When Jesus tells the parable of the sower, he speaks of two seeds that fell on soil, began to grow and yet ultimately died. The first of these was the seed that fell among rocks, where there wasn’t much soil. Therefore, though the seed sprang up quickly, when the sun rose they were scorched. The second was the seed that full among thorns. This seed too began to grow until the thorns grew up and choked them. Two examples of seeds that brought forth life only to have that life quickly snuffed out.
As Jesus explains what he means with each of these two seeds, he says that the seed that fell on rocky ground illustrates one who receives the word, but has no root. Therefore, though he endures for a little while, when tribulation and persecution come, he falls away. And the seed that fell among thorns, Jesus tells us, illustrates one who hears the word, but “the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful” (Matt 13:22).
In each of these occasions, we find someone who looks like a genuine follower of Christ, and what drives them away is trial and tribulation. For some, the trial comes in the form of persecution, while for others it is the riches and cares of the world that draw them away from focusing on and following Christ. But in both situations, Jesus can trace their failure to endure in holding fast to the gospel to something that happened in their lives, something that came into their lives – whether the riches or cares of the world or the tribulation and persecution on account of the word.
And I don’t think this is a foreign idea to many of us. For most of us, if we think of someone we have walked close with who seems to have abandoned the faith, we can probably trace it back to an event or series of events in their lives that presented them with a great trial. It may be the lady who never got over her husband leaving her, the couple who never got past their infertility, the man who never got beyond the hypocrisy he saw from some in the local church, or hundreds of others examples.
You can probably even supply your own examples, as you think through individuals who have abandoned the hope of the gospel they once professed. In my own experience, I can think of multiple examples of people who wandered from the faith because they never got beyond a trial they faced.
So, how do we deal with that? How do we explain it? Or perhaps more pressing, how do we walk forward with hope, knowing that we will face the kinds of trials that have led so many others to abandon the faith? I think this is the question that James answers in 1:12-18.
These verses are closely connected to the verses that precede them and the themes there. And last week we were able to consider the grace and love of God in working in us persevering faith in our trials so that we might walk steadfast and grow in maturity. This week, I don’t want you to forget that focus. But I want to add to it, in answering that question we’ve asked, “How do we walk forward in hope, knowing that we will face the kinds of trials that have led so many others to abandon the faith? And the first part of that answer, coming from verse 12, is that we realize that it is the one who perseveres in the faith who has eternal life.
Our first weapon in walking forward, knowing we’ll face trials that have overcome so many others, is the realization that only those who persevere have life. James writes, “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” (v. 12).
Now, let’s first break down the components of the verse before seeing trying to explain it. By blessed, James means not just “happy” as we’ve sometimes seen this word used. He means that this man has the favor of God upon him. This man has the gracious disposition of God toward him. He knows God’s favor.
But what particular man is he talking about? He says, the one who remains steadfast under trial, and withstands the test. That is, he’s talking about the individual who faces trial and yet holds fast to the faith, who remains steadfast in his faith in Christ. And what does he mean by “crown of life?” This is simply a reference to eternal life, not some particular trophy or crown that some believers get who do well in this life.
Bringing it all together, then, James tells us that the man who has the favor of the Lord upon him is the one who holds fast and endures in his faith in Christ through trials because that man will have eternal life. So, I think we can see the importance of enduring trials. Put quite frankly, those who do not endure and hold fast to Christ and his gospel even through trials will not have eternal life.
Therefore, one of the key weapons we arm ourselves with is the realization of the seriousness of not enduring. That is, we realize this is not a game. So, you go through a hard time and are tempted to say, “This is enough; I’m done committing myself to Christ,” you need to realize that you may be saying, “I do not want eternal life. I want to be thrown into the lake of fire on that final day.”
Sometimes as a church, we’ve failed our professing brothers and sisters in Christ because we did not warn them of the seriousness of their actions or even provided them a sense of security in the midst of their sin. This is why church discipline is a loving and necessary action. If a professing brother or sister in Christ will not repent of sin and ultimately the church removes them from membership in an act of discipline, the church is sending the unmistakably clear message, “We believe the road you are on will lead you to hell. So, do not abandon your profession, but hold fast to Christ. Repent and return to him.” Sadly some local churches have been known to tell them their fine and refuse to confront them when they’re abandoning the faith. And people in the church might even justify their refusal to confront them by saying, “Well, they’ve had so many trials.” When what they should say is, “Please repent, because it is only those who remain steadfast under such trials who will receive eternal life. Those who do not remain steadfast will be condemned to hell.”
So, the first thing we need to do this morning is realize or remind ourselves that it is only those who persevere under trials who have eternal life. And yoke yourself with other believers who realize that same truth, and will remind you of it should you be tempted to allow your trial to drive you from Christ. This is a first and key step in walking toward our future trials with hope.
Second, to walk forward in hope, we realize that God is constantly and consistently working for our good.
Now, we could take a misstep here. If we consider that God rules over the world, a number of trials come into our lives, and some of those very trials have driven some to abandon the faith, then we might conclude that God himself is driving us away. We might conclude that God himself is the one tempting us with evil. We may very well be tempted to blame God for our failure to endure. Or we may be tempted to blame God for others’ failure to endure. “Why did God tempt them in such a significant way that they abandoned the faith?” we might ask. So, James quickly addresses that situation so that we do not think wrongly.
He writes in verse 13, “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.” That is, James provides a two-stepped answer to combat the thought that God tempts us with evil. The first step in his argument is to point to the nature of God. He reminds us that God cannot be tempted with evil.
That is to say, there is nothing within God’s nature to which a notion of evil could appeal. This is perhaps best understood by thinking about ourselves. Gossiping about someone can be tempting to me because I am given to pride and want to look better than that person. So, the temptation to gossip has something to which to appeal – my pride and desire be great. Covetousness can be tempting to me because I am given to wanting things that I don’t have. So, the temptation to covet has something to which to appeal – my longing to have what I do not have. But there is nothing in the nature of God to which evil can appeal. The concept of enticing us to sin is a concept that can find nothing to appeal to in God. It’s not as if God is going to say, “Oh, I’ve been waiting for this chance to do evil,” because God is of such a nature that evil is of no temptation.
Therefore – the second step in the argument – God tempts no one. To tempt us to evil would be evil. God cannot be tempted with evil. Therefore, God cannot be said to tempt us to sin. That is, when the God-ordained trials of life (by this I do not mean, as opposed to the non-God-ordained trials of life) come to us it is never God’s intention to entice us to sin. Therefore, no matter how heavy your trial is, God is not tempting you through this trial to sin. He cannot do such a thing, for he cannot be tempted by evil.
Rather, God gives good gives because he is our Father who always works for our good. Listen to verses 16-17. “Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 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.”
Now, let’s trace out for a second what James means here. By “Father of lights” James is making reference to the fact that God is Creator. He made the heavenly bodies, the lights which are the sun, moon, and stars. Yet, in each of them there is variation or shadow because they change. The sun is brighter in the middle of the day than it is in the morning or evening, and at night it is absent. The moon changes so frequently that you never know exactly how much of it is even going to be shining. The stars are sometimes bright, sometimes dull, and sometimes cannot be seen. But God is not like that. He is constant and consistent. And, he is not just the Creator, but he is our Father.
And he is our Father because he loved us enough to send his Son into the world to redeem us. So, God is one in whom there is no variation or shadow due to him changing. He doesn’t change. And all he does is give good and perfect gifts. Therefore, the reason he has allowed you trials in your life is not because he’s tempting you to sin but because he wants your good. As we saw last week, he is working in you a faith that is tested and perseveres. Everything he does is always for the purpose of your good. Even the things that we or others do in rebellion to God’s revealed will, he works together for our good. There is absolutely nothing that happens in our lives that God isn’t committed to working for our good. Everything that happens in my life or yours, we can say, “This is intended by God for my good.” It may be intended by someone else for evil, but God is about bringing about good in our lives and through our trials. And it’s because he is good – always! He never changes from that in the slightest way.
So, the second reason we can have hope going forward is because we can know that God is constantly and consistently working for our good. But there’s a third thing that we need to realize that will help us walk forward through life, full of trials. We must realize that it is our own evil desires that lead us sin, and we must fight them.
That is, God does not only want us to know that he intends our good, but he wants us to know where the temptation to sin comes from in our lives and what is its end. James tells us, “But each person is tempted and lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire, when it is conceived, gives birth to sin and sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death” (vv. 14-15).
James is telling us that the reason that people face trials and do not remain steadfast is not because of God or even the trial ultimately. It is because of their evil desires. James tells us that our desires are like an adulteress, enticing us and luring us to evil. Then, he changes the metaphor slightly to that of reproduction. When desire conceives, that is, when it is chased after, it gives birth to sin. And sin ultimately leads to death; and that is, in light of the contrast with life in verse 12, eternal death.
So, James wants us to see that when we are tempted not to remain steadfast under trial, the source of our temptation is not God but our desires. And if we act on them and sin without repenting, that is a road that ends in death.
Now, the reason this is a helpful realization for us is because it reminds us that there is a fight in which we must engage, and it reminds us that we need something outside of ourselves to assist us in this fight. If the battle is within us, then we need to expose ourselves to Scripture so that we are exposed to the objective truth outside of ourselves. We also need believers around us so that we are encouraged daily and not hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. And, finally (combining these two), we need to gather with other believers under the preaching of the Word. Therefore, this realization will help us ensure that we are armed for the fight against temptation that will come in and through our trials.
James writes in verse 18, “Of his own will, he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.”
In the Old Testament, one of the things that God commanded was that his people bring him the firstfruits of the harvest as an offering. So, the first of the crop would come up and the people would go and gather it, choosing the best, and giving it as an offering to the Lord. It was a way to say, “This belongs to you, and you are the source of this harvest.”
James picks up on that imagery and says that we are a kind of firstfruits of God’s creatures. And, we don’t hold that place by accident. Rather, of God’s own choosing, he gave us life, causing us to be born again, by the gospel (that is what he means by “word of truth”).
So, James ends this section reminding us that God chose us for himself, to be his own special people, just because he wanted to – because he loves us. And we are a people for him, a special people who belong to him. That’s who we are to God, and this is a final weapon against temptation. We can remind ourselves in the midst of the temptations that come through trials that only those who walk steadfast have life, that God is only intending our good through this, that any temptation to sin comes from our own evil desires, and that we are a people chosen by God, redeemed by him, and special to him.
Sometimes the temptation to sin is the temptation to know joy and fulfillment and value. We gossip and covet because we want to feel like we’re great and deserve much. James tells us, quit looking to fleeting things for that joy and fulfillment and value. Rather, remind yourself of what God has done for you and who you are to him. He sent his Son to die for your sins and to be raised on the third day so that you might have forgiveness of sins, be adopted as his child, and be loved by him. That’s who you are. That’s who God made you to be. His people are the most precious of his creatures to him. This is what we meditate on in the midst of trials that have driven some to abandon the faith.
That is, it is remembering that we are secure in the gospel that will aid us most in our trials. Our faith in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ is what will most sustain us. Our realization that God has declared us righteous on the basis of faith in Christ, and that this was his will even before the foundation of the world.
How do we walk forward in hope, knowing that we will face trials that have driven others to abandon hope in the gospel? We realize the need to persevere, realize that God constantly and consistently works things for our good, realize that the temptation to sin comes from the lies of our evil desires, and realize that we are chosen, redeemed, and precious to God. Meditate on these things, and witness the grace of God that moves your heart to hold fast to the gospel, even in the midst of great trial. May we now rejoice at that grace as we come to the table. Amen.