Galatians, James and “social justice”

Speaker: Well Wednesday in the Word. You can find more talks in the series on our website wednesdayintheword.com. Speaker 1: Welcome. Thank you for coming. Thank you for letting me be here. I'm very excited. I'm this is one of those passages when I first started studying, I thought, oh dear, how are we ever going to get through this? So but then it it clicked, so I'm very excited to kind of bring it all together. I was listening to a Broadway musical and the lyrics of one of the songs struck me. It's the musical is called The Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. Which it's a great title. Yeah. It's it's kind of a mediocre musical, I have to warn you, so you know, don't go out and buy it. But um there was one song called Island, and the lyrics went like this. It says, I thought we had just what we needed, a life you could hold in your hand, but now that the waves have receded, I see it was all a reflection on salt water. I built a house on the sand, gathered all my hopes, and put them inside. So drunk with the view, I forgot to watch out for the tide. Well here comes the tide. Where did it go? I thought I saw it here yesterday. Did you just watch it all disappear? Almost within reach, but vanishing away. You can lose so much in a single day. Where did it go? And it goes on. So the song is cut obviously a sad song, but it's all about the futility of putting your hopes in things that don't last, and putting your dreams or counting on something that's temporal. And in the context, it's a lost love, but the theme carries through into other uh other areas of life. And so I think that's what our theme is today: counting on things that will not last. So putting our hopes in something that's temporal versus eternal. So we are in James chapter 1, verses 9 through 18. And by way of review, I want to give you a paraphrase of what we covered last week. If you weren't here last week, I think the opening eight verses are really important to understanding the book of James, and that if we get those right, the rest of the letter kind of falls into place. It's like getting that cornerstone, then the rest of it stays true. So this is my kind of amplified, extended paraphrases of what he said in the first eight verses. I know that you've been going through many hardships, but I urge you to remember that these hardships test your faith. This testing is something to value and rejoice in because the process of proving your faith results in persevering in faith. And persevering in faith under trial has a maturing result in your life so that your faith may be strong and complete, lacking in nothing that a mature believer should have. What should you do if you realize that you lack the wisdom that comes from a mature faith? You should ask God. He is generous and will not hold your foolishness against you. He can and will bring you to wisdom and maturity. Do not be deceived. You must commit yourself to believing in God and that he will answer your prayer. If your foolishness comes from a lack of belief, do not expect to receive anything from God. So hopefully that jogs your memory. The main thing to remember is all of this section we're going to talk about today comes in the context of persevering in trials and that trials have this result. And I want you to hang on to that as we go through James because you're going to be tempted to read James and go, ooh, that's not me. That person he's describing that wise is wise and mature. I don't measure up, let me try harder. I want you to remember that James has already told you what he wants you to do if you find yourself in that position. He doesn't want you to like go into hyper frantic, let's try harder mode or despair. Instead, he said, ask God, and God will give it to you. Okay, so now we come to this section on rich and poor, and there are two questions we have to answer to get this right. The first is, how does this fit in the context? Why, after bringing up trials, would he suddenly start talking about rich and poor? And the second one is are both types of people in question believers? So is he talking about rich believers and rich and poor believers, or is he talking about poor believers and rich unbelievers? And how you answer those two questions really shape sends you in different interpretive directions on this passage. So let me start by reading nine through twelve, and then I'm going to give you kind of the two main interpretations, first the one I don't agree with, and then the one that I do agree with. So this is nine through twelve. Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass, its flower falls and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits. Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life which God has promised to those who love him. So we're going to try to say how does this fit in context and who are the two groups of people he's talking about. Now, there are a lot of people who take James as kind of like a New Testament version of Proverbs, so that he's giving us these scattered, either loosely organized or unorganized, wise sayings about how to live your life. And so you he this there are many scholars who say, well, he's just putting two things side by side and jumping from topic to topic, and what you have is a random collection of kind of good ideas. And there are a lot of people that understand James this way, but I am not one of them. I think he has a theme, and I think he's focused, and there's a theme that runs through it all, but I also think that's true of Proverbs. So, you know, you can take that with a grain of salt. So then the related question is, is he talking about are both people in view believers? So when he says, let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation and the rich brother, is that implied? Is he implying in the rich brother in his humiliation? Is that what he's saying, or is he saying the lowly brother who's a believer and the rich unbeliever? So um, and a lot of scholars think that both are believers in the section, so they would understand, oops, I'm stepping on the cord. So they would understand his point to be saying, whether you have wealth or you lack wealth, you should see your life circumstances in view of the gospel. So the goal of life is maturity in faith, not financial wealth. So whether you're rich or you're poor, you should boast in the gospel. So they so that nine and ten would say, let the poor brother and the rich brother learn to say, I am rich in the things that truly matter. Money won't get me anywhere. I'm a sinful wretch in need of grace. And that's not the view I take, but I think that's perfectly plausible and reasonable, and a lot of scholars that I respect take that view. Now, I'm gonna end up in almost exactly the same place, but I'm gonna get there a different way. Because I think what if he's talking about poor believers and rich non-believers, and he's bringing up wealth because this is one of the trials that his readers are facing. And I actually think that's what's going on, and let me tell you why. You know, we always like to not just tell you what we think the passage means, but explain how we get there. So we kind of model Bible study, and this is how I got to that conclusion. There are clues in the rest of the letter. So flip over to James 2, 5 through 7. He's also talking about rich and poor here, and he says, Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith, heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? Very similar to what he says in one. But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, the ones who drag you into court, are not the on are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called? Now in that section, clearly the rich are non-believers, because they're blasphemy the name of Christ, they're dragging the believers into court, and they're oppressing them and persecuting them. And I think in this section, that's not a hypothetical. He's saying, in your experience, have you not found this to be true? So that tells us his readers were actually facing a situation where rich unbelievers were oppressing them. Okay, so that gives me a hint. So I'm thinking, well, it's probably likely that he's still going to be talking about rich unbelievers in chapter one. And notice he's asking a very similar thing to what I think is going on in one, who is truly richer? Who is truly better off, the poor believer or the wealthy unbeliever? And he's saying the poor believer is actually better off because he will inherit a place in the kingdom of heaven. Okay, he brings this up again in chapter 5. Look over at 5.1. He's speaking now directly to the rich. He says, Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days, and then he goes on about how their life will come back to condemn them. So again in chapter five, he's speaking to the rich, and they are clearly not believers. They are unjust, they are pursuing pleasure with no regard for what is right, they're investing themselves in the wealth of the world, and again he's asking the question, how does it all turn out in the end? In the end, the riches will rot and be eaten by moth. In the last days, their lifestyle will be testify against them, and they will stand in God's judgment and be destroyed. And then the next verse is he goes on to give encouragement to believers who are patient and waiting on the Lord. So, we have two other sections in James where he's speaking to the rich and the poor, and it's quite clear in those sections that he is talking about rich unbelievers. I'm gonna get my notes all out of order here because I don't have two hands. All right, let me try this. So, I think the same thing's going on in chapter one. So it helps us to understand why James would bring up the rich and the poor in chapter one and how it fits in context, because he's talking about when you're facing trials, um, how do you bear up under them? What should your attitude be toward them? And one of the trials they are actually facing is the rich and the poor. There are rich non-believers oppressing them and persecuting them. And he's saying, if you find yourself in that situation in 1-9, here's how you should handle it. Here's how the person who has wisdom would, this is the perspective they would have. So let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. So I think he's contrasting the the poor believer with the rich non-believer, and similar to chapter 5, he's asking, how's it all going to turn out in the end? They're going to blow away like the rich will blow away like grass, the rich unbeliever, in contrast with the poor believer. So he's asking them, okay, you're facing this situation, and it's tempting if if a rich person is um oppressing you, it's very tempting to kind of flatter them, do whatever it takes to make them happy, get them, you know, off your your case so that that will make your life easier. It would be very tempting to kind of, oh, let me go suck up to them and do whatever it takes, and then they'll leave me alone and they won't harass me. And James is saying, let me to give you some wisdom here. Who is truly to be envied? Who is really better off, the rich unbeliever or the poor believer? So the humble lowly believer will be exalted even though he seems lowly now, and the rich unbeliever who seems high and mighty is going to be humiliated. So it may look like it's the other way around. It may look like one has everything and the other has nothing, but the perspective you should have if you believe in the gospel is it is the believer who is truly to be envied, who is truly better off. Why is this true? Look at verse 11. For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass, its flower falls and its beauty perishes, so also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits. James gives one of his many metaphors. He has a lot uh that's uh one of his key style points is all these beautiful metaphors and analogies he gives. So we saw one last week with the waves and the sand. Now he says, think of the beauty of a field of wildflowers. It's true that it's very beautiful, and if you've you've ever been in like a field of poppies or something, you you can see it's just gorgeous and breathtaking. But if you wait, it's gonna go away. If you wait long enough, it will wither and fade. And he's saying the same thing is true for the rich unbeliever. Riches are attractive. Money can solve a lot of problems in this life, and having it can make your life a lot easier than not having it, but in time they're not gonna last. The fact is that the rich unbeliever has thrown away that which will last for something that is going to burn, that is going to fade away. So he will be reduced to humiliation in the day of judgment. So if you believe the gospel and understand it, there's nothing to envy about the rich unbeliever. By contrast, what's the destiny of the believer? Look at verse 12. Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life which God has promised to those who love him. So the one who's trusting in his riches to get him everything is going to be humiliated in the day of judgment. By contrast, those who persevere in faith, that's the theme he's been talking about, those who remain steadfast under trial, they're going to inherit everything. So he's still on this theme of persevering under trial, and he's saying, Who is truly fortunate? Who is truly to be envied? Who should I want to be like? And his answer is the one who remains steadfast under trial. Ultimately, what determines whether you are blessed or not is your destiny, not your wealth here and now. So the ones who are truly blessed are those who will inherit the kingdom of God. And I think that's what he means by the crown of life, that that's a synonym for the kingdom of God. So if you have faith, and your faith has been tested and shown through the test to be the real deal, then you are truly blessed, because if you have faith, you will inherit a place in the kingdom of God. If you have faith in the blood of Christ, that He is your sins are forgiven because of His death and resurrection, then you have everything. You because you are now adopted into God's family and will receive that crown of life, i.e., eternal life in the kingdom of j of God. So he's saying trials are this God-given opportunity to live out your faith, and the trial makes your faith strong and makes it real, it gives you tangible evidence that you are in fact believers, and it helps you grow in wisdom. So dealing with wealth is one of those God-given opportunities where your faith should make a difference in your attitudes and your actions. And you have the opportunity to live out what you believe is true. Now, so he's saying the rich unbeliever may look impressive, but he will be humiliated because he's counting on something that will not last. The poor believer may look lowly and humiliated, but in the end he will be exalted because he is counting on something eternal. And he's saying that's the perspective you should take on your trials. Now think about that, because this here there'd be applications just in case just in case you thought I wasn't going to give you any. What's struggling about this is I don't know about you, but when I when a trial hits in my life, my first question is, when will this end? And I think one implications of what James is saying is my first question ought to be, where is this taking me? You know, what am I supposed to be learning from this? Because if the purpose is for me to grow in wisdom and maturity and mature faith, then that's what I ought to want. Now, of course, I, you know, I just want to know when it's going to be over. So let me give you an analogy. Mine aren't as good as James, but this was my best attempt. So if you're dying of arsenic poisoning, pain is a bad thing. Because the pain is not taking you anywhere, because you it's just arsenic poisoning. There's no good end in sight for that. But if you're in labor, pain is a good thing. Because at the end of that, there is this great blessing of a new baby. So I think what James is saying is trials, the trials you go through may feel like arsenic poisoning, but they are more like labor pains. So, yes, they hurt, they're difficult, they're hard to endure, but look where they're taking you. Look what look what happens in the end. How does it all turn turn out? So labor pain leads to this blessing of a new birth. Similarly, trials lead to this mature, tested faith and an inheritance of the kingdom of God. So understanding that's where I'm going ought to make a difference in my attitude now. And if we give up the pain of childbirth and in the process give up the child, that's not a good trade. That's like the rich man, we have traded eternity for temporal. And I think this is why James starts this letter saying, Rejoice in trials, because look what you stand to gain by having gone through them. Now, I don't know about you, in my short-sightedness, I'd rather be the woman sunbathing on the beach than the woman in labor. But James' perspective is look at the blessing that results. There is something wonderful at the end of that struggle. There is a bigger deal at stake than the pain or the pressure or the trial that I feel now. And um, and the key question to ask is, how is it all going to turn out in the end? Now, I don't believe James is saying that riches in and of themselves are evil and that there can be no such thing as a rich believer. It's pretty scary when you first read this. If you have any money at all, you go, uh-oh! But I don't think that's what he's saying. I think in their historical circumstances, it was primarily rich unbelievers who were oppressing poor believers, and he is writing to what they were actually experiencing. And you can go through the Bible and find all kinds of examples of rich believers who were godly wise stewards of what God had given them. Just think about Abraham. He was one of the richest men of his day. And of course, there's King David, King Solomon, but there are other people, look in Acts, you find Mary of Bethany and Lydia, and they were rich believers who handled their wealth wisely. So everyone is called to be a steward of whatever God gives them, however great it is or however small it is. And James is saying money is one of those things that looks really attractive here and now. It can solve a lot of problems. It's tempting to trust in it, but it's not where you want to put your trust. So wealth itself is not necessarily evil. It is loving it, counting it, putting your faith and your hope and all your trust in it that is the problem. Now, I think he could have chosen any of life's contrasts to make this point, and he picked wealth and poverty because that's what his readers were facing. But he could have said, for example, if you're single and you long to be married, uh, who's truly to be envied, or having children or not having children, or having grandchildren or not having grandchildren, or having a thrilling career versus a repetitive day job, or having a job at all versus being unemployed. Anytime where we have a relative fullness or lack, he could have picked any of those issues and asked who is truly to be envied, the believer in that circumstance or the unbeliever. And if the unbeliever is the one with the lack, they actually have what's truly worth having. So he could have picked, you know, being happily married or being divorced or being, you know, lots of friends or struggling with loneliness. The possibilities are endless. Because I think his point is not so much about wealth as it is about what is your attitude toward the trials in your life. How are you responding to any kind of relative fullness or lack? And trials confront us with the question of who is where is true blessing to be found? In the trial, do I trust God that He is in fact the source of true blessing? Or do I start counting on other things like money or romance or health or career or any of the other things we're tempted to put our trust in? And trials put my belief on the line, and I have to say, what am I counting on? What am I hoping in? And James argues, you're fools if you think you'll find lasting blessing in your wealth. Wealth will pass away. So trust in the author and creator of the universe instead. Okay, so now we're going on to the rest of the section. I think in this section he's going to answer kind of the theoretical critics. So if you look at your life and say, Oh, that's not my perspective on trials, he's going to give you two things that are maybe wrong with your understanding. So in verses 13 through 15, he's going to say, if that's not your perspective, you don't understand yourself properly. And in sixteen through eighteen, he's going to say, Or you may not understand God properly. So let's read that. Let's start with thirteen through fifteen. Let no one say when he is tempted, I'm 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. Then desire when it is conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown, brings forth death. So this word tempted in this section thirteen through fifteen is the from the same word group as trials in the rest of the chapter. He's still talking about this idea of being put to the test. And I think he's speaking to the objection of okay, James, if what you're saying is true, then it Isn't God out to get me? Isn't He like somehow standing in my way, putting these trials in my path in order to trap me and to get me to sin? And how could that ever be true? How could I ever succeed if God is standing there just like trying to throw these things in my path to trip me up? And James is answering that and saying, You don't understand. If that's your perspective on trials, you don't understand yourself properly. So yes, God tests his people, he puts them in situations where they have to choose to obey him or not, and their willingness to trust and follow him is displayed. So we see that, you know, God testing Abraham when he asked him to sacrifice Isaac, or God testing Israel by surrounding them with pagan nations and foreign gods. Or we saw in 1 Samuel or in 2 Samuel God testing David by giving him the opportunity to kill Saul. And those are external circumstances that God puts you in that stretches your faith and grows and tests you. But where does the desire for sin come from? It comes from me. And that's what James' point is. You are lured and enticed by your own desires. So that tug you feel of, oh, I I really want that temptation to sin, to choose the thing, that doesn't come from God, that comes from your heart. You're not an innocent being entrapped by a sin you would otherwise not commit. You are a sinful person, we all are, who left to ourselves would naturally sin, and when we flee or resist the temptation, that's a gift from God. So he's saying God may place you in situations that strengthen and test your faith, but he is not seeking to destroy you. He's not seeking to induce sin in your life or to break your faith. And that I think that's his point in 13 through 14. God is not the temptation. If we think that, then we have the wrong view of ourselves. It's fanity's fantasy to think that God is the problem and I'm not. I am the problem. I am sinful and broken, and when I am tempted, I am tempted because I am sinful and broken, not because of God. Now, we don't like to think that. You know, the first thing that happens, I don't know about you, but when I fail and fall into temptation, my first response is not my fault. No, no, no, it was I was tired, or I didn't get enough sleep last night, or well that thing you did, it really just I mean, how could I not? You know, you you always blame somebody else. You know, it's like Adam in the garden. That woman you gave me, gun, she made me sin, you know. We always want to blame someone else. But and James is saying, if that's your perspective, you know, oh, it wasn't my fault. I didn't have the right upbringing, or I don't have the right education, or you know, my it's my mother's fault. That's you know the favorite one. I just not you know, I'm not to blame. Uh I had perfect motives. James is saying, you've missed the point. In the final analysis, there's no one to blame for my sin but me. And if we understand the gospel, the gospel tells us we are sinful and blame lies squarely on us, and we are people who need a savior. And as long as we avoid the responsibility for our sinfulness, we will never ask for a savior or ask for help. So he says in 13, when you're tempted, no one should say God is tempting me. God is not tempted by evil, he does not tempt anyone. Moral failure is my fault. It comes from me because I am a sinful person. So the first act of fooliness is to blame God. The second one is to think I can manage this on my own. And I think that's what kind of comes out in 14 through 15. So look at this metaphor he uses. It's this downward spiral of my appetites or evil desires are too much for us. So he uses these two verbs about being dragged away, lured and enticed. So one is the first one is being like forcefully impelled or knocked off balance, and the second one is like enticed like a fish that takes the bait. So there's this, you know, bait on a hook, and you're enticed by it, and you grab it and take it. So the will is engaged, desire is conceived, and it gives birth to sin, which is kind of an ironic phrase because he's talking about giving birth to death. So the imagery I think he gives us is this of conception and birth, and suggests there's a time lag, you know, a gestation period. So we have these choices, we make these choices, and sometimes the consequences are delayed, or we don't see them for a while, and so we think we've gotten away with it, or there wasn't really a problem, but he says eventually it will come out. Sin will lead to death. And death in the Bible is more than just the absence of life. It's not just that my heart will stop beating and I'll stop breathing, but death means all the brokenness of this world. So the self-pity, the bitterness, the disappointment, the anger, uh, politics, wars, depression, divorce, the broken relationships, uh, the misunderstandings, the all those things that go wrong. That's all death, and it's the result of sin. So in 15, all my evil desires conceive and give birth to is sin, and that will lead to death. And the point is the source of death in my life does not come from God, it comes from me. Now notice we have these two contrasting sequences. Last week we saw testing produces endurance, which produces maturity, which gives you hope in the kingdom of God. This week we have desire produces sin, which produces death. Take your choice. You can be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing by trusting in the blood of Jesus, or you can have death and sin and this downward spiral in your life. And I think that's what he's presenting with us. So you have these two opposite patterns. Once they're in motion, there's no stopping them, which is good if you're in the trials producing endurance, producing hope and life. There is no stopping that. But the other, the bad side is don't be deceived to think you can just step away from your evil desire apart from the grace of God. Left to ourselves, we can no more stop that process than you can stop giving birth after going into labor. So he's saying, Don't claim that God is tempting you. He's the Father of lights. Um, I'm going ahead. So the first thing is if your attitude on trials is that God is somehow out to get you, you have misunderstood yourself, and then he's going to go on to say you may also have misunderstood God. Look at sixteen through eighteen. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. So he's saying, It's not just that God is not tempting you. Don't be deceived, don't fool yourself. If you have good gifts, they come from God. So, quite the contrary, it's not just that he is not out to get you. Every good thing you have comes from God. So, think about what he's saying here. He's not saying every gift that God gives is good, which is true, but what he's saying is beyond that, every good gift there is comes from God. So if you have a good gift, it comes from God. So it's not just that every gift God gives is good, but that every good gift comes from Him. There is no other source of blessings. There is no other source of life. There is nowhere else to turn. If you want blessings, life, peace, goodness, righteousness, hope, faith, there's only one place to find it. The Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. So another one of his metaphors. So let me see if I can unpack this. God is the one who puts lights in the sky, so the sun, the moon, and the stars, light being the kind of archetypal archetypal, is that how you say it? Metaphor, for good and evil. So God puts light in the darkness, God brings goodness to an evil world, he is not tempting good people. But notice the contrast. Lights in the world come and go, so the stars rotate, the moon waxes and wanes and phases in and out, and you get brighter and lesser light. The sun rises and sets and casts these various shadows. But with God, his light has no variation. There is no shadow at all. There is no waxing and waning. It's totally light with no darkness whatsoever. It is goodness all the time, unlike the lights of our world, which come and go. So he's saying it's not just that God is not tempting you, it's that every good thing you have, every source of light, every bit of goodness comes from his hand. Whether you trust him or not, or realize it or not, it's coming from him. And then verse 18, God doesn't entice us into evil, it's just the opposite. He saves us of his own will. He chooses to bring us out of our sinfulness by the word of truth that we should be the first fruits of his creatures. So he actually saves us from our evil selves. He chooses it, he plans it, he's not reluctant, he's not tricked into it, he's not talked into it. This is his own will. He does this out of his love and goodness. He uses again this um brought us forth. It's another word for birth. He gives birth to us by the word of truth. It's the same kind of birth language used in 15. So he's giving us this new life, this new birth, making us new creatures by the word of truth, that is the gospel, the word about Jesus Christ, the message that we can be saved by faith in the blood of Christ. I think he brings up the first fruits as kind of a metaphor for that we belong to him and are dedicated to him. So the first fruits was the idea that in your harvest, you would give the first of your harvest chronologically and the best of it to God. So as an act of trust and recognition that all good things come from God, you wouldn't wait to see if you had enough and then give to God. You would give to him first, trusting that he is the one who cares for you and will provide for you. So as an act of trust, you kind of uniquely dedicated the first fruits to God. And I think it's that uniquely dedicating that he's picking up on, saying, we are now uniquely dedicated to God. We are adopted into his family, we belong to him. So among all the creatures God has redeemed, the saved, the elect are uniquely dedicated to him and adopted into his family. So far from being out to get us, God is the only hope we have. He is the source of all good gifts and light, and he has demonstrated how much he loves us and willing to give it, is willing to give it to us. So that's I think kind of the main thrust of this passage. Let me spend a little bit of time then asking, so what? Okay, so what am I to learn from this? And what what would James hope to teach us in this? I think at least one conclusion is the real problem in my life is me. Now, that's probably not a new thought to you. But what James is adding to the discussion is that denying my guilt gets me nowhere. Uh so think about how many times, I don't know about you, but there are always times I wrestle with bitterness toward God where I say, I don't understand what you're doing or why you're doing it. You know, why is this happening in my life now? And how can you, God, let this happen to me? How can you withhold whatever this good thing is for me, or how can you put this this trial in my life? And I think James speaks directly to that kind of bitterness and confusion. So when I'm saying, God, I'm in the right here and you should not be doing this to me, that's the idea James would correct. Because in that bitterness and anger, we've lost sight of the fact that, you know what, I'm the problem. If it weren't for the grace of God, I would have totally destroyed myself by now. So when I start down the path of anger with God, at some level I'm saying, okay, God, let's forget about the state of my sinful heart. We'll just ignore that for now. Uh we'll ignore how much you've done for me. Um, we'll ignore what I truly need from you, and we'll ignore grace because I'm angry, I'm not getting what I want right now. And James is saying, let's think about that. All that stuff that you're you're refusing to acknowledge, that's the problem. Because you're ignoring what the Bible true says about you, the true state of your heart, and what grace is all about. So that's kind of a hard lesson to hear, but I think it's also helpful to when we're in those positions where we're angry with God over why are you doing this to me, think, what do I really deserve? Hmm. I don't deserve any of the good gifts. The fact that He's given me any of them is a cause to rejoice it. And that's kind of the flip side of the application is to realize God is the only source of good and perfect gifts. So it's not like we look at the things of the world on this hand and we look at the things God gives on this hand and we kind of weigh them, and we kind of, ooh, which way is the scale gonna tip? James would say it's not close. It's not even a close call. There is no other path, there is no other place to go. Um, all the good gifts that you long for, that you desire, that will make your life complete, the only source of those is God. Now, it's easy to believe that as theology, but it's harder to believe that day to day in your life because we're inclined to think that there are these other deals out there that look pretty good. You know, romance looks really attractive, wealth looks really attractive, um, prestige or fame or whatever it is, or the perfect size four body, or whatever it is. We're tempted to think if I had that, that would make me happy. You know, I don't know, but we we kind of spend our lives going, oh, when I finally get out of school, then then I'll be happy, or then you get into college and you think, oh, when I finally get out of college and get married, then I'll be happy. And then when you get married, you think, oh, when I finally have children, then I'll be happy. And then you have children, you go, Why did I think that? No, I'm kidding. You know, you're always looking ahead, you know, when the kids grow up, when I'm an empty nester, then it will be fun. And you know what? That one's true. Ellen's looking at me, I am kidding again. I'm kidding. Because then all of a sudden you have elderly parents, and you know, there's always something. The point is, we're always looking at our lives going, if I just had that one thing, then I'd be happy. If God would just grant this or release me from that, then it would all be right. And I think what James would say is, you know what? All the good things you have are from Him. And the perspective He's teaching us is this is a point. If you lack, if you're without, there's a point to it. There's something God wants to give you that is better than that thing you're you're enticed to want, whether it's wealth or romance or riches or whatever. And that is mature faith. And if you have that, then you will have the crown of life, you will have the inheritance in the kingdom of God, and that is worth everything. So every time we beseech God for the easy way out or the end of the trial, it's okay to ask, because we are sinful fallen creatures and we want those things, but there's also at some level we have to say, not my will, but your will. Um God, I trust you even though this is hard. I think my I like my idea better. My idea seems like a better answer to me, but I trust that you know better. All good gifts come from you, all blessings are from your hand. I won't find them any place else. And if I have to walk through this to get to what you have to offer, here I go. So there's nothing else. All right. And just I think those are again, those are kind of things you hear a lot in church, but they're really hard to live on a day-to-day basis. And one thing that helps me to try to make them real is to remember the cross. Because that's where it all starts. Um it's sometimes really, really hard to see that the path I'm path I'm on is the blessing I most need because it's so hard and the trials are difficult and they seem emotionally overwhelming, but it doesn't change the reality that I'm the problem or my sin is the problem. God and faith in Jesus is the answer, and that all good gifts come from him. And that's what the cross teaches us. If I want to know how much God loves me and how far he had to go to save me, then I look at the cross. I feel and when I slip into that anger and bitterness toward God, at some level I think I'm failing to grasp how deeply sinful I am and how great the cross is. I mean, it's hard to marvel at how amazing grace is in saving my soul if I don't really believe my soul needs saving. And James is saying, part of the evidence we have for how much God loves me is that he reached out and saved me from ourselves. And you should remember this from Galatians. Remember what Terry taught us last fall in Galatians 6 about my boat Paul saying, My boast is in the cross. That's where my hope is, that's where everything lies. And remember, as she taught us the cross was so offensive that you couldn't even mention the word in polite Roman society. But for the believer, it's the symbol of forgiveness and freedom. It reminds me who I am, I'm the problem, I'm the sinful one, and who God is, how much He was willing to go through to save us. And how um it teaches me I am unworthy, I deserve to die on the cross, but Jesus loved me enough to take my place. So it's that symbol of what is true about me and what is true about God and the hope we have before us. And that nothing else will satisfy the desires of our heart. There's nowhere else to go to get those blessings, but God has promised them abundantly um through faith in Jesus Christ. Let me stop there and pray for us and then I'll give you a chance to ask some questions.