James Explained | A How-to-Guide to Christian MaturitySample

Day 1 | James 1

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Welcome back to Through the Word, Pastor Jonathan here, and today we start the book of James. James chapter one today.

Now there are many instructional books available out on the market today. A quick scan of the shelves of your local bookstore will reveal how-to guides on how to build a house, overcome anger, survive the zombie apocalypse, or prepare a cheese ball. Seriously, once I found a book that contained nothing but recipes for different kinds of cheese balls. The book of James is in many ways an instructional book for the Christian Life. How should I live a mature Christian life? How should I respond to difficult times? How should I behave towards other people? And what about the way I talk? You have questions. James has the answers.

Now, shortly after the birth of the church, a great persecution arose against the young believers. Acts chapter 8 tells us that after the murder of Stephen the Church was scattered, leaving only the apostles in Jerusalem. Their pastor James, who happened to be the younger brother of Jesus, was not content to let those young believers figure out how to live the Christian life alone. And so he took it upon himself to write to these scattered believers to encourage them into a life of maturity.

Now James did not write these young Christians a letter of deep theological concepts. This short letter actually deals more with the practice of Christian faith rather than the information. Out of 108 verses, there are actually 54 different commands for believers, an average of one command every other verse. So let's examine the Book of James and see what this how-to guide for Christian maturity reveals to us about how we can grow deeper in our faith.

James Chapter 1 is about responding to difficult times as a Christian. Verse 2 gets right to the point:

“Consider it pure joy my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds” (James 1:2).

Notice James does not say if you face trials, but rather whenever you face trials. James lets us know right away that we will face trials and difficulties, and we will face them regularly. Jesus also warned us that in this world we will have trouble (John 16:33). Paul adds that we must go through many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God (Acts 14:22). Trials—well—they’re gonna happen.

So what should we do? James says to count it as a joyous thing. Now I may be strange, but when I'm going through a difficult time I don't jump up and down give a fist bump to a friend of mine and start singing Oh Happy Day! No, I'm usually asking: Why? Why God?

When it comes to trials and difficult times, it's important to know that God has a plan. Unfortunately, so does Satan. When we face trials, God wants to bring out the best in us, and Satan wants to bring out the worst. James 1 lays out two different paths we can take, and the final outcomes are vastly different. They are the path of submission and the path of surrender. The path of submission begins in verse 3.

“The testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:3-4).

As we face trials, God wants us to develop perseverance. Perseverance is a word that means endurance. If I wanted to go and run a marathon—and I have absolutely no desire to do so—but if I did want to run a marathon, I wouldn't wake up one morning, lace my shoes up, and run 26.2 miles. I probably wouldn't even make it around the block. No, if I wanted to run a marathon, I would start with a small jog in my neighborhood. Next week may be a little longer. Slowly I would build endurance until I could finish that full marathon.

Trials work the same way. We have a small trial and we build endurance. We face a bigger trial and our endurance is strengthened even more. This path of submission is God's plan for building us up and making us mature believers. In verse twelve James tells us what this endurance produces:

“Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him” (James 1:12).

As we continue in our endurance through trials, we are promised the Crown of Life. Jesus promises the same reward to those who overcome tribulations in Revelation: the Crown of Life, a symbol of victory. A crown was given to the victors in the first Olympic games. By standing strong in the face of trials, God has promised believers that he would grant them victory, even unto death.

Now Satan's plan for us is the path of surrender. Look at verse 13:

“When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone” (James 1:13).

Trials hit and Satan wants us to give up and fall into temptation. We fall into a difficult circumstance and find ourselves complaining against God. We question whether God even loves us. And it’s at this point Satan will whisper into our ear what sounds like an easy escape. This is temptation.

One of the greatest examples of this is the nation of Israel in the wilderness. They had just seen the greatness of God and His delivering them out of slavery. But what should have been a 12-month trial to build boldness and strength turned into a 40-year death march through the desert as the nation continually grumbled against God and fell into Satan's schemes.

But we really can't blame Satan for the mess we are in along the path of surrender. Verse 14:

“...but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed” (James 1:14).

You see, the root of this path is found in our own evil desires. In chapter four, James will say:

“What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight” (James 4:1-2).

You see, the things that tempt us are the things that start in the heart. When I go fishing, I make sure I use the bait that works right for the right fish. If I'm fishing for trout, I use flies, not worms. Why? Because trout like to eat flies! It's in their nature to eat them. And Satan works the same way. He baits us with our own desires. We're tempted to sin when we see a way for our desire to be fulfilled—never noticing the hook ready to ensnare us. Verse 15:

“Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death” (James 1:15).

What a difference between these two paths. One leads to eternal life, and the other death and destruction. So how do we stay on the path of submission, and off of the path of surrender?

The answer is found back in verse five:

“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you” (James 1:5).

All we have to do when we don't know what to do is to ask God what to do. It’s one of the greatest ways we can hear from God. James tells us to get into the word, but we shouldn't just read the Bible. We should do what it says. Remember James is a very practical book, so it's not too surprising to hear James tell us to actually do the things that we're reading about. Verse 22:

“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says” (James 1:22).

James then gives us an illustration that will really help explain this principle. He tells us to go look in a mirror. Try this illustration out yourself when you wake up in the morning tomorrow. Go look in a mirror, but look for only two seconds. Did you notice any hair out of place, any dirt that needs to be cleaned off? Probably. Now go look again, but this time for a full minute. Did you find more things to fix? The more time you spend in front of the mirror, the more you will notice about your appearance that needs to be corrected before leaving the house.

In the same way, James encourages us to look into the Bible. Don't just scan a few verses and think you've done your duty towards God. Instead, James says we are to dig deep into the word, to meditate on it. We need to compare our life to the Bible, and if it says we need to do something different, we need to do it. That's why I like to journal my devotions. Take the time to write out the passages that speak to you. Write about what the verse says and what you are going to do about it. Don't just listen to the Word, do what it says, and you will be mature.

James Chapter 1. A how-to guide for dealing with trials.

Read James 1

All verses are quoted from the NIV unless otherwise noted.