Evening Service, 24th May 2009
JAMES HAS BEEN TELLING US that God’s glorious plan is to make us “perfect, lacking in nothing” but also that God’s methodology is one that utilises trials. That is, that we are to look on trials we face as Stepping Stones to God’s glorious future for us in Christ. That’s why we should respond to such times with joy. The joy he speaks of is a result of the realisation that God is at work here. It’s like the home owner’s joy as he sees the builder at work renovating the house. Sure there is pain after all he sees holes in walls, rubble piling up, but he knows that there will be a great result because he has employed a great builder – and in our case that result is maturity and ability.
Peter make the same point as he writes to Christians about to face serious trials involving persecution – “But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.” (1 Peter 5:10)
But not only are we to respond with joy, here JAMES ENCOURAGES US TO PRAY. What we need is prayer not paracetamol!
But his point is not that we should pray for the trials to be removed, but for wisdom to make correct response to and use of them. Trials have a habit of exposing issues within, but also causing us to stop and think. Questions come to mind. Assumptions are challenged. Possible ways forward begin to mass and cause confusion. We ask: Why this? Why me? But also things like: What is really happening in my life, where is it going? What do I want it to be like? But trials don’t automatically make us wise. In fact trials can expose our lack of wisdom – and they usually do. Some of the foolish things people say and do when they are under pressure stuns us and often deeply saddens us – and we know we are often little different.
Matthew Henry observes: ‘To be wise in trials is a special gift from God.’ And for this necessary gift we must turn to God. We need wisdom as we go through the remodelling of our lives. Like Solomon we should set a premium on the gift wisdom, and we should know that it can be only found with and received from God.
So James writes, “If any of you lacks wisdom let him ask God”. In this as we shall see there are two elements – that of necessity on our part, that of ability and willingness on God’s part.
Wisdom, says James, is the need of every believer under trial – Wisdom N.O.W. – we see it as Necessary, we seek it Optimistically, and we are to ask for it Wholeheartedly.
1. See it as Necessary
1. The great need stated – “Wisdom”
What do we understand by this word? AT Robertson defines it as ‘The right use of one’s opportunities in holy living.’ Robert Johnstone compares it to knowledge: `Knowledge, to a certain extent, is common and easy; but to know and to be wise are by no means the same thing.’ He further illustrates this by a man who own a fabric Mill who spends much of his time in adjusting and refining the machinery so they work to their optimum. But because he gave no attention to the yarns, colours and patterns as well his fine machinery beautifully produced fabric which were unsaleable. He was knowledgeable but hardly wise!
Biblical wisdom is more than understanding; it is the ability to apply what the Bible teaches to life’s situations, problems, decision-making and choices. As Motyer says: ‘If we say about someone, ‘He knows his Bible really well’, so far we have described a knowledgeable person. But if he also knows how to use his Bible to understand life and the world around him, and to guide his own conduct and the conduct of others in the maze of life’s problems, then knowledge has passed over into wisdom.’
This is how James uses it in 3:13, 17. “Wisdom” helps us to speak appropriately to the situation, and to live purposefully and profitably in it.
2. Why we need it
a. To see life the way James has just described. It is pretty hard to see that good will come out from what is happening. It seems only like a purposeless mess and nothing like a stepping stone to maturity. We need wisdom to see the wood for the trees. It takes a special wisdom to see all life’s events as serving the purposes of God.
b. To make the right decisions so that we will progress towards maturity. You may see that circumstances are designed by the Lord as James has declared. But you find that seeing life like that doesn’t make it either easier or clearer as to what to do next. There is more than one path opening ahead. Prepared as you are to persevere, you don’t know which to choose as the divinely appointed way forward. It is not that the truths the preacher tells you are wrong, but they seem meaningless. You want to know how to apply them. Again you need wisdom.
c. To keep our heart fixed on God’s purposes – to manage and control our temperament and emotions; so that sadness doesn’t become madness, etc. Afflictions often put one on edge so that we say things we don’t really mean, and hasty thoughts often produce foolish actions. So we need wisdom to control our personality.
3. Who needs it
The “if” here should not be taken as raising doubt, as saying some don’t need wisdom. All do, all will need wisdom.
I agree with Robert Johnstone who says that the “if” here refers rather ‘to the occurrence of circumstances’ – ie, “If” a trial occurs it will bring with it a real sense of need. It is equivalent to ‘whenever’.
We are apt to think ourselves wise, and so we ‘counsel’ a brother here and a sister there on what they should be doing. But Oh how undone we suddenly find ourselves when the same trial comes to us. Brethren, this should keep us humble, from pontificating advice!
Without wisdom we will become fatalistic or bitter, we will become critical of both God and man. Without wisdom from God we will lose, not gain, by testing. As Earl Kelly reminds us: ‘The rod will be much more of a blessing if instruction goes along with it.’
2. Seek it Optimistically
To encourage us in the pursuit of biblical wisdom James highlights certain realities pointing out in effect that we are not asking for the impossible, we are not asking for what God is not wanting to give. That is the fallacy of the first temptation – the belief that God is withholding wisdom from you is in effect what satan was saying to Eve, that He was withholding it lest you become like Him. But that is not the case says James. On the contrary God wants us to enjoy His wisdom. So James stresses 3 things concerning how God will respond to such a prayer:
1. God’s giving is natural. It is God’s nature to give: literally ‘…from the giving God’. There is never a time when we will find God no longer giving, no longer willing to respond with a gift of wisdom to help us to obtain maximum benefit from the trials of life. He is always there, always giving. There will never be a ‘Come back tomorrow.’
2. God’s giving is unrestricted – “generosity”. This word has as its root the idea of single-minded, of not being afflicted by anything that might diminish an activity. So here the idea may be seen as a single-minded concern for the person, or even as an exclusive pre-occupation with them. This is how God gives – with a self-less, total concern for us, with an exclusive pre-occupation as if He had nothing else to do but to keep on giving.
3. God’s giving is enduring – This is a giving that never wears out – “without reproachment”. This word is not saying something about God, so much as about the one asking. James is thinking of everything that stands in the way of a free asking and everything we might imagine the Lord to hold against us. To which James is saying God will not respond to our request with a ‘What again?’ or ‘Yeah, but how did you use it last time?’ or ‘You’ve asked too often or too much.’
We may tend to excuse ourselves from giving – ‘I’ve already given!’ But God never does. Indeed, God sees persistent requests, not as irritating, but as revealing confidence in Him. Our God never grows weary in doing good.
Let us not minimise the ability or willingness of God to fulfil His glorious purpose through trials in us. He not only sovereignly allows the trials; He willingly and generously provides the instruction to make a profitable use of them. What a glorious encouragement this promise is!
3. Ask it Wholeheartedly
Verses 6-8 raise the question of our sincerity. Are we wholeheartedly committed to His way of seeing things and His ambitions for our future? Or are we keeping a door open for the world and the flesh?
1. Two Key-Words
a. “doubt”. The thought is making up one’s mind between alternatives, but being unable to. He is a person of two-minds, not committed in either direction.
b. “double-minded” (see also 4:8), is literally, ‘two-souled’, with a divided soul. Not two-faced, but of facing two ways, of being attracted in two directions.
2. Two Consequences. James is concerned with the sad consequences of being like this. He uses the illustration of a wave – all is in flux and motion. No sooner is the surge of the sea set in one direction than a fresh gust of wind whips it around. Two results follow for the Christian so tossed about:
a. the power of prayer is robbed of power (v.7). Such a shifting person is unlikely to appreciate a gift from God, and therefore cannot expect to receive it.
b. an instability affecting the whole of a person’s life – “unstable in all his ways” (v.8). If we are not secure with God, then we are not secure at all. This refers to more than an inability to keep a steady course through a specific trial; it refers to the effect on personal character so that he is unstable in all of life’s experiences – smooth as well as rough.
3. Two Challenges
a. Is our heart one with God without any division of loyalty? James is saying that when we feel we are coming apart at the approach of trial our first thought should be to look at our relationship with God, and to be unwavering in our loyalty to Him.lhe answer is not turning from God, but to God.
b. Are you proving that reality in the place of prayer? It is one thing to say you are wholehearted in seeking God’s wisdom in facing trial whilst with other Christians, but is it evident in your private prayer life?
This wisdom is not just for a select few Christians, but for all Christians. You only have to admit your need of help, and to ask with sincerity, with wholeheartedness.
Again, in all of this FAITH is the pre-requisite. This is what God looks for: faith in Him. James is stressing that faith in God in the face of the circumstances of this life is the key to the Christian life – a fact that is repeatedly stressed here: v.1, faith in God’s calling; v.2-4 faith in God’s activity; v.5-8, faith in God’s character; and in v.9-11 in God’s grace despite our outward position in the eyes of the world.
In Job 28,Job asks the question: “But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?” (v.12). He goes on to say that it is not found among men. But in v.28 the question is answered by God: “Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding.”
There is no question that we need a lot of wisdom to live in this world with its continuous series of complex events. And the great promise of God is that He will answer our requests for wisdom – if we ask with complete faith in Him.
Yet in closing we ought to also understand that this is not godly advice from James, it is an inspired command. This is something we are to do when we face trials – and let’s face it that is in some measure a daily occurrence. Prayer for wisdom ought to be a daily prayer, as we enter each new day, each new situation, and each new difficulty whether small or large.
In the original Greek “Let him ask” translates an imperative verb. This then is something we are commanded to do. Our calling on the Lord for wisdom is not an option. It is required. Its absence then is not only foolish it is disobedience and ungrateful mocking and spurning of God’s loving provision. God will not stand idly by, but will cause us to obey. As MacArthur applies it: ‘…if a believer who is being tested is not driven to the Lord and does not develop a deeper prayer life, the Lord is likely to keep the test active and even intensify it until His child comes to the throne of grace—until he makes his “ear attentive to wisdom,” and inclines his “heart to understanding” (Prov. 2:2). And “if you cry for discernment,” Solomon continues, “if you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures; then you will discern the fear of the Lord and discover the knowledge of God” (vv. 3–5; cf. Job 28:12–23; Matt. 13:44–46).’