our life. And the promise that we’re given in Scripture again and again is that if you will trust that process, then God will bring life to you. God will bring light to your life. And so for all of us here, especially those facing grief or difficulty, just remember that our God is the giver of every good thing. And as we walk through this, we can trust him to bring his purposes in our life to pass.
I have to preface our word today that way, because James is probably the most practical book of the whole Bible. He gets to the point. He’s like, “You can’t do this and do this. That makes no sense.” And he’s just very blunt with how he talks to us about our Christian walk. And so we’re going to be reading through our New Testament passage today, because he was obviously inspired by the Gospel as he was writing these things, and they all just meld together so well. But I say all that to say, there’s a real sense I want you to have as we walk through this, of encouragement and of peace, that God has won the victory, that he is bringing these things to completion in your life. And so even as we walk through James, where he’s like, “Hey, don’t be stupid. Be better,” that is awesome and great encouragement, unless you make it a burden, where you enter into a sense of guilt or shame over your ability or inability to fulfill the goodness of God. It really isn’t about your ability. It’s about his ability in you.
II. The Crown of Life 02:21
So let’s walk through this passage. We’re just going to jump right in with James chapter 1, beginning in verse 12. Now, those sharp-eyed among you may have noticed that we actually didn’t read verse 12 this morning; we started in verse 13. But I backed it up a verse, because I like this one to frame our discussion this morning. Verse 12 says:
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. James 1.12
When you’re trying to teach something, they tell you that you want to start, if you can, with the goal. You want to put on the top: this is where we’re heading. And it helps people as they go through it to get there. In fact, I love this comedian, Nate Bargatze. He’s lost weight recently, but he was a little overweight when he was making this joke, and he talks about the workout videos. They’re so inspiring. They show you these before and after pictures. And that’s what they’re doing in the sales pitch: they’re trying to show you, “This is the goal. It’s worth the cost to get to here.” But he makes the joke. He’s like, “Man, do they have a video for the before pictures? I’d love to get there.” You see the before, and he’s like, “That’s good enough for me.”
In our life, we tend to be the type of people who may fall into that camp, where we think, “Okay, I get it. There is a way of being awesome and amazing in this life, but I will settle for adequate if it doesn’t cost me as much.” We walk our life that way. And every advertiser actually wants that for you. They want you to do just enough to buy the thing, just enough to tune in and plug in to their slew of services and offerings. And we can get lulled into a false sense of contentment via Netflix and YouTube and DoorDash. We can make our lives very comfortable.
And in the midst of this, James is talking to a people who are not only in a much more difficult time than we are, with none of our modern conveniences or safeties, but also, to walk the Christian walk is a matter of life and death for them. It could cost them their life. And so what James is saying is, “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial.” What he’s saying is that when you’ve withstood the test in this life, you actually have an eternal reward. For us, we’re like, “Man, it’s really difficult to turn off Netflix and do something important with my life.” For them, it was like somebody could come knocking and take your family, and could take you away and throw you in the arena and feed you to lions.
The point here, though, is not to make fun of us in our comfort. Not that at all, actually. But to remind us of the very great goodness that God has laid before us, and to say: don’t settle. Because our lives are pretty good most of the time, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have so much more to live for. It’s made really clear in times of grief or tragedy or trial. The Tiers don’t need to be reminded that there is more goodness that God has for them, because they are desperate for it right now. They are desperate for comfort and hope. But we, in the midst of our daily lives, need to remind ourselves every day: let’s run the race to win the prize (1 Cor 9.24). There’s a crown of life. We don’t know how good our life can be with God. So I just wanted to start there. There’s something we’re racing towards.
III. God Tempts No One 06:44
And then he goes on and says, in verse 13:
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. James 1.13
Yes, I know God will test us. We’ll get to that in a second. I was reading this meme the other day, and it had the text that said, “God, I know you save your hardest battles for your strongest warriors, but man, this is just too much.” And God’s reply is, “This is not my hardest battle. You are one of my weakest soldiers. It’s just an email. Why are you crying?” I don’t mean to hit this too hard, but we are living a life that can miss the point because it’s so easy, and at the same time it can be unbelievably hard, so that people are dying for an ounce of encouragement. And so I’m not here to say that you guys are weaklings, you guys are not good enough, and you need to just be better. What I’m here to say is: you don’t know how good it can be. And if you’re in that moment of desperation, have hope, because God is not going to tempt you to evil. He’s going to test you to eternal life.
And so when we look at this and we say, “Well, God’s not tempting us with evil. What does that mean, if he tests us but he doesn’t tempt us?” Well, one of the church fathers put it this way: “Any testing which comes from God is for good, not for evil.” Think of the pruning that we were talking about earlier. “It is quite otherwise with the devil. He tempts in order to kill those whom he has tempted.” Well, that puts it in clear relief. Think of that quote. All the things that you are tempted to do that are not of God are a trap. Every single thing that’s outside of God is actually a path to death. So when we think about this, those shiny traps, those things that call to us: “But I just want this. It just looks so good, if only just for a moment.” All those things are actually leading us to death.
And yet we flirt with our sin. We have our guilty pleasures. And I’m not talking about if you like Nickelback. I’m not judging; it’s okay. Guilty pleasure, that’s fine. It’s not going to kill you. I am talking about those things that we justify in our hearts because “I worked really hard this week,” or “I deserve more respect,” or any list of reasons why we are acting in a way we know isn’t good.
And if you want to know what good is, well, let’s just define it really quick. We’re told that good is loving God, loving our neighbor, and then you can do whatever else you want. Dang, that’s hard. Dang, it’s hard to love always. You mean in the middle of the night, when the baby’s crying, we have to love? For those of you who don’t know, I have a four-week-old. This is a very relevant message. Do we still have to love each other when the baby’s crying? Absolutely. Do you still have to love each other when it’s unfair? Rowan was just telling me yesterday. He goes, “Dad, it wasn’t fair.” And so he took it into his own hands, pushed his brother out of the way, and took what he wanted. It’s like, “It may not have been fair, but what you did wasn’t good, and that matters far more.” And I tried to explain to him, “Yeah, well, life isn’t fair.” You’ve got to tell him that over and over again, because something in us thinks we deserve more from life. Which is such a double deception, because actually you’ve been given everything by the goodness of our God. And yet we think we have to fight to get more from life. It’s so silly, and yet it’s so tempting. But just remember that the temptations, the things that you’re being led to, flipping off that guy on the freeway, all those things are a trap. They’re leading to death.
IV. Lured and Enticed by Our Own Desire 11:06
So think about this. James clarifies:
14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. James 1.14
So what is the devil’s tool in your life to get you to do wrong? The things you want, your desires. And yet at the same time, God gave you your desires so that you could desire him. So the same levers that get you to give up your life to Christ are the levers the enemy tries to play, so that you can waste your life on pleasure and temptation and doing it your way, having it your way. So it all comes down to our desire.
In fact, I thought about the enemy. His only tool really is that, because he cannot overwhelm your will. God will not overwhelm your will; he’ll let you do what you want. The enemy cannot overwhelm your will. He can only advertise. He can only point you in a direction. He’s like Don Draper, but infinitely more subtle, infinitely more ingenious. You think about Mad Men. He’s the ad man. He’s tricking people to buy these products, and that’s the whole point. Well, guess what? The enemy has been doing that for 6,000 years that we know of. He’s got a lot of practice.
But you know what? It’s the worst game, because this is what he does to you. He goes, “You see this shiny thing that God told you not to do?” And it could be anything. It could be thinking of yourself more highly than you ought. It could be speaking disrespectfully to somebody. It could be taking what’s not yours. Whatever it is, that thing that God told you not to do, he’s like, “Just do it. It’ll feel so good.” And then the minute you do it, he goes, “You are terrible. You deserve to die for that.” And it’s like, hold on here. You can’t have it both ways. But that’s the point. It’s a lie. It’s only a lie. It’s the stupidest stuff. I put it in here, and if my kids were here, they’d say, “Oh, he said the S-word.” I know. It’s worth it. It’s that bad, that I have to use the S-word to describe what the enemy does. It’s stupid.
So you think about these things. He rigs the game, because he wants you to do what he says, and then he wants to condemn you to death for it. God’s exactly the opposite. He says, “Do what I say. Give up what you want. Do what I want.” And you just have life, and more life, and life abundantly. And that thing you wanted isn’t any good anyway.
So Augustine puts it this way (and he’s talking about lust for anything, lust for money, lust for any sin): “It is like this: lust coaxes and coddles you, it excites and urges you on, positively encouraging you to do something wrong. Do not give in and it will not conceive. If you ponder it willingly and with pleasure, then it will conceive and give birth, and you will die.” It’s a simple equation. I like how he puts it there. All this flowery language, and it’s like: you will do it, you will conceive, and you’ll die. That’s it. Hesychius (nobody knows who that is, but I like saying fun names) says simply, “The desires of sinners are the birth pangs of death.”
Everything is about what you want. It’s like what Moses says in Deuteronomy. We didn’t read it today, but it’s a great passage that goes with all this. He says: before you today are two choices, life and death; choose life (Deut 30.19). And when you choose life, guess what? You want more life. But when you choose death, a twisted thing happens, and you tend to choose more death.
V. Not Too Strong but Too Weak 14:17
Verse 15:
15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. James 1.15
That’s what we were just talking about. But truly, God’s plan is not to have you be the ultimate in asceticism. Your job is not to become the person who says no to everything you want. There are philosophies that teach that. Stoicism, Buddhism will fall into that, depending on what you’re… There are many philosophies that say all you have to do is give up what you want: don’t desire anything. But I like instead what C. S. Lewis writes. We’ve quoted it here many times, but it starts to work on you as you think through it. He says, “It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us.”
That’s a better worldview. I like that better than “Just say no to everything you want.” Self-denial? No, it’s not just self-denial. It’s sacrificial living, giving it up for the prize of infinite goodness and joy. It’s better than that. He puts this forth: “like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
And if you don’t understand that, have some kids and you’ll understand it. They have the thing they want, and it doesn’t matter what else is happening. “Rowan, let’s go to Legoland.” “No, I want to play with my car.” Where’s the disconnect here? There’s something so much better. And that’s why we talk about the truth setting you free. Because where’s the disconnect? The disconnect is between the reality of Legoland, in this analogy, and the deception of this toy that he wants. It’s like, “Put this down, and you can get this.” The truth will set you free (John 8.32).
VI. Every Good and Perfect Gift 16:43
And that’s why James goes on to say, in 16:
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 1.16–17
So that’s the lie of the enemy: that he has anything good to give. Because we’re just told here, actually, every good thing is from God. So what has he got? Nothing. He has nothing for you. Tricks and deceit, that’s all.
VII. The Tree Farm Salesman 18:03
There’s this trope in movies, and this is a story to kind of illustrate how we relate to God. Imagine the classic Hallmark film. I didn’t give them names; I should have given them names. Daisy Buchanan. I think that’s actually a real person, from The Great Gatsby. But this girl, Daisy, had a big-city job where she was super successful, but something went wrong in her life, and she’s going to her hometown, and she’s so upset about the hometown and what’s going wrong in her life. And then she runs into this guy, and he’s a classic… you know, he’s a tree farm salesman, of course, or a Christmas tree salesman. And so they run into each other, and they have some sort of fight over whatever’s going wrong in their life. And the whole movie kind of revolves around this idea that she doesn’t like the guy. But then, you know what? He’s really nice to her disabled niece. And so she’s like, “Yeah, maybe there may be something more there.” Little does she know, he’s actually a millionaire. Well, I guess billionaire nowadays. He’s a billionaire, and he’s funding her project, and he’s making everything good for her.
But then she thinks he does something wrong, and she blows up at him, and she never wants to see him again, even though she was falling in love with him. And then in the end, everybody from the whole town comes out, and she realizes, “Oh my gosh, every good and perfect gift has come from the tree farm salesman.” It’s like, yeah, okay. That is a story that resonates with us. And then they live happily ever after. They end in a marriage feast.
It’s God. You think you’re doing great, you’re just chugging along, and then everything goes wrong, and you don’t like God at that moment. No, no, no, we don’t like him when everything goes wrong. But little do we know, he’s making everything good in our life. And no matter what our relationship is, as he woos us, as he invites us into intimacy, as he invites us to be provided for and loved, we start to see, “Oh man, there’s something there.” But in the end you find out: actually, everything is there. Every good gift, every perfect thing, everything that’s good in our life comes from him. Hallmark movies are great. He’s way better than the Christmas tree farm salesman.
VIII. A Kind of Firstfruits 19:54
Okay, everything that we have that’s good in our lives, we can thank God for. And anything in our life that is not good, we can ask God for help with, because he’s not sending it. That’s part of the point James is making: you don’t have to blame God for the evil in your life. You can ask him for help. He came to defeat evil. Not just him, but in you: he’s going to defeat evil in you. It’s so good. We change from anger to love to indifference every day. He only does good things for us. It’s not like anything you’ve ever known. He’s just always pouring forth goodness.
And then the last verse, it says:
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. James 1.18
So first of all, “of his own will.” So how good are you? No: how good is God? Of his own will he’s bringing us forth. And how does he do it? With the truth that sets us free, so that we’re not deceived by the ad man, the devil, Don Draper or worse. We’re not deceived by all these flashy lights and baubles that are put in front of us, by the weeds that would tear us down. And this doesn’t even have to be cheap commercialism. Even the worries that you have for the safety of your kids can be sin, can be just a trick from the devil: “If you worry more, maybe they’ll be better off,” instead of, “Can you give your cares to God?” So I don’t want to just focus on cheap commercialism here. But the truth of God will set you free from all that.
And all of this is so that you can be a firstfruit of his creatures. All of this so that you can be sons and daughters of God. It is like a Hallmark movie where she discovers she’s a princess. It’s like the other one, the other Hallmark movie where she discovers she’s a princess. That one happens all the time. It’s like us: we have discovered that we are God’s children. Who should we be afraid of? We are sons and daughters of God.
And one more step further: we are living not our own lives, but Christ is living in us. So it’s not really even about you. He has chosen to walk his life through you. Let him. It’s so much better than the ad man. It’s so much better than the enemy, who will distract and destroy. And in the end, all of us, when we see him face to face, will know him as he really is, because we will be fully known. What does that mean? That means that we will actually want what he wants in our life. We will be so transformed that we’ll be like Jesus when he says, “I don’t do anything I don’t see my Father doing” (John 5.19). We’re all on this journey. And in the end, you know what? We all get what we truly desire when we give it all to him. Amen.