James 1 (vs 1-15)
Sermon preached at Gospel Light Christian Church, Singapore
by Pastor Dr Paul Choo
on 23 January 2005
Introduction: Today we begin preaching through the Bible. Topical teaching/preaching will be mostly done on Tuesday nights.
Sunday preaching must be practical (rather than academic) and produce servants for God (rather than scholars) because the “labourers are few” (Matthew 9:37). We begin with the book of James because the theme of this book is “Practical Christian Living.” The Book of James was the first New Testament epistle written. This fact is significant because Christians should first and foremost be practical Christians. This is especially important for Singaporean Christians because Singaporeans are good at studying in classrooms but not so good at putting to practice what they learn in the classrooms.
There are ten practical lessons in James 1, today we will learn the first five, namely, Equality in God’s Family, Importance of Sufferings, Praying the Fool, True Equality and Source of Sin. :
1. Equality in God’s Family (vs 1, 2):
James was the half-brother of the Lord Jesus Christ (Galatians 1:19) and the leader of the Jerusalem church (Galatians 2:9, Acts 15:13), yet he calls himself “a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ” and addresses other Christians as “my brethren.” Irrespective of what we are in the world (Dr, General, Prime Minister), in God’s family we are just brothers and sisters who are God’s servants. Other than the God ordained positions of Pastors, Elders and Deacons, there are no other positions in God’s family. In our secular families, other than the family positions of grandparents and parents, other family members are just brothers and sisters (not “Dr” etc). Indonesians, Filipinos, Madagascans, etc. are all our brothers and sisters.
2. Importance of Sufferings (vs 2-5):
Some things are best learned in classrooms, some in laboratories, some in the workplace, some through social interactions and some through sufferings. The phrase “diverse temptations” (v.2) is best translated as “various trials,” ie, different types of difficulties, obstacles and sufferings. When we go through trials we learn humility, endurance, discipline, dependence on others and God, sympathy for others, etc. These lessons are not easily learned without trials. These character traits make us “perfect and entire, wanting nothing,” ie, “perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” Few people understand this vital truth and do their best to avoid sufferings. Parents do their best to protect their children from trials – and produce children who are arrogant, impatient, self-centered, selfish, godless, heartless and weak. We need wisdom (v.5) to understand the purpose of trials and to “graduate with flying colors from the school of hard knocks.” We need wisdom to know the difference between what is nice and what is good because many good things are not nice (eg. food, studies, hard work). We are not told to pray for deliverance from sufferings but to pray for wisdom. God promises us a “crown of life,” (v.12), ie, an eternal reward, when we “graduate from the school of hard knocks.”
3. Praying the Fool (vs 5-8):
James 1:5 is a wonderful promise that we all need to claim regularly as we make difficult decisions. We learn the vital truth that unless we have faith we will not “receive any thing of the Lord” (v.7). This verse teaches us why most prayers are never answered. Many Christians dare not ask in faith because they know that they “ask amiss, to consume it upon their lusts” (James 4:3). Others dare not ask in faith because they do not know the Bible well enough to know the promises in the Bible or the mind of God regarding their prayer request. Without faith, we pray the fool!
4. True Equality (vs 9-11):
The poor brother is told to rejoice in his exaltation in the family of God. The rich brother is told to rejoice that he is humbled in the family of God. In other words, both can rejoice under totally opposite circumstances as they focus on their blessings rather than their difficulties. Happiness, which is the measure of success of a good life, is freely available to all those who learn to focus on their blessings. Happiness will be lost when we focus on our sufferings and when we focus on others’ blessings (and envy them). Many people measure success by possessions owned, rather than by happiness enjoyed and mistakenly believe that there is great inequality in the world. Possessions are easily lost (v.11) but the right attitude to life is not easily lost.
5. Source of Sin (vs 13-16):
Whenever we fall into sin, we immediately look for someone to blame – and God is often blamed for allowing us to be in the circumstances that led us to sin. While it is true that God often allows us to be in such circumstances (because He believes in using trials to train us), the source of sin is our lust, ie, the sinful desires that we sinners have. Our circumstances just bring out the sin that is present in us (like hot water bringing out the flavor of the tea leaves in the tea bag). We cannot stop our sinful desires from happening because it is natural! However, whenever we have a sinful desire, we must not continue to think about it and let the thoughts develop (ie, “when lust hath conceived” v.15). If we do, then the desire becomes a sin. And when the sinful thoughts are carried out (eg. adultery), they lead to death (of the family) and spiritual death (separation from God). When lust comes, we should claim by faith the promise that Christ lives in us (Galatians 2:20) and claim Christ’s mind on this matter.
The sin process is: Lust – sin – death.
The victory is: Christ lives in us, and by faith He will live through us.