Would you join me at James 1.  This morning we are beginning a study of the Letter of James.  James is a very practical letter dealing with the real time implications of living out our faith in the drama of real life.  What does it mean for us to follow Jesus into the real world?  What could that look like for each one of us in the places where we live life?

James 1 - verse 1.  Verse 1 is James’ introduction - his greeting that sets the tone for the entire letter:  James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes in the Dispersion:  Greetings.

In the New Testament there are four - or depending on how we count them - possibly five Jameses.  Studying through all those possibilities - we believe that - this James is “the” James - James the son of Joseph and Mary - meaning James the half brother of Jesus.  Which is pretty mind rocking.

Imagine if you had a half-brother who was perfect - and He knows it - and so does everyone else.  The saying goes that most Jewish mothers think their son is divine.  In this case He is.  Jesus always keeps His room clean.  Never talks back to mom.  Always obeys dad.  Follows dad in the family business.  The perfect son. 

Most parents - who have their heads screwed on straight - most parents try not to show favoritism between siblings.  But its not hard to imagine that Mary - as Jesus is growing up - that Mary probably had special feelings for Jesus.  Maybe a few comparisons got made.  “James, why can’t you be more like your brother?”

Do you think James might feel a tad resentful about that?

When Jesus is older Jesus did some pretty embarrassing things - running around the countryside with those 12 men.  At one point Jesus’ family thought He’d lost it mentally.  Jesus drew attention to Himself - not always in a favorable way.  Can you hear this?  “James, isn’t that your brother Jesus arguing with the Pharisees?”

How might that make James feel?  Angry?  Despising Jesus?

James’ opening is a powerful statement:  “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ”

At some point James comes to realize Who Jesus really is.  His relationship with Jesus through Mary takes a back seat to his supernatural relationship with Jesus as his personal Savior.

Then, notice that James describes Himself as a “servant.”  In the original Greek that word is even stronger - a “bond-servant.”

It would be pretty ego building - wouldn’t it.  To introduce yourself as “James - brother of Jesus.”  Looks good on the business card.  “James - brother of God.”  He had the right to do that.  But here - he’s a bond-servant - an indebted servant by choice of the Lord Jesus Christ - James’ Lord and Messiah.

James at one point had the nick name “Camel-knees” because he had calluses on his knees from being in prayer.  He was martyred by being thrown off the highest point of the Temple.  His body was stoned beyond recognition.

Its important for us to grab for ourselves that the writer of this letter has a lot of first hand experience - a lot to say about learning to trust God - about faith and following God through all of what life throws at us.

Notice also who James writes this letter to.  “To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion” - to Jews living in the Jewish Diaspora.  Specifically Christian Jews spread throughout the world.

Jews who were tied ethnically to the homeland - to the old country - Palestine.  But, many of them had never been there.  They’ve been born someplace else.  For many - Hebrew was a second language - maybe even a third language - after Greek and Latin.  Culturally they were Jewish.  But they lived in a Gentile world.

To the Jews of Jerusalem - the Diasporan Jews were always second class - always looked down on.  Never really fully Jewish.  To the Gentiles that surrounded them they were less than second class.

Those who were Christian Jews were below the lowest class - despised by both the Jews and the Gentiles.  Persecuted by both.  Mocked.  Shunned.  Hated. 

Ever feel that way?  A misfit?  Misunderstood?  Rejected?  Alone?  Trapped with no place to go?  Resentful of your place in life?  Or if you even have a place in life?

To these brothers - these fellow misfitted bond-servants - James writes, “Greetings.”  In Creek the word is “chairein”  It means “Rejoice!”  “Be Glad!”  Greet someone near you with that:  “chairein.”

That’s where James begins.  Real faith in real life.  In the midst of all that comes against - in the midst of the drama of real life - there’s cause for rejoicing.  In Christ Jesus - we’re brothers and sisters - siblings bound together as servants of Jesus - who together - we have the amazing joy of being able to follow Jesus into the world.  That’s huge.

Let’s go on - verse 2 - read this with me:  Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.  And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete lacking in nothing.

Verses 2 to 4 describe what is a “process and purpose.” 

Three words to keep in mind.

First word:  Trials. 

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds - notice - not “if” you encounter various trials - but “when.”  Trials in life are a certainty - many and varied.  Trials in marriage - with kids - with parents - at school - at work - emotional, physical, mental.  We’ve all experienced a various trial?  Right?

The word “trials” in the Greek “peirasmos” - here has the idea of being tested.  Some of you are already taking final finals.  Some of you just did CST’s.  AP tests are happening.  Tests.  Exams.  Teachers love them.

A test requires choices - some kind of response.  Multiple guess - 50/50 - flip a coin.  The question is - when we encounter a trial what choice will we make?  A good choice or a bad choice?

Bad choices are… well… bad.  They lead to bad things happening.  Two wrongs don’t make a right.  Good choices are better.  The goal - in trials - the goal is to make good choices.

A test proves whether or not we know how to make good choices.  When a teacher hands out a test the basic idea is to find out if we know what they’ve been teaching us.  Good choices equals right answers.

Trials show us - in how we’re responding to them - trials show us if we’re making good choices - or bad choices.  If we’re really learning what God is teaching us about living life with Him.

First word:  Trials.  Second word:  Perfect. 

Have you heard this?  “Yesterday I struggled with pride.  But, today I’m perfect.”  That isn’t this.

Through trials God is in the process of changing us - transforming us changing us from the inside out - to be more like Jesus.  Drawing us closer to Him.  Purging sin from our lives.  Cleaning out the crud that we’ve accumulated in us.  Healing our issues.  That’s a process.

Each time we make good choices - choose to endure under trial - to remain steadfastly trusting God - to hang in there with God - trusting that God is “hang in there-able” with - we take a step forward in that process. 

The purpose - where God is taking us in that process - verse 4 - is that we “may be prefect and complete” - lacking in only a few things.  Hello?  Only some things.  Lacking in what?  Nothing. 

As we go through this process we’re learning that life is not a “I somehow have to overcome this for myself” thing.  We learn in real time that life is about God and what God is doing in us and through us as we learn to trust Him - and that God supplies everything we need for that process if we will just trust Him for it..

Grab this:  Perfect and complete have to do with our maturing spiritually.  That there is nothing lacking in our being who God has created us and called us to be.  There’s an ever growing consistency in our relationship with God - a deepening stability in our lives as we go through the stuff of life.

Trials - perfect - the third word is:  Joy. 

I heard a story about a man who was riding on a subway.  It was really crowded and he had to face the door.  He was prone to motion sickness and he began to get really sick.  The train raced into the station - the door opened - and the man became violently ill.  The doors closed and the train sped on into the night.

There happened to be a man standing on the platform waiting to get on the train at this particular door - who took the full effect of the other man’s illness.  Who in utter dismay turned to the man behind him in line and said, “Why me?” (1)

Ever feel that way?  Too often.  Various kinds of trials happen.  That’s real life.  The rain falls on the Godly and the ungodly.

James is telling us that we can have joy in trials when we see that behind it all is purpose.  God’s work - His process of perfecting us.  Trials are great opportunities for growth.

That may hard to process at times.  But it is reality.

The Awesome Almighty Sovereign God of creation - in whatever we’re going through - He’s there with us.  He’s there at work in our life to bring us to perfection - maturing us - cleaning and healing - through whatever trials we face in life - growing us to be who He has created and called us to be.

That’s joy inspiring.  Joy is the realization of the presence of God in our lives - whatever the drama.     

Three words:  Trials.  Perfect.  Joy.  Process and purpose in trials.

Let’s go on - verses 5 to 8 - let’s read these together:  If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him.  But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.  For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

Verses 5 to 8 focus on “wisdom and doubt.”

According to Wikipedia - “wisdom is the use of knowledge.”  Which - when we think about it.  That’s not a bad definition.  Charles Haddon Spurgeon - a great preacher of the 1800’s - Spurgeon said this:  “Wisdom is the right use of knowledge.” 

The people who study these things say that in 1900 human knowledge was doubling every 150 years.  The guestimate is that by 2020 human knowledge will be doubling every 72 hours.  I don’t know if that’s true.  But, would you agree with this - in general human knowledge is growing exponentially. 

We have immense knowledge today that we didn’t have just a few years back.  What we lack is wisdom to apply knowledge to our lives.  I did a Google search for wisdom - about 226,000,000 sites.  That’s a lot of different opinions - couched as wisdom.

James writes, If you lack wisdom - ask God.”  He’s the source.  True wisdom only comes from God.

Proverbs 9:10 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of - what?  wisdom.”

Fear is understanding that God is greater - Almighty - sovereign - worthy our respect - our honor - the surrender of our will - the giving up of our lives to.  He is the source of wisdom and I am not.

Real wisdom is seeing life from God’s perspective.  The knowledge of God - meaning what God knows - wisdom is the application of God’s knowledge to the circumstances of our lives. 

Which is why James writes, “Ask God.”  God is the go to God of wisdom.  If you lack wisdom.  And we do.  Ask God.

Let’s be careful.  Wisdom is not God telling us why we’re going through the trial.  The man on the subway platform.  “Why me?”  Wisdom is the application of God’s knowledge to the circumstances of our lives - the learned skill of living life God’s way - living life according to God’s perspective of life.

The question is not “why?” its “what?”  “God what are you teaching me?  What do I need to do to follow You through this trial?  What attitudes?  What changes in my life?  What do You want to show me about Yourself?” - process with purpose.

When we start asking “what” questions - our focus shifts from us - or what we’re going through - our focus shifts from us to God.  God’s perspective in the trial - seeking His applied knowledge.  What He’s about doing in our lives - in us and through us.

The one requirement in asking God for wisdom is what? - verse 6:  “Let him ask in faith, with no doubting” 

That’s brutal.  Anyone ever have a doubt?  About God and what God may be up to?  We all do.  When I encounter a trial of a various kind my first reaction generally is not to ask God for wisdom.  Usually its something far less than that.  Are we together?

Up here in our heads we know that God’s wisdom is what we need.  We’ve been through enough Sunday School classes - slept through enough sermons.  We’ve got that. 

But we’re weak.  We struggle.  We don’t have the answers.  We can’t deal with this.  We’re in way over our heads.  But, our self-sufficiency and pride is really hard for us to get past.

Do you remember the father who brought his son to Jesus.  The son - from childhood - the son was under the control of a demon that was making the son do all kinds of horrendous things.

The father said to Jesus, “If you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”  Jesus says, “If you can!  All things are possible for one who believes.”

The father’s response?  “I believe.  Help my unbelief.”  I believe.  But I’m still struggling with doubt.  And Jesus tells the father, “You dweeb.  Why don’t you have more faith?”  No.  Jesus casts out the demon and restores the boy.  (Mark 9:14-29)

Paul Tillich said this:  “Doubt is not the opposite of faith; it is an element of faith.”

Asking means honesty.  Admitting to God that we have doubts - that we lack faith - is a step of faith. 

Notice the order - verse 5 - “Let him ask” - “God gives generously without reproach” - "It will be given to him."  There is no “You dweeb why did you doubt?”  Then verse 6 - “Let him ask in faith without doubting.”

Let’s be careful.  James is not writing about whether or not we have doubts.  What James is focused on is our response to God given wisdom.  Choosing to trust ourselves verses choosing to trust God.

Look again at verse 6.  Look at how James describes the one doubting.  Verse 6:  for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 

The word wave in Greek is “kludon” which is the same word Luke uses when he writes about the disciples thinking they were going to die in the storm on the Sea of Galilee.  They’re doing all the keep the boat afloat things they know how to do and then finally when it seems that they’re going to die - finally they wake up Jesus Who rebukes the wind and the raging waves - “kludon.”  The first thing Jesus says after calming the storm is what?  “Where’s your faith?”   (Luke 8:22-25)

Put another way:  “Why are you so focused on the storm and trying to keep the boat afloat as if all that depends on you?  All that bailing and wailing and stressing.  Oh my!  Where’s the focus of your faith?” 

James writes in verse 8 - that the one doubting is “double-minded” - literally having “two minds.”  The answer is either A or B.  Both look good.  Which one do we choose?  Wavering between two answers.  Trust self.  Trust God.

James writes that the one doubting is “unstable.”  Easily tossed around by the wind and waves of life.

Do you remember the cheap and easy way they catch monkeys?  Take a hollow - long necked gourd - cut off the top - fill it with rice - and hang it on a tree.  A hungry monkey will reach down into that gourd and grab the rice.  Hang onto the rice and try to pull it out.  But the monkey’s fist is bigger than the gourd’s neck.  He’s trapped.

Double minded:  Rice or freedom?  Freedom or rice?  “unstable” because he’s in serious trouble.  The monkey lacks the wisdom to decide if freedom without the rice is better than captivity with a meal.

Maybe I’ll trust God.  Maybe I won’t.  It just depends on what seems to make sense to me at the time.  In the storm - getting tossed around - when all else fails, trust God.  Maybe...

A number of years ago the New Yorker magazine published an account of a man in Long Island who had ordered an extremely sensitive barometer from Abercrombie and Fitch.  When the barometer arrived at his home he was disappointed to discover that the indicating needle appeared to be stuck pointing towards “Hurricane.”

After shaking the barometer several times - not a good idea with a sensitive instrument - but still never getting the needle to move, the new owner wrote a scathing letter to the store, and, on the following morning, on his way to his office in New York City, he mailed it.

That evening he returned to Long Island to find not only the barometer missing but his house as well!  The needle was correct.  On that date in 1938 a hurricane swept through and almost leveled Long Island. (2)

Faith is believing that God’s perspective is the right one - seeking God’s wisdom.  Doubt is hesitation to follow through on living by that wisdom.

We are in serious serious trouble when we replace God’s wisdom with our pride in our own understanding and self-sufficiency.  We are going to get tossed around with no hope of a calmed sea.  He who hesitates is… lost. 

James warns us, if we’re second guessing God we better not expect that we’ll receive anything from the Lord.  Put slightly different:  God gives us wisdom based on our willingness to follow that wisdom.

Are we together?

If we’re struggling at work, or in our marriage, or with finances, or with kids, or with parents - or whatever the trial - if we’re willing - by faith - to do anything God wants “I will follow You regardless…” then God will give us His wisdom - His power - His presence - His peace - the guidance we need to move forward through the trial trusting Him.

If we ask God, “What do you want me to do in this relationship?”  Or, “What am I suppose to do with this job situation?”  Unless we’re willing to do whatever - give up the relationship - give up the job - put up with the boss - unless we’re willing to do whatever God guides us to - then we’re not asking by faith.  We’re second guessing God.  So, don’t expect that God is going to give us His wisdom if we’re going to trash it with our own opinions and just do what we want anyway.  Are you with together on that?

This is the bottom line of where real faith impacts real life.  The rubber meets the road reality of if our lives really are surrendered to God.  Where we really are in God’s purposeful process of perfecting us - of producing in us steadfastness instead of our living by double minded instability and wondering why God doesn’t do something.  “Why me?”

If we want to grow through trials - find joy in the midst of the crud of life - we need to choose to get off our pedestals of pride and go to God - open handed - and ask for His wisdom.  It may be terrifying.  It may go against the grain of our pride and everything we lived by to this point.  But, it is the only way.

Verses 9 to 12 focus on our “blessing and approval.” 

Let’s read these together:  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 away in the midst of his pursuits.  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.

There are two perspectives of riches here.

First:  Riches are temporal.  They have no eternal value.  You’ve heard this:  There are no hearses with UHauls.  You can’t take it - what? with you.  The pursuit of riches of this world has no value in God’s eternal kingdom.  

Second:  Riches are temporary.  We need certain things for the day-to-day stuff of life.  But beyond that, we need to realize that all the stuff we surround ourselves with - spend so much effort acquiring - what we’re tempted to think is so valuable - beautiful in appearance to us - James says, its just fading away.  They don’t last - even in this world.

It is way too easy for us - whether we’re poor or rich - way too easy for us to try to hang on to or to place great value on - what has no eternal value and is only fading away.  A poor person might see riches as the solution to all his problems.  A rich person - surrounded by all the latest toys - can be blind to his real needs.

James says that we don’t even last.  Physically speaking - the end point of all of us is some marble orchard someplace.  We’re like the withering grass and falling flower.  At some point we all fade.

Let’s be careful.  What James is getting at here is not material stuff - but the character of our relationship with God and what really are the eternal enduring things of life.  What we need to understand - encountering trials - what we need to understand is that having stuff - pursuing the things of this world - trying to control our world with riches - all that doesn’t move us through trials deepening our relationship with God and growing us as Christians.  All that is not what we really need.

Which really is the bottom line of what James is getting at.  In contrast to all the temporal and temporary fixes we try to come up with - James is getting us to think about what’s really important - what’s really enduring and of greatest value.

In verse 12 there are two enduring realities we need to hold on to.

First - God’s blessing.  When we persevere - go through trials God’s way - God blesses us.

Remember “The Beatitudes” - Matthew 5:1-12?  The word “beatitude” comes from the Latin “beatus” which means “blessed” - it translates the Greek “makarios” - which means blessed or happy.  Same word as here in verse 12.

What did Jesus say?  

Blessed are those who earn six figures.

Blessed are the famous.

Blessed are those who don’t have anything to worry about.

Remember those?  There’s a lot of people out there who are trying to live life that way.

What was it Jesus said?  “Blessed are the poor in spirit.  Blessed are those who mourn.  The gentle.  Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.  The merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, the persecuted.  These are the ones blessed by God.”

Blessed people have trials.  But, they’re blessed because God is with them in the midst of the trials.  They don’t have to go at it alone.  When we turn to God in trials - we open ourselves up to His presence in our lives - His provision for our needs - His healing - His rewards - His pleasure with us.

The second enduring reality we need to hold on to is God’s Approval. 

“When he has stood the test” uses a Greek word “dokimos” which means “approved.”

Think about Inspector 12.  Archeologists dig up pieces of pottery in the Middle East - if the pottery passed through the kiln - the fiery test - intact - it got the stamp “dokimos” on the bottom.  If it cracked “adokimos” - “not approved.”

James is saying, if we persevere through trials God’s way - choosing to seek out God - His wisdom - His purposes - living faithfully for Him - when we pass through the trial - God places His stamp of approval on us.  God’s high five - fist bump - well done. 

Verse 12 - God approves - we get crowned.

“Crown” in Greek is a “stephanos.” - “Stephen.”  Same word.  Great name.  The word was used of the laurel wreath they put on the head of a victorious athlete - someone who endured the course - the trial - persevered and was victorious - gained approval.

There are two meanings of “Crown of Life.”  James probably has both in mind.

First, the Crown of Life is something that God gives His children when we see Jesus face to face.  After we’ve persevered through all of life and enter into eternity - eternal rewards.

Second, the Crown of Life is a reward from God that we receive more immediately - at the end of a trial - as we live each day.  It’s a quality of life - living life as God intends - knowing Him - enjoying Him.

Doesn’t your heart long to walk with God through life?  To get as close to Him as you can?  To not be alone?  To go through life with the One who longs to comfort and heal you?  To fill you with His peace?  To give you His wisdom?  To care for you and take you through life?

That’s God’s blessing.  That’s His approval.  That’s His life that He offers us - even in the midst of the worst of life - for today - and forever.

Processing what James writes for when we head out of here:  How are you doing at turning to God in the midst of life’s drama?

I was sharing with someone that we were going to start James on Mother’s Day - which I said probably doesn’t have a whole lot to do with Mother’s Day.  And, that we were going to be looking at trials and seeking God’s wisdom.  Which this mother said has a whole lot to do with being a mother.

Oswald Chambers writes:  “Faith is not a pathetic sentiment, but robust vigorous confidence built on the fact that God is holy love.  You cannot see Him just now, you cannot understand what He is doing, but you know Him….  Faith is the heroic effort of your life, you fling yourself in reckless confidence on God.  God has ventured all in Jesus Christ to save us, now He wants us to venture our all in abandoned confidence in Him.” (3)

What would that look like for you - in the midst of whatever you’re going through?  To recklessly place your confidence in God?  Where you constantly let go of security and comfort and let God catch and hold you?  To let Him lead you regardless of what it may mean to follow?

God knows the trials we’re in.  We need to take joy in His purposes - known or unknown to us - and learn to seek Him for His wisdom that we - even through trial - He will perfect us - transforming us to be who He has created and called us to be.

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1. David H. Roper, Suffering Successfully 

2. Adapted from Bits and Pieces, quoted in Lloyd Cory, Quote Unquote

3. Oswald Chambers, “The Patience of Faith,”  My Utmost for His Highest,   May 8th reading.  New York, Dood, Mead & Company, Inc., 1963

Additional reference:  Charles R. Swindoll, Insights on James, 1 and 2 Peter - Zondervan, 2010