Sermon Tone Analysis

The Birth of Sin

James 1:13-18

May 3, 1998

 

 

James 1:13-16

13        When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me."

For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone;

14        but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.

15        Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

16        Don't be deceived, my dear brothers.

17        Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

18        He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

Introduction

If you missed last week, we have begun a new series on the book of James.

We won’t explore every verse, but we will look at the major sections that are the heart of this book.

Now, this week’s scripture is closely linked to last week’s, so I want to take just a few minutes to review and draw the connection between the two passages.

*Last week*, we explored the exhortation to choose joy in the midst of trial.

In essence what James has said so far is that whenever we are faced with any kind of trial, we are left with a choice.

The trial may be the temptation to commit a particular sin or it may be to lose faith in the midst of some difficulty.

But regardless of the nature of the trial, we must choose how we will respond in the midst of it .

*Now, the choice exists for a very simple reason: we live in a season of warfare*.

On one side is God and the kingdom of righteousness.

On the other is Satan and the kingdom of darkness and evil.

Now the good news is that the war has been won.

Christ defeated Satan on the cross.

But like an animal that has been shot through the vitals, but hasn’t yet fallen, Satan continues to wage the battle and he will continue to do so until Christ returns and brings the war to an end.

In the meantime *we have a Father* who loves us and wants to use every trial and every opportunity for our good *and an enemy, Satan*, who hates us and wants to use every trial and opportunity to our detriment.

And we determine by our response in the midst of trial whether the result of that trial will be in the hands of God or Satan.

Last week, we said we can choose joy rather than anger or bitterness or disappointment in the midst of trial for three reasons: 1) Verses 3-4 tell us that we know God is for us and will use our trials for good, 2) In verses 5-8, we know God will give us the wisdom we need to overcome our trial if we’ll simply ask in faith, and 3) Verse 12 reminds us that if we persevere we will gain the ultimate reward - the crown of life - which is eternal life with Christ.

So *in verses 1-12, James emphasizes God’s activity* in the midst of trial and temptation.

Now, *in verses 13-18*, though he does continue to remind us of God’s goodness, James also *looks more specifically at the activity of Satan* in the midst of trial and temptation.

And in the process we learn some very important lessons about the relationship between temptation and sin.

The Responsibility for Sin

James begins in verses 13-14 by addressing the matter of who is responsible for sin.

And that’s a good place to start because *humanity has always struggled with taking responsibility for sin*.

I have a *pastor friend* in the Atlanta area who told me a story on his niece.

When she was 4 or 5 years old, her mother came into the kitchen and discovered that someone had eaten part of the chocolate cake she had left on the table.

From the mess, she could tell the crime hadn’t been committed by a professional, so, she went searching for the little girl.

Sure enough her mouth and most of her face were covered in chocolate.

Trying not to lose her temper and wanting to give her daughter the opportunity to confess, the mother asked rather calmly, “Honey, can you tell me who ate the chocolate cake?”

The little girl looked up and with a very innocent look on her face said, “It was a mouse.”

So, the mother pressed her, “Well, honey, if a mouse ate the cake, then why do you have all that chocolate on your face?” Without a moment’s hesitation, the little girl shot back, “I ate the mouse.”

Now, I don’t know where this little girl got her quick wits, but I do know where she got her aversion to taking responsibility for sin.

She got it honestly - she was born with it.

It started right in the garden.

Do you remember Adam’s response when God confronted him and Eve after their sin?

First of all, Adam blamed Eve, and then he blamed God.

He said, “This woman that you gave me.”

And ever since both the propensity to sin and the inclination to avoid responsibility has been passed on from one generation to the next.

Theologians call it “original sin.”

 

*But James wants to make it very clear here that God cannot be blamed in any way for our sin*.

He says, “God cannot be tempted by evil, and He never tempts us with evil.”

Evil is completely inconsistent with God’s nature.

*Now, we may be tempted to rush by this point because it looks so obvious*.

“Well, of course God does not tempt us with evil.”

But do we really know that?

Aren’t there times when we question why God allows certain things to happen?

Aren’t times when we question why God made us the way we are?

And don’t the questions themselves imply that we are not fully convinced that God’s purposes are always good?

Well, *James understood that his readers were asking those same kinds of questions*.

So he takes the time to encourage them - and in the process he encourages us - by reminding us that God is not even capable of evil.

That God would never try to draw us into evil, but that his purposes are always for our good.

Now, *the really interesting thing is that James also doesn’t put the blame on Satan*.

We can assume that Satan is involved, but James will not blame Satan for our actions.

So, as it turns out, Flip Wilson was wrong - “the devil doesn’t make us do it.”

*We are fully responsible for any sin in our lives*.

James says that there exists within each of us a sinful nature that is completely at odds with God.

And it’s this sinful nature that draws us into sin.

Now, without a doubt, Satan knows all about that sinful nature and he targets it mercilessly.

But Satan is not the source of our sin.

It is our own human nature - what the Bible calls “the flesh.”

*Now, as Christians, we are redeemed and the Spirit of God dwells in us*.

And God’s Spirit is much more powerful than our flesh, but our flesh does still exist.

And it can draw us into sin if it is not continually submitted to the Holy Spirit.

*So, James says first of all, that we are responsible for our sin* - not God, not even Satan.

We can only look to ourselves.

The Life Cycle of Sin

But then James goes on to explore the life cycle  of sin.

*And the fact that there is a life cycle is significant in itself*.

It tells us that sin never “just happens.”

There is always a process.

And in the case of sin that process is from temptation to conception to the birth of sin and ultimately to death.

*The fact that there is a life cycle is significant for another reason*.

Not only does it tell us that sin never “just happens,” it also implies that *the possibility of aborting the cycle always exists*.

But in order to see how it can be aborted, we need to understand the cycle itself.

*It begins with temptation*.

Now, this is an important point because *it tells us that temptation and sin are not the same thing*.

Now that may not be new revelation to some of you, but I can tell you from years of ministry that many people do not understand this point.

*I talk to people all the time who are hounded and haunted by guilt simply because they have had evil thoughts or evil desires*.

They mistakenly think that a good Christian couldn’t possibly have evil thoughts or desires.

The problem is that we sometimes forget that regardless of how long we have been saved, *the flesh still exists*.

And it’s in the flesh that these thoughts and desires live.

So, until our flesh dies or Christ returns, we will always be vulnerable to the desires of our flesh*.

But James doesn’t call the desire itself sin*.

He calls it temptation.

And what he means by that is *that our fleshly thoughts and desires entice us and lure us toward sin*.

The words he uses here were often used in* fishing* to describe the process of luring a fish to the bait.

*Now, I’ve loved to fish all my life*, so this image is a very graphic one for me.

I like any kind of fishing, but my favorite kind of fishing is bass fishing with topwater lures.

If you don’t know anything about topwater lures, these are lures that float on the surface of the water, and they’re supposed to resemble a crippled minnow that is struggling for life.

It’s the perfect late afternoon meal for a big, lazy bass.