Faith About God's Gifts

Introduction

Have you ever found yourself blaming others for the choices you made? As children we may blame a sibling or another child for our choice to lash out physically or verbally. Why did you hit your brother receives the answer because he hit me first. As adults we are not much different. One person’s lack of kindness is met with a lack of kindness in return. A spouse says something hurtful and we respond with hurtful words. A co-worker is disrespectful and we find ways to be disrespectful in return. We excuse our sin by saying that the other person got what they deserved or the other person started it.

The same thing can happen with God. We can blame him for the choices we make. We can blame him for outcomes that were produced by our choices. James writes about blaming God in our text this morning. The truth is that when the pressure is on we want relief. We have convinced ourselves that God is to blame for our choices because he put us in situations that were too hard. James is going to remind us that God only wants to give us good gifts and that he is only capable of giving us good gifts. The testing of our faith will result in maturity. The spiritually mature person doesn’t blame God for choices made but praises God for opportunities to grow. Not easy but then growing up rarely is easy.

Temptation and Sin

How many of you experienced a trial this past week and thought this is going to help me become more mature? How many of you learned this past week to wrestle with God in prayer when the trial came? James put thing in perspective writing that trials come and such trial lead us to develop our faith. One cannot receive life without going through trials. These trials not only develop our faith but help us to realize how much we need God’s wisdom to help us through the trials. But something else happens with trials. When trials come we find ourselves seeking a quick release from the trial. In fact, we may find ourselves tempted in that quick release.

James says that God’s favor rests on those who go through times of testing resulting in life as the reward. But then he turns his attention to the reality that not everyone perseveres through a time of testing. There are some who will sin during times of testing. So let’s stop right here. The common thread for all who go through times of testing or trials is temptation. This is why perseverance is the result of testing. We all look for the easy path when trials come. We want the trial to be over as quickly as possible. While not always true, many times the easy path or the belief that you deserve the easy path leads us toward sin. This is the temptation. The quick fix or easy solution usually includes choosing to go against God’s will.

Think about it. A person lashes out at you and you lash out in return. The easy path doesn’t endorse perseverance. The belief that you are supposed to only get the easy path will result in blaming God for not making the easy path available to you. This is what James says in verses 13–15. When trials come and they come to us all, some will blame God. God is producing these feelings in me. God doesn’t love me enough because he is letting this trial occur. Those beliefs lead to temptation. What does James say?

First, God’s very nature does not include evil. It is not within the character of God to think in evil ways. In other words, it is impossible for God to think about how he can hurt you. God doesn’t have the ability to do evil or allow evil to enter his mind. So if you blame God for the trial and attribute an evil motive to Him then you misunderstand the nature of God. Second, God cannot tempt anyone. Since evil is not a part of his nature and he cannot allow evil to be a part of his nature then God is incapable of putting evil in your path. He cannot think of ways to tempt you. Therefore, any test that comes from God does not come from a motive to harm you or to trip you up. We do this to ourselves James writes.

Temptation comes and entices. Like a fish with a lure or an animal attracted to bait, we seek the easy path. We want to find a quick solution to our trial and what do we do. Enticed we sin. There is something within us, James writes, that gives us permission to sin. There is something within us that looks at the trial and tries to discover a way to shortcut it and that ultimately leads us to sin. Don’t blame God for your sin. Don’t blame God for the feelings you have. Feelings of frustration, rejection, anger do not come from God but come from us wrongly believing that God has failed us in some way. In verse 12, God will give life to those who persevere through the trial. In verse 15, we bring death by the choices we make to go against God.

Pagan thought says we are mere pawns being used by God. These kind of thinking exists not only today but existed in the first century. Thus, in order to make life better, a person had to appease the gods. One had to say the right things or do the right things in order for the gods to do good things. James writes, we are responsible for our moral choices. We bear the responsibility for outcomes that go against God’s will.

God’s Nature

God’s nature on the contrary to tempting people to do evil is to give good gifts and only good gifts. He is incapable of being enticed by evil or to entice anyone to do evil. Instead he wants to give only good gifts. This includes trials and times of testing. While James is silent about Satan in this text, the idea that he is proposing is that God is using trials as a growing and maturing time. The blessing that he gives is life. While not all trials come from God because Satan is at work, all trials are to be regarded as growing and maturing times. The point is that good gifts come from the God whose very nature is to give only good things. To question God’s goodness is to deceive ourselves. So when trials come and we say that in some way God is not being good to us, then we are deceiving ourselves about the nature of God. That is why in the middle of a trial we still proclaim that God is good.

There is no trick to God’s gift. There is no downside to God’s gift. Our job is to recognize God’s goodness and to thank him for every gift. Because unlike our sin leading to death, God’s good gifts lead to birth and life. His gifts are deliberate. They are carefully thought out and planned so that he can bring life to us. Like the good Father that he is, he wants and will give us only good gifts. There may be times during trials that we do not understand what is happening. During such times we trust that God is still giving us good gifts. We will not like the time of testing but he is so filled with love and wanting what is best for us that he gives us the opportunity to grow and learn perseverance. The parent who allows the child to learn how to do things is a wise parent. The parent who shortcuts the struggle for children may be perceived as giving good gifts but in fact are making it harder on the child in the long run.

James says that good gifts allow us to know that we are the firstfruits. It is going through the trial that we learn how to reflect the character of God and one of God’s great gifts is that he declares us his first fruits. James seems to be perplexed that those who claim faith do not live by faith. This he will begin addressing in the next section. Those who are first fruits reflect God’s character and live with an understanding that every trial provides an opportunity for God to give us good gifts. Invitation.

Follow Jesus

If you’d like to respond to this message or learn more about following Jesus, please reach out.