Life Group - James 1:1-18

Welcome to Life Group. We invite you to join

us in this verse -by -verse study through the

Word of God. In this session, we're going to

begin looking at the New Testament book of James.

Now, the author of James is identified as James

the Just, who is also the half -brother of Jesus,

and he became a prominent leader of the Jerusalem

church. See, James didn't believe in Jesus during

Jesus' earthly ministry. but he believed in Jesus

after he appeared to him personally. James became

a devoted follower of Christ and an influential

leader among the earliest believers. Now, James

addresses this letter to the 12 tribes scattered

abroad. That's probably referring to primarily

a Jewish audience, Jewish believers living outside

their homeland. And although the original audience

was Jewish Christians, The teaching clearly applies

to the entire church. James also contains numerous

echoes of Jesus' teaching, including at least

15 allusions to the Sermon on the Mount. This

was a church learning how to live faithfully

in difficult circumstances. That makes James

remarkably relevant. His question is essentially,

what does faith look like? when it has to work

in real life. Now in this session, we're going

to be looking at James chapter 1, verses 1 through

James 1:1–18

18. And we could say the main theme of these

verses is that genuine faith is revealed under

pressure. Trials can produce maturity when they're

met with faith. Temptation exposes the desires

of the heart. And through both trials and temptation,

we can remain confident in the unchanging goodness

of God. James is a practical book. Rather than

just telling believers what they should know,

James repeatedly addresses what faith should

look like when it's lived out. The opening 18

verses establish that emphasis immediately. James

moves from trials to wisdom, to our perspective

on earthly circumstances, to temptation, and

finally to the goodness of God. These subjects

are connected by one central theme. What does

genuine faith look like when life puts it under

pressure? Let's begin with James 1, verse 1.

James 1:1

This letter is from James. a servant of God and

of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm writing to the

12 tribes, Jewish believers scattered abroad.

Greetings. Now here, right out of the gate, James

identifies himself simply as a slave of God and

of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now he could have introduced

himself by saying, Hi, I'm James, the brother

of Jesus. Or, I'm James, a leading elder of the

church in Jerusalem. Instead, he opens up by

calling himself a slave. And the Greek word doulos

that's translated slaves carries the idea of

someone who belongs completely to another person.

James' physical relationship with Jesus was no

longer the relationship that defined who he was.

Jesus wasn't just his brother. Jesus had become

his Lord. And this gives us an important starting

point for studying James. And it opens up to

us an understanding of our spiritual identity.

It should be rooted in our relationship with

Christ, not in our position, not in our accomplishments,

not in our family, or not in our reputation.

So I want you to think about this question. If

someone asks you who you are, how would you define

yourself? By your career? By your family? By

your accomplishments? By your possessions? By

your past? Or by your relationship with Christ?

Now there was a time when James knew Jesus as

his brother without recognizing him as God. And

John... Chapter 7, verse 5 tells us that Jesus'

brothers did not initially believe in him. But

after encountering the resurrected Christ, James'

perspective completely changed. He went from

knowing Jesus as his brother to worshiping Jesus

as his Lord. Now, let's think about this for

a moment. You can know a great deal about someone

without truly understanding who that person is.

And James grew up around Jesus. He had memories

of him that none of the other disciples had.

Growing up with Jesus, though, did not produce

faith in James. It was the resurrection that

changed how James saw the Jesus he thought he

already knew. This makes me think about things

that we can be familiar with and not recognize

Jesus as Lord at the same time. We can be spiritual

people or religious people and not recognize

Jesus as our Lord. Some of those things are like

church attendance, Christian family history.

You know, my dad was a pastor. My mother was

a Sunday school teacher, all those kind of things.

Our biblical knowledge, our years around spiritual

things can be valuable to us, but none of them

substitute for personally recognizing Jesus as

Lord. I want you to think about this question.

What's the difference between being familiar

with Jesus and actually surrendering your life

to him? Now let's read verses 2 through 4. So

let it grow, for when your endurance is fully

developed, you will be perfect and complete,

needing nothing. Now, right out the gate, we

see that James wastes no time before addressing

difficulty. He says, when troubles come your

way, and notice the emphasis on it says when,

he doesn't say if troubles come, because we know

that troubles do come, right? Trials are presented

as an inevitable part of life. But James tells

believers to consider those trials an opportunity

for joy. Because of how your faith can grow through

them. Now, James does not tell believers to feel

joyful about trials or pretend that trials themselves

are a joyful experience. Instead, he says, joy

comes from understanding what can happen through

the trial. And this brings out what he says.

He says, count it. So he says, count it all joy.

Meaning count. involving an evaluation. You see,

we evaluate our circumstances according to what

we know about God rather than simply counting

or according to how we feel in the moment. The

trial is not good, right? But God's grace is

sufficient to see us through. Now, what is God's

grace? God's grace is his acts of kindness and

favor towards us. what he has made available

to us. And James here is saying that the testing

of faith produces patience or endurance. Now,

the Greek word translated endurance here, it

means active endurance rather than just simply

a passive waiting. And the picture is that it's

remaining under a load rather than running away

from it. And we could view this like weight training.

When you go and lift weights, you know, muscles

do not grow because resistance feels good. They

grow because resistance places them under a load

that they must respond to. So like that, spiritual

endurance cannot develop without something requiring

endurance. You don't develop perseverance by

never having anything to persevere through. You

can't be an overcomer if there is nothing to

overcome, right? So that's an important distinction

here is that trials do not produce faith. They

test the faith already present. Faith comes through

God's word, hearing God's word. So while trials

reveal and exercise that faith, they do not produce

that faith. So the trials do not automatically

make someone spiritually mature, but it's important

to remember the same trial can produce perseverance

in someone, but it could also produce bitterness

in another. Because what matters is how a trial

is received or how it is perceived, right? And

this brings us to an important question that

we all need to ask ourselves. What is my present

difficulty producing in me? Is it producing trust?

Is it producing patience or dependence on God?

Or are we getting to a place where it's producing

resentment? Is it producing complaining or fear?

Because James says, let patience have its perfect

work. Meaning that sometimes we are so focused

on getting out of the trial that we never enter

the good fight of faith to go through it. Picking

up with verses 5 through 8. If you need wisdom,

ask our generous God and he will give it to you.

He will not rebuke you for asking. But when you

ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone.

Do not waver. Now the placement of these verses

is important. James had just discussed going

through troubles and difficulty and trials. And

then he says, if you need wisdom, ask. Why? Because

trials create situations where we don't always

know what to do. There's a difference, though,

between knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge will

give us information, but wisdom lets us know

how to properly use. that information sometimes

our greatest need during a trial isn't for god

to immediately change the situation we need wisdom

to know how to respond in the situation think

about a gps you know we use those as we go and

drive around you know knowing lurk knowing your

location isn't the same thing as knowing how

to get where you're going Knowledge can tell

you where you are, but wisdom helps determine

what you should do next. And trouble and difficulty

and trials often bring us to places where we

say, God, I don't know what my next step should

be. And James's answer to that question is wonderfully

simple. He says, ask God. And James reveals something

about God's character. He gives generously without

reproach, God does. And we need to see him as

the God of the open hand, not the God of the

clenched fist. God doesn't become irritated because

his children repeatedly come to him asking for

wisdom. And let's think about application before

we... When we're in trouble, before we start

calling all of our friends and before we start

worrying through every possibility of everything

bad that can happen or making some impulsive

decision, we need to develop the habit of asking

God, God, where do you want me to go? What step

do you want me to take? God, give me wisdom in

this situation that I'm in. And then he moves

from asking God for wisdom to warning us about

being double -minded. And this term is literally

meaning, double -minded is meaning too sold.

It's like our thoughts and desires and emotions

are being pulled at the same time, one towards

God, one towards the world in competing directions.

Now, this isn't describing someone who has an

occasional question or a moment of uncertainty.

James here is describing having a divided loyalty

between the things of God and the things of this

world. Let's continue now with verses 9 through

11. Believers who are poor have something to

boast about, for God has honored them. should

boast that God has humbled them. They will fade

away like a little flower in the field. The hot

sun rises and the grass withers. The little flower

droops and falls and its beauty fades away. In

the same way, the rich will fade away with all

of their achievements. Here we see that James

suddenly contrasts the poor believer with the

wealthy believer. And he says that the poor believer

can rejoice because his earthly circumstances

do not determine his standing before God. And

then he also says that the wealthy believer must

remember the opposite truth. He says their earthly

success does not elevate their standing before

God because in Christ, both the wealthy and the

poor stand on equal ground. That's important

for us to remember. He compares wealth to a flower

that appears beautiful for a short time and then

disappears. Now, the warning that James presents

is not that possessions in and of themselves

are evil or the things that we have. They're

not evil in and of themselves. The danger is

building our identity around these temporary

things. Um, kind of like, think about it like

this. Like if you stay at a hotel room, when

you're staying there, you may enjoy the room,

the furniture, the amenities, but you don't go

into a hotel room and say, Oh, I want to renovate.

I want to bring different furniture or different

lamp or a rug. Um, like you're going to live

there forever. Like it's your home or something.

Why? Because you know, when you check in that

you're, you're going to leave. Right. And so

In the same way, James, he's reminding believers

not to build their eternal identity around temporary

circumstances, around temporary things. So we

need to ask ourselves, could anything disappear

tomorrow and make you feel like you no longer

know who you are? If you lost your job or if

the stock market crashed and you lost money.

Maybe you lost a position at work and you weren't

recognized the same way. Maybe something happened

to your appearance and you lost what you thought

you once were. Maybe you lost a very priceless

possession. You know, if losing any of these

things would make you feel like you no longer

know who you are, Maybe an area where you have

unintentionally attached your identity to a temporary

thing. Let's look at verse 12. God blesses those

who patiently endure testing and temptation.

Afterward, they will receive the crown of life

that God has promised to those who love him.

Now, when you look up the Greek words that are

translated into this verse, There's not two words

indicated, but in this translation, there are

two words, testing and temptation. But in the

original language, it's just one word, and that

Greek word is paradso. And it can be translated

test, tempt, or even examine. And what we find

out when we look at the word and when we study

the word, It can only be defined by the context

to know which word should be there. And the translator

of New Living Translation put both words. I believe

the New American Standard Bible got it more correct

when it says this. Blessed is a man who perseveres

under trial. For once he has been approved, he

will receive the crown of life which the Lord

has promised to those who love him. Now here,

it seems like James is backing up because he's

returning to the idea of endurance. When he says,

God blesses those who patiently endure testing.

Now, this blessing is not promised to a person

whose faith is never tested. It's promised to

the person who endures the troubles they face

and to the people who overcome through God's

power. Now, James says the person who remains

faithful will receive the crown of life promised

to those who love God. Notice how James describes

the motivation for faithfulness. He says faithful

people are those who love God. So we can see

that our love for God will help us stand in faith

no matter what circumstance we face. Picking

up with verses 13 through 16. And remember, when

you are being tempted, do not say, God is tempting

me. God is never tempted to do wrong, and He

never tempts anyone else. Temptation comes from

our own desires, which entice us and drag us

away. These desires give birth to sinful actions.

And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth

to death. So don't be misled, my dear brothers

and sisters. We see here that James shifts from

facing the challenges and difficulties of life

in a fallen world now to facing temptation to

sin. Because there's a difference between our

faith being tested and us being tempted. it's

important to notice that James says God never

entices us to sin. He shows us the progression,

though, of temptation. We see that it begins

with desire, then it moves to enticement, and

then that enticement leads us to sin, and then

sin ultimately leads us to death, right? So temptation,

it begins when something appeals to a desire

within us. A good example of this was like fishing.

Do you like to fish? Have you ever been fishing?

Well, James' language carries this picture of

like the bait that you use to fish with. Because

a fisherman doesn't throw an empty hook into

the water, right? A fish would never bite just

an empty metal hook. He disguises the hook with

something that's attractive to the fish. The

bait isn't presented as death like a hook is.

The bait is presented as dinner. So the fish

sees what it wants. It doesn't see what is attached

to it. And that's exactly how temptation operates,

because temptation advertises the bait while

hiding the hook. And it's important to realize

here that James places responsibility on our

own desires. So we should not give Satan so much

credit that we ignore what is happening inside

our own hearts. And this brings about an important

point because this moves the conversation from

blame then to blaming everything else or all

the other things to our responsibility. Because

James does not allow us to say that, well, God

made this happen, or the devil made me do it,

like Flip Wilson would say, or he doesn't give

us the opportunity to say that other people made

me do this. See, James forces us each to examine

our own desires. brings about some application

because when we face a reoccurring temptation

that trips us up, we need to ask ourselves, what

desire inside me makes this temptation attractive

to me? Is it somehow approval? Is it comfort?

Is it control or pleasure? Is it recognition

or even revenge or some kind of security? Because

identifying the desire helps expose the bait.

Then we see that James says, do not be deceived,

because temptation always contains deception.

Why is that? Because sin promises something that

it can never deliver. Verses 17 and 18. Whatever

is good and perfect is a gift coming down to

us from God our Father, who created all the lights

in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting

shadow. He chose to give birth to us by giving

us his true word. And we, out of all creation,

became his prized possession. In the previous

verses, James told us that temptation did not

come from God. And then now he tells us what

does. come from god he says whatever is good

and perfect comes down to us from god our father

james wants believers to understand something

essential about god's character god is consistently

good james describes god as the father of lights

the sun moon and stars appear to move and change

from our perspective but God's character contains

no variation or shadow of turning. I want you

to think about this illustration because at night

it appears to us that the sun has disappeared,

but we know that the sun has not stopped shining.

Our position has changed. Clouds may hide the

sun. Night may prevent us from seeing it. But

nothing has changed about the sun itself. Now,

there will be seasons in our lives when circumstances

make God's goodness difficult for us to see.

But we need to remember that our circumstances

do not change God's character. When you can't

understand why you are going through a difficult

time, anchor yourself in what you know about

who God is. The Bible tells us that God is good,

that God is love, that God is faithful, that

God is just, that God is peace. And James then

proceeds to give us the ultimate evidence of

God's goodness. And that is salvation. Because

God chose to give birth to us by giving us his

true word. And notice the contrast between sin

and new life. We found out that desire leads

to sin and sin leads to death. And then now we

see that God's will led to his word of truth.

And that leads to new life for me and for you.

Human sinful desire produces death. But God's

grace produces life. And that brings these 18

verses back together in a full circle. Let's

take a recap of what we've talked about in this

session. James begins his letter by showing us

what happens when faith encounters real life

struggles. When trouble comes, we need to stand

in faith. and endure. When we don't know what

to do, we need to ask God for wisdom. We need

to be careful not to build our identity around

the things of this world. And when temptation

comes, we need to recognize where it leads. Now,

if we go through circumstances that cause us

to question God, we need to remember that God

is good. We need to remember his unchanging goodness.

Our circumstances may change dramatically, but

God does not change. Troubles test our faith

in God. Temptation tests our desires. And both

of these can help us see where our confidence

is placed. Thank you for joining us for Life

Group. Allow God's Word to build your faith and

transform your life.