Temptation, God and Us - Week 5 - Study Notes

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Temptation, God and us

James 1:12-18

New York Times columnist, Alexander Woollcott, once complained, "All the things I ever really wanted to do are either immoral, illegal or fattening." We may laugh a bit about that but, in some ways, it may be as close as some of us ever get to considering the issue of temptation in 21st C SoCal. It used to be that even unchurched people wrestled with personal questions of being drawn toward what they acknowledged to be wrong. Preachers used to be able to get up and talk about what they called "the conviction of sin" and everyone would acknowledge it. But that's changed in our day.
So, you may consider it outdated for me to tell you the Bible makes it very clear that the process of us becoming "mature, complete, and lacking nothing" (Js 1:4) includes moral struggle against personal sin. In the book of James, God's Word teaches us that the one who follows Jesus will not only have to deal with external trials like poverty or injustice but also with difficult internal temptations toward doing wrong. James says there are many kinds of trials in 1:2. In fact, the word James used for both external trials and internal temptations is the same word. We saw in my last message that both poverty and riches test our faith. Poverty can tempt us to steal or to be dishonest or even to give up on life. But, riches, according to James are an even more dangerous test – because we are tempted to put them into God's place and become proud and self-sufficient. His point is that any kind of trial always includes temptation to turn away from God.
So today, we will look straight at this matter of being tempted to disobey God – no matter what might lead to that temptation. What the Bible means by "trial" in James 1 is something like this: Anything in this world that might test us to move us away from trusting in God or living for God.
Let me make you aware of something here: James is right when he says that we face all kinds of trials. Many of them come from unexpected sources. For example, in this imperfect world, many of the things that God created for our good can be can be engaged in ways that God never intended and thereby become destructive. For example, food is a good thing, even a necessary thing for us. However, food can become something that 1) we "overdo" leading to gluttony, 2) "under-do" leading to anorexia, or 3) even "live for" leading to eating addictions. Or, sexual activity is a gift God has created both for pleasure as well as for procreation. However, God has said it is to be engaged in within a loving and committed covenant of marriage. And, I'm sure it's no surprise to you to hear your pastor say that people in our world are strongly tempted to use good things like food and sex in ways that God never intended. When we do, they never fulfill and they lead us away from him.
God says consistently in the Bible that he is our Maker. He tells us that when we live according to his Word, we will find life. When we do not, it leads to death. That's what God promises and James declares to his people here. God knows we already have sin in our lives that needs to be forgiven. That's why Jesus came. He can and will forgive your sins when you place your faith in him. And, in addition, God knows that you and I must be changed from the inside out if we will begin to live God's ways rather than our own ways and the world's ways. And, he says trials are a big part of his renewing work.
So, here's the scenario: We get up each day and find that trials come. We are tempted to give up trusting God or we are tempted to engage in something we know deep down inside is wrong. Today, I want us to focus on what we must do when we face trials tempting us to sin.

#1: Stop the Blame Game -- 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. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire (1:13-14).
If you have ever read popular psychology books dealing with human failure, then you may be familiar with terms like "splitting" or "projection." Those terms describe the way we human beings try to deny what's wrong inside us by transferring it onto something or someone else. Some would say that this is what underlies a lot of racism. The say that an irrational hatred of the Jewish people or of those of another ethnicity is really an attempt to distance ourselves from everything we hate in ourselves and push it on to somebody else. Many would argue that many broken personal relationships reflect the same kind of "projection". They say when we feel strong hostility toward somebody in our family or within our circle of acquaintances, we may dislike them because there really is some ugliness inside ourselves that we don't want to face -- so we attribute it to them. We may say, "It's their fault that I am so angry."
In every case, what these authors say we're really doing is taking all the foulness inside ourselves that we can't face up to and blaming it all on someone or something else. Personally, I think there is an element of truth in that view. The ironic thing is that in our 21st C, it is precisely some wings of psychology that have provided postmodern people with a whole host of ways to blame our weaknesses on others:
• "You couldn't help it it's your genes. You father was a liar so that caused you to be a liar too."
• "You couldn't help it. It's your upbringing. Your behavior has been molded by what you saw in your school or what an uncle did to you, etc."
• "You can't help it. It's your psychological make up. It's just the way you are so it's other people's fault if they don't accept they way you are."
The result of this kind of "projection" that we never have to say, "There's something wrong inside me that needs to be made clean and made right." Instead, the message of our world to us when we see flaws in ourselves is this: "You're a victim, a victim of circumstances beyond your control." One younger pastor in Hawaii once asked me, "How many people have ever come in to see you saying, 'I need help for my sinful responses to my children or husband, etc.'" I had to admit that it has not been often.
Bottom line: We human beings find ways to blame others and to deny our own sinfulness. Like the Pharisees in the Gospel of John, it's so much easier to throw stones at a woman taken in adultery than to face up to the fact that we have lust in our own hearts. Well, no matter how inclined we are about projecting our own inner depravity on to other things or people, the Bible cuts through all that to tell us that such excuse making will only leave us further trapped by our failure. All such projections and denials will keep us from real healing and growth because they force us to ignore the fundamental problem.
In v.14, the Bible says that we are "enticed" and "lured away" by our own desire. Those words come from the world of fishing and hunting. James is saying something that Paul describes in his own testimony in Romans 7, i.e., that there is something in our personal make up that leads us away from God and to be drawn into a trap of sin. The point is that if we want to be victorious over the sin that we are drawn toward, we must be honest about what is happening inside our own hearts.
Interestingly, it's only in facing up to the bad news about ourselves that we find hope offered to us. The Bible teaches that if I do what is wrong, I must first own up to the fact that I did it. Bottom line: I am human and made in God's image. Therefore, I am responsible for how I live. There are many factors that make life tough for us. However, there is no temptation that is absolutely irresistible to us, according to the Bible. So, when you find yourself doing wrong, do not cast your eyes so quickly on to some one or something else as the one to blame for what you've done.
And, especially, Pastor James tells us in vv. 13-14 that we should not blame God. James says that when we face a temptation, we should know that God is not trying to get us to do evil so that God can say, "Ha! I got him this time!" Not at all! God, according to v.17, is the one who gives good gifts – not bad ones. Even the trials he allows have the good goal of us becoming mature, complete and lacking nothing (1:4).
So, when it comes to temptations, don't think of them as being things God is sending to try to get you to sin! Instead, look inside your heart and be honest about yourself. Temptations are our own inner responses to things that happen every day in this fallen world we are a part of. When you are drawn to do what is wrong, don't not blame others but accept the fact that there are still things not fully right inside of you that need to be transformed or to be strengthened. And God will continue to work with you so that you can become complete.
Now, don't misunderstand me: There are tempting circumstances we fall into in this world by no fault of our own. However, such things don't dictate our actions. They don't make us puppets of fate. All a trial does is expose to us our own moral weakness. It doesn't create that moral weakness. When you sin, you are the one sinning. So, if you ever will be able to handle temptation, start inside your own heart and own what is there. Blaming other things is a subtle and pernicious lie that will keep you from ever gaining victory over temptation.

#2: Be Aware of the Process that Leads to Entrapment -- Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death (2:14-15).
James' makes the strong point that sin doesn't enter our lives uninvited. Instead, he says in v.14 that we are lured and enticed by our "own desires". Then, in v. 15, he moves on to one of his most profound points. James describes the process of how patterns of doing wrong entrap us and rob us of the life God wants us to have. He indicates that sin starts with small decisions and then grows to take over our lives. He sees the path developing this way: 1) Lust --a desire for something displeasing to God; 2) Sin – giving in to that desire by acting on it; 3) Death – a pattern of life separated from the life of God.
So that first act of sin is like an embryo or a seed that leads to something much bigger as it develops. I've experienced the truth of his words again and again. People don't just fall into some heinous sin without early steps in that direction. Instead, there are patterns of thinking and then choosing – often over years – that ultimately lead to destructive patterns of life. Much of this process -- of desire leading to an act of sin which leads to even greater sin -- is something we think we can keep hidden. We may even think, "Oh I won't quit this way of life now – but someday I will." James is strongly telling us to beware. He indicates that the pattern of sin starts like a small seed and then grows and grows as it takes root in our personalities often in the secrecy of our hearts. Heinous sins are rarely sudden acts of foolishness in an otherwise upright life. When we sin, it usually begins in our inner desires – in the longing of our minds.
You may have heard, "You sow a thought; you reap an action. Sow an action; reap a habit. Sow a habit; reap a character. Sow a character; reap a destiny." And from first to last, it is our doing. If sin has a stranglehold in your life, it is because you have chosen to place yourself in its clutches. That's what James teaches. If you see that happening in your life, then you must candidly acknowledge what is happening inside. You dare not blame others or keep it hidden in your heart. Remember that truth sets free.
I think the first admonition I have for you based on this text is to deal quickly with sin when you see it in your thinking and in your actions. Accept responsibility when you fail. Know what happens when you take the bait and give in to temptation, i.e., that it goes in deeper and deeper and leads to patterns that kill your spiritual life. So, when you see sin developing in your mind and life, turn quickly to God.

#3: Return to God -- Don't be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be the firstfruits of all he created (1:16-18).
We don't have the time we need to look carefully at this beautiful but complex message written by a pastor to a group of people he loved. He did not want them to give up under the trials they were enduring. And, he did not want them to give in to the temptations they were experiencing either. So James forces us here, after looking at ourselves, to look at God. What Pastor James wants his people to know in vv.16-18 – and I want you to know – is that our good Heavenly Father made you as the pinnacle of His creation. He made you in His image. And, though you may have misused your God-given freedoms and have engaged in sin, God loves you and always offers you the chance to be re made.
Your self esteem in this world flows not from self deception that says you are just "victims" not sinners. It flows out of the honest recognition that you have failed but that your heavenly Father still has found something about you worthy of His forgiveness and acceptance. He offers you a new life on the basis of what Jesus did on the cross. What you need to do is to turn from sin and ask Jesus to save you – and to set you free from sin. There is something about you so valuable that the eternal God sent his Son to rescue you.
God knows what's wrong inside all of us and has a plan to make us what James calls the "firstfruits of his creatures." By that he means, the kinds of people who are what God intended people to be from the beginning. That's the point of vv.17-18. This is very poetic language that is very difficult to translate. But the point being made is quite clear: God is good. And He plans good things for us human beings. God didn't make Adam and Eve with sin in mind. And God doesn't re make us in Christ with sin in mind either. God is consistently good and what he will make us you if you will turn to him in repentance and faith is good and beautiful. "All things" in this world – even trials – are things God uses to make us complete and mature.
A large and time-limited worship service like this is not the place for me to go into detail about how you can find freedom from long-time patterns of sin and deep scars from the past. But, I can tell you today to turn your heart back to God, ask him in the name of Jesus to forgive your past, and tell him you want him to start again with you. I can offer you these things today:
1. People to pray and counsel with you after the service.
2. People to help you connect with a small group of people who will join you in walking with God. We all need one another to become what God has made us to be.
3. A promise that each time you come to Lake Avenue Church, we will open our Father's Word so that he might speak to you, remind you that he never gives up on you, and that he is ready to guide and bless your life.
4. An assurance based on God's Word that "if you confess your sins, your Heavenly Father is faithful and just to forgive your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness (1 Jn 1:9-10).

A Final Word
I want you to know that I know that breaking from patterns of giving in to temptation is hard to do. When we are really honest with ourselves at the deepest level of our self knowledge, we know how much corruption and foulness there is in our hearts. We know how much there is inside us that we would never dare to speak about to another person for fear they would reject us. Sometimes, we're afraid to even let our own minds investigate what our real desires and motivations are.
God is telling you today that you must stop blaming others for what is inside you if you will ever become complete in Christ. You must be honest with yourself, quit making excuses, stop trying to kid yourself. If the truth were known, it is a part of our dignity that we can acknowledge our own responsibility for what we do. Only robots and computers that are programmed to do what they do. They can't help it. But God has made us human. We are responsible people and we dare not shirk that responsibility for what we do or we will never choose to walk in the right direction.
And, if you feel you have little left today but to fall upon God and say, "I've gone at this thing so often, that I can do nothing else but fall upon you God", then that sense of having nothing but God may be your greatest hope. There is a section of Solomon Northups' book, Twelve Years a Slave that drives this home:

"There are times when we feel we have nowhere in this world to turn. At such times, the heart of man turns instinctively towards his Maker. In prosperity, and whenever there is nothing to injure or make him afraid, he remembers God not, and is ready to defy Him; but place him in the midst of dangers, cut him off from human aid, let the grave open before him, then it is, in the time of his tribulation and temptation, that the scoffer and unbelieving man turns to God for help, feeling there is no other hope, or refuge, or safety, save in his protecting arm."

The battle against sin in this world is too great to do anything but run into God's arms again today. You can't afford yourself the luxury of self deceit. My call today is a call to a deep repentance and confession -- and to a joyous reception of a new beginning that God offers to whosoever will come to Him in honesty and faith. It is only the "truth that sets free." When it comes to temptation, that truth is 1) the truth about yourself and 2) the truth of God's readiness to restore you. That second truth is for you -- even of you in your sin -- and it comes to you through Jesus.

To His glory,

Dr. Greg Waybright
Senior Pastor