James No.2 Onwards toard the crown

First 18 verses, James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the 12 tribes scattered among the nations, greetings, consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance, perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you likes wisdom, he should ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea blown and tossed by the wind.

That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double minded man, unstable in all he does. The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position, but the one who is rich should take pride in his low position because he will pass away like a wild flower.

For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant, its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich man will fade away even while he goes about his business. Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

When tempted, no one should say, God is tempting me, for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when by his own evil desire he is dragged away and enticed. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin and sin when it is full grown gives birth to death.

Don't be deceived, my dear brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights. And last week you will recall that I introduced you to this highly practical letter.

And in opening it in front of you, I brought to your attention three specific things. First of all, we talked about the teacher, the man who authors the letter. And I gave you certain arguments as to why traditionally the view of the church has been that this came from none other than our Lord's brother.

He ultimately was the president of the church at Jerusalem. And in a very unique position, he was able to survey the expansion of Christianity with a going to and fro of missionaries and evangelists and ordinary Christian people. He gleaned a great deal of what was happening as the gospel of Christ was being proclaimed.

And with all his pastoral genius and his concern for a practical application of the doctrines of grace, he penned this letter. James, a man who was so holy that he was nicknamed James the Just. And as for the teaching, well, I told you he followed the traditional Jewish style of putting together many and varied topics all in one letter to ensure that there's a freshness, to ensure that there is a variety.

And so you've got in James, if you like, a string of pearls, one gem after another, not always interlocking, but always having something to contribute to that Christian who wants to work out his faith on a practical basis. And as for those who are to be taught, well, he addresses it to the 12 tribes, verse 1, the 12 tribes scattered among the nations. And there he's poetically referring to all the followers of Jesus scattered around the world.

And because the Bible is timeless, and because James is not just motivated by what he knows of the Lord Jesus, but by the spirit of Jesus, then what he has to say is relevant for you and for me. It is arguable that James is the earliest book ever to have been written in the New Testament. Some perhaps would put the gospel of Mark first, but it becomes reasonably clear when you study the texts of the books that constitute the latter half of our Bible, James is one of the earliest, and James is perhaps the most practical that has its own obvious meaning for us.

I want us to concentrate on a passage from the second through to the 12th verse this morning. And what I want you to do immediately is to drop your eyes down to the last verse that I quote, the 12th, because there is a beatitude. James has been influenced, obviously, by his brother Jesus, also in his style of teaching.

And here is a beatitude that comes from the heart of James under the impulse of the Spirit. Blessed is the man, happy is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. My address this morning is entitled On Towards the Crown.

On Towards the Crown. And he sets for us in this 12th verse a picture of a man who's striving to receive a crown at the end of his spiritual journey on this earth, which God shall give to him. Now, in attempting this, there will be many problems, many obstacles, many handicaps that he will have to overcome.

But bear this in mind, because I think it will be helpful as we then look through the remaining verses, that what James has dominant in his thinking is encouraging the ordinary believer like you and me to be faithful as Christians on this earth, striving forward, stretching out to that day when we'll be in the presence of God, and we shall receive from him the crown of eternal blessings. And of course, that concept is not unique, though James perhaps hit on it before Paul, for it's that illustrious evangelist and Bible teacher who, when he's writing to the Philippians, says, I press towards the mark. That's always the posture for the Christian, always the attitude that he should be in, striving, prepared, using every day with one picture in mind, the time when you'll stand in the presence of the Father God and receive his reward, his accolade for having been faithful to the cause of Jesus Christ.

Well, within those verses, it seems to me there are three particular obstacles, if you like, that might hamper us from receiving the crown. The first one could refer to as testings, and you find reference to that in the third verse. You know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.

One of the handicaps, one of the obstacles we are to clamber over, testings. Another one is doubtings. Drop down to the fifth verse, or rather drop down to the sixth verse.

When he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea blown and tossed by the wind. Doubtings are a problem for the Christian as he pursues his earthly pilgrimage. And then finally, there is what I have referred to as our holdings.

That is the position in which we find ourselves in life. References made to that in the ninth, tenth, and eleventh verses, when there is a contrast drawn between the rich man and his holding, and the poor man and his holding in life. So then, have you got that clear? Here we are looking at something that seems to be disconnected, but there are certain common denominators which will help us as we consider James's teaching.

The problems, the obstacles that might impede our progress and prevent us or endeavor to prevent us from reaching that day when God will give us the crown of life, eternal blessings for following his Son as we could by his Spirit's help. Let's look then at testings. Verse two, consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.

I'm majoring in these studies from the NIV at the moment, because there are some words which it most surely, in modern language as we use it today, captures the sense, then with great respect and love for it, than does the King James Version. There that verse refers in the King James to temptations. Now temptations is not what James is referring to.

Temptations are seductions to evil, they are diabolically contrived, they come from the devil himself. But a different thing is a whole concept of trials, and God can be responsible for bringing trials in our lives. And the very context of what follows from the second verse through to the fourth indicates that what happens to some Christian people, unpleasant experiences though they be, is not outside the sovereignty nor indeed the will of God for them.

So it's far better to employ the NIV's translation here. Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds. When Sheba, the Queen of Sheba, came to Solomon, she tested his wisdom.

When God told Abraham to take his son Isaac and sacrifice the lad, Abraham was being tested by the Lord. And the fact of the matter is this, my friend, as James makes it so very, very clear in the Christian pathway, some of the trials that we have to get over are trials that are deliberately placed there by God himself. And James doesn't exempt personal involvement when he's putting down this teaching, because he says, consider it pure joy, my brothers.

As though, yes, I know something of these trials. I know something of these difficulties that you're going through. I experienced them myself in full measure here at Jerusalem.

Now, what are these trials? Well, they are varied. That is obvious from that second verse. Whenever you face trials of many kinds, or as the AV puts it, divers temptations, not temptations in the depths of the sea, trials, difficulties in the ordinary run of life, they're varied.

They are varied in this congregation. There are young people, and perhaps your trial, as you look back, may have been a broken engagement. It may have been that someone you loved and thought you would marry stood you up, and that really hit you spiritually, and you nearly caved in as far as your faith was concerned.

For older people, your trial, well, it could be the increasing limitation of your body as the years go by. It could be the sudden and horrific loss of a loved one, and endeavouring to cope on your own. Yet the Bible says that these trials are not outside the sovereignty of God.

One commentator who had an unusual sense of humor likens trials to black eyes. He says that they turn all the colors of the rainbow before they're healed, and in the sense that they're multifaceted, they have many features, that's not a bad example. Bruising that one may have to suffer as a Christian.

They're varied, I say. But something else, before we look at this rather strange injunction by James to consider these things pure joy, something else that becomes obvious for us to consider is the thought that these trials have an end in themselves. You know that the testing of your faith develops, develops perseverance.

The AV says patience, but patience is too passive a term. Trial brings perseverance. Trial brings staying power.

Yesterday I rifled a larder, and I helped myself to some dates, which according to the little leaflet on the box, had been de-stoned. Well, that wasn't quite true, and as a result I have got a crumpled back tooth, that declared war on the date stone, and the date stone won. And I will have to have a very painful audience with my dentist, and very expensive probably during the next two or three days.

And when I'm there on his chair with my mouth in sort of goldfish position, and I hear the revs of that drill moving up towards two or three thousand a minute, the only thing that will keep me in the chair will be staying power. Having gone through it before, realizing that ultimately it will be for my good. My fear as far as dentists is concerned was shared by C.S. Lewis.

If you give them an inch, they take a yard. Give them one tooth, and they take the lot. Staying power.

This is what your trials help to produce, with the ultimate objective of verse four, making you mature and complete. Now if you realize that that is what God has in mind for you, for you if you like to use the language of horticulture to become a ripe Christian, a mature Christian, not perfect in the sense of absolute holiness as the A.V. might indicate, but mature and complete as a servant of the Lord. If you realize that that is God's ultimate purpose for you, then you can count it pure joy that you're tried.

You don't joy in the actual trial itself. You'd be a madman if you sang the Hallelujah Chorus when the doctor gave you the information that you got a malignant growth. You'd have to be superhuman to rejoice at the loss of a dear loved one.

But my friend, in the Christian context, we realize that these trials in and of themselves have an ultimate purpose for us, to make us mature in Christ. And these testings have got to be faced logically, realistically, by Christian people. I could give you examples of this, but time is marching on quite quickly from the experience of Paul and the Lord Jesus Christ and the way that they leapt over trials with an amount of joy in their hearts because they realized that ultimately they would achieve the purposes of God as a result of experiencing gross unpleasantness.

So then, James says, you know, brethren, this isn't something new. Consider it pure joy because you know that the testings of your faith develop perseverance. Now I want to take you into the second difficulty.

It's the one of doubting, but it's very interesting the way that James introduced the concept of doubting. Come down to the fifth verse and there you will see that he has anticipated a question. What, James, if we don't really understand this? What if we don't have the knowledge that you're assuming that we do have in coping with our doubts? Then what should we do in coping with our trials? Then what should we do? Well, James says, if you really like this knowledge, this assurance that I'm talking about, then ask God.

But he doesn't just say ask God for knowledge. He says, ask God for wisdom. Why does he use the word wisdom and not knowledge? Because you see, wisdom is beyond knowledge.

It's greater than knowledge. Wisdom includes knowledge, but it goes into the practical areas of life. Wisdom is what you do with knowledge when you've acquired it.

And James is really thinking now about the person who finds it difficult to overcome the battering that trials have on his faith. He says he hasn't got the knowledge that James has got to be able to cope with this, to bring it into a Christian perspective of God's sovereign dealings. Well, James says, if that's your case, then ask him not just for knowledge, ask him for wisdom so you can handle your trials.

And we're told about this wisdom, or rather we're told that as we come to the Lord God for this wisdom, that he's very generous in the way that he dispenses it. If any of you lacks wisdom, what is he to do? Well, he's to exercise simplicity. He should ask God.

What else is he to realize? The availability of God, that God is ready and willing to grant him what he requires. What also is he to appreciate? But the generosity of God, for God gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. You followed his argument? He's saying that if you lack the wisdom to be able to cope with your trials, then ask God to give that wisdom to you.

And come to God simply. Come to God realizing he's available. Come to God realizing that he treats you like he did.

In the story of the prodigal, the father trept the wayward son. He ministered to his needs. He didn't criticize him.

In the words of the authorized version, he didn't upbraid him. He gave liberally what his son required. So when a man asks God for knowledge and for wisdom to be able to cope with his trials, to be able to cope with his problems, God will grant him that wisdom.

Now James is going to speak more about the wisdom of God in the third chapter, but that would anticipate his argument if I took you into that particular aspect of his teaching. But let's bear this in mind, that God will grant wisdom and knowledge to those who ask him. But there is a qualification here.

Look at the sixth verse. When he asks, this is where the doubting comes in. When he asks, he must believe.

He must not doubt. He must believe that God is able to give him the wisdom, the knowledge to be able to cope with all the trials and all the difficulties that come his way. James is very concerned to remove the concept of the doubter from the camp of the Christians.

When he asks, verse six, he must believe and not doubt because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea blown and tossed by the wind. That man, that man over there, that doubter should not think he will receive anything from the Lord. He's a double-minded man.

He's unstable in all he does. So here are you poor Christians in Jerusalem. Here are you poor Christians scattered around a shemina.

Here are you poor Christians in the 20th century, sometimes baffled, sometimes tried. How do you react to your trials? You come to the Lord and you ask him for wisdom and you come believing that he will give you some understanding now or in the future as to why he's taken you through certain paths and you are to believe in his absolute sovereignty that what he decrees for your life is good. Even if at times it's hard for you to accept, you're not to be a doubter.

A doubter, you see, is a double-minded man. The Greek word for doubt gives the idea of a man with two souls, a man with two minds. He's like a wave, says James, using a very graphic picture.

A wave that moves to two impulses, the current of the sea and the velocity of the wind and the wave doesn't know what to do. The Christian's not to be like this. When he asks God for something, he is to believe.

He's not to waver. He changes the metaphor a moment. We get the picture of a drunken man.

Ever seen a drunken man as he walks down the street, moving from one pavement to the next pavement, across the road, trying to find that lamppost that's never there to give him stability? A man who is completely lopsided. No, not the Christian. He is to cope with his doubts.

He is to say to the Lord God, I believe you. I accept that when I ask for knowledge and wisdom and an ability to be able to cope with the pressures and the trials which you allow to come in my life, that such will be granted. James's teaching is definite.

It's strong and it's for Christian people who require this sort of instruction and I'm sure that embraces everyone within the confines of this sanctuary today. So, you've got the overall picture. Here is the Christian person and he's concerned to get that crown on the day that he stands before the Lord.

Ah yes, but to get that crown, there are certain obstacles he will have to overcome. There are testings. There are doubtings.

He is going to be brought into experiences where he has to demonstrate his absolute trust in the sovereign God. James says that God will be alongside us. That's why he refers to us as his brothers, because James has tested God in the crucible of difficulty and trial himself.

But there's one other obstacle that James threads on at this point. One other bead, if you like, in what he has to say that he puts on the thread and it's the difficulty of the way that the Christian may find himself in life. His particular, if you like, social class.

The holding that is his. And here we're reading from the ninth through to the eleventh verses. Again, the NIV makes it very clear.

The brother in humble circumstances as opposed to the brother who is rich. James projects two contrasting situations of lifestyle. And both extremes can affect the Christian however he finds himself positioned in this world.

The extreme of poverty can rob one of their faith in God unless they approach their lives in a mature fashion. And so what does James have to say to the poor man? Well, he's not worthless if he belongs to the Lord God. James should know he describes himself as a doulos, a servant, a slave of God.

And what makes a slave valuable in Christianity? The fact that Jesus has bled and died for him. The brother in humble circumstances, verse nine, ought to take pride in his high position. It's not all that meets the visible eye that reveals the whole circumstances of a man.

It's not the trappings of material wealth or of poverty. It's what he is like inside. And says, James, if you're positioned in this world, even as a poor slave, don't let your poverty affect your spirituality.

Have this wisdom that comes from above. Have this knowledge of realizing who you are. You're a child of the king.

And you're set on a course for a city whose maker and builder is God. And as for the rich man, well, the rich man has to realize, even if he is a Christian, that his comfort and his lifestyle is not to be built solely upon the fact that he has wealth. For wealth can be stripped away almost at a flash.

So says James in verse 10, the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wildflower. For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant. James has in mind that wind, I believe they used to call it the siphon or something like that, that swept in from the desert across Palestine.

It was just like opening an oven door. And when that wind with its heat blew, everything within its path would be scorched. So circumstances can change.

And that brother who is affluent as a Christian can find himself poverty stricken. And if he's built his life upon his riches, then what a weak man he is, how difficult he is. If God allows him to be tried by stripping him of all his material possessions, and he can't find that his real foundation is his faith, how wretched is the state of that man.

The holdings in life, they will test you. Extreme riches at one end, extreme poverty at the other. How as a Christian person do you deal with these things? This is what James is on about.

And he says, it's not the externals that should be influencing you. It's what you are inside. How you are handling this divine knowledge that you belong to the King.

So you see, my friends, we've nearly got through those 12 verses. And in them, though we have found thought that is not obviously connected, when you study it through, there are many teachings that are applicable to us as Christian people today. We're moving into the presence of God, ultimately, to receive our crown, the rewards of the blessings of eternal life.

But on the way, there are certain difficulties, and sometimes they're placed there deliberately by God. How do you cope with your testings? You need wisdom to be able to to confront the difficulties of life. Then can't you ask God for wisdom? Or do you doubt him that he's unable to give you what you require? So to the testings comes the question mark of doubt, and how much of that you entertain in your life.

And then the problem of your material circumstances, that can be a test for the Christian. But he who has knowledge that comes from the Lord, he who realizes who he is and what his ultimate destination is, he'll not be permanently affected in his faith. Whatever happens to his external environment, whether it's the removal of a dear one, whether it's the removal of wealth, whether it's the removal of health, he'll remain absolutely sure, absolutely secure.

There's no wind from the desert that will burn him. There's no heat that will cause him to wither. He'll come through all the trials and all the problems, and one day he'll stand before Jehovah God and accept all the blessings that are yet in store for those whose eternity is secured by Jesus Christ.

Amen. And for that soul stability we ask, O God, for a plentiful supply. Many of us here see ourselves so much in terms of the drunken man that staggers from side to side, but we would come and we would ask, we would ask for knowledge, we would ask for wisdom, we would ask for an ability to cope with the trials of life and ultimately to serve you honorably until the day comes when the shadows flee away and we're with you and our Savior and our loved ones eternally.

Amen.