James 1:9-18 | 5th July 2026

Well, good morning.

Um, this morning we're going to continue

our our series in James. So, if you

would turn with me to the book of James,

hopefully you got one of these booklets

on your way in. Um, it should have been

on your seat. If you didn't get one,

there's more at the back. So, I would

encourage you to grab one, bring it with

you through the weeks. There are places

to take notes. Um, it also tells you the

passage that we're going to be looking

at the following week. So, I'd encourage

you to look at that ahead of time as

well. Um, use this as a helpful resource

as you hear um the word of God preached

um through these weeks. Let me pray as

we come to to the Lord's word this

morning. Let's pray.

Lord, we

we need eyes to see. We need ears to

hear.

So Lord, we ask that you would give us

um you would give us this

Lord. Help us this morning.

Humble us before your word.

We need your help. Lord, I pray that you

would plant this truth deep in our

hearts. That we would hear your word,

that we would love it,

that we would have our lives transformed

by your spirit this morning.

help us we pray in Jesus name. Amen.

Amen.

People often complete hard tasks when

they know or they believe the end result

is coming. People often complete hard

tasks when their focus is on the end

result.

Google tells me that people getting

through war have four kind of key

factors that help to get them through.

In war torn countries, four kind of key

factors that help them get through. The

first one is focusing on routine. They

try to get back into work and just kind

of um preoccupy themselves with other

things, occupy themselves with other

things. Mutual support, support of

friends, support of others, and their

faith as well. And but the final one is

focusing on the end. Focusing on the end

result that this will one day be over.

Focusing on the end result helps them

get through suffering.

Typically what happens in suffering

typically what happens in suffering is

that we end up just feeling and we stop

thinking.

We lose our focus. we end up just

feeling.

And if we have the focus of an end

result, something to put our minds to,

that helps us to think logically as we

feel our way through suffering. Um, it

helps to have something to focus on.

This text that we're going to look at

this morning is a continuation of what

we looked at last week. Um, as we looked

at these people that James is writing

to, these Christians who are dispersed,

these Christians that are in the

dispersion, they're dispersed due to

persecution.

And James is writing to these suffering

believers. And through these verses

today, I think that he's encouraging

believers that despite their

persecution, they will be exalted. They

will receive the crown of life. And they

are the first fruits of believers.

So I want you to see today that James is

encouraging believers in their salvation

and explaining how they should live um

in light of that within their suffering,

how they should live, who they are in

their salvation and how they should

live. James is explaining how believers

are to live as they face persecution.

And the first way in which James does

that is that he encourages um believers,

the lowly and the humble. He encourages

them that they have hope. um as they

wait for heaven. Look at verse 9 um

through to 111 with me. James 1 vers9

says this.

Let the lowly brother boast in his

exaltation and the rich in his

humiliation

because like a flower of the grass he

will pass away. For the sun rises with

its scorching heat and withers the

grass, its flower falls and its beauty

perishes. So also will the rich man fade

in the midst of his pursuit. In this

first section, there's two immediate

questions, a few immediate questions

that pop up. What does James mean by the

lowly and the rich? Who are the lowly?

Who are the rich? What does he mean?

Well, the lowly are those who, as the

word says, have been brought low.

Typically, this is talking about status

or a humble posture that they have.

The lowly are the meek. It's the same

word for the word meek. Jesus, as Jesus

said, blessed are the meek, for they

shall inherit the earth.

The lowly are also also the poor.

Literally, financially poor in this

ancient neareastern culture.

They're also the gentle and the humble

believers.

The rich, on the other hand, is a bit

more of a difficult category to

understand. Some believe that James is

speaking to unbelievers in this. And so

when he says that they should boast in

their humiliation, it's kind of an

ironic boasting that they're eventually

going to be brought low and destroyed.

Um, and they should ironically boast in

their destruction. Um, others argue that

James is speaking to rich believers

and encouraging them that their riches

cannot be the focus of their life.

as their riches, they're going to wi

wither and the gr as just like the grass

withers and is scorched by the sun.

Either way, these two categories have

two types of people. The lowly who are

typically humble and the rich who

typically in James' context are in high

positions which promote pride.

And James first he exhorts the lowly to

boast in their exaltation.

and to boast in their exaltation.

Exaltation is like a lifting up, being

brought to a higher status, a promotion.

Don't we just love it when the right

people get promoted?

When the humble, hard worker who gets

stuck in, who doesn't complain, who

isn't prideful, when they get promoted.

Don't we also love the the underdog

stories, the the small, the meek team of

Kit Verde. through to the knockout

stages. Bring Argentina to extra time.

And every everyone loves the underdog

story.

We love when the lowly get exalted.

But James isn't just talking about a job

or a status. James is talking about a

promotion that's not on this earth. He

is talking about a heavenly exaltation.

A heavenly promotion. The Greek word

used for exaltation here is also used in

the New Testament when referring to the

heavenly places.

James isn't just talking about this

worldly exaltation. He is talking about

hope of future glory.

Exaltation to heaven.

Lowly poor believers, you have hope.

No matter what your socioeconomic status

is, no matter how you're viewed in this

world, you have hope of heavenly

exaltation.

You have hope of heavenly exaltation.

James calls the believers to boast in

that hope. Boast in your exaltation.

Not pridefully as though you have done

anything,

but humbly

knowing that we have done nothing to do

with our heavenly exaltation, that it

was all God. Ephesians 2 8-9 says this,

"By grace you've been saved through

faith.

This is not of your own doing. This is a

gift of God, not a result of works so

that no one may boast. Not a result of

works so that no one may boast as if

they have done it themselves. You have

not achieved your own salvation. God has

granted it to you. Lely believers, be

encouraged in suffering. Be encouraged

and boast in what God has done for you.

That God has brought you to himself. and

look forward to the heavenly exaltation

for the rich. Then James says that they

should boast in their humiliation.

Humiliation here isn't like an

embarrassment. Rather, it's a humbling,

a humbling of their hearts. The rich

typically have the high status, high

power, and also typically

have higher pride.

But God's kingdom doesn't work in the

typical way of the world. God's kingdom

works opposite. Later in the in the in

the book of James, in James chapter 2:5,

he says this. Has God not chosen those

who are poor in the world to be rich in

faith and heirs of the kingdom.

The kingdom of God works in an opposite

way to the kingdom of this world.

Riches of this world, they'll all pass

away.

So will all those who just chase after

the riches of this world. That's what

James is saying in verses 10 and 11. The

end of verse 10 it says, "Because like a

flower of the grass, he will pass away.

For the sun rises with its scorching

heat and withers the grass and its

flower falls and its beauty perishes, so

also will the rich man fade away in the

midst of his pursuits." We don't see

much scorched grass in Ireland. uh most

of our grass is still green. Um but in

their context they would have seen a lot

of scorched grass also in Idaho where

Payton my wife is from and they see a

lot of scorched grass. Uh the south of

Idaho Idaho is quite um is a bit like a

desert. It's a bit of a desert. Um in

the summer the ground dries up and if it

doesn't get watered the grass is going

to get scorched by the heat of the sun.

Um it's going to wither and it dies.

The grass on the side of the of the

motorway goes from a luscious green in

the spring to dead brown in the summer

when the sun scorches it. The grass has

been burnt and it's just going to

degrade. And that's what will happen to

all of our possessions in this world.

They're all going to pass away. All of

our possessions will be gone. Jesus

says, "Don't store up treasures in this

world where moths destroy and thieves

steal." If we put all of our hope, all

of our energy, all of our time, all of

our life into possessions,

we also will burn up and be destroyed.

That is all that our life is about. Look

at the end of verse 11.

So also will the rich man fade away in

the midst of his pursuits. In the midst

of the pursuit,

pursuing riches over pursuing the

kingdom of God is going to cause us to

pass away.

If you are just pursuing riches rather

than God, you will pass away. You will

fade away. If your whole life is focused

on that,

God calls us

to follow him and to lay down the things

of this world to be humiliated, to be

humbled.

This verse isn't saying that all rich

are unbelievers. That would be quite

ridiculous. We'd be fairly stuck in um

where we're at um socioeconomically

here. Um we'd be fairly stuck if that

was true. Um, but these V verses are

encouraging us to boast in our humbling.

We need to boast in being humble. Boast

in being brought low.

Boast in the fact that we, the lowly,

the humbled will be exalted to heaven by

God's grace.

James is encouraging believers that in

their low status there is hope.

There's no hope to be found in

treasures.

But there is hope

in humbling because we will be exalted

by God. There's also hope in our trial

in our trials believer that we will

receive the crown of life. Secondly, the

steadfast have hope because they will re

receive the crown. Look at verse 12.

Blessed is the man who remains steadfast

under trial, for when he has stood the

test, he will receive the crown of life,

which God has promised to those who love

him. Steve last week explained to us um

the earlier verses in James and that

testing is producing steadfastness. That

steadfastness is the ability to be

spiritually grounded and anchored.

Steadfastness is the ability to be

spiritually grounded and anchored. And

that grounding and that anchoring comes

by God's grace through the trials that

we that we face.

We go through trials and we come out the

other side more spiritually grounded and

more reliant on God.

There is hope within our trials, hope

within the test. To those who remain

steadfast, they're going to receive a

crown. Those

who know what they will receive in the

end will be more motivated to press on.

We see this um with kids sometimes if

you ask your child to clean their room

um they might huff and sulk

but if there's a reward they're going to

go and do it immediately.

We also see it with employees.

Employees are the same. If you're told

in work that if you get this project

done by a certain time, you're going to

get a bonus of €1,000 euro, you're going

to get the project done pretty quickly.

When you know that you know what is

coming, when you know the reward that is

coming, you're encouraged to press on.

Christians must remain steadfast

primarily out of love for God. But they

must be reminded that you will receive a

crown. Christian, you will receive a

crown. You will be in heaven with God

forever.

And I think James is adding this because

he knows that the reminder of the crown,

of the prize, of the end result, that

will help these believers suffering,

that will help them remain.

It helps them remain steadfast.

What happens then when we don't fully

remain steadfast through trial? When the

trials and the stress are bashing us or

battering us,

we struggle to remain steadfast. What

happens to us in our in our brokenness?

Well, that's one of the times when we're

tempted.

The enemy attacks us when we're at our

weakest and we tend to be at our weakest

when trials come. And so, James next

addresses this reality of temptation.

But I wonder when something goes wrong,

do you normally blame someone else for

it?

When something goes wrong, do you

normally blame someone else for I think

it's our natural response to normally

try to blame someone else. I think it's

out of our pride that we start blaming

others. Why did you let this happen? How

could you not have seen this? Even just

in our minds, we might not say it out

loud. Even in our minds, how could that

person have let that happen? We

naturally don't take responsibility for

our own actions.

Commonly in the world today, people

actually blame God for bad things

happening.

One of the most common questions about

God is why does he allow suffering?

Why does God allow brokenness in this

world?

Why does God allow sin in this world?

Why did God allow my family member to

suffer in this way? They blame God.

Commonly, people blame God for the

things that go on in this world. People

also blame God for their temptations.

I wouldn't have been tempted into this

sin if God had just made me different.

Sure, this is the way that I am, so

shouldn't I just live in that way?

But God isn't to be blamed. Brokenness

and sin is to be blamed. Look at verses

13 and to 15 with me. Let no one say

when he's tempted that I am being

tempted by God. For God cannot be

tempted with evil, and he himself tempts

no one. But each person is tempted when

he is lured and enticed by his own

desire. Then desire when it has

conceived gives birth to sin, and sin,

when it's fully grown, brings forth

death.

James is addressing this thought that

God is the one who gives me temptation.

It's God's fault that I fall into

temptation. It's not God's fault.

God does not tempt, nor can he be

tempted. Remember, there is no evil

found in God.

I wonder who uh what what are you

tempted by? Who is it that tempts you?

We've all been tempted. Jim Jim says,

"If you have been," he doesn't say if

you have been tempted. It's it says when

you are tempted.

when he is tempted in verse 13.

So you're tempted. We're all tempted,

but who tempts us? It can't be God. God

doesn't tempt. So who who are we tempted

by? Who can we blame?

Who do we blame for our temptation?

It's our own desire in us that tempts

us. Isn't that just so right?

Isn't it just so obvious? You aren't

tempted by something you don't desire.

You aren't tempted into envy when you

see the beaten up opal corsa sitting in

the car park.

You aren't tempted by things that you

don't desire.

You're tempted by your desires. I am

tempted by my desires. We are tempted by

our desires. It is your natural sinful

desire.

What are you tempted by?

Is it envy when you see the fancy car?

Is it jealousy when you see the lovely

family together?

Is it anger when your husband doesn't

clean the house, your kids disobey

again?

Is it sexual desire when you are left

with your phone again?

What are you tempted by?

You're tempted by your own broken

desires.

And that desire, James says, leads to

sin.

That's what verse 15 says. Then desire

when it has conceived gives birth to

sin. And then sin, when it's fully

grown, brings forth death. We know that

desire brings sin. Naturally, we know

that the wrong that we do from an inward

desire.

The wrong that we do is from an inward

desire that we have towards something

that we know we shouldn't do or

shouldn't have.

Temptation is a reality for all of us.

Sin is a reality for all of us.

And the ultimate final destination of

sin, the end of verse 15, it's death.

Romans 6:23 tells us the same thing. The

Romans 6:23

wages of sin is death. Our

brokenness, our broken desires which

lead to temptation,

which give birth to sin.

They're killing us. Your desires are

killing you.

Without Christ, this death in scripture

is eternal forever. Eternal separation

from God.

But remember what James reminded us at

the start of this point that those who

remain steadfast who are steady in

Christ

by God's grace under trial, they will

receive the crown of life. They will be

with God forever. Romans 6:23 doesn't

Romans 6:23

just end with the wages of sin is death.

Romans 6:23 continues, "But

Romans 6:23

the free gift of God is

eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Sin brings death.

But God gives life. God doesn't give you

temptation.

God gives you life.

God gives you salvation. God gives you

good gifts. So finally believers have

hope in suffering and receive good gifts

from the father. Look at verse 16 to 18.

Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.

Every good gift and every perfect gift

is from above,

coming down from the Father of light,

with whom there is no variation or

shadow due to change. Of his own will,

he brought us forth by the word of truth

that we should be a kind of first fruits

of his creatures.

James calls the believers not to be

deceived,

to not believe that God is the one who's

tempting you.

James is speaking to his beloved

brothers and sisters,

the Christians that he loves. He loves

them and he does not want them to be

deceived. God is not tempting you. No.

Believers have hope because God gives

good gifts.

God your father gives good gifts.

God in fact gives every good and every

perfect gift.

Everything that is good is from God.

And God has always been good.

All through history, God has been good.

The Lord gave the good gift of freedom

from the Egyptians to the Israelites

when he brought them out of slavery.

The Lord brought his people into the

promised land in the book of Joshua.

The Lord provided a great king after his

own heart in David as Carl as Carl read

in the Psalms. His steadfast love it

endures forever.

And the Lord ultimately provided the

perfect savior in Christ.

God gives good gifts.

God gives good gifts

and he is consistent in giving good

gifts. The Lord is consistent. That's

why James writes

that he is the father of lights in verse

17 with whom there is no variation or

shadow

due to change. God is consistent. He

doesn't change. He doesn't vary. He is

consistent God. He is always faithful.

He's always good. We're going to sing

later. The great is his faithfulness.

There is no shadow of turning with thee.

When trials come

and your world is turned upside down.

When everything is going wrong and you

just can't seem to get a grip of what's

going on in your life.

What do you want?

I imagine you want a bit of consistency.

That's why, as I mentioned earlier, in

these war torren countries, the people

keep working their everyday job. They

want some consistency. They just want

normal life back.

In trials, you feel like at every

moment, everything could change.

Everything is currently changing and

nothing's normal every anymore.

You want some consistency in that trial

when everything feels muddled.

Brothers and sisters, beloved,

listen to this. Be encouraged. There is

one who is consistent.

God is consistent.

God never changes.

Even when your life feels like it's an

absolute shambles, God never changes.

He's always been the same.

And God gives every good and perfect

gift.

God is good.

God is omni benevolent. It's a big word.

Benevolence is something that is good

and omni is the Latin that means all or

everywhere.

So Christian scholars give God this

title of omni benevolence. God is all

good, always good, forever good.

Every good and perfect gift comes from

God and has always come from God and he

is always the same.

And this God who is consistent believer

he is your father who gives good gifts

to you.

And so believer ask your father for

gifts. Remember what Jesus said about

asking, seeking and knocking. You can

turn with me to Matthew 7.

Matthew 7 verse 7 says this,

Matthew 7:7

"Ask

and it will be given to you.

Seek and you will find.

Knock and it will be open to you. For

everyone who asks receives, and the one

who seeks finds, and the one who knocks,

it will be opened.

Or which one of you, if his son asks him

for bread, will give him a stone? Or if

he asks for a fish, will give him a

serpent? If you then, who are evil, know

how to good gift give good gifts to your

children? How much more

will your father who is in heaven give

good things to those who ask him? Your

father in heaven knows how to give good

gifts.

Your father in heaven knows how to give

good gifts.

And if you aren't a believer this

morning, there is a gift that he has for

you. There's a gift of salvation for you

if you do not know him.

He offers you this gift, life with him

forever. No more death, no death and

sin, no separation from him, life with

him forever.

I wonder, are you seeking that?

Are you knocking on the door? Are you

asking the Lord

to save you, to forgive you of your

sins, of the wrong that we have done?

Have you received this ultimate good

gift from God?

He says through turning away from our

sin and believing in him, we will be

saved.

God, he is good.

He gives good gifts to those who ask.

He gives good good gifts. The good gift

of salvation to those who come to him

and believer, do you remember the

ultimate good gift that he's given you?

Look at verse 18 again

of his own will.

He brought us forth by the word of truth

that we should be a kind of first fruits

of his creatures,

by his will.

He brought us forth,

bringing us to himself

by the word of truth. Believer, do you

remember the greatest gift that God has

given you?

He has brought you into relationship

with himself.

Relationship with the all good, omni

benevolent father.

How's that for a bit of hope when you're

suffering?

You're in relationship with the father.

We can't forget that

it was by his own will. He wanted you.

He willed it. He brought you to himself.

What a joy.

And he doesn't just end there. He says

that you're a kind of first fruits of

his creatures. We've explained first

fruits before, but first fruits are

typically um first fruit of harvest is

typically some of the best fruits that

come. And then when they come and

they're good, you know that there's

many, many more good fruits to come.

Believers, you are in the best position,

given the best life, ultimate life in

Christ.

Even when it doesn't feel like it, you

have hope because God has brought you to

himself and he gives good gifts.

When we go through trials,

a lot of the time we don't even think.

We just feel.

We feel what's going on and we just act.

The book of James is showing you that in

trials you have hope.

In trials, you have a father who is good

and gives good gifts.

In trials, you are not being tempted by

God.

But remain steadfast and receive a

crown.

If you're humbled, if you're lowly,

remember,

that is where you need to be in God's

upside down kingdom.

God gives good gifts.

God gives us heaven and eternity with

him.

Are you in that? Are you going to be

with him forever

living for him? Are we humble or are we

pursuing the things of this world?

Are we finding hope

in our suffering in him? Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you for your word.

We thank you that from your word we can

learn to live for you.

Lord, help us.

Help us to live for you.

Help us to have hope as we suffer and we

will suffer.

Give us strength when we're tempted and

we will be tempted.

Lord, give us good gifts.

Help us to ask you, to come to you.

Help us to seek you, to knock.

Help us Lord. We thank you for your

goodness and grace to us in Jesus name.

Amen.