Lesson 2 – James Chapter 1:12-27
Looking back on the first eleven verses, we’ve learned that it’s a very good thing to be considered as a “bondservant” of God, which involves us serving Him and those around us.
We also studied a little bit about patience, that it’s okay to pray for patience, in fact we need to. By doing this, we will grow in Christ. Also, we should pray for wisdom and believe in our heart that God will bless us with His wisdom.
Finally, if you are rich, poor, or somewhere in between, you’re exactly where God wants you! Don’t be pulled into schemes that you think will bring you great riches. If God wants you to be rich, He’ll make you rich.
Proverbs 30:7-8
“O God, I beg two favors from you; let me have them before I die. First, help me never to tell a lie. Second, give me neither poverty nor riches! Give me just enough to satisfy my needs.” (NLT)
James 1:12
Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
The first word in our verse is blessed, it’s the very same word Jesus used in the Beatitudes (makarios), it means “happy.”
This Beatitude from James means so much more than a person just feeling happy, it means an inner joy or satisfaction.
The person who endures temptation, is someone who has patience. We’ve already learned how valuable patience is for the believer.
• What does it mean for the believer to be patient when temptations come their way?
We used to say in the Army, “There’s no doubt in my military mind,” and here, I can say, “There’s no doubt in my spiritual Christian mind, that trials and tribulations are going to come into our lives.” When we endure temptation with patience, the result can be a growth in our spiritual maturity.
He has been approved… is the person who doesn’t surrender their confident trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a true believer, one who perseveres with their faith intact. This demonstrates our love toward Jesus when we do this, thus bringing about an inner joy and satisfaction, knowing that we are living in a way that is pleasing to the Lord.
Matt. 25:21
“His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.”
James tells us that after we persevere under trials and temptations we will receive the crown of life… This might not seem to be any kind of big deal now, but when we’re in heaven it will mean so much more to us.
Rev. 2:10
“Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life…
This crown is for all believers, but is especially valued to those who endure sufferings, the ones who bravely confront persecution for Jesus, even to the point of death. In the Scriptures, the word “life” is often used to show a relationship that is right with God. It was Jesus who said, “I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).
Paul defines for us how crowns are awarded:
I Cor. 9:24-25
“Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.”
There are five heavenly crowns mentioned in the New Testament that will be awarded to believers. They are the imperishable crown, the crown of rejoicing, the crown of righteousness, the crown of glory, and the crown of life.
James 1:13
“Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.”
“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.” (NLT)
Jon Courson; “Regarding the entire arena of trials and temptations, understand this: God will allow a trial; satan will come with a temptation. The trial may be financial; the temptation may be cocaine to escape the pressure. It’s not God who brings the cocaine your way. It’s not God who temps you with pornography. No, God simply allows the trial to come. It’s satan who brings the temptation. Never, ever be mistaken on this point. The trial of our faith is to prove the faithfulness of God. It is never a temptation or an enticement to sin. Therefore, if you’re half-drunk in a bar, the guy offering you free drugs is not God’s way of saying, “I’m going to prove how faithful I am by sending this guy your way.” No! that’s temptation you brought on yourself by placing yourself in that situation in the first place.”
Listen carefully, God will never deliberately lead a person to commit any kind of sin. Why? Because it goes against His very nature. Not only that, but it would be in opposition to His very plan and purpose of molding us and shaping us into the image of Jesus.
The bottom line is, God doesn’t tempt us, satan does.
James 1:14-15
“But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”
I’ve often taught that we face battles every day of our lives, and that the enemies against us are our flesh, the world, as well as satan and his demons. Here we have an example of the fight against our very own flesh.
To be drawn away and enticed expresses for us the intensity with which powerful desires lure us in until we find ourselves tragically entrapped in sin.
Enticed… means to bait, catch by a bait, allure, or deceive.
This is like when a person goes fishing, they use fishing lures to catch fish. A lure is usually bright and shiny with different kinds of colors and this catches the fish’s attention, which causes it to go to it and try to eat it. Then the fish is hooked.
In Gen. 3:1 Eve found herself being enticed by satan:
“Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
Adam and Eve got hooked, and we’ve been paying for it ever since.
And in II Peter 2:14, Peter is describing the depravity of false teachers:
“Having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children.”
When enticement has done its full work, it leads right into sin.
It gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death…
Enticement did its full work on Adam and Eve and gave birth to sin and death.
Rom. 6:23a
“For the wages of sin is death,”
Rom. 5:12
“Therefore, just as through one man, sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.”
Remember, it only took one sin to separate us from our Holy Father for all eternity… that is, until Jesus stepped in and took on all of our sins and nailed them to a cross where He sacrificed Himself on our behalf.
One pastor says; “Look at this wonderful, perfect, loving Person and see Him on the Cross in agony and pain and blood. It was when Jesus became sin for us that He died, for sin always brings death.”
Sin is something that the believer and the world have in common. The difference is, one is a slave to sin and the other is not. The other commonality between the believer and the world when it comes to sin is that it starts in the mind. But, it is only the believer that has the emotional and spiritual capacity to control their freedom of choice when it comes to temptation leading to sin. The unbeliever cannot because they are slaves to sin.
I Cor. 10:13
“No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”
Paul points out to us that there is always a choice to be made for the believer, we can choose whether or not to sin. Our goal needs to be to take the “way of escape,” thus avoiding sin.
James 1:16
“Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.”
Short and to the point!
Talking about the wages of sin, James says, Do not be deceived… in other words, “Don’t make a mistake about this, this is important. Sin always results in death and disaster.”
Gal. 6:7-8 (Paul uses the same phrase)
“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.”
We live in a time when deception is all around us, so be on the alert. Hold on to the truth of God’s Word and do not be deceived.
James 1:17
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”
Every good gift comes from God and it keeps coming down from heaven. Do you have a talent? Are you good at sports, are you a hard worker, are you coordinated, are you smart, maybe you have a good voice, perhaps you know how to build things or fix things, maybe you’re a good listener… all these are gifts from God. And this is all by God’s grace, you didn’t earn any of them. Someone might say, “Well, I trained for this or I went to school for that.” Who do you think gives us the ability to train or learn? God does and all good things come from Him. We need to count our blessings every day. Everything that is wonderful in your life is because of God’s grace to you.
There is no variation or shadow of turning…
The Message says; “There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle.”
Heb. 13:8
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”
God’s love is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
God’s grace is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
God’s forgiveness is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
When it comes to God, He doesn’t change, He doesn’t have good days and bad days, He doesn’t get snarky on us, He doesn’t say, “Well I’m just not feeling it today, so no grace for you.”
The thing is, we always change, and not always for the good. God never changes. Thank God! Imagine if He did change, we would never be able to depend on Him for anything or if He would even keep any of His promises.
II Tim. 2:13
“If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.”
God is locked into His nature!
We don’t have to worry about God being ticked off at us or tired of us. God gives nothing but good gifts, because He is good all the time. But, don’t confuse good gifts with the discipline of God, He disciplines us when we need it.
Proverbs 3:12
“For whom the Lord loves He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights.”
James 1:18
“Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.”
“He chose to give birth to us by giving us His true Word. And we, out of all creation, became His prized possession.” (NLT)
“He brought us to life using the true Word, showing us off as the crown of all His creatures.” (The Message)
By the word of truth… this could be taken literally “by the Word of God,” by His Scriptures.
John MacArthur says, “Believers are born again, regenerated, by the power of God’s Word.”
Bringing us forth, giving us birth and life, reflects the condition of our inner spirit. Jesus refers to it as being born-again, and it is the Word of God that brings it to us.
If we incapsulate it, we can simply say, it is the gospel of Christ.
I Thess. 2:13
“For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the Word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the Word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.”
Heb. 4:12
“For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
Eph. 1:13
“In Him you also trusted, after you heard the Word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,”
That we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures…
Looking back to the time of Moses, the firstfruits were the first and the best of the crops that were to be harvested. A farmer would be inclined to take that early harvest and store it away just in case of drought, locusts, or other disasters. But this is what the Lord required from us, that it was the first and best which was to be offered to Him.
James is pointing out the spiritual side of firstfruits. The Gospel was still relatively new, and being part of the harvest of believers, they were the firstfruits. Remember in verse 1 that James’ audience is composed of Christian Jews… to the Jew first then to the Gentiles (Rom. 1:16)
I Cor. 16:15
“I urge you, brethren – you know the household of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves to the ministry of the saints…”
Next, we have some words of wisdom from James:
James 1:19-20
“So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”
James knew what the church was going through at this time, that there were unbelievable persecutions happening everywhere. James just finished talking about how God is good. This would be a good place to bring up Romans 8:28:
“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”
With this in mind, James is saying, “Don’t be pessimistic, don’t be quick to complain about what you’re going through. Instead, stop speaking and start listening, and you’ll hear God’s voice in your trial.”
For the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God…
God’s righteousness doesn’t grow from angry responses from man.
If the believer loses his or her temper or just gets angry under any kind of difficult circumstance, it tends to effect their witness, and God’s righteousness will not be evident in their life. As I’ve said before, the whole world is watching and waiting… waiting to see if you’re going to mess up. The believer is always on display.
James 1:21
“Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted Word, which is able to save your souls.”
“So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the Word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls.” (NLT)
If a person is having a hard time hearing God’s Word, maybe it’s because they’re mixed up in some kind of sin. If someone is intrenched in the things of this world (which is a very long list of things) they’re not going to reap the benefits of God’s Word, or even the ability to hear His voice, which is satan’s goal for your life. Satan wants you to stay in your sin.
James 1:22
“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”
This reminds me of, “faith without works is dead,” which we’ll cover in the next chapter.
What good is it if we hear the Word of God and don’t do anything about it, that we’re just not applying it to our life. We have to act on what we hear from the Word.
Matt. 7:24
“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:”
Rom. 2:13
“For merely listening to the law doesn’t make us right with God. It is obeying the law that makes us right in His sight.” (NLT)
James 1:23-24
“For if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.”
How about if you wake up in the morning, you look in the mirror and see that you have “bed head”, then you walk away not doing anything about it. I know the “bed head” look was in a few years ago, but it’s not anymore. When we see we’re not looking too good in the mirror, we need to do something about it. Just saying.
The same applies to our spiritual lives as well. When we see from God’s Word or hear from God’s Word that something in our life isn’t quite measuring up, we need to act on it. If changes need to be made, make them. When you do this it glorifies God. Oh, and it helps you as well.
James 1:25
“But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.”
“But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.” (NLT)
But he who looks into… other translations say, look carefully, or look intently. To look “intently” means to stoop down and really dig in. This term fits nicely because it shows that a person is serious when it comes to obeying God. They want to dig in and make the Word of God a major part of their life.
Dig into…
The perfect law of liberty… is the law of love. Remember, loving God and loving our neighbor as well sums up the whole law. For us to continue in the perfect law of liberty means we will love God and our neighbor (with the help of the Holy Spirit). By doing this, this one will be blessed in what he does.
James 1:26
“If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless.”
“If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless.” (NLT)
Being religious in this context is fearing or worshipping God.
The definition of religion is: belief in and reverence for God or some supernatural power that is recognized as the creator and ruler of the universe; an organized system of doctrine with an approved pattern of behavior and a proper form of worship.
We need to be careful with re·li·gi·os·i·ty, in that it can take a person in the wrong direction with traditions and formulated prayers.
When James uses the word religious, he means it in the proper meaning of the word…to truly be worshipping God with a pure heart. Then he says, if you’re not controlling your tongue, you’re making yourself look really bad. In simpler terms, you’re being a hypocrite and you’re just kidding yourself… your religion is worthless.
James 1:27
“Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.”
James is getting practical here.
“Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.” (NLT)
The word visit can be translated “bishop” by the action a person takes, which is a person who oversees God’s people.
I Tim. 3:1
“This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work.”
Visit: to look upon or after, to inspect, examine with the eyes in order to see how he is, i.e. to visit, go to see the poor and afflicted, and the sick.
James isn’t saying that everyone is to seek the office of bishop, but that as believers, we should have the attitude of a bishop. Orphans and widows were among the most unprotected and needy classes in ancient societies. So, if we’re focusing on pure religion (living for God), it doesn’t just mean meeting a person’s material needs, it also means overseeing them, looking after, and having a genuine affection toward them.
The book of James is so good for us. He never beats around the bush; he gets right in our face and tells us the truth. The truth and knowledge that come from James are priceless. As we head into chapter 2, James has more priceless jewels for us to take in.