July 31, 2022
Living As The Fruit of God: Our High Calling
James 1:13-18

INTRO

• TITLE: Living As The Fruit of God: Our High Calling
• What is my purpose?
• James answers that question for his audience.
• Humans, as they find this to be one of the hardest questions to answer (because they want to leave God out of the the equasion), Christians will find the question easy from the text today.
• PRAY
• Before we get into the text … SIDEBAR:
  • We are going to see temped in the text. The text teaches us that God does not temp us; but He allwos us to be tested.
  • 1 Thessalonians 2:4, But just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts.
  • God knows what we are going to do—e.g., Again I would cite Peter’s denials as a proof text. COMMENT
  • God can keep us from temptation: from Lord’s prayer >> lead us not into temptation.
  • Basically we are admitting with this prayer, “Lord, I know I have the capacity for failing in any area any human ever has. Keep me from proving it to myself!”

13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

• “Let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God” is an imperative to the Church.

  • And James reminds his audience of two things here:
  • #1 "God cannot be tempted with evil = incapable of being tempted or without experience in evil.
    • Also sin is not freedom—it’s bondage.
    • If God were to sin He would be in bondage to it.
    • An atheist has said, See, God cannot sin, so God is powerless to do something! COMMENT
    • God is free at all times. He cannot sin.
  • # 2 and he himself tempts no one.
    • I see this point as being a reality due to point #1.
    • God does not temp anyone because He is incapable of being temped Himself.
    • In other words: Temping someone to sin is evil. God is incapable of being temped by evil therefore He cannot temp another towards evil.

• Also we know: God is love.

  • Practically speaking, all sin is based in withholding love.
  • Therefore God cannot sin; for to do so He would have to withhold love.

• # 2 was articulated by Sutcliffe most excellently:

God has shown his infinite abhorrence of sin by delivering up his own Son as an expiatory sacrifice, that he might take away the sin of the world. Approach his cross and say, what [is the meaning of] the heat of this great anger? The answer is, God is so displeased with man’s transgression that he could not think of pardoning it, without full reparation done to eternal justice; he therefore laid upon our substitute the iniquity of us all … ^{(edited for clarity)}

• It should not seem surprising that James had to teach the Church that God is not the source of temptation. It is inherent in our fleshly nature to do so.
• We possess this finger-pointing, scapegoating from our father Adam. He is the was the first to point at God and blame Him for his own disobedience and he thought it good to point his other finger at his wife Eve.
• Fallen man is an expert in looking finding a person to pin his short-failings on.

ILLUSTRATION
• If a man cuts his finger off while slicing salami at work, he blames the restaurant.
• If a man smokes three packs a day for 40 years and dies of lung cancer, he blames the tobacco company.
• If your neighbor crashes into a tree while driving home drunk, he blames the bartender.
• If the grandchildren are brats without manners, we blame television. ¹
• What did James warn against: If we are not holy, we have the capacity to blame God.

APPLICATION

• We must never forget these words: most often, accusation against God do not spring from being impatient while driving and the like, but instead when there is great failure.
  • Adulterer = God what did you allow that woman to be hired at my company.
• But whether it’s being impatient or—heaven forbid—a great failure, we cannot blame God.

James’ next point: man is the source of his own temptation. So let’s look at reality that James presents to us.

• Again v 14, “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.”
• James wanted to make sure his believing audience did not have or keep hold of erroneous theology. They themselves are lured by what is inside there own hearts.
  • “Lured” is a great translation: lit: entice or catch by a bait,
  • You fish yourself.
• v 15 again, “Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin,”
  • Notice: those desires left alone are not sin. They are dormant, but always there in us.
  • Sinful desires give birth! > to sin.
• Like all children sin grows up metph. speaking. James said it this way, “and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.”
  • Sin is a lure. It looks good until the bite! Then the death hook comes. God was to keep us from these death hooks.
  • This speaks to the end result of all sin: death.
  • Trouble is it takes our lives with it.

16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.

• James wanted to make sure that his audience knew that he loved them = my beloved brothers
• v. 16 has the phrase “Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.”
  • deceived lit.: to cause to stray, to lead astray, lead aside from the right way, wander, roam about
    • In this case roaming and straying due to evil desires and erroneous theology.
    • Don’t lead yourself poorly.

ILLUSTRATION

• A church in Huntsville. A secretary’s coveting.

APPLICATION

• All sin is looking to destroy our lives, families, friends, minds, hearts—completely.
• I own my own sin.
• Paul stressed to the church at Corinth, “Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning.” (1 Corinthians 15:34)

TRANSITION

James makes clear to his audience that his audience is the source of their own sin, let’s now look at how James set the record straight regarding God’s holiness.

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

• Every good and perfect gift has the Father of lights as its source.
  • Where else would it come from?
  • He is the only cause of everything good.
  • He is the Unmoved Mover, the Center of the cosmological argument.
  • Without the Father of lights, there would be nothing.
  • God proves He is good through a good creation!
  • Look at v. 18b, “with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”
  • Forget dark place; there is not even a shadow in God’s character!
  • 1 John 1:5, This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
  • No variation in His being!
  • God has eternally consistent character.
  • Unique in all He does.

ILLUSTRATION

• When I think of God holiness as light as presented here by James, I think of God’s holiness as the sun—eternally amplified in brightness and glory.

APPLICATION

• We as Christians can easily accuse God of things often because we are failing to live the life God has called us to.
• We proclaim, “Holy is our God!”

TRANSITION

James reminds us of God’s bright, evident holiness, now let’s turn our attention to the reason our Holy God has done for us

v 18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

• James’ point tie in: God doesn’t temp us. No! From His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth!
• How much of God’s will did it take to quote, “brought us forth”? In other words what all did God will to get us here listing to the word.
• # 1. Firstly, the Father created us by His will.
  • BIG PICTURE:
  • Born once.
  • Gave you a soul.
  • Made you male or female.
  • Decided when we would be born.
  • Decided who our parents would be.
  • God’s plan of salvation was from His will
  • God’s Son came to save us.
  • Jesus went to the cross.
  • Jesus draws all people now to Himself (John 12).
• Then # 2. The Father brought us forth by the word of truth—the gospel.
  • SAVED US ETERNALLY
  • God’s indwells forever.
  • Gifted us for ministry to make us firstfruits of holiness. COMMENT
  • EVERYTHING!
• WHAT PURPOSE: v. 18b That we should be something, firstfruits, something we were not before. A new creation with His values and character. Now that’s PURPOSE!
• James uses all this as baseline reminders for the audience, but He specifically reminds them of these things to continue his case that God does not temp Christians to sin. God saves them from sin. God save people for His purpose.

CONCLUSION

• As firstfruits we are supposed to be moving from constantly repeating on our innate sinful desires to become the holy fruit of God. Being His Body, the Body of Christ, living His fruit out in community and in front of a lost world.
• We do this by becoming righteous through God’s power.
• As a Christian I am FULLY equipped to choose love and it’s ways of righteousness. …

Bibliography and Works Cited

NOTE: Please see the following web-page for most of the works cited: https://insidecrosspoint.org/sermons/2022/july/bibliography.html. Most works cited on that web-page correspond to the verses they are are grouped or outlined with, or in the case of general references (e.g., author information, book background information, etc.), one would usually find citation material with the Bible books the citations are associated with.

Scripture quotations [unless otherwise noted] are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Note

¹ From Sermon Central, https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/61013/hell-by-sermon-central.