James 1:1-18
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Let this messy life lead you into joyful, whole hearted devotion to God.
Let this messy life lead you into joyful, whole hearted devotion to God.
Every feel like this? [Mess slide]
Quote about life being messy
Life is messy! Amen?
Life is messy! Amen?
What do we do with this messy life?
Christian - life not supposed to be messy. Supposed to be sorted. Must be doing it wrong? How can we make sense?
Start series in James. Messy church. As we open up James worth bearing in mind he is writing to group of churches, probably predominantly Jewish converts, but most facing extreme poverty and persecution, but his desire is to help them to see what it looks like to live for Jesus, live out faith amidst the mess.
What makes James hard to read is that he switches between topics very quickly without a clear flow, as he addresses practical matters, and yet through it we get a clear message.
What God says to us is this
Let this messy life lead you into joyful, whole hearted devotion to God.
READ v2
Do you? Consider it joy? When life gets messy? When car drive through puddles and soaks you on walk from school? When you get given another assignment. When you have a bad day at work. When you or someone you know gets sick. At loss of loved one. When someone takes a dig at your faith?
Joy?
[Stereotypically smiley Christian - through gritted teeth] ?
Not sort of Joy he’s talking about. PURE JOY. Intense, defining, inexpressible. Sort of Joy that surpasses circumstance.
Let this messy life lead to joy. How? - Consider context James writes to.
READ v1. Probably mostly jewish Christians, scattered all over the place. Facing persecution, poverty, forced to live outside city. Where is their joy to be found?
READ v3-4.
Where is joy to be found in the midst of trials of every kind. What if I told you these trials are not just random or chaos but being used by God for a good purpose. World is fracture and broken, and often so are our lives. And without anything else, that is enough to send us into despair. But what if, God in his goodness, out of the chaos promises to produce order and beauty in you - that will last forever. That’s exactly what verse 3-4 is saying.
Word for “testing” same word used in reference to refining gold or silver. Put into fire, remove the rubbish, and whats left it pure, perfect.
A Gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials”
In these verses, written the brother of Jesus - whose family member was brutally killed, and who himself shortly after writing will be martyred. In these verses we find most astonishing truth and profound truth. That God in his sovereign power and control, cares so much about you - his people, that he works all things for your good.
Notice verses don’t say if you have faith you’ll be healthy and happy. You’ll have a comfortable life. You won’t have any hiccups or loss or tragedy. No far better. Faith produces perseverance - and that perseverance will one day finish its work and you will be - mature and complete. full. Spiritually whole. Needing nothing, because you will be everything you are supposed to be and have everything you could ever want - in God himself.
We go through things that we may never understand the why’s. And they are awful and sad and heartbreaking. But God is not surprised by them, and rather than destroying us, God wants to use them to make us the people he designed us to be. Whole hearted, committed, complete, perfect.
How do we know - because every good gift comes from above. From our maker. He doesn’t change. The one who broad order out of chaos in the beginning will continue to do so. In our lives before doing it finally in the world.
That is the heart of Christian faith. Not about getting a better job, better car, better life - but realising that everything we could ever truly need is found in God. God who stepped into the brokenness in the person of Jesus to rescue and restore. Easter tells the story of the one who faced death and beat, who showed that the end of the story was not really the end - but as Lord of history he has begun a process by which he will restore all things.
Ice sculptur crafting means knocking away.
What doesn’t kill you will make you stronger.
If you let God own it, and trust him with it: What doest kill you will make you stronger.
[Last week saw how end is not really end but the beginning. -and v18 tells us that]
How do we know. Because that is the heart of God. Bringing order out of chaos.
That’s the gospel in a nutshell. new birth through gospel of grace that we might be the start of his new creation. Rest is yet to come. But means God’s greatest goal for us is that we’ll be wholehearted, Spiritually full, mature, complete, disciples, who love him wholeheartedly and whom he has prepared a place for?
Why?
READ v16-18.
Why? God is a good giver, who doesn’t change. He doesn’t seek to trip us up but to build us.
The God who made the word, the giver of every good thing, who does not change, made this plan. He chose to rescue - and to those who trust him, he gives new life - what is this new life - its just the beginning.
We might be a first fruits of all he created. God is in the process of restoring all things - making perfect again, never to fractured or broken - and its starts with us.
And how does he do that. Well a large part of the time through trial. Trials that produce perseverance as we keep trusting him in the things we don’t understand, and through that he produce Christ like character.
We might be a first fruits of all he created. God is in the process of restoring all things - making perfect again, never to fractured or broken - and its starts with us.
And so what does he want for us? What is he achieving through allowing all these trials. - that these tests of faith - act like a refining process - so that our perseverance may produce in us spiritual wholeness - mature. Complete. That we might find all we need in Him. That we might live this messy live with him in charge. Knowing that in all things he works for our good. So that through these trials we may learn to stop looking to put our hope in other things, but may put our hope solely and completely in him. Then we will be fully mature.
James is one of the most practical letters of bible. What does it mean to actually live this messy life full of trials. 3 very practical things he wants to show us in chapter.
But thing about trials is they aren’t so easy. I wouldn’t call them joyful. What does it means to go through trials and experience joy? James is most practical letter of NT, and in this section introduce 3 ideas that he’ll draw out through rest of letter, but all of them are about how we deal with this messy life in a way that leads to joy!
In this messy life...
In this messy life...
Don’t despair - look up!
Don’t despair - look up!
Trust that God works for your good
READ v5-8
Where are we to go when trials come? When everything around us seems to be falling, fractured. When we’re trying to make sense of it all?
James urges us to go to a generous God.
Really important we read verses carefully. [mistakes made: missing line 1 of v5 - and substituting word “wisdom”, or redefining wisdom as worldly thing. Which numbers on the lottery? [11+ illustration]
Not a blank cheque!
context is key. v5 relates to v4.
“Wisdom is the means by which the believer can both discern and carry out the will of God in any given circumstance.”
Proverbs one - book of wisdom starts - Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
Proverbs one - book of wisdom starts - Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
Wisdom is about a right understanding of who God is and a desire to whole heartedly follow him.
That is what God wants of us, and what this is saying is that God doesn’t ask of us anything that he won’t provide the resources for!
God doesn’t ask of us anything that he won’t provide the resources for! When a believer respond to trials with a confidence in God and determination to endure - he will produce in us wholeness of character, that lacks nothing - but how can we know what that response will look like. When world say fight or flight. When around us wants us to abandon God?
We need wisdom,. Real wisdom.
SLIDE
“Wisdom is the means by which the believer can both discern and carry out the will of God in any given circumstance.”
So often our problem is that we say we want to be more like Jesus, but in our lives, our hearts are all over the place. And our prayers in the quiet really look more negotiations. We want to be more whole heartedly devoted to God, but we don’t want to give up anything to do it. And it sapps the life out of our prayers.
Wisdom is about knowing who God is, what he wants, and how we can live for him in any situation.
James - is your greatest desire to know God, and live for him completely?! Do you want to know God more that you may live for him. Do you want to be Spiritually whole, so that you lack nothing and bare the image of Jesus?Then ask God, without doubt and without hesitation, and without another agenda, and he will generously give you what you ask for - but don’t expect it to come without trials, but also don’t expect it to come without the most immense joy.
What does his generosity look like? Verses above. God’s desire is to bring us to complete maturity and spiritual wholeness in a fractured world. He wants us to share this desire.
What he is saying is this. Do you want to grow in your Spiritual maturity? Is it your greatest desire to know God;s will and obey it? Are you longing to be made perfect, to reflect that character of your maker Saviour and Lord? Then ask God, without doubting and he will give generously!
Is that what you want? Or do you desire most of all comfort of this life. With a free pass at the end. Challenge. What do our prayers echo about our greatest desire?
When hard times role in - do we ask God do fill us with joy as he moulds and shapes us into the people he wants us to be. Or do we just ask that he’ll give us back our comfort,
Warning. danger, Double minded = double souled. We talk to God, while putting our hope in world things. But that person can expect little in answer prayer. Or growth, or wisdom. Instead we’ll find constant insecurity and doubt.
What does James urge us to do? Look up. Put our hope in God alone. A good God who wants to prepare us for perfect eternity, and who so desperately desires whole hearted believers that they may enjoy him forever,.
Is that your desire? In this messy life - look up!
Don’t fret - look forward!
Don’t fret - look forward!
When thinking about Money
READ v9-11
Seems a bit strange to
When thinking about money
One of greatest threats to a single minded commitment to God, and to unity with each other is money. It’s a great dividing wall in society and in our souls.
Even more true for Jame’s readers - James writing to Christians all over the place, experiencing on the most part extreme poverty, probably exploited but those with money, and looked down on. One of trials for these believers would have been real poverty. - but also the way it was used to shame and humiliate and exploit.
How are Christians to handle the topic of money?
How our world works to some extent. Money is this measuring stick in society. It’s one of the greatest causes of anxiety, stress, tension. If you don’t have any more, you worry about how to get it. If you do have money you worry about how to keep it and get more. Our world is obsessed with money.
But what we see in these verses is that James
But James says - don’t fret - look forward. Quite often in his letter he echos teaching of His brother Jesus. If you brother is God you would!
But
But
Where do you find your value?
Read v9. Tempting for us to always be chasing after a little more money - doesn’t matter whether we have, none, a little or a lot. Somewhere we think it if we just had a bit more money, life would be sweet.
James wants to give us a gospel perspective, and eternal perspective on wealth. And it’s radical. Believers with nothing should take pride in the fact they have everything. What he is saying in this - Poverty is a perfect opportunity to express utter dependence and satisfaction in God alone.
And if you have money James says - take pride in your humiliation, find your value not in your stuff but in your God. Because your stuff soon goes away. Eternity is the great economic leveller. Even as you go about your daily business, you are one day closer to losing it all.
How does this fit in with what he is saying about how we live this messy life. Don’t fret - look forward - to eternity. What is waiting for the most poverty stricken believer believer?
Read v 12 - A crown of life. To those who love Him more than money.
How are Christians to handle money - don’t fret look forward. Let an eternal perspective drive how you think about money.
Uganda - Christians who had so little were so happy - because they truly valued what God values. How hard it is to be a Christian when you have nothing - No! How hard it is to be a Christian when you have everything. How dangerous a position to have so much that can lead you from the one you really need.
Where are you placing your dependence?
READ v12
Don’t blame - look again!
Don’t blame - look again!
When seeking Wisdom
When thinking about Money
When facing temptation
READ v13-15
We live in a fractured broken and messy world. We see it in our own lives. Our lives are messy partly because world is fracture but also because our hearts are fractured. We have gone looking for life in all kinds of things. We give our hopes and dreams over to money, sex, power, success, achievement. - Yet when it all goes wrong...
Where are we to go when trials come? When everything around us seems to be falling, fractured. Whe.n we’re trying to make sense of it all?
Read v13-15
To a generous God. - READ v5-8
We love to play blame game. V. first sinners Adam and Eve did it. Adam Perfect world - everything they every needed. Relationship with God.
But when tempted by Satan, Adam and eve rejected God. But straight after what does Adam do? - this women you put here with me. It’s your fault.
God doesn’t ask of us anything that he won’t provide the resources for! When a believer respond to trials with a confidence in God and determination to endure - he will produce in us wholeness of character, that lacks nothing - but how can we know what that response will look like. When world say fight or flight. When around us wants us to abandon God?
Don’t blame look again. Linked very closely to trial - sometimes temptation IS the trial, but often temptation comes with trials. When life gets tough, we turn to escapism. Looking for anything to make us feel better, and doubt God’s goodness. But what is at the heart of messy lives? A messy heart. Teased by sin which on face value looks attractive and entices us.
SHOW picture of fish
We need wisdom,. Real wisdom.
Fishing. What makes fishing successful? Bait, or a lure - entices the fish in to take the hook. Wants its hooked, it’s dragged to capture and frying pan.
SLIDE
“Wisdom is the means by which the believer can both discern and carry out the will of God in any given circumstance.”
picture of fish on plate
Wisdom is about knowing who God is, what he wants, and how we can live for him in any situation.
Important that we ready these verses in context. Been misused to preach that with enough faith God will give health and wealth but not what they are saying. God does not offer us a blank cheque ready for us to fill in whatever we want.
Satan tempts us with sin - and we desire it. Let’s be clear - being tempted is not a sin. Jesus was tempted in the wildness. And nor should we blame God for tempting us. v13. God allows trials, but he does not tempt us into sin. Yet how easily we blame God when we mess up. James say look again. v14-25
Why do trails lead us into sin? Why do trials lead us away from God? - Our own evil desires, lead us down a slippery slope, as we are enticed by Satans hook, that is wrapped in some attractive false shell.
What does his generosity look like? Verses above. God’s desire is to bring us to complete maturity and spiritual wholeness in a fractured world. He wants us to share this desire.
Our fractured hearts, that should be devoted to God instead go after other things. And we soon hooked and dragged to our Spiritual graves. The bait might be different for each of us.
And we soon hooked and dragged to our Spiritual graves. The bait might be different for each of us.
What he is saying is this. Do you want to grow in your Spiritual maturity? Is it your greatest desire to know God;s will and obey it? Are you longing to be made perfect, to reflect that character of your maker Saviour and Lord? Then ask God, without doubting and he will give generously!
A girl is enjoying time with her friends, laughing and talking, then they start talking about that other girl. She doesn’t really like that girl so she doesn’t mind listening in, she doesn’t need to say anything. But soon she entertains the horrible things they are saying about her, and her thoughts become words as she joins in the gossip. It seems harmless until the girl they are talking about overhears and runs away distraught and betrayed.
Is that what you want? Or do you desire most of all comfort of this life. With a free pass at the end. Challenge. What do our prayers echo about our greatest desire?
A married man notices a beautiful women in the street. He admires. But then his evil desires turns admiration into desire for a women who is not his wife. Sinful thoughts start stirring his mind, and instead of turning away he lets thoughts entice him. Before long his thoughts dictate his actions, and soon whats left is broken family, and a ruined man.
When hard times role in - do we ask God do fill us with joy as he moulds and shapes us into the people he wants us to be. Or do we just ask that he’ll give us back our comfort,
Warning. danger, Double minded = double souled. We talk to God, while putting our hope in world things. But that person can expect little in answer prayer. Or growth, or wisdom. Instead we’ll find constant insecurity and doubt.
v14-15 again. Not just talking about one off mistake but slippery slope into an habitual life of addictive patterns - that lead further and further away from the God who made us - into spiritual death.
What does James urge us to do? Look up. Put our hope in God alone. A good God who wants to prepare us for perfect eternity, and who so desperately desires whole hearted believers that they may enjoy him forever,.
Don’t blame - look again. Look again at yourself - and where you sin comes from.
Is that your desire? In this messy life - look up!
But look again at God. Read v16-18
Why is it are enticed by sin? Because it looks attractive. But why does it look attractive. because somewhere we have believed a lie that God is not the giver of every good and perfect gift, and that God is not enough. And that what sin offers will be what we need.
Out fishing on Friday. Slow day. Tried different parts of lake, different tactics. Why didnt we catch. You won’t catch fish if they aren’t feeding.
What is that will stop us falling into sin, being enticed. If we are already satisfied with God and what he offers. If we face trials with a right perspective knowing that however hard they are, he is using them to grow us and make us complete, preparing us for a perfect new world. Look again at God and his good gifts. Look again at the new birth he has given you through the gospel of grace. Look again at his word of truth which offers life.
Let this messy life lead you into joyful, wholehearted devotion to him, and let him produce in you fruit that will last forever.
Interesting James turns to money,. Believers majority in poverty
When thinking about money
One of greatest threats to a single minded commitment to God, and to unity with each other is money. It’s a great dividing wall in society and in our souls.
For James readers, there would have been a huge gap between poor, majority and rich.
How are Christians to handle the topic of money?
READ v9-12
Where do you find your value.
Uganda - Christians who had so little were so happy - because they truly valued what God values. How hard it is to be a Christian when you have nothing - No! How hard it is to be a Christian when you have everything. How dangerous a position to have so much that can lead you from the one you really need.
Where are you placing your dependence?
READ v12
Look away from sin v13-15
Look away from sin v13-15
Read v13-15
We love to play blame game. V. first sinners Adam and Eve did it. Adam - this women you put here with me. It’s your fault. But what is at the heart of messy lives? A messy heart. Teased by sin which on face value looks attractive and entices us.
Fishing. What makes fishing successful? Bait, or a lure - entices the fish in to take the hook. Wants its hooked, it’s dragged to capture and frying pan.
picture of fish on plate
Satan tempts us with sin - and we desire it. Let’s be clear - being tempted is not a sin. Jesus was tempted in the wildness. We might be tempted by a good thing. We might notice the beauty of another person. No bad thing. But it’s when our own evil desires take and corrupt. Suddenly a slippery slope.
Our fractured hearts, that should be devoted to God instead go after other things. And we soon hooked and dragged to our Spiritual graves. The bait might be different for each of us.
A girl is enjoying time with her friends, laughing and talking, then they start talking about that other girl. She doesn’t really like that girl so she doesn’t mind listening in, she doesn’t need to say anything. But soon she entertains the horrible things they are saying about her, and her thoughts become words as she joins in the gossip. It seems harmless until the girl they are talking about overhears and runs away distraught and betrayed.
A married man notices a beautiful women in the street. He admires. But then his evil desires turns admiration into desire for a women who is not his wife. Sinful thoughts start stirring his mind, and instead of turning away he lets thoughts entice him. Before long his thoughts dictate his actions, and soon whats left is broken family, and a ruined man.
v14-15 again. Not just talking about one off mistake but slippery slope into an habitual life of addictive patterns - that lead further and further away from the God who made us - into spiritual death.
Look happy! v2,12
Look happy! v2,12
in all this. As we look to him, trusting that through trials he is at work - seeking to know and do his will, he will give generously, through a life time, producing in us perfection - ready for a perfect life in a perfect new world. Surely thats something to smile about!
Word for “testing” same word used in reference to refining gold or silver. Put into fire, remove the rubbish, and whats left it pure, perfect.
What doesn’t kill you will make you stronger.
Read v13-15
We love to play blame game. V. first sinners Adam and Eve did it. Adam - this women you put here with me. It’s your fault. But what is at the heart of messy lives? A messy heart. Teased by sin which on face value looks attractive and entices us.
Fishing. What makes fishing successful? Bait, or a lure - entices the fish in to take the hook. Wants its hooked, it’s dragged to capture and frying pan.
Satan tempts us with sin - and we desire it. Let’s be clear - being tempted is not a sin. Jesus was tempted in the wildness. We might be tempted by a good thing. We might notice the beauty of another person. No bad thing. But it’s when our own evil desires take and corrupt. Suddenly a slippery slope.
Our fractured hearts, that should be devoted to God instead go after other things. And we soon hooked and dragged to our Spiritual graves. The bait might be different for each of us.
It’s what we do with it that problems start. Our fractured hearts, that should be devoted to God instead go after other things. And we soon hooked and dragged to our Spiritual graves. The bait might be different for each of us.
A girl is enjoying time with her friends, laughing and talking, then they start talking about that other girl. She doesn’t really like that girl so she doesn’t mind listening in, she doesn’t need to say anything. But soon she entertains the horrible things they are saying about her, and her thoughts become words as she joins in the gossip. It seems harmless until the girl they are talking about overhears and runs away distraught and betrayed.
A girl is enjoying time with her friends, laughing and talking, then they start talking about that other girl. She doesn’t really like that girl so she doesn’t mind listening in, she doesn’t need to say anything. But soon she entertains the horrible things they are saying about her, and her thoughts become words as she joins in the gossip. It seems harmless until the girl they are talking about overhears and runs away distraut and betrayed.
A married man notices a beautiful women in the street. He admires. But then his evil desires turns admiration into desire for a women who is not his wife. Sinful thoughts start stirring his mind, and instead of turning away he lets thoughts entice him. Before long his thoughts dictate his actions, and soon whats left is broken family, and a ruined man.
That heart of the Christian faith is about a God who stepped into the brokenness in the person of Jesus to free us from the hook. He came to rescue and restore. Easter tells the story of the one who faced death and beat, who showed that the end of the story was not really the end - but as Lord of history he has begun a process by which he will restore all things. \
Why?
READ v16-18.
Why? God is a good giver, who doesn’t change. He doesn’t seek to trip us up but to build us.
The God who made the word, the giver of every good thing, who does not change, made this plan. He chose to rescue - and to those who trust him, he gives new life - what is this new life - its just the beginning.
We might be a first fruits of all he created. God is in the process of restoring all things - making perfect again, never to fractured or broken - and its starts with us.
And so what does he want for us? What is he achieving through allowing all these trials. - that these tests of faith - act like a refining process - so that our perseverance may produce in us spiritual wholeness - mature. Complete. That we might find all we need in Him. That we might live this messy live with him in charge. Knowing that in all things he works for our good. So that through these trials we may learn to stop looking to put our hope in other things, but may put our hope solely and completely in him. Then we will be fully mature.