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This is East from West, discovering God's amazing grace through the teaching of His Word. Psalm 103, 12 says that as far as the East is from the West, so far does He remove our transgressions from us.
And that promise is given through Jesus Christ. Let's continue.
Our study with Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky, and welcome once again to our study of the Book of James. Open up your Bible there as we will complete the section that we started yesterday. We just got three verses into it.
I'm moving about as fast as I do through a sermon series here, but we'll get all the way through verse eight today. So James 1, beginning in verse one, we'll read through verse eight. James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the 12 tribes in the dispersion.
Greetings, 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.
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given 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 of his ways. Let's review some of what we talked about yesterday. So in verse two, James says, count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.
And one of the New Testament letters that I brought into this was the book of Philippians, because that is a book that is full of joy. Just four short chapters, Paul is writing from prison to the Philippian Christians.
And yet it's something like 20 times in that letter, Paul says to be joyful in all circumstances or to be thankful in all circumstances, some variation of that. And he himself rejoiced in the Lord, though he was in chains for preaching the gospel.
In chapter two, verse 14, Paul says, do all things without grumbling or disputing. In the NIV, it says, do everything without complaining or arguing. And when I was in my teens, early twenties, and I'm reading that verse, I'm going, man, how do you do that?
Do everything without complaining or arguing. And I'm continuing to learn that as I grow and I mature in the word, exactly what this means, giving glory to God in all things. So coming back to the ESV here, do all things without grumbling or disputing.
And Paul even gives the reason why that you may be blameless and innocent children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life.
So that in the day of Christ, I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. Man, complaining is an American hobby. It is all we do. We are one of the most prosperous nations on earth. And yet it's like, if you're not complaining, you're not breathing.
It's just the lot of an American. Most of social media exists just to complain. It seems like 85 of what you see on Facebook and Twitter is a bunch of people complaining that that's an unofficial statistic for you there.
So you kind of have a license to complain. A person will say, I'll let you complain as long as you let me complain. And we can just complain together. We'll complain about our circumstances. We'll complain about politics.
We'll complain about the episode of the show that we love that we watched last night that just doesn't make it just doesn't meet up to the standard of that show that I'm used to seeing and on and on it goes.
We just complain about everything. But Paul says to do all things without grumbling or disputing that you may be blameless and innocent children of God without blemish in a crooked and twisted generation in which we shine as lights in the world.
So we are standing out from the rest of the world when we rejoice in all circumstances, when we count it all joy, meeting trials of various kinds. This sets us against the common tone of the culture when we are being joyful in all circumstances instead of complaining in all circumstances.
Most complaining really is quite out of place. Does that person really have anything to complain about the way that they go on and on about the thing in which they are grumbling over? And yet we who are rejoicing, though we might be persecuted or ostracized or ridiculed for our faith, we might have a reason to to cry foul or or complain about our circumstances.
And yet the world sees us rejoicing in all things rather than complaining in most things. And that in in that we shine as lights in the world. If we are generally thankful and joyful people as the people of God, there is a testimony there to the rest of this world.
It stands out against the rest of the culture. So we understand this charge to count it all joy when you meet trials of various kinds. Not only does it produce in us a steadfastness, but it is also a witness to the world.
And we talked about how this practice of joy, as we continue to to practice in rejoicing, it is developing something. And throughout the epistles, we see the apostles pointing us toward how our circumstances shape us more into the image of Christ in Romans chapter five, beginning in verse one.
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him, we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character and character produces hope. And hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
We even rejoice in suffering because we know that ultimately suffering is producing something. I've heard Votie Bauckham say that we rejoice in suffering because Christ himself suffered and we are sharing in something that Jesus sanctified because he went through that.
So if we're talking about this process of sanctification, this growing in holiness, we can rejoice even in the midst of suffering because we know in those trials, God is producing something in us through suffering that that is not otherwise being produced in us when we do not suffer.
OK, now I'm not I'm not making an appeal for being masochist. Well, let's just suffer all the time. That's not what I'm saying. But even in our suffering, we can rejoice in knowing that this suffering is producing something that our our non tumultuous circumstances are not producing.
God can show himself to you in a way through your suffering that you don't see God in that way when you're not suffering. Does that make sense? So we rejoice even when we go through those trials in which we suffer through them because we know that suffering produces endurance, character and hope.
Just as James is saying here that you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. We are all the more bold in our faith because we go through trials. So let us rejoice in God when we meet trials of various kinds lacking in nothing.
So we've we've gone through good times, we've gone through tough times and we know how to rejoice in both circumstances. And now we're lacking in nothing. OK, now let's move on in James chapter one into that next section, verses five through eight.
James says, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach and it will be given him. Now, before we go into the exposition here, I had mentioned yesterday and the day before, as we had started off in the book of James, that some scholars refer to this book as the Proverbs of the New Testament.
And when you think of the book of Proverbs, there are some chapters in there where it's very difficult to figure out context because from one verse to the next, it's its own proverb, it's its own saying.
So you don't really think of Proverbs having a context, but there is a context there. It's not as obvious as in most places in Scripture, but there is indeed a context. Let me give you an example of this.
I'm going to go to a very commonly used verse in Proverbs chapter twenty nine, verse 18, where there is no prophetic vision. The people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law. OK, this is in the King James is probably the version that you're most familiar with, where there is no vision.
The people perish, but he that keepeth the law happy is he. Now, oftentimes when that verse gets used by American seeker driven pastors, they're just using the first half of the verse where there is no vision.
The people perish. So then they stand up in front of their congregation and they say, we need to have a vision. And if we don't have a vision and if you don't follow my vision, then we're going to perish, which is not what that verse is talking about at all.
It's saying where there is not prophetic vision, where the prophets of God have not spoken. And the people have not received it and are following it. Then they cast off restraint. They do their own thing willy nilly.
And as we're also going through the book of judges on Thursday, if you've been with us for that study, you've seen where we've read that the people of Israel just did their own thing. They had cast off restraint.
They did not have a king. They were not following anybody else's leadership or rule. They were all kind of doing what was right in their own eyes. They had cast off restraint. And so whenever we don't follow the word of the Lord is delivered by his prophets and for us who are under the new covenant, now also his apostles, then there is no guidance and direction.
There's no self-control. But if we understand the words of God and the commands of Jesus Christ, Jesus said to his disciples, you will show me that you love me when you obey what I command. So when we keep the commands of God, we are blessed by God.
But those who do not follow the instructions of the prophets and the apostles, they cast off restraint. And we understand by what the rest of the scriptures say by that, that we will perish if we do not obey and follow God.
So anyway, I kind of went into explaining Proverbs chapter 29, verse 18. There took me a little bit off topic, but this is still on topic. As a matter of fact, topically, this even ties into what we're reading about in James chapter one.
So verse 18, we would think as its own proverb, right? You would take Proverbs 29, 18 and use it as its own thing, where there is no prophetic vision that people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.
And that is a good proverb just standing by itself. But there is a context. Let's go back to verse 15. So we've read Proverbs 29, 18. I'm going back to verse 15. The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother.
Here's verse 16. When the wicked increase, transgression increases, but the righteous will look upon their downfall. Now, verse 17, discipline your son and he will give you rest. He will give delight to your heart.
Verse 18, where there is no prophetic vision that people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law. Now, what is the context? Verses 15 and 17 deal with parents disciplining their children and verses 16 and 18 talk about an unrestrained people because they were not following the instruction of God.
So ultimately what we get out of these four verses is this, where wisdom is ignored, there is rebellion. So there is a context there. You have to look at it a little bit more deeply. You have to read it all together, even though each one of those verses can stand alone as its own proverb.
The writers of Proverbs were very witty and whoever it was that compiled this book and all of these different Proverbs together, they were very smart in the way that they did this. Of course, we understand they were guided by the Holy Spirit.
Everything is put together in a particular context. So I make that point with the book of Proverbs, because as James has referred to as a New Testament Proverbs, there's still a context going on here.
We jump from verses two, three, and four, which is clearly its own thing. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds. Then we get to verse five and James says, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach and it will be given to him.
And it feels like we moved into a different context, but it's still the same context. Because what we understand, if any of you lacks wisdom, and this is a verse James one five gets used on its own all the time, which is fine.
Great verse, very important that if we lack wisdom, we ask God. Basically, we're asking God, give us your wisdom. Let us see what we need to see through your holiness, through your standard of righteousness.
That's what it is that we are asking of God. And when we understand this in the context that James is giving this in, verses two, three, and four are about being joyful in trials. Verses five, six, seven, and eight are about asking God for wisdom through trials.
Same thing, same circumstance, but we're being instructed in two ways of living in those circumstances with joy and seeking wisdom from God. Count it all joy when you face trials of various kinds. And if any of you lacks wisdom while you're going through those trials, don't just jump into verse five and forget what we were talking about in verses two, three, and four.
If any of you lacks wisdom when you face those trials, ask God. God, I don't know what to do with this. How do I make it through this? I am so struggling. What is it that I need to do? I don't see the answer.
I cannot find the right decision that I am supposed to make in the midst of this circumstance. I don't know how I am supposed to find joy in the midst of this trial. God, my heart aches so much. I am seeking you and continuing to place my faith in you.
One of the psalms that I tend to direct people toward whenever they are struggling with something deep and don't know how to rejoice, I direct them to Psalm 13. Very short psalm. It's only six verses long, but here's what we read from David.
How long, oh Lord, will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?
Consider and answer me, oh Lord my God. Light up my eyes lest I sleep the sleep of death. Lest my enemy say I have prevailed over him. Lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken. But I have trusted in your steadfast love.
My heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord because he has dealt bountifully with me. And here in Psalm 13, what we have just seen is David rejoicing in all trials and seeking wisdom from God in the midst of those trials.
See that very thing in just those six verses. And we also see that word steadfast come up as we read it in the English language, which also has shown up here in this section that we're studying from James.
You know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And David says, I have trusted in your steadfast love. My heart shall rejoice in your salvation. Through these trials he is growing in steadfastness.
And we learn to place our reliance upon God for wisdom. We don't see the end of the circumstance that we are currently in. What is being produced by this? I don't know. What's the good thing that's supposed to come out of this thing that I'm going through right now?
And that is when we place our trust in the Lord. We seek him for wisdom and guidance because his ways are higher than our ways. His thoughts higher than our thoughts. He can see the end when we cannot.
And so we place our trust in the Lord all the more. I come back to the end of Romans chapter 11, where Paul says, oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways for who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid.
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. And we place our trust in that God who holds all things together and count on him for wisdom whose thoughts are so much higher than ours.
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach. Now, let me clarify here, though, when we read that. That doesn't mean God gives wisdom to absolutely every single person, right?
He gives to all who are single minded. We contrast that with verse eight, where he says that a person who is tossed to and fro by by the things of this world versus the things of God. I want this stuff in the world.
I want to be satisfied by the stuff of the world. I want to be satisfied by these things in God. Also, they're trying to be satisfied with the tangible and also satisfied with the spiritual where they're a double minded man.
Their their brain is split in two different directions, the world and God. And you cannot dine at the at the table of demons and also at the table of the Lord, as the apostle Paul said to the Corinthians.
So that person is double minded. But the person who is single minded, who is seeking the Lord with all of his heart, soul, mind and strength, it is to him that God gives wisdom without reproach. It will be given to him.
That's what verse five is talking about. Verse six. But let him ask in faith with no doubting for the one who doubts again is torn by the things of this world and the things of heaven. 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 of his ways. Later on in this letter, James says, you don't have because you're asking with the wrong motives. You're double minded. You're trying to store up things on this earth instead of seeking the heavenly things of God.
And that's where our mind needs to be focused. All of our heart, soul, mind and strength poured into God and him only. It is when we place all of our trust in God and our reliance upon him, then we are not tossed to and fro by the waves and every shifting wind of doctrine, as Paul talks about in Ephesians chapter four.
But we are steadfast in the Lord and all of his ways that he has revealed to us through his holy prophets and his apostles, through the word of God. Cling steadfast to his word, trust in him, ask for wisdom, seek the scriptures and God has promised he will give it to you.
If you have ever tried to do this on your own, repent to the Lord and ask him to restore you to the path of righteousness and he will make your paths straight. God, I pray that you continue to work these words in us and give us wisdom as we seek your scriptures to know the mind of God.
We read the Bible, give us that desire for your word and your will and to do all things to your pleasure so that we might also experience the greatest joy that we can have in Christ Jesus, our Lord, in whose name we pray.
Amen.
Who has been, who has given a gift to him that he might be. How unsearchable, how inscrutable are his ways. For who has known to learn.
This has been East from West with Pastor Gabriel Hughes. The music today was provided by Seeds Family Worship. You can find more of their music and information about their ministry at seedsfamilyworship .com.
On behalf of Pastor Gabe and our church family, my name is Becky, thanking you for listening to East from West.