James 1 - The Source of True Happiness is Up to Us

 

Scripture: James 1:5 When we have one of those days where we do not know how to live according to God’s will, we can ask Him, and He will generously supply us with the wisdom we need to make the right choice.

 

Title: The Source of True Happiness is Up to Us

 

Today I begin a five-week study of the book of James, who I believe was the brother of Jesus and head of the church in Jerusalem for up to thirty years. He would have been the head of the church when Paul made his journey to Jerusalem from Galatia to discuss the grace of Jesus versus continuing to live by the Law of the Old Testament. He would have also been the head of the church when Paul came back to Jerusalem at the end of his third missionary journey. It was James who suggested that Paul take four men into the Temple for the rite of purification and that led to the accusation by some against Paul that he took Gentiles into the Temple with him.

 

A simple outline of James goes by the five chapters, one-The God Way, two-The Good Way, three-The Quiet Way, four-The Humble Way, and five-The Penitent Way.

 

In chapter One, after a brief one verse introduction, James kicks off with a passage that is all too familiar with most people and yet, one that causes a lot of questions as well. “Difficulties come to all of us, and we need to rejoice when they come,” or “Consider it joy when you meet various trials.” James goes on to talk about asking for wisdom when we do not know what to do next, avoiding riches because they get in the way of humility before God, persevering under trials, accepting good things from the Father in heaven, avoiding anger, and doing good in our lives, especially to widows and orphans.

 

1 James, a servant of Jesus our Lord and God our Father, to all of the people of Israel who have been dispersed throughout the world: I wish you well. 2 Difficulties come to all of us, and we need to rejoice when they come, 3 for these trials test our faith, which in turn develops the needed endurance within us. 4 The result of learning endurance is that we become all that God desires us to be, mature, and lacking nothing.

 

James encourages us to see the hope of God in every circumstance we face. Even when evil comes our way, God offers us a way of escape, either from the evil itself or from the lasting turmoil in our hearts. Many people in this world suffer deep scars because of experiences in their past. God, in His compassion walks with each person through those experiences and cares for them after the experience. Many ask why He does not make the experience, or the scars go away. There are few answers to this question this side of heaven. But, while we go through the experience and when we have to live with the scars of that past, we can always trust that God knows best and will lead us in His path of goodness.

 

The teaching from these verses is for us to avoid a negative reaction to the experiences of this life and always find our joy and our hope in a God who is greater than the obstacles that come our way. Our trust in Him to take us through the event and into the future will make the future brighter.

 

 5 When we have one of those days where we do not know how to live according to God’s will, we can ask Him, and He will generously supply us with the wisdom we need to make the right choice. He does not condemn us for the choices we make, He just desires for us to ask Him for help, and He will supply the wisdom we need. 6 Don't question whether God will do this, believe He will because He loves us. Doubting God can cause our minds to reel in confusion and waver just like the storm surf which is driven by the wind. 7 Those who doubt God's goodness and blessing will not find the fullness of life which the Lord has available to us all. 8 They will be wishy-washy in everything they do.

 

God always desires good things for us, and He reminds us in these verses to ask often for the guidance and wisdom to make good choices. He does not have a desire to condemn us or punish us, but He has compassion for us and our plight, and He desires to show us a path through our circumstances that will, in the long run, bring joy our way. Remember that Jesus has been tempted in every way that we will experience, and He knows the difficulty we face in trying to avoid the sin which so easily entangles us. When we ask for His help, He will guide us into “green pastures.”

 

Trust in the goodness of God and do not doubt that in everything and in every way, He loves us, and stands right beside us.

 

9 The person who has nothing but humility, can gain great hope through his spiritual wealth. 10 At the same time, the man who has everything including great riches could easily be humiliated when he least expects it; after all, every flower withers sooner or later. 11 The sun produces extreme heat and withers the grass and causes flowers to drop from their stems. The beauty of the plants and hills seem to be destroyed. It is just as true for those who have wealth, for their riches can fade as quickly as it came.   

 

James sees riches as getting in the way of our happiness. We live in a world that teaches the opposite and encourages all people to seek for the riches of the world and in doing so, the world teaches we will find joy. Yet, many of those who have acquired wealth, no matter the process, find they are not happy, and their riches have not helped them fulfill their deepest hopes and dreams. Worldly wealth is not what brings happiness. Spiritual wealth is the key to happiness, which comes in serving others rather than acquiring things. The teaching of Jesus is for us to be humble before others and seek to serve our neighbors in whatever way we can. That is the true wealth we can gain in this life.

 

12 We will be blessed if we endure with a smile the trials that come. On the other side of the trials of life is the hope of a crown which Jesus will give to all who love Him. 13 Know this truth, we are not tempted by God; it is not a part of His nature. 14 Our temptation comes when we allow our own desires to draw us away from Him. 15 Once we open ourselves up to temptation, we travel down the road of sin, and sin will only lead us to eternal death. 16 We can easily be misled if we are not careful. Evil does not come to us from God. 17 Only good things come from our Father in heaven. He does not shift from good to evil and back again but is a constant source of good things. 18 Think about it, He gave us the Word of truth, so we could understand what is good and follow in His ways.

 

Everyone in this life will have difficulties. Some more than others, but all will experience the hardships of life. God does not keep the struggles away from us. For some reason, yet to be fully understood, the hardships can actually be good for us.

 

At the same time, James reminds that God does not tempt us to do evil or bring evil into our lives. He is always present to help us avoid the evil that surrounds us and seeks to devour us. However, keep in mind, that just because we do not like something, it is not evil. Some of the things we perceive to be evil are just things that we do not like and if we endure, we might well find that we have benefited for the experience.

 

The move beyond temptation and towards sin, and our involvement in evil, comes when we pursue the temptation because of our desires and lusts. Seeking after something that we think will make us happier than Jesus could possibly do. We are enticed by our habits, our desires, our envy, and the like. Sin will be a part of our life as long as we live. The evil that comes our way is not our sin, but how we respond to the evil might well lead us down the sinful path.   

 

Our calling is to accept the truth that we sin and the responsibility for our sinful thoughts, words, and actions, belong to us alone. And in the midst of any temptation or difficulty, we have the freedom to ask God to guide us so this experience will strengthen our faith and trust in Him and not allow us to fall into sin.

 

We could blame things on God, on other people, on circumstances, on governments, and also, on the devil. I can remember a time that I was frustrated with the sermon I had preached the day before and wanted to blame it on the distraction of conversations before church and the disruptions during the sermon, but in truth, it was more my lack of preparation than anything else. So, the real blame comes to us. Sometimes it comes from the paths we set in motion years before, like our hunger for pleasure, or our pining over our lack of money. Did we, years in our past begin to follow a desire to pursue evil, thinking it was really good, and have built the habits that make walking away from temptation that much more difficult. Or have we developed a proudful attitude of everything in our life always being the fault of someone or something else. And now, in the midst of difficulty, we revert back to old habits of blaming our actions on the intervention of others.  

 

Does the Bible teach a way to avoid difficulties in the future? Yes, in a way it does. The teachings of Jesus say, in the language of farming, what we sow we reap. If that is true, and I believe it is, then the more we sow good things the more we will reap good things in our lives and consequently, the less time there will be for difficulties. But no matter how much good we sow, experiences we do not like will continue to come our way from time to time. They are a part of life. And for some reason, God does not choose to remove them in this life.

 

Are there some things I can do when difficulties come so that I might move forward in a better space rather than emotionally experiencing the pain of the trouble? I have seven suggestions.

1.    James suggests the first one, see the experience as from God and joyfully learn from it.

2.    Recognize sin early in our lives and squelch it out before it becomes greater. Realize the temptation and resist it before it leads us to sin.

3.    Remember to turn to Jesus daily and let Him know that we desire to be with Him follow His ways.

4.    Repent often. Every time we recognize sin in our lives, let Jesus know that we are sorry.  We could even ask, as the psalm says, “Look deep within me, O Yahweh, and see what is in my heart! Convict me of my errant thoughts. And if You find anything that grieves You, let me know so that I might walk always in Your Holy ways all the days of eternity.” (Psalm 139:23,24 EBV)

5.    Read the Word of God daily. Seek to know God more completely and to fill our minds with the Truth.

6.    Seek to follow God’s agenda rather than our own. As the Word says, “if we listen to the Word, then we need to also do what we hear.” (James 1:23 EBV)

7.    Get together with other Jesus followers as often as possible.  

8.    See the experiences of life as opportunities from God, prepared by God, that we should walk in them.

 

Our worst enemy is ourselves, our source of all our troubles is the choices we make; the way we choose to respond to the trials, temptations, experiences of our life.

 

CHOOSE to follow Jesus, CHOOSE good over evil, and learn from experience to discern the difference. I heard a song on enlighten radio today and the lyrics spoke deep to my heart,

“I know the road will not be easy.  I know I’ll have my weaker days.
And Satan will tell me I don’t mean it when I say I’ll trust God all the way.
But that really doesn’t matter.  I refuse to hear him out.
With my faith, I’ll find the power that will overcome all doubt.
Lord, I’ve never felt so strong as when I’m resting in Your arms.

I choose to believe that You are faithful, and my heart is in Your hands,
and this mystery that I face today is part of a greater plan.
I choose not to be discouraged when the sun will not break through.
I have the choice of trusting You.  So, Lord, this is what I choose.”

(Sung by Ivan Parker)

 

19 Here's the deal, the loving way of living is for us to be ready to listen, not in a hurry to tell our side of the story, and to do everything we can to avoid anger. 20 Never does our anger demonstrate to others the righteousness of God.

 

21 We are on a quest to allow the Spirit to remove the wickedness from our lives and replace it with the goodness of God's Word implanted in our hearts. That is the essence of our salvation.

 

James describes following God as listening more than we talk, avoiding anger, and allowing the Holy Spirit to remove wickedness from us so that it can be replaced by the goodness of God’s Word.

 

Paul tells us in his letter to Colossae, “Look at life this way. You have given your life to Jesus, and He lifted you up out of darkness and into His light. You are now with Him who is sitting at the right hand of God. Since you are already there, think like you are there and act like you are there. Focus on the things of heaven rather than the things you see every day.” (Colossians 3:1,2 EBV)

 

Paul is suggesting that we start living as if we are already in heaven, enjoying the very presence of our Lord. Jesus said much the same things when He taught us to pray this prayer, “Help us to live within Your kingdom here on earth so that we might do what You desire here on earth, in the same way we will do in heaven. (Matthew 7:10 EBV)

 

We need to leave behind the ways of the world as much as we can and substitute instead the ways of heaven. To choose to live by God’s agenda rather than our own.  

 

22 Let's not deceive ourselves any longer, if we listen to the Word, then we need to also do what we hear. 23 Those who do not act upon what they hear from the Word, are the kind of people who can look deeply at themselves in a mirror, 24 and completely forget what kind of person they are when they head out into their day. 25 When we look deeply into the perfect law of God and act upon what we see, we are blessed by what we do.

 

One of the things the Word teaches us is to live by the Law of Liberty. I believe that this Law does three things at least.

1.    Removes the constraints upon us that were in place in the Old Law; the rules and the commandments that had to be fulfilled for anyone to remain in communion with God.

2.    Sets us free from our guilt and our sin because of the forgiveness offered on the cross by our Lord Jesus.

3.    Helps us choose to set others free from their burdens and their guilt by the way we treat them; offering them forgiveness, mercy, and compassion as Jesus has for us.

 

26 We need to be careful in what we say, because our religion has no value to us or to others when we speak deception and lies. 27 Bottom line, what God desires of us is to visit those who are in distress and alone, and to avoid the stain of evil in this world.

 

THE GOD WAY

Learning to live by His agenda, is the best way to happiness.

 

In the name of Jesus, I bless you

With Joy in all of your life,

With humility to ask God for help,

With faith to see His path before you and walk in it.

 

Edd Breeden