02 Why does God Test our Faith? (James 1:1-8)

Speaker 1: Welcome to Wednesday in the Word with Krisan Marotta. This is the second lesson in a series on the book of James. James tells us to rejoice in trials in order to understand the value of the gospel in a real and practical way. Today, Krisan looks at James 1, verses 1 through 8. Krisan Marotta: Have you ever been cooking and discovered that you just put half a cup of salt in your recipe when you meant to put sugar? That's uh, you know, they're granny white powders, and you're rushing around and you grab one because it looks like the other, and it really changes the flavor of what you're making, right? So the passage we're gonna study today in James is, I think, one of the most important passages of the book, and it sets the flavor for what we're gonna study. So it sets the tone, the foundation for the rest of the letter. And if we get this passage wrong, I think it's like grabbing the salt instead of sugar. It changes the entire flavor and the understanding. So we're gonna look at James 1 through 8 today. I'm not gonna cover all the verses you studied, so I'm gonna be a little bit behind you, but I'm gonna catch up to you next week. Because I think this passage is so foundational. We have to get this one right before we move on. We and if we if we get it off on the wrong foot, it's like grabbing the salt instead of the sugar. It adds the wrong flavor to the recipe. All right, so let me just review a little bit where we were last week. We went through the story of James. So he's our author, he's the brother of Jesus. He was an unbeliever during the time of Jesus' earthly ministry, but became a believer after the resurrection when Jesus appeared to him, and he became the leader of the Jerusalem church and the author of our letter. He's writing to largely Jewish Christians early in the history of the church. This is one of the earliest epistles we have. And he's writing to Jewish believers who fled Jerusalem when the persecution started after the martyrdom of Stephen. So he's not writing to one particular church with one particular problem. This is a general letter that's meant to be meant to be circulated. And it's one of the earliest New Testament epistles we have, and one of the earliest applications of the gospel, and I mentioned last week that part of my goal is that we learn to apply the gospel well, so we learn how to apply well. Alright, so if you're not there already, turn to James 1. And we're going to just kind of go through in chunks. So the first section I want to look at is 1 through 4, and I'll just read it again for us. James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes of the dispersions, greetings. Count it, I'll join my brothers when you meet trials of various kinds. For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness, and let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. Okay, so the first thing we want to know is what does he mean by trials and what does he mean by testing? And as you know from your study, he uses two different phrases in these verses, in two and three. And I just to review, you probably covered this in your small group, but just to make sure we we're all there. Trials is the word in verse 2 is kind of, I like to think of it as a stress test. So it has the idea of putting pressure on something to see what it's made of. So you you put pressure on it or you stress it to test the quality of it. And a trial is any circumstances that test something to reveal what it's truly made of, or what it whether it's genuine or not. And verse three tells us that what's being tested is our faith. So a trial puts our faith under pressure to reveal the quality of it, or the nature of it, or the real whether it's the real deal or not. So that second phrase in verse 4, the testing of your faith, or I guess it's three, it points to the result, that proving or the result of the trial. So James is talking about any circumstances that we re meet in life that test us and prove the quality of our faith. Now notice what's not being tested here. This trial is not testing my worthiness for salvation. So this is not a test of my character. This is not a test to determine how nice I am or how patient I am or how well I'm, you know, what kind of person I am. The results of that test are in. We all failed. Just if you had any doubt. We are all sinners, our characters are flawed, we're selfish, every corner of our being is marred by sin. We all fall short of the glory of God. So that's not what being what is being tested. That test is the results are in, and we failed. We are broken sinners, trapped by our sins, unable to change ourselves, and apart from the blood of Christ and the grace of God, we have no hope of escaping sin. So the test is not, am I worthy for salvation? As I said, that test is over. No one is worthy of salvation. The question being tested is, do I have real, genuine saving faith or not? And as we go through the letter, we're going to see with an ever-increasing clarity what real faith looks like and how a person who has real faith will begin to live and act and respond to what happens in his life. So what's being tested is, do I have saving faith? Is it the real deal? Is it genuine? Is it in fact, I guess, the real deal? Now, that raises the question, why would God test that? I mean, here I am counting on him to save me. I'm convinced that salvation lies through the blood of Christ and by his grace, faith itself is a gift. So why would God give me this gift and then test it to say, is it real? How can that be true? How can the person that I'm counting on to give me faith and to rescue me from my sin put me in a position where my faith is under pressure? Why would he do it? That's the question we're gonna try to answer. And James furthermore says, rejoice when this happens. Well, great. That doesn't sound like much fun. How can I rejoice in that? So we're gonna talk, the other question we're gonna answer is, is he serious about joy? Does he really mean that? So we have to look at why he says we should consider it joy and what the result of this test is. He's saying, rejoice in the trials because we know that this process brings about steadfastness or perseverance, and that is so valuable, it's worth it. That is so valuable, it's worth putting pressure on our faith to gain that. So God uses these trials to confront me with a question: what does the gospel mean to me? Is the gospel worth it? If God, if following God means I have to walk through that, or I have to do without this, or I have to, whatever he's asking me to do, do I want to do it? Do I value God enough? Do I value this faith and what he promises enough so that I want to continue? And he's gonna uh spell out what perseverance looks like as we go through the letter, but right here he gives us two things. He says, well, perseverance or steadfastness, I think your translation has. Perseverance gives us proof that in fact I actually have saving faith and the promises of the gospel are mine. And this is a common theme that comes up in Scripture. Uh Peter echoes it in chapter one of his first letter. Paul says the same thing in Romans 5. Trials lead to perseverance, and perseverance leads to hope. I know that the hope of the gospel is mine because I went through that trial and I'm still here. So I have tangible physical evidence that I'm not just fooling myself. I'm not just giving lip service to the gospel. Because I went through that hard thing, I can look back and say, my faith survived that. I am a believer. And I think that's immensely encouraging. Because all of us, maybe it's just me, but all of us, I think, have those times where we go, am I fooling myself? I mean, what if all what if I fall away next week? How do I know that I really believe this stuff and that I'm not just giving lip service? And I think James and Paul and Peter would all say, you know, because your faith has endured a trial. So when it goes through a trial, pseudo-faith will fall away and give up. So you've probably met people who've said, Oh, I tried that Christian stuff, it didn't work for me. They hit those trials and fell away. And I think that's the kind of thing that he's contrasting. You go through a trial, you persevere, you remain steadfast, you cling to your faith, and when you're out the other side, you have real tangible evidence that you are in fact a believer. And then the second thing it gives you is wisdom. So you gain the skills to live life well. I become wiser, more mature, stronger, and trials show us that I belong to God and make me wiser in how we're gonna apply that. And I'm gonna talk more about wisdom in a minute. But let's go back to the other question. Is he serious about joy? Can I really be joyful in the midst of these hardships? The promise of the gospel is not that life is gonna get easier. You know, and as you walk with the Lord and follow him and you become older as a believer, it's not a given that life is gonna get easier. Life often gets harder, and trials often grow more difficult, and it's really hard to get excited about that. The good news is there's only one course in this life. The bad news, you're not gonna like it because it involves suffering. But James is saying, I think, uh, what that the value of the gospel is so ought to be obvious to us so that we are willing to face whatever God asks us to go through. So I look at what I stand to inherit and I say, it's worth it to go through this now. Because of the blood of Jesus and his death and resurrection, I can say it's well with my soul. In the end, I know where I'm going, I know what my destiny is, I know who my father is, who I belong to, and if I have to go through that now, then it's worth it to get to that. So that's the basis for the rejoicing. So to be able to rejoice is to be in a place where I understand the value of the gospel in a real and practical way. Now, he's not saying that you have to feel happy when life knocks you down. And I don't think he's saying that you're not allowed to suffer in your suffering. You are allowed to suffer. The trials are extremely difficult. And it's it's perfectly okay to say this is hard, this is painful, I don't feel happy about it, I don't know how I'm gonna get through tomorrow, but I trust in God to get me there. I can't see the light at the end of the tunnel yet, but I trust God to get me through it. This may feel like more than I can take, but it is not more than God can handle. So we rejoice in our salvation even if we have to suffer along the way because salvation is worth it. I can remember in my suffering that something bigger is going on. There's something more important than the immediate hardship. So it may seem like the hardship will never end, but in light of eternity, it's really not very long. So let's happiness, I think, is the feeling of euphoria that results when good things happen, but joy is more that sense of satisfaction of knowing good things will result. They may not have happened yet, but they're coming. So it's that feeling of well-being. Um, not so much well-being, but the confident response that this is going to be worth it. In that sense, I think joy is more closely tied to our hope. So it's more tied to hope than it is to happiness. So joy comes not from the circumstances, but from my hope and the promises of God. And you don't have to be happy in the midst of your sufferings, but you can be hopeful. So, faced with trials, most of us begin to wish that God would change our circumstances, that He would intervene with more money, more health, new boss, a different lifestyle, better car, different friends, different circumstances, whatever it is. And we think our problems are all about getting rid of the obstacles that stand in our path between us and happiness. But I think what James would say to us is the most important thing when we hit those circumstances is not when will it end. It feels like that's the most important thing, but really the most important thing is figuring out how am I going to respond to God in the midst of this. So removing the immediate obstacle to happiness is to miss the bigger picture. Because the bigger picture is the Christian life is comprised of these character-building hardships that we go through, and we ought to be more concerned with how we're being built. That's the big picture, that's what we want to focus on. Because God loves us too much to change our circumstances without changing our hearts. And it's vitally important that our hearts get changed. It's vitally important that we learn to love and trust God in a way that we in a mature and fruitful way. So the gospel tells us we have a bigger problem than the obstacle standing between us and happiness. It tells us we're sinful, we're under the wrath of God, and one day we will face judgment and left to ourselves. We have already failed that judgment. We are sinners worthy of condemnation, but our loving, merciful Father has provided a way of redemption through faith in the blood of Jesus. So it's important that I have faith. It's crucially important that I have faith. And trials are part of the maturing process that strengthen and grow our faith. So we rejoice because we know where we're headed, we know what's coming. And that's really what this letter is all about. James is going to go through a whole lot of situations and say, this is what real life, real faith looks like in the midst of these kinds of trials. So I if we start thinking that he's giving us a standard by which we can measure ourselves and find ourselves wanting, that's not what he's trying to do. I think he's trying to give us a picture of what wisdom and maturity look like and what real strong faith in God looks like and how you will change. Okay? So let's go and look at four and five. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. And if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him. So this is one of those verses, verse five, that is often pulled out of context and taken to mean something that I don't think James means here at all. So I'm just gonna warn you up front. I'm gonna give you, I hope, persuade you that the context suggests something different for this verse than the way you may have heard it. Uh you're free to disagree with me, but I'm gonna try to persuade you. So there are three words we're gonna have to understand to keep to crack four and five. Full effect, which is the word for work in verse four, perfect, and then wisdom. So as you learn in your study, we're gonna start with perfect. Most often in biblical usage, something is perfect when it has arrived at its intended goal. So we think of perfect in English as being without flaw, without blemish, but in this word I in biblical usage is you've arrived at what you were intended to be. So an acorn has the potential to be an oak tree, but it is not yet arrived at that goal. Once it grows into a mature oak tree, it is now perfect. It has become that which it was meant to be. It has it is now perfect and complete because it has grown up into what it was intended to be. So it's not that it had never had a flaw, never had a blemish. It's that it's now mature in the sense of it's now arrived. It's met its goal. So some in fact you often see this word translated mature. It has become that which it's supposed to be. And then the word full effect is just the word for work. Some translations have perfect result. Most likely, most of them don't have the word work, but it's just the word ergon, the Greek word ergon, where we get ergonomic from. And the basic idea is it's something that you do. And it's it's an action. It's something, uh, it's work in that sense. So James' primary concern in this letter is do my actions reflect what I say I believe? Are my actions in keeping with my faith? And I'm gonna argue as we go through, especially farther into chapter two, that he means something different by work than Paul does, and say in Galatians. So in Galatians, Paul's dealing with the question, in order to be saved, must my actions, my works, be in keeping with the entire Jewish law? And he answers, no, law keeping is not required to be saved. Nobody can be saved by keeping the law. My acceptance before God is on faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus, not on my works being without sin or in keeping with the law. James is answering a different question, as we're going to see as we go through, he's saying, must my actions demonstrate the reality of my faith? So as I go through these trials, must my actions in response to those trials prove that I have faith? And he says, yes. That's a very different question. If I say I have faith and my faith is tested, and if I have real faith, it's going to be reflected in my actions. So the question is, am I acting in such a way that my claim to be a believer is verified or proven true or shown to be what it ought to be? Does my life actually reflect what I claim to believe? So the picture he's painting of us is we all start with faith that's like this small acorn. It's an inner conviction, it's real, but it's not yet mature. And under trial, it's forced out into the open and in the process becomes everything it was meant to be. And we're going to talk a lot more about that as we go through chapter one. But let's come back to wisdom in verse five. I like to define biblical wisdom as having a godly perspective on life. So it's the skill you need to live life well, being well being the way God would define well. So it's seeing life the way God sees it, such that it becomes reflected in the way I live and the choices I make. So to lack wisdom, I'm going to argue, is not to be unsure which job should I take or which person should I marry. To lack wisdom is to be a fool. If I lack wisdom, I am immature and I am foolish. I do not yet understand life the way God sees it. So there's a very popular way of taking James 5 as a prescription for how you find God's will for your life. And that he's talking about, say, I have a choice to make. I have two different jobs, and they're both good jobs, and maybe one's in New York and one's in San Francisco, and they're going to take me down different paths, and God knows which job I should take. So James says, ask him, and God will tell me if I really, really, really believe him without any doubt. I don't think that's what he's talking about at all. I think the context suggests something different. So remember the immediate context. He's just said trials test your faith such that your faith will grow into maturity and become what it is meant to be, lacking in nothing. But if you lack, what should you do? And he says, if you lack wisdom, well, what's the connection between four and five? I think it's the content of what we gain through our faith being tested is wisdom. So perseverance is meant to perfect our faith, it makes it so it lacks nothing. And what would it lack? It would lack wisdom. That's the content of what we gain. So if I look at my life and I say, you know, I'm still an acorn, I'm not really there yet. My faith has not yet grown to that robust, mature spot. And it's evidenced by the fact that I lack wisdom. I'm not responding to trials well, I'm not responding to hardships well, I don't see the world as God sees it. What should I do? I should ask God and He will give generously. So if we lack wisdom, we should ask God who gives generously to all without reproach. And that's the kicker to me. Why add without reproach? If the issue is which job should I take, or which college should I go to, or should I retire now, or how many children should I have, why would God reproach me for not knowing the best answer? How could I possibly know the best answer? I can't see the future. Why would he reproach me? If I have several good possibilities, how could I possibly know which one is best? But if we're talking about me being a fool because I lack God's perspective on life, then he could reproach me for that. He could say, why is a fool like you coming to me for advice? And we could reasonably fear that God would condemn us or reproach us for our foolishness, our lack of wisdom. And James is saying, you have nothing to fear. He is your loving father. You have nothing to fear. He will give wisdom generously without reproach to fools like us. Isn't that wonderful? So I can go to him in my immaturity, in my childishness, and I can expect him to answer generously. So I would argue that James is not talking about finding God's will for my life, but do I have God's perspective on life? Do I have a wise perspective? Do I have a strong, mature faith? Do I see life the way God sees it? Am I pursuing foolish things or valuable things? Am I Pursuing the temporal or the eternal? Am I seeking to live life the way God says I ought to live it, or am I seeking to live the way I want to live it? Am I pursuing the things of God or not? And that's the kind of wisdom he's talking about. Let me give you an analogy. Because this is what I think the situation is, James is describing. So let's say you have a good job and it pays you very well, and you like this job a lot, and you're really good at it, you need it, and you want to keep it. And one day one of your coworkers comes to you and says, you know what? Our boss is a crook. And he lays out all the evidence and the facts and the figures, and he says, Look, the boss is cooking the books, he's doing something completely illegal and immoral, and he has all the figures to back it up, and he can point to specific discrepancies and a paper trail, and he convinces you the boss is not up and up, and you you say, I believe you, I believe it's true. But you don't do anything about it because you like your job and you want to keep your job. So you kind of hope that, you know, maybe what could you do? You're just one person, maybe it'll all work out. And then one day your boss crosses a line, and it gets so bad that your coworker stands up in the middle of staff meeting, he confronts the boss with his actions, and he says, You're a liar and you're a thief, and everybody needs to know and you need to resign. And in response, the boss says, Well, that's just ridiculous. Who else believes what this guy is saying? You're either with me or you're with him. So you're either for me or against me. And he looks around the room and he says, Who else believes this idiot's claim? Well, now you're in trouble. Because you said you believed it. You said you believed the boss as a crook, but until now it never made a difference. You could kind of go your way and act as if, you know, it didn't really matter and it didn't it didn't make any difference. But now you have to choose. Now you have to either say, I believe them, or I don't. So you have to act in a way that confirms what you've said you believe is true, or you have to act in a way that denies it. So up to this point, your belief was real, but it was untested and invisible. But now the test has come and your belief is forced out to the open and it's put to the test. And that's, I think, what James is saying. So, like my employee here, you're living in these two incompatible words, worlds. You believed the boss was bad, but you were trying to live as if it wasn't true, and now you have to act on it. So you stand up and you say, I'm with him, you're a crook, and you get fired. There you go. But your beliefs were proven to be true. And you gain wisdom. Because on your next job, you're going to be a different kind of employee. For one thing, you've learned that you can get fired and life goes on, and that there's some things more important than keeping your job, and you may even have a new level of respect among your co-workers, your new co-workers, because your judgment has been shown trustworthy. Your integrity has been proven true. You have been shown to be a person who's consistent with their word. So you've gained wisdom. You've gained a new level of maturity and wisdom. And I think that's what James is talking about. Trials put us in those situations where we have to say, I'm with God. I'm going to choose what He says is true. And when you do that, there may be bad, hard consequences, but what we gain is wisdom and maturity, and we gain proof that we are in fact believers. So I set up a work situation, but the test could be anything. Maybe I've always loved money and God now puts me in a situation where I have to choose between loving money and loving God. Or maybe I always value the opinion of others, and now I have to act in such a way that they're going to think I'm foolish. Or maybe God withheld something that I think I absolutely must have, and I have to decide if I'm going to trust him if he never gives it to me. I mean, you can just go on and on with that list. Trials take a lot of shapes and forms, but the results are the same. The trial forces me to ask the question: do I really believe the promises of God? Do I really stand on them? Is that what I'm counting on, or am I counting on myself? Now notice maturity is not perfect obedience. Having wisdom doesn't mean that you're going to be without sin and you will live without making any mistakes, and every chance you have to prove your faith, you're going to act perfectly without any mistakes or flaws or thoughtless words or selfishness or whatever. Doesn't mean we're going to be perfect, it means we're going to grow in wisdom. And I think part of wisdom is being able to clearly see that sin is sin. So as we grow in wisdom, I may still have the same struggles with myself, but my perspective begins to change. I begin to see sin more clearly as sin. Repentance maybe comes a bit quicker. Humility comes where there was no humility before. And my excuses and justifications, which seemed so great, now just they're like weak and flimsy and they just don't hold up the way they used to. And that's all evidence that my perspective is changing as I'm growing in wisdom. And the other thing is so maturity is not perfect obedience. It is also not the same thing as being tough. God is not testing our courage, He is testing our faith. So wisdom doesn't mean I can just brush off the tragedies of life with a stiff upper lip and never break a sweat. That's not the promise. I mean, we just look at Jesus agonizing in the garden. So mature faith is not, you know, oh, I got this, I can handle it. You may be agonizing. Rather, wisdom, I think, gives you that anchor that gets us through. So it means we start to hold more loosely to the things of this world and more tightly to the things of God, and that we have this increasing measure of hope that God's going to get me through this no matter what. So my faith is tested when I'm put in a situation where I wonder if God is truly God, and where I must act as if He's in control and not me, and I must choose what He says is valuable and not what I think is valuable, and not take matters into my own hands. So it's not being tough. It's am I living my life in light of the gospel or not? And I think a key part of God's agenda for this life is that we grow in faith, meaning the wisdom and maturity we were just talking about. Because with God's working on our faith because eternity is at stake. The most important thing is not that the trial ends, but that I learn to respond wisely. Because when I learn to respond wisely, it means my faith is growing into that which God intends it to be. So he's growing us into mature believers, but not necessarily giving us an easy, healthy life. So, and that's helpful, I think, in the midst of it, to remember what he has and has not promised. So he has not promised easy, healthy, smooth prosperity kind of life. Instead, he's promised to make us mature, perfect believers, perfect in the sense that we become that which we were intended to be. So he's promised to answer my prayer for wisdom, as I've defined it, the skill of living life well, knowing what God values and claims, and I can have confidence and call out to him, even though I am foolish and immature, that he will give it. And that's exciting. Okay, so having given us this encouragement, he now gives a warning. Let's go on with six through eight. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him. That's five. And then six, but let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double-minded man and stable in all his ways. I mentioned last week that I thought James, as Jesus' earthly brother, was very steeped in his teachings, and I think he's reflecting one of Jesus' teachings here. So I'd like you to turn to Mark 11. We're going to look at that passage to try to unravel it. When you first get there, you're going to go, why did she bring this up? This is even harder. But I love hard passages, so it's kind of fun. So this is Mark 11, and this is where Jesus curses the fig tree and it withers. So he and the disciples walk by, he curses the fig tree, it withers, and then they come back to it again. And at first reading, it sounds like both James and Jesus in this passage are saying the same thing. And I think they are saying the same thing, but not what we think at first reading. Alright, so Mark 11, we're going to look at verses 20 through 24. Mark 11, 20. As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. And Peter remembered and said to him, Rabbi, look, the fig tree that you cursed has withered. And Jesus answered him, Have faith in God. Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, be taken up and thrown into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Now that sounds very similar to what we're seeing in James, and it sounds like both of them are saying, if you just believe hard enough, you're going to get what you ask for. So he's given that maybe they're giving us this picture of what it means to pray in faith, and the picture is if I empty myself of any last possibility and shred of doubt, then I will get what I asked for. Well, you can tell by the way I'm setting that argument. I don't think that's what they're saying. First, nobody's ever lived life this way. I don't know anyone who's gotten everything they asked for, if they just believed enough. I mean, nowhere is does that happen. We can look at many biblical examples of people who asked for things and didn't get it. We know from recorded history on our own lives that God says yes sometimes and God says no sometimes. Okay, so what's Jesus promising here? Is this just hypothetical? Is he saying, well, it would be true that if someone could have faith without any doubting, but in fact no one's done it? I don't think that's what's going on either. Elsewhere, it's actually in Luke 17 and Matthew 17, Jesus says, all we need is faith the size of a mustard seed. So, I mean, have you ever seen a mustard seed? They're like the head of a pin. They're incredibly tiny. And he says in that passage, just the tiniest bit of faith, just mustard seed size faith, is enough. So the picture he paints is that you just need ordinary, average, everyday faith to make this happen. And the implication that if I totally believe something, God will give it to me. That's just that's the equivalent of teaching God will never tell you no, and we just, we don't see that. Jesus, of course, prayed that he wouldn't have to go to the cross. God said no. Paul said, Remove the slorn of flesh. God said no. Moses said, Here I am, send Aaron. And God said, No, it's you. So the Bible just doesn't paint this picture of God as a vending machine who gives you what you want if you just pray with the proper amount of faith. Rather, the biblical picture is God is a loving father, and like any loving father, sometimes he says yes, and sometimes he says no. So, so what's going on with this fig tree? The disciples have just seen a miracle. And Jesus called on God to wither the fig tree, and it happened, and they're shocked. And Jesus is speaking to that reaction. He's saying, Look, I'm the Messiah, praying to the Father to do the very thing the Father likes to do, give a miracle that attests to my identity, attests to my authority, and teaches a lesson through a parable. So we know that God's in that kind of business. I've asked him to do it, and why are you shocked that he did? Why would that surprise you? If I'm praying to God to do something that God delights in doing, and I have very good reason to believe he does, why are you shocked when he answers? See, that's what's going on. So in the fig tree, it was an attesting miracle that sent a message about who Jesus was and and what he came to do on earth, and God delights in that. So the question is, do you believe it or not? Do I believe? That's the only thing. So when we know that God is willing and the thing we ask is in accord with his will, we ought to believe he's able to answer, and that anything he sets his hand to do, he can do. So I think Jesus is turning to the disciples and saying, Why are you surprised? You shouldn't be surprised. We're dealing with the author and the creator of the universe here, and he is capable of doing what he promised. So he is capable of casting a mountain into the sea, assuming we have very good reason to believe that's something he wants to do. We ought not to think he can't do it. Let's make that positive. We ought to think he can do it. We ought to believe he can. So if I'm asking God to do something and I don't know whether he's promised or not, I think it's appropriate to believe that he can do it, but not appropriate to think that he must do it. So, like Jesus in the garden, we have to say, not my will, but your will. But if I know I'm asking for something God has promised, like salvation, wisdom, faith, maturity, getting me through a trial, then I ought to have utter confidence that God will do it. And when you think about it, giving a fool like me wisdom is a much bigger miracle than casting a mountain into the sea. So the issue is doubt, but the issue is not can I make something happen if I if I remove any vestiges of doubt. Rather, he's saying God is capable of doing incredibly big things for small people. All it takes is someone who trusts him, someone with ordinary, average, everyday faith. So, and he is also not saying that faith is believing without reason. So the Bible does not teach that belief is believ that faith is or there's virtue in believing things that are unreasonable, which drives me crazy because you see that all over the news and the media. They always want to portray the faithful person as the one who has absolutely no reason to believe it, and they believe it anyway. That is not faith. And that is not, it's a popular idea in our culture, but it's not the biblical picture. The Bible teaches that it is unbelief that is irrational. It is the fool who ignores the evidence of God. It is the fool who looks at the world around us and says, nope, no, God. That faith is not the absence of reason and evidence. Faith is submitting to where reason and evidence ought to take you. So it's the fool who ignores the evidence. So James and I think Jesus in our fig free passage is not saying you'll get whatever you want if only you believe enough, or and he's not talking about believing for no reason at all. He's talking about doubt, and let me explain what I think he means by doubt. In this context, I think doubt is wavering between two options and not committing to one. The word is sometimes used to judge or to discern or to pick between two sides. So in the process of judging, I'm impartially considering all sides. And that's become a real virtue in our culture today. We're supposed to tolerate everything and think all ideas are equal. And I can't say this one's right and that one's wrong. I just have to, I am virtuous if I say there, I'm still thinking that one out. I'm sitting on the fence. So to doubt is to consider both the options when you already have reason to pick. You already know the answer. So it's sitting on the fence. And when it comes to faith, that's what he's saying. You either believe God or you don't. There's no virtue in trying to believe God and trying to believe all this other stuff too. So he gives this vivid analogy of the one who doubts is like a wave driven and tossed by the wind, that it just goes every which way, wherever the wind blows. Contrast that, say, with the tree in Psalm 1 that has deep roots in the ground and stands firm. And he's saying, we can be like that. I can live my life, and as long as I'm happy and God is giving me what I want, then I believe him, but then when I'm tempted or tried or I have a choice to make, like my employee, I have to land somewhere. Now's the time to choose. To attempt to straddle both choices is doubting. So it's like being hypocritical. I say I believe one thing and I don't really believe it. I give lip service to it, but when I have to act on it, I act the other way and hedge my bets. So James is saying the person who's playing both sides of the table, the person who asks of God and then has plan B in his back pocket in case God doesn't come through the way he likes, that person's not going to receive anything because that person has no faith. So the person who trusts God and himself for astrology or Buddhism or whatever, that person's not going to receive anything. If you trust God, you're all in. You submit your life to him. And if you have real saving faith, then God will give generously without reproach. But if you're trying to have your cake and eat it too, say to trust God in the world and say, well, okay, God, if you're there, uh I might as well throw up a prayer, and if you're there, maybe you could do this thing, you know, you do this for me, and then I'll do something for you. That's not faith. So he the encouragement is anyone who recognizes that I have that she has an immature or weak faith can call out to God for strong faith and wisdom and maturity and have absolute confidence that you're going to receive it. He delights in giving faith. He delights in giving wisdom and maturity. And I can go to him with my weak, foolish heart and say, I believe, help me in my unbelief, and he will do it. But if I go to him and I say, Well, you know, let's prove it. Let me see if you're really there. Prove it. If you're really there, then do this thing for me. And then maybe I'll do something for you. That's not faith at all. And I think the encouragement is you don't need faith the size of a mountain, you only need faith the size of a mustard seed. Just average, everyday, ordinary faith. You can be that foolish and your prayer will be answered. So honest doubt, which is confusion or fear, I think is okay. Doubt that is hostility to God is a problem. So most Christians go through a period of confusion where God doesn't seem to make sense, we don't know what he's doing, you can't figure out why this is happening. I don't think that's the kind of doubting he's talking about. Those, I think, are the struggles of a faith that is working itself out. So that's the struggle of a weak faith trying to become stronger, where you say, I don't know what's going on, I don't know how to face tomorrow, I don't understand this God, but here I am at your feet. Get me there. Rather, the doubter's the fool. The double-minded man is the one who acts like a Christian on Sunday and then forgets it the rest of the week. Or wants to keep all his options open so he looks like a believer when it suits, and then looks like the world when it suits that. So James's encouragement is when my faith is weak and immature, I ought to call out to God. That's the place to go, because he delights in answers that. So he hasn't promised to tell you which job to take. I think that's confusing the salt and sugar. I don't think he's saying this is how you learn which of the many circumstances of life is the right choice for you. I don't think he's, I also don't think he's teaching that the reason the hardship continues is because you haven't asked the right way yet. You know, you don't have a hundred percent doubt free faith. Instead, he's saying, God puts trials and hardships in your life to take your weak, immature faith and make it what it was meant to be. So to take you from the foolish person to a wise person and everything God intends for you. So if you look at your life now and you say, I'm not there yet, I'm still weak. My faith is still immature. I lack that kind of wisdom that James is talking about. What should you do? James says, call out to God. He is generous and capable and he will do what he promises. But you have to decide if you're gonna believe him or not. You have to decide if you're gonna trust him or not. God will accept the most immature, foolish, humble heart there is if you ask for mercy, but he and he will accept the foolish person with even the tiniest immature faith. So you don't have to muster it up on your own. Faith is a gift of God, you and he gives to those generously. But you do need faith. So the foolish person must bow before him and trust that he is God. You have to turn over your whole heart to him, not your Sunday heart. And then that mustard seed faith, mustard seed-sized faith you have, God will take and grow into everything it was meant to be, so that you become mature and wise in the faith. Let me stop there. Let me pray for us to close us. Father, thank you that you are a God who gives generously without reproach. And we come to you in our weakness and our foolish hearts and our confusion and our uh lack of understanding. And we do ask that you give us your wisdom, that you give us your hope and your confidence, and that you give us the uh steadfastness to go through each day with whatever it brings, knowing that you are God and that you are with us. In Jesus' name. Amen. Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us at Wednesday in the Word with Krisan Marotta. We hope you have enjoyed our study together and grown closer to the Lord. Please let us know if you have any questions about this study. We are on the internet at wednesdayintheword.com, where you will find this and other Bible studies. We hope you'll join us again soon.