Introduction: Grace be to you and peace, from God our Father, and from our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Our text is the Epistle Lesson just read, from James 1. We begin with prayer.
Dear fellow disciples of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ:
- You have challenges and difficulties in life. For most of us, success in dealing with the rather simple matters of survival and achieving financial security are not easy but require hard work, planning, living frugally, saving, remaining healthy, and also things generally working out well for us.
- Add to this the challenges of relationships – maintaining a peaceful and enjoyable marriage, raising children, nurturing them to be workers and achievers, and still maintaining a loving relationship with them, keeping friends – or at times losing them, remaining cordial and in effective working relationships with our boss, co-workers, and the people we have to supervise – and the challenges of life are very difficult.
- Then we also have our own “sin” issues to deal with – our sins of thought, word, and deed, and also the many sins of “omission” that we commit – the many good things that we know we ought to be doing but just refuse to do. We know that we will not live forever in this world. We know that we need to be reconciled with God, to have His gracious mercy and forgiveness, and also that we need to take heed to His will, to direct and orient our lives to what He wants and demands.
- We have pressures within us – caused by all of these difficulties – to find some way to resolve the conflicts, fears, guilt, and remain motivated in life, and also to find ways to continue having enjoyment and satisfaction in life. And there are many temptations to allow our sinful hearts to come to what are ultimately destructive and ineffective ways of looking at life, at other people, and even at God.
- And often we are unaware of what we are doing – we become convinced of our own conclusions and won’t allow anyone, not even God, to dissuade us. But the result of this is dysfunction, discouragement, depression, delusion, and even despair. But this is not God’s will for us, and it does not have to be this way for us.
- However, if we are to receive His deliverance, we must heed His Word and come to look at things His way, as they truly are. This is what James is trying to provide for us in the words of our text – and the outcome is that we remain “HUMBLE AND STEADFAST.” He first acknowledges the difficult of this, for:
I. We Are To Be Humble And Steadfast In Trials And Testing
Text: “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.”
A. So We Are Not To Fault God In Our Trials Or Temptations
Text: “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted with evil, and He Himself tempts no one.”
B. Rather, We Are To Remain Humble And To Confess Our Sin And Guilt
Text: “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 is fully grown brings forth death. Do not be deceived my beloved brothers.”
Statement: We tend to think of ourselves as being somewhat “neutral” when it comes to all of the challenges and difficulties of life in this world. We can clearly see the sins of the others – our spouse, children, neighbors, boss, co-workers, and the people we do business with. We really don’t think it fair that we should have to work so hard for the little we receive, that we should have to put up with the nonsense and guff that others give us, and the troubles we have to bear because of the weaknesses and stupidity of others. When we get tired of blaming them we finally get around to asking why God should have created all of this and why He created us just to have to endure it! And we also think this way when it comes to our own mistakes, missteps, and sins – that God created us and that He shouldn’t expect anything different from us than what we are.
Application: This is certainly not humility and steadfastness, but rather rebellion and arrogance. It is grotesque distortion and utter lies! God is not the problem – we are! And for all the trouble we can identify others having caused us [and their sin is certainly real], there is at least as much trouble that we cause others – with our own selfishness, self-centeredness, laziness, belief in our privilege, our justifying of our own sins, and our accusation and judgment of others.
And as long as we continue in this way of thinking we will find nothing but greater dysfunction, discouragement, depression, delusion, and even despair – for pigs will not fly just because we command them to. Reality is what it is, and denying it does not make us more effective but rather much less so. And this is true in every aspect of our life and being. And so God calls us to repentance – not for His own satisfaction, but rather for our own healing and spiritual health. And as soon as we are willing to see the source of our problems and difficulties in life, we can begin to see His solution to our dilemmas, for:
II. We Are Also Encouraged To Be Humble In Receiving God’s Blessings
A. First, We Are Enlightened To Understand That All Good Comes From God
Text: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with Whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”
B. This Includes Most Importantly His Gift Of Eternal Life And Salvation In His Son, Our Lord And Savior Jesus Christ – And Our Birth To New Life Through Faith In Jesus, Accomplished And Given To Us By God Through His Word
Eph. 1:7 “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.”
1 John 1:7 “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”
John 3:36 “He that believes the Son has everlasting life.”
1 Pet. 1:23 “You were born again not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God that lives and abides forever.”
Text: “Of His own will He brought us forth by the Word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.”
Eph. 2:8,9 “By grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”
C. And By This Faith And New Life We Come To Love Him – Rather Than Blame Him – And So We Receive From Him A Crown Of Life
Text: “for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love Him.”
Statement: You see that so long as we are haughtily blaming God for our sin and for our difficulties in life, we cannot be repenting and receiving His gracious mercy and forgiveness. And so long as we are refusing His forgiveness and love we cannot love Him. But if we allow Him to instruct us, so that we confess and acknowledge our guilt and receive His good and gracious love and salvation, then we can grow in being reconciled to God and renewed in His love. As we grow in love for Him we are healed by Him, and we begin to love Him by loving those around us – in spite of their sin and the difficulties they bring into our lives.
Application: All of this “goodness” and blessedness comes to us by His Word – so we must be aware that of course the devil and our sinful flesh rebel against His Word and fight against it. So our most blessed and existential moments are spent in front of His Word of love, a good and gracious Word, a Word which seeks to rebirth us to repentance, faith, and newness of life. If we yield to it, and receive it, it will make us “HUMBLE AND STEADFAST,” and bring to us a crown of life – which God has promised to those who love Him.
Conclusion: Yes, we would like to blame God – our sinful nature continues to blame Him and fault Him. But this is not in keeping with truth or reality, and only leads to much greater difficulties, to confusion, consternation, and ultimately to eternal condemnation.
Even for Christians, those who know and believe God’s love for us in Christ Jesus, there remain trials and tests, many troubles and difficulties in life. But in humble repentance and steadfast faith in Christ, we will be empowered to stand the test – and we will find at least a modicum of peace, joy, satisfaction, and happiness in life, as we live in God’s gracious love and receive His good gifts.
Let us beware of our own reasoning and conclusions, and allow God’s Word to guide us and instruct us, that we too become “HUMBLE AND STEADFAST.” Amen.
Votum: And the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds in the true faith, which is in Christ Jesus, even unto life everlasting, Amen.