From our Sunday service on March 12, 2023, James 1, the first message in our Journey Through James series. Watch the full message: A Journey Through James 1 on YouTube.
Today we start a series called A Journey Through James, and we are going to work our way through the book with one chapter each week. Before we begin, it helps to know who James was.
Who Was James?
James is the half-brother of Jesus Christ. Remember in the Gospels how Jesus’s brothers did not believe in Him? James was one of them. When Jesus walked the earth saying He was the Son of God come to die for the sins of the world, James said, “No, no, that’s my brother. Are you kidding me? I don’t believe it.” But like so many others, when Jesus rose from the dead after being crucified, James had no choice but to say that Jesus truly is the Son of God. He became a believer and a teacher of the words Jesus said. Growing up as the younger brother of the Son of God, he would have heard a lot of wisdom from Him, so James is a great person to share Jesus’s teachings with us.
James also became the pastor of the church in Jerusalem, one of the early, big churches. The Jews were unhappy with the Christians and did not like the idea of Jesus coming and fulfilling all their laws, so they persecuted the Jerusalem church, and its members were scattered throughout the known world. This book is James writing a letter of encouragement to those persecuted believers, who were facing famine, poverty, and many other pressures.
Unlike Paul’s letters, this book is a summary of James’s teaching. His church is gone and no longer there to hear from him, so he reminds them of what he taught them and encourages them not to give up. Many books of the Bible contain lessons for the unsaved, but every teaching in James is aimed at believers and their growth. If you study much, you will notice that James draws on the Sermon on the Mount and on the Book of Proverbs.
Twelve Lessons on Pure Religion
James has a very unique structure. Chapter 1 is an introduction, followed by twelve lessons for every believer, and then one concluding statement that summarizes it all. We will learn a few of the lessons each week.
The theme for the whole book, and our lesson today, is that God wants you to practice pure religion. That is not fake religion, or a religion that is proud of itself and just playing the part, but a religion that is true. So how do we find out what pure religion looks like? James will answer that through his twelve lessons. Today we look at the introduction, which prepares us for the lessons ahead.
The Problem: A Double-Minded Man
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
James 1:1–8
James begins by telling us what the problem is and what needs to be fixed, and I think verse 8 is the main problem he has with the Christians of his day: “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” The Greek word for double-minded literally means two-souled. It describes a spiritual schizophrenic, someone with an inner conflict, who fights and argues with himself over whether to do this or that.
We can all remember a time when we were conflicted, when part of us wanted one thing and part of us wanted the opposite. For me it was when I was going to college and had to decide between a programming degree and a ministry degree. I went back and forth, arguing with myself about what I wanted and what God wanted me to do. I was a spiritual schizophrenic. Now James says some of you are the same. Your mind is split, and what that produces is instability. How can you have a stable walk with God when your flesh is doing one thing and your spirit is doing the other? As Jesus says, the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. Two parts are at war, and one of them has to win if you want to be stable.
Count It All Joy
With that in mind, look at James’s other encouragements. In verse 2 he says to “count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations.” That seems odd. I am already spiritually unstable, and I am supposed to be happy that I am tempted, that there are things in my life I want to do that do not honor and glorify God? Why? Verse 3 says we are knowing this, not thinking it but knowing it as a fact, that “the trying of your faith worketh patience.” When your faith is tested, it produces patience, which carries the idea of perseverance or endurance, being able to wait it out. Every time you are tested, your faith grows a little and your ability to persevere through struggle grows. James says not to see temptation as a disappointment but as an opportunity to grow in Christ. Every time you overcome, it is a little easier the next time.
Verse 4 continues: “Let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” Wanting means lacking. Throughout this passage James uses pregnancy terms. Something is conceived, and over time a baby is born. Every trial is an opportunity to plant a seed of faith that will grow into endurance and perseverance. As you go through trials and plant these seeds, in the end you find completeness and lack nothing.
Does that mean they had everything they needed or no struggles? No. It means they learned to be content in their struggles. Each temptation they turned away from was an opportunity to be grateful for what they had and to learn to endure hardship. These people were persecuted and sent from their homes, and they were not allowed to return to Jerusalem. The Jews wanted them dead, and Rome wanted them dead. What did they have? They had the Lord Jesus Christ and their faith in Him, and James says that should be enough.
Ask God for Wisdom
Maybe there is something else you lack. Verse 5 says that if any of you lacks wisdom, God “giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not.” Liberally means openly, freely, without restriction, and “upbraideth not” means He does not mock you. Imagine going to Jesus and saying, “Lord, I lack wisdom for this situation. I’m at a crossroads, I’m double-minded, and I don’t know whether to go left or right.” God does not answer, “Are you dumb? Why should I help you?” He does not defame you or belittle you for not knowing which way to go. He is open and ready to give an answer to the person who asks. There is a source of wisdom who is always open for a call.
But James adds a warning in verse 6: ask “in faith, nothing wavering.” The one who wavers is “like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed,” like a boat in the water with no sail, unsure whether it will crash into a rock on the shore or make it through the storm. If you go to God for wisdom, go in faith, not doubting that He will answer. Then He will give you the wisdom you need to overcome anything. Verse 8 tells us again that the double-minded man is unstable, so we have to get this spiritual schizophrenia under control and have faith.
Pure Religion Rejoices in Blessings but Does Not Strive for Riches
Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted: But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.
James 1:9–11
We have to remember that this is a book written to the church, so James is encouraging Christians here: a poor Christian and a rich Christian. Whether we are poor or rich, we can rejoice in the Lord.
The brother of low degree can rejoice “in that he is exalted.” Exalted means lifted up. Though you are in poverty and struggling, as these Christians were when they were cast out of their homes, God lifts you up in His strength and power and holds you through these hard times.
The rich can rejoice too, “in that he is made low.” Can we rejoice that God has lowered us in our riches? If we remember that Jesus said it is difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God, we see why. The rich man is proud and has all his money to rely on. “Why do I need Jesus? I have all the money in the world to get anything I want.” So the rich Christian has a reason to rejoice because he has been humbled out of that pride enough to accept the grace of God.
James then compares the rich man to the flower of the grass. Think of wheat in a field that grows for a season but is eventually cut down, consumed by animals, or burned as chaff in the fire. James is using that fire as an illustration of hell. A field in full bloom is beautiful, and we love to look at lush fields. That is how the rich man is with all his riches, but just like the field, he will be cut down, burned up, and turned to nothing. That was the rich man’s destiny before he believed in Jesus Christ. All those riches were beautiful while he lived, but when he died they did him no good. So pure religion does not strive for riches but is grateful for both humility and exaltation.
Pure Religion Takes Responsibility for Temptation
Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
James 1:12–14
A lot of Christians today still say, “God’s just letting me be tempted. Is He putting this in my way to test me?” But the Bible says God does not put temptation in your way. He does not want you to fail, and He is not setting up a bunch of tests for you. When you fall into sin, you cannot say, “God just tested me and I fell into it.” James says not to say that, because you are making excuses. God did not put that temptation in front of you. Your own lust led you to that desire and made you fall. Are you ascribing evil to God? God cannot be tempted with evil, and neither does He tempt anyone with it. Instead we are drawn to sin by our own desires, and the temptations come from within, from that double-minded man who is unstable in all his ways.
Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
James 1:15–18
Here is the pregnancy terminology again. “Conceived” is the translation right there in the Bible. When lust has conceived, it brings forth sin, which in the Greek means gives birth to a child. Then sin, when it matures, produces death. There is a chain of events. If lust is allowed to sit there, it will be delivered as sin and realized in the world, and sin matures over time. It does not kill you right away, because God has given us grace so that our judgment does not come immediately. But if you are unsaved, eventually you will pay that price in hell. God is just, and He will punish sin. All of us will see the first death, since it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment. By God’s grace, we can avoid the second death of hell.
You might not see the consequences right away, and you might think you are getting away with it. These Christians were getting away, so to speak, with some sins. But James says, “Do not err,” which means do not be misled. The sin you are committing has consequences that have not matured yet, and they are coming. Judgment Day will come.
Verse 17 then says every good and perfect gift is from above. You are not being blessed for your sins, because anything good comes from God, “the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” The picture is a sundial. A sundial is set up so that as the sun moves, the shadow moves and points to the time. The sun is not always in the same place, which is appropriate since we just had daylight savings and changed our hours because the sun’s light is not consistent. I did not think of that until just now, but this is the perfect day for that illustration. God is the Father of lights, the supreme light, and unlike the sun, He does not change. The things He taught thousands of years ago and the things He teaches us today are the same. His standards and rules do not change. When God says sin will be punished, it will be punished, and when He says good will be rewarded, it will be rewarded. His light always shines the same and shows all of our sins.
Verse 18 is more birth language: “Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” This verse was really for the Jerusalem church, one of the first churches made. Through the word of truth they were born as firstfruits of this ministry. They were blessed to be among the first churches in Israel, with the opportunity to spread the word as the first harvest of Christians, so that we today could share in their joy.
Pure Religion Practices Self-Control
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
James 1:19–21
Verse 19 is pretty solid advice, and I don’t think any of us will disagree. Be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger. Don’t jump to conclusions. Hear people out, get their side of the story, and see if it is valid. Don’t make assumptions and start an argument, and when someone starts one with you, don’t be quick to fire up and start arguing yourself, because you won’t get anything done.
Verse 20 gives the reason: “the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.” Once again, we have the language of producing. Your anger does not produce righteousness. It is not going to create Christian ministry in your life or make you more like Jesus. It will only draw you away from Him and hurt your relationship and your testimony. Now there is a place to be angry. Jesus was angry at the Pharisees for making a business out of His temple, and anger can be holy. But James is talking about the wrath of man, unrighteous anger.
So what do you do? “Wherefore” means “so,” lay apart “all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness.” Superfluity just means a lot, an abundance of evil. The people who are the opposite of swift to hear and slow to speak, who are quick to talk and quick to be angry, are abundantly evil. They do not want peace with other people. They do not want to hear anyone out or assume good in them. They assume the worst, get angry in their pride, and lift themselves up while knocking others down. James says not to fill yourself with that abundance of evil, but to “receive with meekness,” or gentleness, “the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.”
That engrafted word was more for the Jews. Remember that James loved to talk about the things Jesus talked about, like “I am the vine, ye are the branches.” That was an illustration of Israel, and Jesus used the picture of the Gentiles being grafted into the vine. Israel went through a change when Jesus died on the cross and the temple veil tore, showing the end of the temple era. Salvation was always through faith in Jesus, but the way it was seen was a little different. The engrafted word that is able to save our souls is the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, and how the vine was transformed by Jesus’s death. It was Jesus who saved Israel, not the Pharisees or their religious rules and guidelines, but faith in Jesus Christ.
Pure Religion Is Self-Reflective
But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
James 1:22–25
This is our last point, and since the picture is a mirror, it is pretty obvious. James says to be doers and not just hearers. It is easy to be a hearer of the word. All you have to do is go to church once in a while and hear someone talk about the Bible like I’m doing today. James is speaking to the Jerusalem church members who still meet in hidden spots across Israel and have services where someone teaches them, and he says that is not enough. Don’t just sit down and listen. Do something with what you are taught. It is easy to sit in church and feel like we are doing what the Bible says, but God calls us to do more than listen.
Think of a man looking in the mirror, as we do every morning, hopefully. He checks to see how he looks, notices that something is a bit messed up, walks away, and forgets about it. That is church. We hear the word of God and teach it, and we say, “Paul talks about self-control, that’s really good advice,” and then we leave the service without ever considering for a second that it applies to us. It is like looking in the mirror every Sunday and seeing the things we need to fix, then saying, “Yep, I heard it, that’s good enough,” and forgetting what kind of man we were.
Don’t think that just because you come to church, God is going to bless your life. Anybody can come to church, and that does not mean they are living in a way that honors God. The man who will be blessed in his deed goes to church on Sunday, hears the word of God or reads his Bible, considers it, and looks at his life and asks, “Where am I struggling? Is this something in my life I need to look at?” He takes some time to self-reflect and prays, “God, is there something you talked about in this passage that I’m struggling with right now? Please help me see it.” God will bless the things we do if we are doing them for Him, but He will not bless our works if we are doing them for ourselves.
If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
James 1:26–27
In verse 26, “if any man among you seem to be religious” would be everyone in here. If you go to church, you seem to be religious by default, since people assume that people in church are religious. But if that person does not bridle his tongue and deceives his own heart, we have to catch something: these people might not even know they are doing it. This is the person who has looked in the mirror and never reflected on his own struggles. He does not bridle his tongue, which we already talked about: swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. If he continues doing those things and deceives his heart into thinking he is a good person with his life right with God, James says his religion is vain, meaningless.
Those are pretty harsh words to say that someone’s religion is completely meaningless, but that is what it says. If you seem to be religious but can’t get these things down, your religion is pointless and not benefiting anybody, including you. You might be saved, but you are missing out on all the benefits of what God has taught us. You are like James, whose brother was the Messiah but who did not believe in Him until after the resurrection, missing out on a whole lot of opportunities he could have had.
Verse 27 gives our concluding thought, and it is James’s main thesis for the book: “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” Pure religion is untainted and undefiled, not messed up by anything. The word translated affliction comes from a root word used to press grapes. These are people who are pressured, pressed down, and oppressed, going through major pressures in their life. “The fatherless and widows” is a blanket term for anyone who is oppressed or struggling in a hardship. So pure religion is to go to these people in need and serve them, to encourage those who need encouraging, and to keep your life free from sin. That does not seem easy, and it seems like a pretty hard thing to do, but James will continue throughout this book to give us more tips and lessons, and areas where we need to look into the mirror and self-reflect.
Four Things to Take Home
Today’s main idea is to get some basic fundamentals down.
Be grateful. Whether we are rich or poor, we have a reason to rejoice, because God has saved us and lifted us up, no matter where we are in our Christian walk.
Take responsibility for our sin. If we want this series to be profitable and we are living in sin right now, we need to decide today, “God, I’m not going to allow that to be an excuse anymore.” No more saying, “I’m just being tested,” or, “I mess up sometimes, it’s okay.” God wants us to take responsibility, and James says that if we are going to learn the lessons that are coming, we need to start there.
Practice self-control. No more excuses about arguments, debates, wrath, anger, and impatience. If we are going to learn any lessons that are coming, we have to learn to be slow to speak, slow to anger, and quick to listen.
Be self-reflective. If you are not a person who is self-reflective, today is the day to start. James has twelve short lessons that will help, but you have to be willing to step aside for a minute, look out of your own point of view, and ask, “Is this something that applies to me? Is this something I’m struggling with?” If we do these things today, we will be all set for the series ahead, and we will get a lot more out of it than if we just leave today the way we came.
So I encourage you, as we close in prayer, to take some time in your seat and ask God to show you the areas where you are lacking as we go through this series. Open your heart and say, “God, help me this week to work through gratefulness, responsibility, self-control, and self-reflection, so I can do more for You.”
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