As a general, overarching theme in this epistle, James has been contrasting the wisdom which is from the world, with the wisdom which is from above.  He has shown that contrast in a variety of ways.  For instance, James spent a great deal of time talking about the use of the  tongue, or our speech, as the evidence of which wisdom you follow – whether it’s the wisdom of the world or the wisdom from above.  You can tell by one’s speech.

But he really begins this epistle by talking about wisdom. And in those opening verses, we get some clues that I believe will help us properly understand the passage before us today in chapter five.  Notice in chapter one he talks about having faith through the trials of life, and the wisdom to do so which he says comes from God.  But then he contrasts that wisdom with the one who doubts.  The one who has faith has the wisdom from God, the one who doubts doesn’t really believe the wisdom of God and is instead following the world’s wisdom.

He then continues that contrast saying in vs 9, speaking of the brother of humble circumstances  and he contrasts him to the rich man.  Once again, we can assume that the humble follow the wisdom from God, the rich man follows the wisdom of the world.  And I think in that passage James sets the rich man as an example or illustration of one who lives by the wisdom of this world.

And again and again as we read this epistle, we see James characterize those who live by the wisdom of the world as being the rich.  In chapter 2, for instance, James contrasts the rich man with those whom he says are the poor of this world.  And again we see the parallel;  those who are poor in this world he says are actually rich in the faith, whereas the rich man oppresses the poor.  So in a broad sense, I think James is using the rich man as a metaphor for those who follow the wisdom of the world and treasure the things of this world, and he uses the poor as a metaphor for those who are rich in faith but poor in the riches of this world.

There are other examples of that as well, but I think I will let you study that out for yourselves and we will work on chapter five from that perspective; that the rich are illustrative of those who  follow the wisdom of this world, that live for the pleasure and the things they can get from this world.  That’s the default wisdom of this world, that if you work hard, if you do this, or do that according to the wisdom of this world, then you can enjoy all that this world has to offer – you can be content, satisfied, and live a comfortable, happy life. You can be rich in the things of this world.

And so we follow the wisdom of the world and we tell our kids to get good grades, send them off to a good college, to get a degree in a field with high paying jobs, and to pursue the American dream and promise them fulfillment and happiness.  Now, just to be clear,  the “American” part of that dream is not necessarily a bad thing.  It’s the same dream in Europe or Asia.  They just call it by another name.  However, in America we seem to have a better chance of accomplishing it.  We are told that we can accomplish anything we put our minds to.  And here we have enough freedom to be able to come closer to making that a reality than they might have in other countries.

So as we delve into chapter five and James rails against the rich, we need to understand that he is not necessarily pronouncing some horrible judgment on those who happen to end up with a lot of money at some point in their life.  But he is proclaiming judgment on those who live by the wisdom of the world, who have set their sights on acquiring material things as a means of finding happiness and fulfillment in life. 

Now one more difficulty this passage has is we can’t know for sure specifically who James is speaking to.  He doesn’t address the rich as brothers, or brethren, so some commentators see this as only applying to the unbeliever. But I’m not so sure that Christians can opt out of this criticism so easily.  Because I believe number one, that we have a default mechanism in our behavior even though we may be believers, which is to rely on the wisdom of the world more often than we realize.  And number two, I think all of us qualify as being rich by the metric that most of the world goes by.  Even those who live below the poverty level in America would be considered rich in many other places in the world.  But it’s not so much the amount of money or possessions that James is talking about, but the perspective of the world that believes in and follows the wisdom of the world, a wisdom that has materialism as it’s goal.

So James is condemning the world’s wisdom, the world system, while at the same time rebuking the same tendencies within the heart of the believer. He is exposing the materialistic perspective of the world, but he also knows it’s possible for believers to be just as materialistic and self-centered and indulgent and guilty of the same sins. 

So he begins with a scathing rebuke to anyone who has adopted the world’s wisdom saying in vs 1, “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you.”  On the one hand, he is calling for repentance from those who hold to that false wisdom, and on the other hand, he is warning of impending judgement upon those who hold to such a world view. James says, you may think you are rich, that you have obtained happiness and fulfillment in life by living according to the world’s wisdom,  but you should be mourning for what you have lost, and crying out for the misery that God’s judgment will bring upon you.

It’s the same sort of rebuke that James offered in chapter four when he called out those who sought friendship with the world, but ended up becoming the enemy of God. To be rich is to be a friend of the world, to live in agreement with the world system which is engineered by the devil and produces every kind of evil.  

James speaks of a coming time when God will judge the world. He says in vs 3, it is in the last days that you have stored up treasure for yourself.  He goes on to speak in vs 7 and 8 saying that the coming of the Lord is at near.  So the misery that is coming upon the rich is the judgment of the Lord at His second coming.  The first coming of the Lord He came bearing mercy, the second coming He comes in judgment.  And James says that the day is near.

So James goes on to speak of four sins of this materialistic, worldly wisdom in this passage that will bring about the judgment of God. The first sin is what might be called the sin of hoarding.  Wealth was held in those days in three primary forms, and he says that in all three areas, they were guilty of hoarding it. 

One form of riches was corn and grain.  We find that example in the parable which Jesus gave concerning the rich man who built more barns to store, or hoard his crops.  There’s nothing wrong with storing corn or grain— the problem James points out is the fact that because they stored more than they could ever eat— James writes, “your riches have rotted” . . . literally, they’ve spoiled.  You didn’t use it for good, for the glory of God, and so it has become foul and putrid before the Lord.

Another form of wealth was clothing. There are many examples of clothing in the Bible being used as money.  For instance, Samson gave changes of clothing as payment for whoever solved his riddle.  James is talking here about people who had so many garments they could never use them all, and so they stored them away. They can only store them away in bigger boxes; bigger garages; bigger attics; bigger rental units; bigger barns.  It’s amazing to me to see how they keep building more and more storage units.  People have huge houses, sometimes two houses,  big garages, and yet they need to rent a storage facility to hold their excess.

Notice what James says next in verse 2. Your garments have become moth-eaten.  Again, the point made is that in storing it away and not using it, the moths ruined it and destroyed it.  I remember once years ago when I was an antique dealer.  I was at these people’s house trying to buy some things, and they told me that they also had some Navajo rugs.  We went back into a bedroom and under the bed the pulled out some boxes in which they had stored these Navajo rugs which today would be worth a good bit of money.  But when we pulled them out and unfolded them, it became obvious that moths had gotten into the rugs and laid their larvae which then ate the wool.  There were large gaping holes all throughout the blankets.  They were completely ruined because they had not been stored correctly.

That’s what James is saying here, the garments that the rich had accumulated and stored away, had no value anymore because they had been ruined by moths. Jesus said that if you had two coats, you were to give one to him who had none.  Garments that are used for the Lord’s purposes do not get moth eaten. But these selfish rich people who stored up their wealth in garments found they were worthless in the day of judgment.

The third way of storing wealth was gold and silver. He writes in verse 3, “Your gold and your silver have rusted, and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure!”  One of the things that makes gold and silver valuable is that they don’t rust. What James is probably referring to, since the judgment is the context here, notice the last phrase of verse 3 where James says that they have stored up their treasure in the last days – what he is referring to is that it will be as if their gold and silver have turned to rust.  In the judgment, the world’s gold and silver will be as worthless as rusted iron.  When iron rusts, it becomes like the moth eaten garments – it just denigrates in your hand.

The point James is making is that the currency of the world is worthless in heaven.The things that are valued in the world’s wisdom have no value in the kingdom of God.  At the judgment, those things that you hoarded, you valued, which you sold your soul for will have no value whatsoever, and in fact James says they will be a witness against you and will fuel the fires of hell.  It’s an echo of what Jesus taught in Matt. 6:19-21 saying “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal;  for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

I don’t know if you remember a few years ago some mortuary company had these billboards that promised you could be buried with your motorcycle or car or whatever it was that you treasured or which defined you while you were living.  I don’t know how that worked out for that funeral home.  I haven’t seen any of their billboards lately.  But I read a story not long ago about a man who had a similar ambition. His chief purpose in life was to get as much money as he could. He not only loved money and everything it could buy, he hoarded it all for himself.

In fact, this guy wouldn’t let his wife spend any of it. He made her promise that when he died, he wanted her to have all of his money buried with him in the ground. It was his and he wanted to keep it all for himself. And unbelievably, his wife promised him she would do what he asked. When he died he was enormously wealthy. At his funeral, attended by his wife and just a couple of her friends, just before the casket was lowered, the wife put a large box on top of the casket before it was lowered into the ground. The wife’s close friend said to her, ―”You’re not foolish enough to keep your promise to him, are you?” She said, ”But, I promised him I would.” Her friend protested all the more, ”You mean to tell me that you kept that selfish demand of his —you actually put all that money in the casket with him?” The widow said, “I sure did … I wrote him a check.”  

So following hoarding comes the second sin of materialism, which is defrauding.  James says in vs 4,  “Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, [and] which has been withheld by you, cries out [against you;] and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.”

In this case, James is describing those who in the wisdom of the world to use people, to take advantage of people, in order to climb and claw their way to the top.  The end justifies the means, and if that means I have to step on others then so be it.  That’s the wisdom of the world  that says “go for all the gusto you can get.”  “You can have it all if you’re willing to sacrifice everything.” 

James uses the example here of a day laborer, who was according to Jewish law supposed to be paid at the end of the day, instead, he says the rich man held back his pay, and he was in danger of never getting paid at all.  I once worked for someone many years ago like that who used me to paint a house in Greenwood.  I was in a pretty desperate place at the time and really needed the money. It took me several trips back and forth to finally finish the job, but the company who hired me kept finding fault in what I had done.  So I went back and redid a large portion of it. That happened again, until I finally realized that they were just putting me off not wanting to pay me.  Then when I finally confronted them and they gave me a check, I went to their bank to cash it and was told there was insufficient funds in the account.  Turns out, that was the modus operandi of this company, to hire people to do a job and never intend on paying them.

Now that’s an extreme example of what James is talking about.  Most people aren’t that crass and obvious about it.  But there is a wisdom of the world that values making a buck over treating people fairly. And that is what it means to defraud someone.  James says the Lord of Sabaoth hears the cries of those that were taken advantage of.  That title is also translated in some versions as the Lord of Hosts.  It means the Lord of armies.  God’s might is able to rectify and repay those that do injustice to others.

The third example of the materialistic worldly wisdom is self indulgence. That’s found in vs 5, “You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.”  

James speaks of a life lived in luxury and wanton pleasure.  That’s the goal of the wisdom of the rich man.  These people are using their wealth to gratify their love of luxury and to satisfy their lusts for sexual gratification.

Back in James day, the Romans were notorious for gluttonous feasts and sexual orgies.  They actually had these latrines built into the temples where they indulged in these festivals so that when they had gorged themselves on food, they could throw up in the latrine and then eat some more.  In contrast to that, the Christians were displaced from their homeland, they had often lost their occupations in the process, and were probably wondering where they would get their next meal. 

From a human perspective, it looked like the rich, worldly wise people were living the best life possible, enjoying every pleasure in abundance, but James says that they are actually fattening themselves for the day of slaughter.  He likens it to the farm animal that eats and eats but doesn’t realize that it is only so that they might be slaughtered later.  He is speaking metaphorically about the judgment that will be greater because of their self indulgence. It’s interesting to think about how so much that we consider essential, that we work and spend our money on, is actually a luxury that would be inconceivable to people living a hundred years ago.  And we try to justify our lifestyle in the name of providing for our families, when really we have to have all these luxury items that we think are essential.

Just compare the average house of the generation that lived in the 50’s and 60’s in comparison with the average house today. You can’t even find a builder today that will build a house like that.  It’s not marketable unless it has a top of the line kitchen, walk in closets, a two car garage, and all the modern conveniences.  I’m not saying we have to live in a hut to be spiritual, but I am saying we have bought into the world’s wisdom for what is an acceptable standard of living.

There is a final characteristic James speaks of concerning the worldly wise rich man, and that is ruthlessness. He speaks of it ruthlessness in vs 6, “You have condemned and put to death the righteous [man;] he does not resist you.”  

More than likely James is speaking metaphorically here about putting someone to death.  But in Jewish legal terms, taking away the livelihood of someone was the equivalent of murder.  One rabbi a couple of centuries before Christ said it this way, “As one that slays his neighbor is he that takes away his living.” 

Having even a little experience in our legal system, it’s not hard to see that the rich are able to take advantage of the courts, whereas the poor are not able to afford to defend themselves.  I think using the legal system to their advantage is  what James is speaking of.  Remember back in chapter 2 vs 6 James said, “But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court?”

What he is talking about is that the innocent man is personally abused, beaten down and ruined by a court, that instead of dispensing justice, is able to be controlled by the rich. And according to the wisdom of the world, all is fair in love and war and business, even if it means taking everything from the innocent to stuff the pockets of the rich. Those that follow the world’s wisdom are ruthless, taking advantage by every means possible to keep themselves rich and add to their riches.

Notice at the last part of verse 6, James says that the righteous man does not resist you.

This can mean one of two things: one,  that the righteous man doesn’t have the

ability to show up in court. He doesn’t have the  money to hire a fancy lawyer; he doesn’t even have the ability to photocopy the paper to file his complaint.  There is a man that I have befriended in prison that I’ve seen this happen to again and again.  He has lost so many court battles simply because he didn’t have access to a phone, or to a lawyer, or even able to get things photo copied.  The prison charges him money to make copies, and he has no money, so he can’t make the copies and loses the appeal.

The other possible option is that the righteous man doesn’t even try to fight back legally, and chooses instead to be ruined and leave his vindication up to God.  We can’t be sure, but that latter interpretation is very likely the one James had in mind, given the use of the word righteous as a description of this innocent person.  

In that case where I painted a house in Greenwood and the business that hired me gave me a bad check, I remember I called them and asked for them to pay me what they owed me.  The guy on the telephone became so vile, so filthy mouthed, he cursed me up one side and down the other.  It was actually unnerving to hear the hatred in his voice.  I was very upset and considered all the ways I could try to legally get my money.  Then later that night I began to pray about it and asked the Lord to show me what to do.  The next morning, I wrote this guy a letter.  I said I knew that they owed me the money but I had decided I was going to forgive them for defrauding me, and I wasn’t going to take any legal action against them. I said I had also owed a debt that I had not been able to pay, and the Lord had forgiven me, and by His example, I had decided to forgive them. I tried to use it as a means of witnessing to them their need of salvation.  I never heard from them again, and I don’t doubt but that they laughed over the idea that they thought  they got away with it.  But I know that the Lord will vindicate me, that he saw what I did, and I believe over the years He has restored so much more than I lost in that deal.

Listen, the wisdom of this world says that the end justifies the means, and the goal in life is he who dies with the most toys wins. The wisdom of this world says that there is no God, or that God doesn’t care, or even that if there is a God, He just wants us to be successful in the things of this world, and so we are justified in cutting corners, or we’re justified in being ruthless or stepping on people in our pursuit of the goal.  Of course, nothing can be further from the truth. God sees, and God will judge the world for every deed, and even every careless word that they have done.

Rather than trusting in the wisdom of the world, Paul told Timothy in 1Tim. 6:17-19 “Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. [Instruct them] to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.” 

Jesus told us how we are to gain that life in Matt. 16:24-27 and it is the opposite of the world’s wisdom.  He said,  “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.  For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and WILL THEN REPAY EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS.” 

I pray that if you are following the wisdom of this world today, if you are rich in this world, then you will repent, weep and howl, and ask God for forgiveness, for Him to transform your heart, so that you might escape that judgment which is coming on all the world.  Renounce the riches of this world, renounce the wisdom of this world, and in exchange the Lord will give you the next world, and the wisdom which comes down from heaven, that you might have life and have it more abundantly.  That you might obtain  an inheritance [which is] imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you.

I think that one of the greatest distinguishing features that separates man from the animal kingdom, besides having a soul, is man’s ability to speak, to communicate.  I’ve always been amazed at the inherent desire in people to talk.  I remember very well many years ago I used to work part time in the mornings as a lifeguard for the pool at the YMCA.  And they would have these exercise classes during certain times on certain days when all these old people would put on their floaties and then supposedly start exercising.  But the teacher was pretty lax.  She would just lead the class around in a big circle, bobbing around the pool.  And immediately the people in the class just started chattering away.  And  the sound of the chatter from all the people in the pool was almost deafening.  The pool tends to reflect the sound off the water and the walls anyway, but hearing the magnified sound of fifty old ladies bobbing around who were constantly chattering was enough to drive you crazy.  And I think that’s when I first realized just how much social interaction is essential to the human species.

The experts tell us that that the average person speaks about 16,000 words a day.  Some people have said that men speak 16,200 words a day and women speak 16,800 words a day. That’s statistically the same for women or men.  But the common perception of women being more talkative though comes more from timing, than from the total words spoken. The problem is that by the time the man comes home from work, he has already spoken his 16,000, but the woman hasn’t yet started on her 16,000.  She’s been waiting for that opportunity. But of course that’s a stereotypical statement that is probably not really true.

But what is true is that we need to speak, and to a large extent, our speech is one of the primary ways in which we are known and defined.  James is very concerned about our speech.  He has already brought it up in chapter one and talked about it there.  It’s apparent that James considers our speech to be a work, or an evidence of our faith.  And so he summarized that section about speech by saying in chapter 1 vs 26 that “If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his [own] heart, this man’s religion is worthless.” Our words are one of the primary ways in which we practice our faith, and if our speech isn’t right, then it nullifies everything else.

So that naturally leads us to consider his next point, that teaching, which is the use of speech to convey truth, to convey faith, to practice our religion, is another aspect of speech that needs to be controlled.  So he actually gives a warning in relation to teaching,  saying in vs 1, “Let not many [of you] become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment.” 

Now that’s true on a couple of levels.  One is, when you teach, you open yourself up to criticism from those that hear you.  People are going to judge you on the basis of what you say, and how you said it.  I think one of the most common after church menu items is roast pastor. It’s pretty common for a lot of people after church service to have roast pastor for lunch.  And that pretty much comes with the territory.  That’s part of the job.  So you better think twice before you put yourself in that position. And to be even more explicit, you better make sure of your calling. Because if you’re teaching is designed to win approval from men then you will be a man pleaser and try to scratch the itching ears of your congregation.  But that’s  preaching something that does not find favor with God.

But I don’t think men’s judgement is the primary meaning of James in this statement.  I think he’s saying that as a teacher you will incur a stricter judgment from God.  God’s judgment is the judgment that we should be concerned about.  Because I have to tell you, when I preach, I preach not for the commendation of men, but for the commendation of God.  I don’t preach in a way that people will think what a wonderful sermon that was, or what a wonderful person I am, but I endeavor to speak in a way that is faithful to what God’s word says.  That’s what I need to be concerned about, not in pleasing men, but in pleasing God.  And I do that by being true to the word of God.

I also believe that the indication here in this verse is that James is speaking of the office of teaching, and not merely teaching as in sharing the gospel by the individuals in the church.  We are instructed to be teachers in regards to the gospel.  Paul says in Col. 3:16 “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms [and] hymns [and] spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” So we are instructed to teach in regards to our faith on a personal level.

But it’s the office of a teacher that many people aspire to, and according to James, they do so to their own peril.  They will incur a stricter condemnation because they were not faithful to the truth, to the word of God.  I think James is thinking in particular of the Jewish rabbis who taught, who loved the seats of importance in the synagogue, who loved to make public prayers.  For instance, he is probably echoing Jesus rebuke to those who taught saying in Matt. 23:14 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater condemnation.”   Notice the similarity there in James warning and Jesus’s rebuke in regards to the judgment of a stricter or greater condemnation.

These are people that practice their religion by means of the tongue, and yet their speech is not in accordance with the truth of the gospel.  I believe that there is an especially hot part of hell reserved for false teachers who put a stumbling block before others.  So James gives a serious warning about the office or position of a teacher.

Now to that point of being a stumbling block to others, James says in vs 2, “For we all stumble in many [ways.] If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well.”  To stumble is to sin, to err, to wander away from the faith, to miss the mark.  And James says we do that in many ways.  But in this verse James seems to be saying that if you focus on the tongue, the rest of your body will follow suit.  If you can control the tongue, then you are a perfect man.  That does not mean a sinless man, but it means a complete man, or even better, a mature man, spiritually mature and as a spiritually mature man you are able to bridle the rest of your body as well.  The key to controlling the body is controlling the tongue.

To illustrate that point, James gives us three examples; the tongue is like a bit in a horse’s mouth, or a rudder on a ship, or a spark that starts a forest fire.  He says in vs 3, “Now if we put the bits into the horses’ mouths so that they will obey us, we direct their entire body as well. Look at the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, are still directed by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot desires. So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and [yet] it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire!”

Now these three examples speak for themselves. But let’s just consider them briefly. His statement about bits in horses mouths illustrates verse two exceptionally well.  In vs 2 he said the mature man who was able to control his tongue was able to bridle the whole body as well. The point of this illustration being that a small metal bit is able to control a large animal. So by controlling the tongue we will be able to control our entire body.

And the same point is being made in the second example.  A rudder is very small in comparison to the overall size of a ship, and yet this small part is able to steer the entire ship in the desired direction. So he says, “So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things.”  Such a small member makes such a great difference in the trajectory of one’s life. The emphasis there is this small member has the ability to say something that can set your whole life on a course that is not desirable.

And so the third illustration builds on that undesirable outcome. He says, “see how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire!”  Again, this is not a desired outcome.  But the wrong word said, can set things into motion which can destroy a life.  You know, fire is a terrifying thing. I remember visiting my son when he lived in Santa Barbara a few years ago, and the forest fires were out of control there, burning hundreds of homes, and millions of acres of land from Ventura to Santa Barbara.  Once the fire gets going and conditions are right, it becomes something that is uncontrollable, and destroys everything in it’s path.  And to think it all starts with a spark.  I think they said that many of those fires started from an electrical spark from a power line, or a power box somewhere in the mountains.

James compares the potential devastation of a careless or angry word to that of a spark that sets on fire the course of a life.  There is tremendous power in a word.  There is power to comfort, or the power to destroy.  And unfortunately, it seems that far too often we use words to tear down, and not build up.

So James continues in vs 6 “And the tongue is a fire, the [very] world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of [our] life, and is set on fire by hell.”  This is the application then which we should apply from the lessons learned by the illustrations.  The tongue is like a fire that is out of control, doing widespread damage to everything in it’s path.  Consequently, the tongue sets our life on fire, destroying ourselves and  destroying others that we come into contact with.  And furthermore, James says that destruction accomplishes the work of the devil. An uncontrolled tongue is used by the devil to put a stumbling block in front of others, to discourage others, to even destroy others.  And instead of our tongue being used to bring glory to God, it is used for the purposes of the enemy of God.

Furthermore, he says the tongue defies the entire body.  It’s interesting that James sees the tongue as the culprit.  And yet the Bible teaches in other places that the heart is the problem – the heart being the defiler of the body. Jesus said in Luke 6:45  “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil person out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.” So it sounds like Jesus says the heart is the source of evil.  And of course, that’s true.

Then why doesn’t James identify the heart as the culprit? Why does he lay the blame on the tongue instead?  Because as Jesus said, what’s in the heart comes out of the mouth.  So the evidence of the heart is manifested by the mouth.  The heart may be the engine, but the mouth is the instrument by which evil comes.  So James focuses on the tongue because you can’t see the heart, but you can hear the tongue.  So the condition of the heart is made evident by the tongue.

Consider what Jesus said about that in Matthew 15:18 “But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.  For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.  These are what defile a person.”

So if the mouth is the instrument by which the devil destroys and deceives, then we must recognize the need to tame the tongue.  And James speaks to that need in vs 7, “For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race.” I spoke earlier of the difference between the human and the animal kingdom at the beginning of this message, and now we see those animals contrasted with man again.  

As part of the original design in creation, God gave man the charge to rule over the planet, which included the animals and birds and every living creature. Gen. 1:28 says, “God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”  And as James said,  man has been able to do that.  I read recently about how the Navy has trained dolphins to participate in naval warfare, even to the point of detecting underwater bombs. Their headquarters for that, by the way, is in Point Loma, CA where my daughter goes to school. It really is amazing that they are able to train dolphins and sea lions to do the things that they do.  And when you consider all the animals that man has been able to domesticate, and breed, and train, then you recognize the truth of James’s statement.

But though we have the ability to tame every animal that has been created, yet we are not able to tame the tongue.  James says, vs8 “But no one can tame the tongue; [it is] a restless evil [and] full of deadly poison.”  I think what James is talking about is how we can blurt out things without thinking. That’s why he said in chapter one we should be slow to speak.  And another way that happens is that we sometime say things that hurt people and we don’t even realize it.  We may be making a joke, and yet to the one on the receiving end it’s one that cuts too close to the bone. We don’t think twice about it, we may even laugh while saying it, and yet the other person thinks about it again and again.  

You know, I hate mosquitos.  I guess everyone does.  Mosquitos are so small in comparison to our bodies.  You would think there was nothing they could do to hurt us.  But when the mosquito bites it releases a tiny bit of toxic saliva into our skin.  Such a small bite, and so small an amount of saliva, you would think it’s not a big deal.  But a mosquito bite hurts worse later than it does when it first happens. It soon starts to itch, and so you scratch it, and it gets even worse.  Before it’s all over you have a big welt that really stings for quite a while. That’s what it’s like to get stung by a harsh word. It shouldn’t really bother you.  But it starts to itch, and the more you scratch it the worse it gets.  

James uses the analogy of a snake bite to illustrate this fact.  It’s the same idea, the poison is worse than the initial bite. It takes time to find it’s way into the bloodstream, but when it finally does, then it destroys the body and can even kill.  I’ve heard of snakebites that months later finally caused death after destroying the organs from the inside of a person that had been bitten.  That’s what James says an evil word can do.

As Christians, our tongues should be under the control of the Spirit and as such you would think that the analogy of the serpent’s bite would not apply.  But James says that is not always the case.  He speaks to the Christian’s use of the tongue in vs 9, “With it we bless [our] Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God;  from the same mouth come [both] blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.  Does a fountain send out from the same opening [both] fresh and bitter [water?]  Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Nor [can] salt water produce fresh.”

As Christians, our mandate from Jesus is to love our neighbor as ourselves. But when we curse our neighbor, we do the opposite of that. If we loved our neighbor as we should, then we are in effect bringing praise to God.  But when we curse them, we are condemning them to damnation, we are destroying them, bringing spiritual harm to them. James reminds us that man was made in the image of God, in His likeness, and so when we curse men, we are indirectly cursing God who make them.

If we have truly been reborn, if we have a new spiritual nature, then why do we resort again to the carnal nature?  Even as a fountain cannot send out both fresh and salt water at the same time, nor a fig tree able to produce olives, so neither can a sanctified person both bless and curse others.  I don’t think that James is speaking particularly here about using curse words, or swear words.  However, I don’t think that is an appropriate pattern of speech for a Christian.  But I think he’s speaking of hateful speech towards other people, in which you curse them, when we should be speaking words which will bless them, which will build them up, and which will help them.

Proverbs says “as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.”  As our heart is made pure and righteous   before God, as we meditate on His word, our life is changed to reflect the Lord Jesus Christ. And as our heart is conformed to Him, then our speech will be evidence of that change, so that our speech might result in the praise of God, and the edification of our fellow man.  

The psalmist David realized that he could sin with his lips and he prayed that God would keep him from doing so.  Let us make his prayer, our prayer in closing today.  His prayer is found in Psalm 19:14 “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.”

James is a teacher who is concerned with practicality.  He doesn’t spend a lot of time dealing with lofty theological principles, though he does address them in his letter.  But he spends a great deal of effort to teach us how we are to apply such principles in every day situations.

As a result, James is rather blunt and to the point. If Paul is the general that deals with overall principles and strategies, James is the sergeant who brings them down to the level of the grunt soldier and gets them done. And he doesn’t waste a lot of words doing it either.

From James we learn that true religion is the practice of one’s faith. Faith is analogous to belief.  What we believe is the foundation of our faith.  But religion is how that faith is applied. One way we practice our religion is by going to church.  But of course, our religion is not limited to the church service.  Our religion is applied in daily life.  What we believe affects how we live.

As we finished up the last chapter, James said that our religion might be in vain if we did not practice certain things in regards to our speech.  Our speech then is another means by which we practice our faith.  He said if anyone doesn’t bridle his speech, then his religion is worthless. The idea of bridle there is illustrated by putting a bridle on the horse’s head, to control his movements.  If we don’t control our speech, then it nullifies our good intentions, and even our good deeds.

James then went on to speak about loving our neighbor as illustrated by orphans and widows. Providing relief to orphans and widows is another example of how we should practice our religion.  But as Jesus indicated, anyone who is in need is our neighbor.  

Now to elaborate on that law of loving your neighbor, we come to today’s passage.  In this passage, James tells us that we must guard against loving others with prejudice, loving those who might reciprocate towards us, or guard against loving those who we feel are attractive to us.  But that we should love like God loved us.  That love which Christ had towards us is described in Romans 5:8 which says, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Christ loved us when we were unloveable. I think many Christians at least subconsciously think that God loves them because somehow they are a lovable person.  Talk to the average person for very long about their need for salvation, and they tend to end up saying that they really aren’t a bad person.  Oh, they may have messed up somehow, but deep down inside they are not really all that bad.

The fact is,  they are self deceived. That’s what James said was the case with the person who didn’t bridle his tongue.  He was self deceived. He wasn’t a good person.  His whole person was defiled by that little member, the tongue.  All kinds of wickedness comes out of the mouth, to the point that all your religion, all your “I’m not such a bad person” is absolutely worthless.  

We were saved when we were worthless, sinners, enemies of God,  We hated others, we lied,  we were jealous,  we were angry. Even when we thought we were not so bad and did something good, we actually had evil motives behind our good deeds.  But even though there was nothing good in us,  Christ loved us, and died for us.

Having bad motives, or wicked ulterior motives, is what James is addressing here in this passage.  He says in vs 1, “My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with [an attitude of] personal favoritism.”  Notice that he addresses this to his brethren. In vs 5 he elaborates on that with “my beloved brethren.” That means he is speaking to fellow Christians, or at least, professing Christians.  In vs 2 he gives an illustration about attending church.  So we know that he is addressing people who claim to be believers. He is speaking to us who hold onto the faith.  But he says we must guard against holding onto our faith, or practicing our faith, or practicing our religion, with an attitude of personal favoritism. 

Now the principle, or the law, is that we are to love one another, especially those of the household of faith.  And what better place to manifest that love towards the brethren than at church?  But James is concerned that we are not loving the way God loves.  We are being discriminatory.  We choose to love those that we find attractive, those that we think are deserving, and more often than not, our motivation is that we want them to reciprocate in the same way towards us.

Jesus gave what is sometimes called the “golden rule.” It says, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Or at least that’s the common translation of it.  Actually, what Jesus said spoke to this very issue, this selective love that shows favoritism.  Jesus said in Luke 6:31-36 “Treat others the same way you want them to treat you. If you love those who love you, what credit is [that] to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is [that] to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is [that] to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same [amount.]  But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil [men.] Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”

Jesus said don’t do kindness because you expect a return, don’t limit your love only to those whom you find attractive to you.  Don’t show favoritism.  But love the way God loves, which is when we are undeserving. Now James is expounding on that principle in this passage.  And he likens it to the way we treat others in the church.  He gives an illustration of that kind of selective love that shows favoritism in vs2.

Vs2 “For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives?”

By the way, the word translated assembly used there can actually mean a synagogue.  The synagogue was not the temple, nor did it serve the purpose of a temple, but it was a meeting place for Jews on the Sabbath and other religious holidays where they worshipped God and were taught the word, and for prayer.  James has ascribed the characteristics of the synagogue to the church meeting, or the assembly of believers.  That’s significant as a template for the church, but I am not going to take the time to expound on that right now, other than to point it out.

The illustration though is one with which most of us are probably familiar.  The church assembles.  People tend to sit in the same chairs, the same tables, week after week.  If someone sits in your spot, you probably wouldn’t say anything out loud, but inwardly you’re probably thinking, “hey, he’s in my seat!”  But in any case, it’s evident in most church services when someone new shows up.  For one, they don’t know where to sit.  Everyone recognizes that they haven’t been here regularly.  

James makes the distinction in his illustration that the person who shows up is rich.  He says you could tell by the gold ring and the fine clothes.  And the church people responded as if he was an honored guest and gave him the choice seat.  You know, in the synagogue, as well as in early churches in Europe and in America, there were specially made seats that were up front that were for the wealthy, or for the church elders, or for the nobles or town officials. Many times those people had paid for those special pews to be made.  Then the rest of the seating was in a sort of economic order as well, with the higher class people up front, and the commoners in the back.

We don’t have that sort of thing today, for the most part.  In fact, nowadays, it would seem that the preferred seating is in the back. But we can understand what James is saying.  He’s saying that the church gives preferential treatment to some people based on certain things, such as their attractiveness, or their financial status, or a host of other possible outward signs that they are like us, or that they are what we would like to be, or because we want them to think well of us. We judge by outward appearances, and we love accordingly.

But God doesn’t love like that.  Remember the story of how David was anointed to be king by the prophet Samuel.  Samuel looked at all David’s brothers, all big, handsome young men, each one capable of being king, at least in appearances.  But God said, Samuel, don’t look at the outward appearance, for God looks at the heart. 

And so consequently, God tends to call the poor and the weak, and the unattractive, and the unsuccessful to salvation.  So Paul says in 1Cor. 1:26-29 “For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble;  but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are,  so that no man may boast before God.”

Jesus said in the sermon on the mount, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God.” The principle that Jesus wants to emphasize is that true riches are spiritual riches, to be rich in faith has eternal reward.  But too often we look at the physical, instead of the spiritual. James speaks of this principle in vs 5, saying “Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world [to be] rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?” 

When we surrender our lives to the Lord, we surrender our hold on the world.  Jesus said in Luke 16:13 “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”  So when we become disciples of Christ, we usually end up poor in the things of this world.  Because our purpose in this new life is not to accumulate treasures on earth, but treasures in heaven.  But in forsaking the riches of the world we gain riches in heaven, we are rich in faith, and because of our faith, we have an inheritance in the kingdom of God which is far above any riches this world could ever offer.  

I really don’t think that is the attitude of the average Christian today though.  I’m afraid that the average Christian has not really forsaken anything of this world.  Most so called Christians have just attempted to add some Christ to their  lives, but He is not the source of a completely new life. If anything, a lot of people expect that adding Christ to their lives will make them more prosperous, more successful, and more wealthy.  And there are many false prophets that encourage such a belief by preaching what we is called the prosperity gospel. But the Bible teaches the exact opposite. That we become poor in this world that we might be rich in heaven.

However, I don’t think that God necessarily wants us to take a vow of poverty anymore than I think in light of the earlier passage about holding the tongue, that God wants us to take a vow of silence. But I do think that if Christ is in first place in your life, then the pursuit of wealth or retaining wealth, or admiring wealth, is going to take a back seat.  Jesus said it is better to give than to receive. And so if you really believe that, then you spend less energy trying to hold onto money, and more energy trying to use money for the kingdom of God. At the very least, God controls your money, rather than your money controlling you.

But I get the feeling that James doesn’t like rich people very much.  He doesn’t admire riches.  He sees riches as a hindrance rather than a blessing.  The rich young ruler is a good example of that.  Jesus told him to sell everything he owned and give it to the poor and come and follow Him.  The young man went away sad because he had great riches.  We are so conditioned to think that riches are a blessing from God, aren’t we? But in reality, riches can be a hindrance to God.  Riches can be an obstacle which keeps us from truly surrendering to the Lord.

But James doesn’t have much pity for rich people.  Notice what he says about them in vs 6, “But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court?  Do they not blaspheme the fair name by which you have been called?”  In honoring the rich man, simply because of his status on earth, they are in effect dishonoring the poor man.  But then James seems to generalize and say that the rich are the ones who oppress and take to court those who are saved. 

Now I don’t know if James knew of some particular event or incident that he was referring to.  But it’s quite possible that his predominately Jewish audience were being oppressed by the Pharisees and the Jewish rulers.  These priests and Jewish officials were notoriously rich, and they made their fortunes by taking advantage of the poor.  A good example of that is seen in the incident when Jesus went into the temple and drove out the money changers.  That was a direct attack by Jesus on the money making business of the high priests. They were taking advantage of the poor, charging them extra for currency exchange that only they could provide and that they required,  and then selling them officially clean animals after they told the poor person that his animal did not meet the criteria. They were taking advantage of the poor, and then in many cases, they were the source of persecution against the church.  James said they blasphemed the name of Jesus.  But yet because of the church’s admiration for riches, they were willing to overlook all that and treat the rich with preference.

But James said this wasn’t just a matter of a mild indiscretion, this was actually a sin, what he called “evil motives.”  And so to show that such attitude is a sin, and a grievous sin at that, he turns them to the law.  The law defines sin.  And the law James chooses to quote is the law of loving your neighbor.  He says in vs 8 “If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF,” you are doing well.  But if you show partiality, you are committing sin [and] are convicted by the law as transgressors.” 

James refers to it as the royal law; the law of the King, we being His servants. We tend to think of the law as things which we are not supposed to do.  But the law James speaks of is a law of what we should do. When Jesus was asked what was the foremost law, He said,  ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.  This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’  On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

What Jesus indicated there is that if you are guilty of breaking the law of loving your neighbor, then you are guilty of all the law because all the law depends upon these two laws. So James says if you are keeping the second part which is to love your neighbor then you are doing well.  But if claim to love your neighbor, but you show favoritism, then you are actually sinning, and guilty of breaking the law.  You cannot love your neighbor and show favoritism to the rich, or towards anyone that you find attractive, or hope to find some reciprocation from.  If you do so, then you are sinning. 

Furthermore, we need to understand that this is the royal law, the King’s edict for the kingdom of God, and that if we are a citizen of that kingdom then we have an obligation to obey the King’s laws.  James calls it the law of liberty.  But the liberty we have is freedom from sin.  The Holy Spirit enables us to keep the law.  But still we may choose to do so or not.  We are not controlled by sin any longer,  and we are supposed to be controlled by the Spirit, but we still may choose to sin. But let there be no mistake, we are not to think lightly of the grace of God and trample underfoot the blood of Jesus so that we think we can sin without impunity, without any consequences.  The law was given to us to keep.  And when we choose not to keep it, we do so to our own peril. We lose our liberty.

So James is going to go on to teach us how we are to think about the law.  He says in vs10 “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one [point,] he has become guilty of all.  For He who said, “DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY,” also said, “DO NOT COMMIT MURDER.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.”

The Jews of James day made distinctions concerning the law, that some laws were more important than others.  They put the law of the Sabbath, for instance, above other laws as to importance.  The same is true of the Catholic Church today.  They call some sins moral, and some sins venial, as if there are some sins more serious than others.  But notice what James says, he puts the law of loving your neighbor on the same plane as murder and adultery.  And he says that if you break the law on one point, then you are guilty of the whole law. 

Within the boundaries of God’s perfect law of liberty, we have freedom. My son has several aquariums in our house that have all kinds of fresh and salt water fish.  For the fish the water is his natural habitat.  And as he stays within that boundary he has liberty and will thrive.  But if he leaves that water, then he will suffer.  One day my son could not find a particular fish in the aquarium.  Finally after a long time of looking, he found the fish on the floor.  The fish had jumped out of the aquarium and landed on the floor. The fish left his natural habitat in search of freedom, but found only death. That’s a picture of the law of liberty.  The Christian’s natural environment is within the law of God. We have life, we can thrive, we have liberty within the law of God, but if we chose to go outside of it, we lose that liberty.

James says that we are to “So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by [the] law of liberty.”  That’s not an accommodation to sin that James is giving there.  But notice that he says you will be judged according to the law of liberty.  And the law of liberty requires that we stay within it’s boundaries.

So he concludes with this summary about judgment.  He says in vs 13,  “For judgment [will be] merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.”  Jesus gave a parable once in response to Peter’s question about forgiveness.  The parable told the story of a man whom the king forgave a great debt because he cried for mercy.  But then the man went out and choked another man who owed him a small sum of money.  When the king heard about it, he called the man to court and said, “ You wicked servant, I cancelled all the debt of yours because you begged for mercy.  Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had towards you? (Matt. 18:32)

The point being that God freely grants us mercy when we ask Him, even when we ask Him again and again and again.  So in the same way, God expects us to show mercy to others, again and again.  But when we refuse, or neglect to show mercy, then God will withhold mercy from us and instead will judge us according to how we have judged others. Jesus said in Matt. 7:2  “For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.”  That’s pretty scary, when you really examine how you treat others.

But in closing, we are left with a safeguard against such judgment from God. And the safeguard is that mercy triumphs over judgment. If we show mercy then we will be shown mercy. Let us then show mercy towards one another, and love one another without prejudice, that we may be like our heavenly Father who showed mercy to us. 

James has been talking about trials which everyone faces in life. He calls them various trials.  That indicates that trials come in a variety of ways, in all sorts of difficulties.  James says that a trial is a test of your faith.  And we learned that God uses trials to refine our faith, to strengthen our faith, to prove our faith.  He uses trials to conform us through suffering to the image of Jesus Christ.  He uses trials to mature our faith and sanctify us.

But we have a response in trials. And there are two possible responses that we can make in trials.  One is, by the wisdom which God gives us, to endure the trial without failing in our faith, to be obedient to God even when it seems difficult or not even wise to do so, trusting in Him completely.  The other possible response is to give into the temptation to turn away from faith in God to act according to natural wisdom, or to act in a way that appeals to our carnal nature, to satisfy the lusts of our flesh.

And so we see that’s it’s possible for us to have a trial that turns into a temptation.  A temptation differs from a trial only in the sense that we are induced to sin. James wants to make sure that we don’t fall into temptation.  And to insure that he wants to make sure we understand the origin of temptation as opposed to trials. And so he says in vs 13, “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.”

So trials come through the hand of God, but God doesn’t tempt us to sin.  Because the nature of God cannot be tempted to sin.  He is holy and pure and there is no evil in Him, and He cannot abide with evil. God does not give us trials so that we might fall into sin, but that we might persevere in faith and overcome temptation. 

As 1Cor. 10:13 says, “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.”

So God sends trials, but we need to understand that temptation does not come from God. But rather God has provided a way to endure temptation without succumbing to it. Now James has been teaching us how we are to endure through trials, now he wants to tell us how we might overcome temptation.  And to help us be able to overcome temptation, he will first describe for us the pathway to sin, and then he will show us the protection we have against temptation.

There are five steps on this path of temptation to sin.  The first is what we might call attraction. And we see that attraction indicated in vs 14, as the word enticed.  James says in vs14, “But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.”

The source of temptation lies within the human heart. James calls it lust. Lust is a perversion of love, but it still comes from the heart.  Desire comes from the heart. Jesus said in Matthew 15:19, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.” And the prophet Jeremiah said about the heart, that is is deceitful and desperately wicked, who can know it?” Or who can trust it?

So we see something that appeals to our heart, we are attracted to something that is wrong, to make a wrong choice.  Our eyes see it, and our heart desires it. We find it attractive.  Whatever it may be.  There are two iconic illustrations of temptation in the Old Testament.  One is Eve, who listened to the devil’s lie, and saw that the tree was  good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.  She was attracted to the fruit, she was enticed by her own lusts. Satan certainly played a part in it, but it was her own lusts that enticed her.

The other illustration that comes to mind is that of David, who should have been leading his men in battle, but was home in his palace instead.  And he looked out over the rooftop of his palace and saw Bathsheba, saw that she was beautiful, and he was attracted to her.  He was enticed by his own lusts.

There is something to be learned here.  And that is, you cannot sin without attraction. If you don’t find something enticing, attractive, then it’s going to be difficult to be induced to sin.  That’s why we need to have the mind of Christ, we need to have our desires changed.  And the simple way we do that is through the washing of the word.  We renew our minds, our hearts, through constantly being washed by the water of the word.  And in feeding upon the word of God, our thoughts are aligned with Christ, our hearts are aligned with Christ, so that we learn to love what He loves, and we hate what He hates.  We have to get our attractions reprogrammed. Because we are tempted by what we are attracted to. We need to be careful about what we see, what we look at.  

The second step in the temptation to sin is what we will call deception. We already alluded to it earlier in the case of Eve, when the devil deceived her.  James says in vs 16, “Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.” The devil is a liar and the father of lies, Jesus told us.  He is called the tempter in scripture.  And his strategy is to lie and to deceive.  

The idea of being deceived that James is referencing here in vs 16 really has it’s origins in the idea of a lure, or bait.  A lure is designed to look good, to smell good, to even taste good.  It has all the appearances of something that is great. Eve thought it was a delight to the eyes, and that it would make you wise, and I’m sure she imagined it would taste pretty good as well. And so she swallowed the lure, hook, line and sinker, and ended up condemning the human race in her sin.

Satan may not always verbally lure you to sin.  But the Bible teaches that he has certainly engineered the world system to entice you, to attract you, and ultimately to hook you.  That’s why James told us in the previous passage that we needed wisdom when we are faced with trials, and that God would willingly give us wisdom so that we might know the way which we should go.  Because if we listen to our natural inclinations, if we listen to the wisdom of the world, then we will find ourselves headed on a path to destruction.

There is another step on the path to sin which I call preoccupation.  That idea is expressed in vs 14, James says when he is carried away and enticed by his own lusts. The idea of preoccupation is expressed by carried away.   It simply means you become obsessed by something.  I have to admit I have an obsessive nature.  If I become interested in something, I get on a roll where it’s all I think about.  If you look at the history of my you tube viewing, you will quickly find out about my obsessions.  And many times, I find that I eventually act on those obsessions and buy something or do something, that I probably would have been better off not doing.  Hopefully, my obsessions are not sinful, but I understand that they can be counter productive.

However, I think James indicates that lusts start in the heart, are fueled by attraction, and then obsessed over to the point where we think about it over and over again.  We visualize it.  We dream about it.  And then one day we actualize that which was first only thought of.  The attraction becomes affection.  We love what we have seen, what we have obsessed over.  But as James indicates, it’s not really love, it’s lust.  It’s become an affection that we think we can’t live without.

We need to guard our affections. John said in 1 John, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.”  As I said earlier we need to hate the things God hates and love the things God loves.  We need to loathe sin, recognizing it for what it is, an affront to God, an insult to Jesus Christ, and a lie of the devil that leads to destruction.

And acting upon our desires is the next step in the progression.  We might call that next step conception. James says in vs 15, “Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.”  That sounds like a summary of David’s sin with Bathsheba.  

James says when lust has conceived.  That’s the point where it goes from merely thinking about it to being acted upon.  We act on our desire.  Maybe we say it was impulse.  Maybe we make the excuse that we did it without thinking.  But those are just excuses.  We were attracted to it, we thought about it, we became preoccupied with it, and then we became carried away in our lusts and acted upon it.

That’s why Paul tells us in 2Cor. 10:5 “[We are] destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and [we are] taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.”  If we renew our minds, and change our thinking, then we will never get to the point of conception. Paul says we must control our thoughts.  If we control our thoughts, we may be tempted, yet not sin.

Final step on the path to sin is subjection. We come in bondage to that sin. When sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.  That sin now has control over you.  You are no longer living for Christ, but living for the flesh. To be frank, you have become subjugated to the devil.  You become in bondage to your sin.

David neglected his duty as commander in chief of the Israel army.  He put himself in the wrong place at the wrong time, and he made the wrong decision.  Listen, the Lord has given us commandments that we might obey them, that He might preserve us from sin.  When we are obedient to what God has commanded us it keeps us  from the path of sin. His commandments aren’t meant to be a burden to us, but a preservation.  Just like we tell our children, whom we love, who we want to see grow up healthy and wise, we say, don’t play near the road, don’t put that in your mouth, don’t disrespect your elders.  We tell them not because we want to restrict them so they can’t have any fun, so they don’t have any liberty, but because we know that the path to sin is paved with good intentions.  It’s a slippery slope that once you step out on it you find it hard to stop.

Paul said in Titus 2:11-12 “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age.”  Literally, the word instructing us is better rendered, disciplining us. God gives us his commandments to discipline us,  to keep us from sin and we need to obey them because we respect our Father in heaven and we love Him and for our own good.

Well, thankfully, James does not leave us with only his analysis of the pathway to sin, but he shows us the protection that we have from sin through Christ. And the first thing though we need to know and be familiar with  is the steps of temptation which we just reviewed.  As we study this passage, we need to be able to recognize the pattern of Satan’s strategy.  And as we recognize it, we are better able to resist it.  James says in chapter 4 vs 7, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”  And Paul says we are not to be ignorant of the devil’s schemes.  So recognizing the steps to temptation is the first means by which we resist temptation.

Then secondly, James reminds us of the unchangeable goodness of God as a protection against the temptation to sin.  He really doesn’t introduce this next idea, he just presents it in contrast to the conflict that we have in our natures.  In contrast to that, James gives us the nature of God.

He says, in vs 17 “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.”  Now at first that may seem unrelated to what he has been talking about.  But the issue with temptation is that we tend to become dissatisfied with what God has given us.  That was the problem with Eve, that was the problem with David, and it’s usually in some way or another, the problem with us.  We think that there has to be something better for me.  We start to doubt the goodness of God.

When Satan tempted Eve, he not only maligned God’s word, but he maligned God’s character. He inferred that God wasn’t good because God had kept something good from her.  And that is still Satan’s strategy today.  But James reminds us that God is good all the time.  He has a good plan for us.  He has made good promises to us concerning our new life in Christ.  His motives are good.  His thoughts towards us are good.  And we must be on guard in temptation against the lie of the devil that God has withheld something good from us.

I’ve read that verse a many times and never really thought about the title of God that James uses there.  But my son was reading this text in anticipation of hearing today’s sermon, and he asked what does it mean, the Father of Lights?  I had to think about it for a minute or two.  I tried to say something about Jesus is the light of the world, hoping that would assuage his interest and sound like I knew what I was talking about. 

But after thinking about it for a while, I think it means that God is the source of light, the source of truth, and it’s a constant light, it’s a consistent light.  There is no darkness in Him at all.  There is no changing of His mind. There is no wavering of HIs love towards us. He cannot intend good towards us one minute and then later intend evil towards us.  He can only be good, and what comes from Him is good. And we need to be confident of that and assured of that, so that Satan cannot tempt us to think that God is holding back something from us that actually is good, but He just doesn’t want us to enjoy it.  Or that God doesn’t care about us, and that’s why we are going through such a trial. God’s ways are good, and He gives good gifts to His children.

There is a third thing you need to know to be protected against temptation, and that is you need to be aware of the significance of the new birth.  It’s not just that we need to push back against temptation, but we need what someone has called, the expulsive power of a new affection.  We need the transformation of the new birth that we might have new desires and new attitudes and a new spirit.  We need to be sanctified by the Spirit of Truth.  Sanctification is not just sweeping the house clean, but sanctification is sweeping the house clean and putting in the new furniture. It’s a new way of living, brought about by the new birth and the indwelling power of the Spirit of God.

James speaks of this new birth in vs18, “In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.”  We have seen how temptation works, that there is a kind of conception that takes place and brings forth sin and death.  But there is another conception that James speaks of which brings forth new life, and new affections.  And that new life brings forth fruit as a new creation of God. We are born again with new affections, with new desires, a new heart.  We take on the nature of our heavenly Father.  

As the children of God we actually have His Spirit living in us.  And as we walk in the Spirit, we are not tempted by the lusts of the flesh. As we yield to the Spirit, we will have power over sin. Sin no longer has control over us.  Paul said in Gal 5:16 “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.”  

Paul goes on to show the contrast between the lusts of the flesh and walking by the Spirit. He says, Gal. 5:17-25 “For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.  Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality,  idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions,  envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.  Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”

I don’t have the time this morning to unpack all that Paul has said there.  But it’s pretty obvious, that if we walk by the Spirit, we will bear the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. If we walk in the flesh, we will do the works of the flesh.  When we walk in the Spirit according to the word of truth it is the means by which we are protected from temptation.  We have a resource through Christ Jesus,  that will give us the power to overcome temptation.  And that resource is the presence of the Spirit of Christ within us.

And we come to know Him through the word of truth. James says He brought us forth, we were conceived and given birth,  by the word of truth. David said, “your word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” We cannot separate the work of the Spirit from the word of the Spirit.  Hebrews 4:12 says that “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.” Haven’t we learned that temptation begins at the level of the heart? Then the only way to deal with temptation is to deal with it at it’s origin.  And nothing else can reach the heart like the word of God.

We cannot walk in the Spirit apart from the word of God. David said, “your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” And we cannot be protected from temptation without the Spirit working in us through His word, strengthening us, equipping us, and preserving us from evil. Let us pray as Jesus instructed us to pray, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” The protection from temptation we need is to be found in following where the Spirit leads us.