Are You Wise?

Thank you. Take a look. I do have one. Okay? I have performed a wedding
ceremony in this suit. I have presided over a funeral
in this suit. And this morning, I get to come
in front of you in this suit. So, yes, I do have one. You don’t see it very often,
but anyway. Three weeks ago, I had the privilege
of standing before you and started What I said would be a series
in James. And I didn’t know if the series
would take ten years. And I didn’t know if it would
take a couple of years. It just depends on the frequency
of my being able to be up here in front of you. We covered James the first four
verses last time. And just as a way of review,
let me just cover some of the things we went over last time.
First of all, James, the writer of the book, James was the half-brother
of Jesus. And that’s great to know, but
what’s interesting about that is James was not a believer. We looked into some verses. John 7, verse 5 said, not even
his brothers were believing in him. After Jesus appeared to him,
after his resurrection, things changed. Acts 1.14 says that
1 Corinthians 15.6-7, after that, He, Jesus, appeared to more than
500 brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but
some have fallen asleep. Then He appeared to James, then
to the apostles. So that must have had a profound
impact on James’ life, obviously, because in Acts 1.14 we see that
these, a group, all were with one mind and were continually
devoting themselves to prayer along with the women and Mary,
the mother of Jesus, and his brothers, which would include
James. Obviously, again, a big impact and change in James’ life
because We see later in the book of Acts that James presided over
the Jerusalem council. He was known as James the Just. And then in Galatians, Paul names
James as one of the pillars of the church. So he went from being
a non-believer, one of Jesus’ half-brothers, a non-believer,
to one of the leaders of the church. So much so that When
scholars argue about who really wrote the book of James, they
say, well, he doesn’t identify himself as the Lord’s brother. He doesn’t identify himself as
a leader of the church. And it is believed that he didn’t
have to. He was so well known. He was
such a respected leader in the church at that point that when
a letter came from James, they knew who it was. Also, he doesn’t
identify himself as the Lord’s brother because he He introduces
himself as a bondservant of the Lord God of God through Jesus
Christ, which means it is more important to him to be a servant
of Jesus Christ than to be a relation because. Does a relationship
being a relation of blood relation with Jesus Christ, did that save
him? No, it did not. OK. James is writing to a group of
Jewish believers who have been dispersed. And this dispersion
came basically to a head after the stoning of Stephen. And at
that point, because of their faith, these Jews were forced
to flee their homes and live in other countries, taking jobs
as probably workers in the field. lost their jobs, lost their homes.
They are in quite a predicament because of their faith. And then James opens his letter
with, consider it all joy when various trials come upon you.
And we talked about what was their reaction to this letter,
to this greeting. Because here, James was their
pastor. He’s back in Jerusalem and he’s writing to this group
who has been dispersed Their lives have been disrupted, uprooted.
Again, trying to find any kind of work probably. They’re being
persecuted by those who are hiring them. He writes later in James,
he writes to those who are cheating these workers, these Jews, out
of their wages. And then he goes on to talk about
to those who are afflicted. It’s these Jewish Christians
who are working in the fields. They’re being cheated of their
wages. They’re in this predicament and He says, consider it all
joy. What was their reaction? Had He lost it? Did He not know
what was really happening in their life? Was His head in the
sand? Was He just insensitive? No. And we talked about what
he was was being a pastor. He was encouraging them in their
situation. And we saw that through this
situation when he writes, consider it joy, my brethren, when you
encounter various trials. And we saw the trials. There’s
three things that we need to know about trials. Number one,
good news, they’re promised. Okay? Trials are promised. Consider it, Jo and my brethren,
when you encounter. It does not say if you encounter. It says when you encounter various
trials. So, trials are promised. Jesus said, in this world, you
will have trouble. We looked at Job. It says, man
who is born a woman is short-lived and full of turmoil. What is also certain is that
Christians will face trials that non-Christians will not have
to face strictly because of their faith. Jesus said, if they persecuted
Me, they will persecute you. Paul reminded Timothy, all those
who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. So
trials are inevitable and we will face them. We saw that trials were promised
and also, secondly, trials have a purpose. The verse says, knowing that
the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance
have its perfect results that you may be perfect and complete,
lacking in nothing. We can be assured that trials
do not come about just because. Jesus is trying to grow something
in us. He has a purpose for them. We
talked about what a discouragement it would be and what it must
be for those who don’t have their faith in Jesus Christ to go through
a trial. Because without knowing Him, not knowing Him, not knowing
that these trials have a purpose, my question is how do they get
through them? They don’t go to Him for help. Now, in extreme
cases, all of a sudden, we know that people cry out to God in
their distress. But they have no experience with
Him. They have no real faith, no foundation to back up, to
help them in their cries. Talk about the Christian life
being referred to as a walk. And that when you walk, you go
from one place to another. In Christian walk, our faith,
our life in Christ is meant to progress. And that if we find ourselves
in the same place, there’s a problem. Our faith is not growing. And
that’s what these trials are meant to do. They’re meant to
grow our faith. James is a book about faith. He gives practical applications
and shows what faith looks like when it is lived out. He wants
us to make sure and see that we have genuine saving faith. It’s so that our faith may be
found genuine. And it said the specific purpose
for these trials is endurance. Trials are meant to develop endurance.
And what develops is a determination to hang on to Christ, the One
who sustains us. Endurance is an inner quality
that grows and keeps growing. It’s different from patience.
Patience is needed to get us through the particular trial.
But endurance is the thing that keeps growing and growing in
us with each trial that comes about. And we are to let endurance
have its perfect result. We are to let it do its work. We talked about when we cry out
to God to take us out of a trial. Remove this trial. That’s not
the point. The point is to go through it.
And Christ has promised to go with us. He will take us through
it. I’m sure in some cases that He
may take us around it. But the purpose is to take us
through it so we can learn all that He is trying to grow in
us. We also talked about when it says we are to be complete,
lacking in nothing, we are not going to be perfect. The word
perfect in there means maturity. We talked about picking fruit
before it’s ripe. We looked at Psalm 1 verse 3. He is like a tree planted by
streams of water which yields its fruit in due season. Fruit
when it’s mature, ripe, perfect. When it’s of its most usefulness
and taste. So we are to have endurance,
have its work, complete its course so that we can become mature. Lacking in nothing, which means
richness of character, When we mature, we have everything
that we need to run the race. Thirdly, we saw that trials require
a different or an unnatural perspective. It is not normal to have joy
in trials. If you see that and go, oh my,
that just doesn’t happen for me. That is not a normal response. It is a natural response to face
trials and be discouraged and frustrated and get worked up.
But the natural response is not necessarily always what Christ
would have us do or how He would have us react. Again, worry is
a natural response. But being able to rejoice through
trials is proof of a genuine faith. And we saw that joy is
different than being happy. Happy is being happy in that
circumstance. This joy is different. It’s joy
because all is well between the Christian and their Lord. It’s
joy that is based on spiritual realities. It is trust. It is faith. It’s not based on
feelings. Trials are there to give us experience
in knowing God is faithful. He will be there with us. And
many times, it’s after we get out of the trial that we can
look back and see, oh, that’s what He was doing with me. I
can see now what He was trying to accomplish. But as we go through
these trials, the more we are able to hang on to Christ The
more we see him and his work and what he’s done in us, we
can, in the midst of these trials, know that. And that will give
us strength as we go through the trial. I also gave you three
points that will help us to have this unnatural or different perspective. And number one was the trials
and adversity, they need to be looked upon with eyes of faith
and not sense. And what our faith teaches us
is that God is completely sovereign. He’s not lost control. He is in control of all things.
Lamentations said, who is there who speaks and it comes to pass
unless the Lord commanded it? God is not having to adjust to
anything that happens. If we are going through different
situations and something happens, He’s not going, oh, okay. If
that happens, what do I do? No, He is in complete control.
He knows all that’s going to happen beforehand. God is infinite
in wisdom. God knows us better than we do.
And He knows what we need and He knows how to bring it about
in our life. And then thirdly, God is perfect in love. And I
gave you a quote. One said, God in His love always
wills what is best for us. In His wisdom, He always knows
what is best for us. And in His sovereignty, He has
the power to bring it about. Which brings us to the passage
today. And it may seem as if James is kind of Switching gears
here, but he’s really not He’s giving us another Step in which
we can have that different perspective that will give us joy in trials And we could begin in James 1
verse 5 we’re going to be covering verses 5 through 8 but if any
of you lacks wisdom and Let him ask of God who gives to all generously
and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” What do you think about when
you hear the word wisdom? When I was younger, a lot younger,
this was before remotes. You had to get up and turn the
channel on the TV. The TV that I had, there’s a
group right over here. That never happened. There was
a day like that? No, yes, there was a day like
that. I had to actually get up, go to the TV, and turn the dial.
Well, we only had a certain amount of channels, okay? There were
like seven or eight channels that we got, but then there was
an extra dial, and it was the UHF dial. Anybody have a UHF
dial? And on that was public access,
so PBS. I’m from Southern California.
There was a Spanish language station and then there was another
one. And I don’t know what that was. But before you got to PBS,
you could get it where you get a lot of snow. But there was
this old man, old man with a long beard sitting with his legs crossed
speaking. I have no idea because I couldn’t
understand if it was English he was speaking, but then you
had mid-eastern subtitles, which didn’t help me very much, but
he would sit there and it was on 24 hours a day and he was
speaking wisdom. I had no idea what he was saying,
but that’s kind of when I said, oh, he’s wise. I picture that,
okay? But I know better. What comes
to your mind when you hear the word wisdom? Do you picture someone
who’s older and mature? Maybe and probably what comes
to mind is Solomon. And rightly so. People came from
all over to hear the wisdom of Solomon. You might think of the
book of Proverbs. The purpose of the book of Proverbs
was to instruct or teach wisdom. Solomon imparting his wisdom.
Not secular or political wisdom, although Proverbs does contain
a lot of good ideas for that. But it was to teach the knowledge
of God, which makes one wise unto salvation. One said that
Proverbs furnishes the man of God unto all good works. It is
to teach us how to live in a way that pleases God.” Wisdom is also talked about as
being very valuable. It’s referred to as more precious
than silver. In Job, it mentions pure gold
cannot be exchanged for it, nor can silver be weighed for its
price. Now, I mentioned, what do you
think of when you think of wisdom? And I mentioned someone who is
older, and a lot of times we may think of that because the
person has lived a long time, they’ve seen a lot of things,
they’ve gone through a lot of experiences, and through those
things, they’ve come up with kind of a guideline When I’ve
seen this happen, this usually happens. So they are wise. But
wisdom is not only something for those who are older. And it’s not only gained by experience,
even though time and experience are good teachers. Solomon wrote
the book of Proverbs for his son. In the first verse, it talks
about to my son. And then later it mentions his
other children. So he’s writing this to his children,
imparting his wisdom that he has been granted and given from
God. Why is it directed to the young
man? Because the young mind can change
so easily. I think of you who are in high
school and college and you’re going to hear a lot of professors
and teachers speak wisdom. And minds can be easily influenced
depending on who you are close to, who you hang around with,
who you respect. Your mind can be influenced by
those. One said, greatly does the young
man need some settled master principles to fix his purpose,
choice, and conduct. Here he finds a religion not
of imagination or impulse or sentiment, but the sound, practical
energy of scriptural truth. In fact, Solomon, who wrote most
of, if not all, of Proverbs, also wrote Ecclesiastes. Now,
he wrote this as he was older. And his heart had been turned
away. But after all that he had gone
through, he had riches beyond what we can imagine. He sought
for all things to make him happy. And what did he write? All is
vanity. And the conclusion that he came up with at the end of
Ecclesiastes is fear God and keep His commandments. Because
this applies to every person. For God will bring every act
to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good
or evil.” And in Proverbs, he wrote, the fear of the Lord is
the beginning of wisdom. The fear of the Lord is practical
application. It is the whole man. It is his
joy. It is his happiness. It’s the
first and last lesson. The knowledge of the Lord is
first and foremost, and there is no real knowledge or wisdom
without godliness.” When he talks about the fear of the Lord, it’s
not a fear of being scared. It’s a reverent fear. It’s the
Christian humbly submitting to the Father’s law, the Father’s
way, and the Father’s will. There is a desire to please Him
in everything he or she does. The Christian is careful so as
not to sin against God. This enters his mind in all he
or she does. Now, how does that happen? It
takes constant prayer. All day. An open line. An open discussion with God in
all that we go through. Bring every circumstance up to
Him. If we don’t, If we drop our guard, it lets the world
in. And what does Satan like to do? He likes to distract us
and take us away from our fellowship with God. The question is, how
hard does he have to try? Henry Morris, he said that a
proverb such as the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
is more relevant and urgent in our modern age of science and
info. All of our vast knowledge not
being founded on the fear of God is leading rapidly to an
atheistic government and other immorality. So why does the world
despise the wisdom of God? God’s ways and His Word and His
truth because there is no fear of God before their eyes. They
have no idea of its value and there is no wisdom. Professing
themselves to be wise, they have become fools. Knowledge without
wisdom is of little value. So seeing this, we look at the
passage and see first off that in order to have joy in trials,
in order to have this different or unnatural perspective, James
says that wisdom is needed. If any of you lacks wisdom. I
woke up this morning and thought a better title would have been,
Do You Have Knowledge or Do You Have Wisdom? But Barbara had
already run the bulletin at 830. I figured I couldn’t change it.
Wisdom is more than knowing things. How many of you know some people
who are really, really smart, but their common sense, they
just couldn’t find their way out of their house without a
map? There are lots of people who
know things, but they are not wise. They do not have wisdom.
It’s being able to apply the knowledge that you have. And
here, James is writing that wisdom is necessary in being able to
have joy in trials, which is the mark of a genuine Christian.
One who has real faith. The previous verses talk about
we want to be complete, lacking in nothing. Well, here he’s transitioning. If you lack anything, then let
him ask God. And here, if you lack wisdom, And we know that these trials
are there to produce endurance. And as I mentioned, endurance
is something that is an ongoing lesson. Well, first off, we don’t have
all we need. Because, he says, if any of you
lack wisdom, now this is not a question up for debate, basically. Okay? The way he phrases it,
it’s more of a, it infers a supposition. He’s not thinking that anybody’s
going to go, oh, I don’t need it. If any of you lacks wisdom,
it’s like saying, if the sun comes up tomorrow, then we’ll
have another day. Well, we all know the sun’s going
to come up tomorrow unless the Lord intervenes and comes. But
we know that’s going to happen. OK, it’s a given. So if any of
you lacks wisdom, it’s a given. It’s not up for debate. Also, the way in which he phrases
it gets the reader to be pensive and not defensive. If any of
you lacks wisdom, the hearer can go, okay, wisdom. What is wisdom? Do I have it?
Instead of being defensive. Are you calling me stupid? Because
if he said, you lack wisdom, that’s basically you’re lacking
some knowledge. be taken like you’re stupid,
okay? You’re not able to get through
this because you’re not smart enough. And after the situation
that they’re in and hearing that, hey, have joy in your trials,
then to think if you lack wisdom or if you were to say it any
other way, have joy in your trials. By the way, you’re not bright
enough to get through these. That would turn them off. One
commentator remarked that James tackles a delicate problem for
no person wants to hear that he is stupid, that he makes mistakes
and that he needs help. By nature, man is independent
and wants to solve his own problems and make his own decisions. These
people were in a trial. They were in a foreign land and
they were dispersed. And James tells them to consider
it pure joy. Wisdom, as we have said, is the
ability to apply what we know. In this passage specifically,
wisdom is needed and necessary to get through this certain situation.
It is wisdom that pertains to the trial you are going through.
So in a trial, we need wisdom so we can apply what we know
about trials, number one, and what we know about God. What
do we know? Trials are promised and they
have a purpose. And they’re there to increase
our faith. They’re there to build endurance. What do we know about
God? God is sovereign. He’s perfect in love and infinite
in wisdom. God in His love As I read before,
always wills what is best for us. In His wisdom, He always
knows what is best for us. And in His sovereignty, He has
the power to bring it about. Again, what do we know? We know
it in the trial. We have a promise. 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 each temptation will provide the way of escape
also, so that you will be able to endure it. We also know that
there are reasons. 1 Peter 1, 6-7, In this you greatly
rejoice, even though now, for a little while, if necessary,
you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of
your faith, being more precious than gold, which is perishable
even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise
and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. These things
we know. but they’re sometimes hard to
apply. It’s not easy to attain. Wisdom’s
not easy to attain. Robert Johnstone wrote, wisdom
for this, the trials, is the highest and most difficult. Active
performance of God’s will is easier than patient endurance
of His will. Faith is both intellectual and
experiential. Experiential is a word. I looked
it up. There are certain things that we know we can be aware
of. I know that if I walk into a
room and I see a chair, I should be able to sit in that chair
and it should hold me. That’s what it is meant to do.
I know that. But until I sit in that chair
and it actually does what it’s supposed to do, then I have experience
and my faith is confirmed and proven true in that chair. Knowing that the chair is supposed
to hold me up, that’s intellectual. Sitting in it is experiential. The same is true with God. We
know His promises. We know what His Word says. And
with each experience, His Word and promises and His character
are proven to be true. Each day, we experience His goodness
and mercy, don’t we? We have food. We have shelter.
We’re reasonably healthy. Those are those are blessings
from God. We have provision. We are God’s provision is there
for us every day. We need to be people who recognize
God’s hand and all that happens each day, such as his provision
and his protecting hand. When you go somewhere, you make
it back. You’ve been protected. Each trial should and is meant
to increase our faith and trust in Him. And as a result, bring
us closer to Him. Again, wisdom is needed to help
us apply what we know about God and of trials so that we are
able to show our faith and trust in Him. And therefore, get closer
to being able to have joy in trials. Job, after his ordeal with God,
and God spoke to him, said, I have heard of you by the hearing of
the ear, but now my eyes see you. His faith was confirmed.
Wisdom is needed in order to apply what we know. However,
wisdom is also needed to gain insight. Number one, to find
out the ultimate goal of the particular test or trial that
we’re in. We know that these trials are meant to produce endurance.
It’s an ongoing thing. But what is God’s specific purpose
for the situation you’re in? Thomas Manton wrote, every providence,
every situation has a voice. Sometimes it is harder to hear
or discern than at other times. There is a sense of calm, though,
that comes over And I shouldn’t maybe be speaking for all of
you, but for me, if I’m going through something, if I can know
why, and if I can see the big picture, somehow it’s easier to endure. Now, sometimes that big picture
won’t become clearer until a little later. As he said, sometimes
it’s harder to hear or discern than at other times. Number two. It’s also to find the nature
of the trial. Is God trying to build something up in us? Is
He trying to increase something in us? Or is He trying to tear
something down? Is it an area we need to grow
in? Or is it an area we need to get rid of? Thirdly, what
are we supposed to be doing? Are we supposed to be exhibiting
more faith? Probably. Are we supposed to be repenting
of sin? What is our response to what
God is doing? So in order to be able to have
joy in trials, we need to know that not only is wisdom needed,
but it’s available because wisdom comes through prayer. Trials
and tests should drive us to prayer. If they don’t, they should. Trials should deepen our prayer
life. Depending on what our prayer
life is like, that could look differently. If our prayer life
is very weak, just by going to Him would be an improvement.
But trials should drive us to God. And that’s a good thing,
but maybe what we need to do is just tweak our prayers just
a little bit. Are we asking for deliverance
to get out of this trial? As we see, that’s not necessarily
what God wants. He wants to teach us something
and that requires taking us through the trial. Maybe we should be
asking for Him to show us what He’s trying to do. After all,
what would be more frustrating or upsetting than to go through
a difficult situation and not learn or grow through it? Have
it mean nothing. What drives us to prayer? Our
prayers start because we have a need. It begins with a sense
of our need. We see a need or something we
want or think we need and we go to Him. We go to the One who
can fill what we are asking for. It also takes humility. One theologian
wrote that patience is more in the power of a good man than
wisdom. The former, patience is to be
exercised. The latter is to be asked for.
Pride gets in the way. We, as we mentioned earlier,
think we should be able to get through these things ourselves
with our own wisdom. Man has to overcome pride to admit that
he needs wisdom. But wisdom is not something we
possess in great quantities. Wisdom belongs to God for it
is His divine virtue. And it’s not easy for us to admit
that we are in need of something, that we can’t take care of ourselves,
that we can’t solve this problem. Those being humbled by their
own wants and needs, they are the ones who are most persuaded
to respond to God’s offers. The truth is, God is the only
One who is self-sufficient. We are not. We need help. Also, if we are not driven to
God in times of testing, it is likely that God will continue
the trial or test until we are driven to Him. John MacArthur said that James
is kind of like a practical commentary on the Sermon on the Mount. And
when he says, let him ask of God, these words echo those of
Matthew 7. which we’ll read in just a bit.
But it says, “…ask and it shall be given to you. Seek and you
shall find. Knock and it will be opened.”
God, who supplies us by the Spirit with all that we need to live
according to the calling of the Gospel, will give us the wisdom
we need to get through a trial. He will give us what we need
to attain what He’s trying to teach us. Solomon got his wisdom
through prayer. He was early in his reign. And
he was rightly overwhelmed with his responsibility of leading
God’s people, the nation of Israel. And he prayed to God for wisdom
in leading Israel. For an understanding heart to
judge and the ability to discern between good and evil. Wisdom
comes only from God. And only God can enlighten us
as to what He is doing with us. Solomon wrote, for the Lord gives
wisdom and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.” Job, again, later in chapter
38 says, Can you lift up your voice to the clouds? This is
God answering Job. Can you lift up your voice to
the clouds so that an abundance of water will cover you? Can
you send forth lightnings that they may go and say to you, here
we are, Who has put wisdom in their innermost being or given
understanding to the mind? Wisdom comes from God alone. Also again from Solomon in Ecclesiastes,
for God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good
in his sight. We talked about wisdom. needed to apply what we know
about God to our circumstances. And we know that when we pray,
there are promises. I mentioned Matthew 7. Ask and it will be given to you.
Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to
you. For everyone who seeks, finds. And to him who knocks,
it will be opened. Or is there among you, when his
son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for
a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then,
being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is
good to those who ask Him?” God is pleased when we come to
Him and ask for these types of things. When Solomon asked for
wisdom, Scripture goes on to say in the following verses that
the request pleased God. Why doesn’t God just give us
the wisdom? When we’re going through a trial, wasn’t He saying,
okay, you’re going through this trial. By the way, here’s the wisdom
to go through it. Package. Put it together. Okay, you’re
all set. Because when we strive in prayer,
aren’t we more apt to be thankful? Would we be thankful if He just
gave it to us? Or would we just say, alright, I’m on my way. Here we go. Or would we take it for granted? Also, when we go to Him in prayer,
we are showing Him that we recognize that our help comes from Him.
That we are depending upon Him. We are coming to Him and asking
because we have faith in Him. There’s a book on shelves downstairs. It’s called, In God We Trust,
But Only as a Last Resort. Sometimes, unfortunately, that
can be the way we are. We don’t go to God immediately. We try and fix it ourselves.
And then, when all else fails, we go to God. That should be
our first response. Okay, not only is wisdom needed,
Wisdom comes through prayer, but also wisdom is free. Let
him ask God who gives to all generously and without reproach,
and it will be given to him.” The word generously, some of
you might have liberally in your translation. When you look at
that, you might get a picture of someone giving lavishly. Great
amounts. And God does do that. When Solomon
asked for wisdom, the request pleased God and He said, Because
you have asked for wisdom, I’m going to give you all these things
you didn’t ask for. Abraham, looking for a son, got
descendants as numerous as the sand on the shore. In the story
of the prodigal, the prodigal son realized his situation and
said, you know, I could just go back and be a hired servant.
All he wanted to be was be a servant. And he was given the best robe.
and he was restored. And that is a picture of God
coming, running out to us, meeting us after our repentance. It’s
repentance and grace. God has many times given more
than we could have ever asked or think. However, the word here
generously, or if you have liberally, it means single-mindedness. Everything we receive from God
is a gift. Everything we receive from him
is free. Eternal life is free. Our salvation
was free. It costs him everything. He gives
to those who find themselves wanting or lack, impoverished,
the lowest, unable to pay back. He gives to those who come to
him humbly. He gives to those who the world
would consider a bad risk. Also, the way James mentions
that God who gives and says, let him ask of God who gives
generously. It shows giving as a characteristic
of God. God is love. And this, His nature,
reveals itself to us, His creatures, in His giving. In His giving
to us, God is showing His love. He gives life and breath to all
things. He gave His only begotten Son
that whosoever believeth in Him might not perish, but have eternal
life.” I mentioned that it generously
means single-mindedness in giving. What’s that mean? It means He
gives freely. It means He gives without putting
conditions on it. It means that his giving is not
a bargaining chip. It’s not an if-then proposition. If I give you wisdom, then I’m
going to need to see some growth in some other areas. He doesn’t
do that. He also does not say, you know, you’ve been asking
for a whole lot lately. He does not say, you think you’re
worthy of this insight, of this spiritual insight? Does He say
to us, why didn’t you come to Me earlier? If you had come to
Me earlier, I’d have given it to you. No, He doesn’t do that.
He gives generously, single-mindedly, with one purpose in mind, and
that is a giving and without reproach. He does not put conditions
on it. The Father welcomes His child
to come to Him. Also, when it says He gives generously,
It kind of gives us a picture, a comparison between His giving
and our giving. God’s giving is unlike our giving.
Do we give with the same single-mindedness? Do we just give because that’s
our nature? Or, do we give and kind of hold
it over that person’s head. Do we give seeking a reward or
some glory of our own? How do we respond to those who
continually come to us? Have you ever had three lovely
children and they keep coming and asking? Does sometimes your patience
wear thin? God doesn’t do that with us.
He gives generously with single-mindedness of purpose and without reproach. What position would we be in
if God treated us as a bother? What drives us to prayer It’s
usually our prayers begin with our sense of need. What are we asking for through
trials? And how do we ask? Which leads to the final point,
not only is wisdom needed, not only does wisdom come through
prayer, not only is wisdom free, but also, wisdom should be expected. And this is almost the hardest
part But he must ask in faith without any doubting. For the
one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed
by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive
anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man and unstable
in all his ways.” Ouch. Since God gives without reservations,
He expects us to ask without reservation. Faith and doubt
do not mix. You’ve heard oil and water do
not mix. Faith and doubt do not mix. When we have faith, we do
not doubt. When we doubt, we do not have
faith. Remember, James is a book all
about faith and what it looks like lived out. The practical
application of our faith. When we doubt, we lack faith. And when we lack faith, as Hebrews
11.6 says, without faith, it is impossible to please God. Matthew 21, verses 21-22, Jesus
answered, truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not
doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree,
In that story, the fig tree had no fruit on it, and Jesus said,
you will never bear any more fruit. And the fig tree withered
in front of their eyes. So, you will not only do what
was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain,
be taken up and cast into the sea, it will happen. And all
things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive, as it is according
to His will. Have you ever prayed and hopefully
it’s not just me, have you ever prayed knowing full well that
God is able and can do what you’re asking, but you’ll doubt that
He’ll do it for you? I pray knowing that God can undoubtedly
do more than I’m even requesting, but my doubt comes whether He’ll
do it for me. We come up with reasons why God
won’t give our request. And when we do that, we’re either
doubting His ability or His willingness. We’re questioning His character.
He has given His one and only Son to reconcile us to Him. To do what we could not. And
we doubt whether He will do any more for us. He wants us to grow
in our faith. He wants us to get closer to
Him. Those requests that will help bring that about, He will
answer gladly. MacArthur wrote that our requests
must be backed by genuine trust in God’s character, purpose,
and promises. Without faith, there is no true
prayer because we are not believing in what we are praying for. Without
faith, we waver. And isn’t it a good thing that
we are saved by grace and not by our faith? Because our faith
is up and down. It is by God’s grace, thank goodness,
through our faith. And isn’t it easier to pray and
believe for another who is going through a trial than it is for
ourselves? It’s easy for me to pray for something you’re going
through. knowing that God can and will
do something in your life, but for some reason when it applies
to me, there’s a block there. Oh, I don’t know. My faith wavers. Why is that? Another said, we who come to
God must believe who He is and that He is a rewarder of those
who diligently seek Him. And also, the picture James gives
of one who does not ask in faith is one of instability. His reference
to the one who doubts is one of disdain. It’s one of beneath
getting what he requests. The one who lacks, whose faith
is unsettled. He asks for wisdom, but doubts
that God will give it to him. This person lacks the wisdom
necessary. but his doubt withholds the blessing
coming to him. The person who is tossed by the
wind is not in control. The one who doubts won’t receive
what he asked for, but he is in further danger. Ephesians
4 talks about the one who doubts being in danger of being carried
away by every wind of doctrine. His feet are not settled. and
he has no foundation holding him. It is said of this person
that he is double-minded. Although they say they’re believers,
their actions are those of a non-believer.” Again, James is wanting to show
us what faith looks like. During trials, this one will
look to his own wisdom. Human resources before God, if
ever. This shows a lack of trust or
ability of God to help or that He is even willing to help. In
trials, we are to trust in the Lord with all our heart and not
to lean on our own understanding. We are told who can know His
ways. So how are we to learn what God has for us without His
wisdom? When we trust in our own understanding
and our own wisdom, we make an idol out of ourselves. It’s not
easy to attain. Robert Johnstone once again said
that wisdom for this is the highest and most difficult. Active performance
of God’s will is easier than patience, endurance of His will. In closing, let me read to you
from the Valley of Vision. It’s a prayer. It’s called Grace
in Trials. Father of mercies, Hear me, for
Jesus’ sake. I am sinful, even in my closest
walk with Thee. It is of Thy mercy I died not
long ago. Thy grace has given me faith
in the cross by which Thou hast reconciled Thyself to me and
me to Thee, drawing me by Thy great love, reckoning me as innocent
in Christ, though guilty in myself. Giver of all graces, I look to
thee for strength to maintain them in me, for it is hard to
practice what I believe. Strengthen me against temptations.
My heart is an unexhausted fountain of sin, a river of corruption
since childhood days flowing on in every pattern of behavior. Thou hast disarmed me of the
means in which I trusted. and I have no strength but in
thee. Thou alone canst hold back my
evil ways, but without thy graces to sustain me, I fall. Satan’s
darts quickly inflame me, and the shield that should quench
them easily drops from my hand. Empower me against his wiles
and assaults. Keep me sensible of my weakness
and of my dependence upon thy strength. Let every trial teach
me more of Thy peace, more of Thy love. Thy Holy Spirit is
given to increase Thy graces, and I cannot preserve or improve
them unless He works continually in me. May He confirm my trust
in Thy promised help and let me walk humbly in dependence
upon Thee for Jesus’ sake.” Father, we acknowledge that we are weak Knowledge that we need Your help. And I pray that we would seek
wisdom and not necessarily knowledge, because we need the wisdom to
apply what we know. We don’t know all that we can
know about You, and we should strive to know more, but Lord,
we need to be able to apply it. Because knowledge without wisdom
is of little use. Lord, we can go through trials
knowing Your promises, but unless we just depend on them and are
able to lean on them fully, it will take longer. We might
not have accomplished in us what You would like to accomplish.
So give us wisdom. Help us to run to You. Help us
be able to have joy in trials. Help us to remember that trials
are promised and planned and that they need a different perspective
and that we need your wisdom to get us through those. Let
us not be prideful in hanging on to our own wisdom or devices
trying to get us through the situations we’re in. But let
us lean wholly and fully on you, looking to you for that divine
insight, for the strength, and for the purposes for which
you are trying to work in us. And Lord, we thank you for in
advance for the answer prayer, because we know that you hear
our prayers and that you give to your children who come believing,
asking and believing. Give us the faith, Lord. Help our faith to increase. And
we can look back and see what you have done and use that in
the next situation trial to trust you even more. It’s in your name
we pray. Amen. As we close, we’re just
going to sing hymn number 606, Teach Me Thy Way, O Lord. And
if you’d stand, we’ll sing together.