James 1.2-8

Wisdom for Trials Outside of the Community (1.2-18)

Thinking Heavenly in the Midst of Material Persecution and Seduction (1.2-8)

2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

How do we make it through the tough times? How, in the midst of trials, are we as the New Israel, as the kingdom who is supposed to be bringing heaven on earth, how do we think heavenly? I struggle with this because I get overwhelmed with details and the pressures of just living life every day and I just kind of lose it. Yet, as God’s Kingdom, as his tool to bring heaven on earth, we are called to be joyful in the midst of trials. The word for trials encompasses any kind of hardship, from from persecution to temptation. In context (vs. 1.9-11), it seems that James is referring to the two sided coin of hardships that come with materialism. With the evil of materialism comes both the desire (temptation) to get more money and the persecution by the rich. So how do we do overcome this trial of materialism that the world persecutes and seduces us with? First, when we are persecuted, we have to consider it joy!

The word, “Joy”, is used in the Septuagint as the Jews reflecting on the salvation that God offered. They did this through feasts. The Jews can be blamed, or even criticized, for a lot of things, but one thing they can’t be criticized for is that they are a sad people. Judaism has always consisted of these grand feasts where they will all get together and party. Yet the purpose of each feast was to remember stories. They would gather the little children, during the feast of Hanukkah, and tell the story of Judas Maccabees and him fighting the Greek King, Antiochus Epiphanes. During Passover, they would play this hide and seek game with the bread, all for the purpose of remembering God saving them from their slaver in Egypt. This reflection of the stories of God’s salvation is “Joy”!! This is what James is hinting at. He is saying in the midst of trials, reflect on the stories of God saving his people. 

James goes on to to talk about what is produced when our faith is tested. He says this:

3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

This word, testing, is the same word that refers to gold being purified by fire. What they would do is put gold into a very hot fire, and the heat would cause all of the impurities to rise up to the surface of the gold. They would then scrape off the impurities, leaving the gold purer than it was before. This is what persevering through trials does to us. It acts like the fire that causes all of our impurities and sinfulness to rise to the surface so that we can get rid of this. This leaves a purer and more mature Christian. IN the midst of persecution, we have to look to the past and remember the joy of God’s salvation, and we have to look to the future to see that these trials will make us more mature. It comes back to this, we have to think heavenly about persecution. This is how we endure material persecution, yet how do we withstand material seduction? James goes on to answer this side of the coin.

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

Seduction is always overcome by wisdom. James is drawing a distinction in between the wisdom from above, and the desires from below. The key is the source of each. The source of wisdom is the one who wants to give it to us, God. Later, we will see, that these sinful desires do NOT come from God, but from our own sinful desires. For us to overcome seduction, we need to ask God for wisdom. Yet James says, we must ask in faith, and not doubt. 

This word for “doubt” is not what we think of when we hear the word doubt. When we hear faith and doubt, we think of certainty. Faith means being completely certain about something even when we don’t see it. Doubt, on the other hand, is not being completely certain. This is a false understanding of these two words. Faith is more about trusting and relying on God, and this word for “doubt” is better translated as “passing your own judgment.” We should ask in faith for wisdom from God instead of making our own judgments or decisions. 

This is why I have written Matthew 19.22 with a sharpie on my check card. Matthew 19.22 says 

²² When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.

The way I am trying to overcome the temptation, or seduction, of materialism is by asking myself every time I pull out my card, “Is this advancing the kingdom?” Then I ask God to give me wisdom in how I use my money. My goal is not to make my own judgments on material things, but to rely on the wisdom that God graciously gives those who ask for it. 

The sea imagery in verse 6, is drawing on the Jewish idea of the sea. The Jewish thought was that the sea was full of chaos and disorder. This is what happens when our thinking relies on our own desires rather than on Wisdom from above. Again, we come back to this: the way to endure material persecution..think heavenly; the way to withstand material seduction...think heavenly.