Call to Commitment

 

Gold refined in the fire

James 1:2-18

 

Trials and patience

      2.      My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 

            3.      knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 

            4.      But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. 

James begins the instruction in his letter by pointing to the benefit that only comes from being put to the test in various ways. He teaches that a Christian should be joyful for it, because it produces patience. In Romans 5:3-4, Paul writes the same, but instead of using the term, count it all joy, he says, we glory in tribulations, and then gives a series of virtues, stemming from tribulation, in which the Christian should glory. He agrees with James in that it will work patience, then goes on to say that patience works character, and that in turn produces hope: “We also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.” 

 Peter uses the same term as James, various trials, which in themselves are not pleasant, but he views it as the testing of faith: “Now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire” (1 P.1:6,7). He compares it to the refining of gold by fire, which is done to take out its impurities, leaving it in its purest form. Therefore, tests are not given to see how much the believer can endure, but rather one which brings him into a higher, purer level of faith.

 The writer of Hebrews agrees with Peter that the immediate reaction to trouble is not joy, but pain: “Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (He.12:11). Discipline is not necessarily a punishment for wrongdoing, but something that God works in us, because of the benefit that will result. We must learn to “count it all joy” in trials, concentrating on the benefits that can only be obtained through them.

 The apostles give us a perfect example of the principle of being joyful in tribulation, after they came back from the council, before whom they were whipped. They did not feel good, as they received the blows on their body, but “they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name” (Ac.5:41). We learn from all these sources - Paul, Peter, Hebrews, the apostles in Acts, as well as James - that there are priceless treasures, produced by various trials. Knowing of them, we can find joy, when we go through them. Mark Mathes wrote the following words in a beautiful song:

“Sometimes it takes a mountain, sometimes a troubled sea,

Sometimes it takes a desert to get ahold of me;

Your love is so much stronger that whatever troubles me,

Sometimes it takes a mountain to trust You and believe.”

 

 As we have learned, both James and Paul teach us that one of the products of suffering is patience and the original Greek meaning for this word (hupomoni) would be patient endurance. In Matthew 24:13, the verb form is translated endure: “He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved” and in Revelation 1:9, the noun form translates patience, when John writes to the churches of his joint participation with them “in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ.”

 He is writing of an attribute of Christ that is working in him and in them. Patient endurance is a Christian possession in Christ that will insure their salvation. John Wesley commented that “patience is in every pious man already. Let him exercise this, and ask for wisdom.” It is not the person’s personal endurance that will save, for that would mean that only the person, who is resolutely strong, by his own nature, could obtain salvation. The salvation, which is anchored in Christ, gives enduring patience to the weak.

 Verse 4 encourages us to not cut the trial short, but to let it finish its work. Perfection in this passage means two things: completion and maturity. A work is not perfect, unless it is allowed to continue until nothing is lacking. Then it is complete and arrives at maturity of character. Warren Wiersbe comments: “Immature people are always impatient; mature people are patient and persistent. Impatience and unbelief usually go together, just as faith and patience do. “Be followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises” (He.6:12).

 

Asking for wisdom in faith

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

6.      But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 

7.      For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 

8.      he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. 

 The Christian’s wisdom must come from God, and he arrives at godly wisdom, not through mental labor or intellectual study, but through prayer. God will generously give to those who ask in faith. It is wonderful truth that He will not rebuke him, when he comes, scolding him for past sins, excluding him from the wisdom that he pursues. It is a malicious work of unbelief to exclude the petitioner; it argues, “wisdom is available to others, but not to you.”  James guarantees that He gives to all and gives liberally.

It must be established in Christianity that God is not involved in correcting or improving natural abilities. I suspect that the lack of prayer in many people and churches, is due to misunderstanding in this area. This is true of every Christian virtue. Let me briefly lay this doctrine before us by referring to two key Bible verses: The first is Galatians 2:20: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (KJV). The second is Colossians 1:27: “To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” 

 Read these two verses carefully to see what Paul is teaching the believer. His life and theirs is brought to crucifixion, and in their place, the indwelling Christ has come. We live by His resurrection life.  I maintain that the old King James Version holds closer to the original sense in this verse. Paul does not live now by human faith, but by the faith that comes from God, according to His word. In the verse in Colossians, a mystery that Paul makes known among the Gentiles, is that Christ’s life within us Gentiles is our hope.

 Let us see what the apostle John teaches in his first letter, chapter 5, verse 11: “This is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.” God does not give us eternal life apart from His Son. Then He says in the following verse: “He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” Totally in agreement with Galatians 2:20, because Christ lives within, His life, which is eternal, is ours. Because He lives within, we live by divine faith.

 In John 14:20, Jesus affirms, “I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” Therefore, the preceding verse is true: “Because I live, you will live also.” He prays to the Father, in chapter 17:21 and 23, that this will be a reality in His disciples: “As You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me… I in them, and You in Me.”

  He goes on to teach the disciples that His virtues will be theirs: “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you” (Jn.14:27). In the next chapter, 15:11, He speaks of His joy in them: “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in You and that your joy may be full.” In John 17:13, Jesus is also praying to the Father, concerning His joy: “That they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves.”

  His greatest divine virtue in the believer is the love of God. Again we find it in His prayer to the Father in John 17:26: “I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them” (John 17:26). Declaring unto them His name means that He revealed to them the character of His Father. In the Bible, a person’s name characterized him and He showed His disciples that God is love: “He who does not love does not know God, for God is love” (1 Jn.4:8). 

In John 15:9 and 10, Jesus taught His disciples that Christian love is not human, showing us that He does not improve on our natural love, but gives His love to us: "As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love.” There are other examples in John 13:34 and John 15:12.

 The great doctrine of divine love versus human love, displayed in Jesus’ talk with Peter in John 21:15-17, is not distinguished in many translations. In this portion, Jesus asks Peter twice, if he loved Him with agape love, which the Amplified New Testament defines as reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion, as one loves the Father. Peter responded that his love was phileo, the Amplified describing as deep, instinctive, personal affection for You, as for a close friend. The third time Jesus asked by using phileo, and Peter was saddened and hurt (Amplified). He could not measure up to the love that Jesus desired to see in him.

Jesus told the Jews, that their religion did not produce in them, what He wanted to see in people: “I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you” (Jn.4:42). In the same way, Christian wisdom is not inherent in a human being, but must be acquired in prayer from above. In future studies, we will study another kind of wisdom, which James teaches “does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic” (Jm.3:15).   

 We notice in verse 6 that James, as Paul, taught the doctrine of faith, assuring that wisdom will be given to all, but insisted that faith be genuine, something more than a verbal confession. It is faith that does not give place to doubting, unbelief endeavoring to exclude the petitioner, as we learned in the first paragraph in this section. The sea is a good analogy for this condition, with its waves, rising and falling as they are carried by the wind, an epitome of instability. Peter, on one occasion, was told to go in faith with the Gentiles, who came for him, to enter the house of a Gentile, and minister to him and the Gentiles gathered with him, “doubting nothing”. This was the great act of faith that opened the gospel to non-Jews.

 It is this faith, to which the Lord so strongly encourages us in the Gospels: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives…” (Mt.7:7,8). Notice the inclusiveness taught by the Lord… everyone! From that point, Christ continues, comparing the goodness of the Father in heaven, to that of earthly, imperfect fathers. He concludes, “How much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” (Mt.7:11).

 Verse 7 declares that the man, driven and tossed by waves of unbelief, cannot expect anything from heaven. God only requires one thing of us and that is that we should approach Him in faith. To come alive and into salvation happens by faith and through faith we live throughout our Christian life. On the other hand, “Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (He.11:6). There is no other way to see our prayers answered.

 The Greek word dipsuchos occurs here and in James 4:8 and nowhere else in the Bible. I think you will not have trouble discerning the literal meaning of the word, if we divide it in two parts… di and psuchos. Di means two and psuchos, is the word, from which we get psychology, which means the study of the soul. Psuchos means soul, therefore dipsuchos means two souls. The double-minded man is not totally given over to God, but has another outside interest, which he has not been willing to forsake. In James 4:8, he and others like him are counseled, “Purify your hearts, you double-minded.” The other element in his life is an idol and it is destroying his faith and leaving him with doubts. The only remedy is to leave the other interest behind, and seek God with singleness of heart!

 

Exaltation, humiliation and temptation

9.      Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation, 

10.  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. 

12.  Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. 

13.  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. 

18.  Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures. 

 In Luke 3:4-6, the evangelist quotes Isaiah 40:3,4, in which the prophet foresees the ministry of John the Baptist and the principle behind his ministry. His work is to level the ground to make a highway into the heart of man: “Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill brought low.” This was done in a material sense in Jerusalem at the beginning of the church there: “Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need” (Ac.2:44-45). They did it on a financial level, but the lowly person also found respect and acceptance among the believers. The rich were not given any special preference. James recognizes the same principle, speaking to the poor and the rich brother in Christ. 

 James covers various areas of the Christian life and the following area concerns resisting ungodly temptation. Although the Greek word is the same in verse 12, as it is in verse 2, and the translation in the KJV is the same… temptation, the meaning is obviously different. The significance in verse 2 refers to the trials of life, which God definitely permits and even orders, and is therefore better translated trials, as it is in the NKJV that I am using in this study. In verse 12, ungodly temptation, causes us to turn away from God, so it obviously, does not come from God. 

 The man who turns to God, when he is tried, and does not sin by giving in to his own desires, will be rewarded. He has been approved, as one who loves the Lord, and will be rewarded with the crown of life. John records Jesus saying, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him” (Jn.14:23). He will “render to each one according to his deeds: eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality” (Ro.2:6,7). We will see that James often refers to the fruits of faith in the life of a true believer.

 More than one person has come to the false conclusion that God laid before him an opportunity to sin (v.13). I remember the confession of a simple shopkeeper in Mexico, who discovered that a customer, by mistake, gave too much money for the merchandise that he bought. She gave thanks to God, thinking that He was behind the mistake. Wrong! I remember another illustration of someone with a need for $200, who discovered a purse. He looked inside, searching for the name of the owner, so that he could return it, and found $200. Could it be God meeting the need? Wrong again!

 The principle of verse 14 has come to life in both cases. A growing, spiritual succession is set in motion through temptations: 1) “He is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.” 2) “When desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin”, 3) “and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death (v.15).” Notice that there is a conception, a birth, adulthood, and death in this succession. When desire is put to action, a conception takes place, producing in time a birth. Over years, from infancy to manhood, the malignancy grows until death finally results. There is time allowed to put an end to the results of selfish desire at each stage. There is time to say “no” to the desire, before it conceives. If it has reached conception, there is still time, before it comes to birth, and then, there is time to cut it off, before birth reaches maturity, and finally before life comes to an end, there is time for repentance.

 No, we need to confront and reject the deception that blames God for our sin (v.16); on the contrary, the immutable God always gives good and perfect gifts. He is good in the giving and perfectly sees that the gift is complete. He is the Author and Finisher of His gifts. They come from a holy heaven and give light and not darkness. He hates darkness and loves light; He hates lies and loves truth. We can count on His faithfulness and His generosity, for He must act according to His nature. He does not vary, that is, He cannot divert from His ways, by even giving an appearance, a shadow, of evil intention (v.17). 

 James declares in verse 18 that He carries out His purpose, according to His eternal will.  I will refer to John 10:1 by saying that He brought us through the door of the sheepfold by the word of truth (10:9). Jesus is the door, He is the truth (14:6), and His word is truth. We are born into His purpose, by the new birth, according to John 1:13, and become part of the church of the first born (He.12:23). “A kind of firstfruits”: By faith, we have come under God’s favor, grace, protection, care, and salvation, over all the rest of creation, and have become entirely His. Says Jamieson-Faucett-Brown: “Christ is, in respect to the resurrection, “the first-fruits” (1 Co.15:20, 23): believers, in respect to regeneration, are, as it were, first-fruits (image from the consecration of the first-born of man, cattle and fruits to God; familiar to the Jews addressed), that is, they are the first of God’s regenerated creatures.”