Myrtle Grove Baptist Church Wilmington, NC January 29, 2017 James Series Hangin' Tough! One of the hardest, yet most profitable lessons learned by humans is to "hang on", to "not quit", and to "keep trying" when their ideal world ceases to be perfect and their hopes and dreams take a punch in the gut. We're studying lessons from the book of James as we start our new year and our new theme of "Connected 2017". Last week we talked about trials that cause suffering. This week we continue with trials and we move into temptations. If you use an older translation of the scriptures, the use of the words "trials and temptations" might confuse you. So let me begin today by reminding you of a truth. God "proves" us, or "tests" our confidence in Him, to make us strong and successful. Verses 1-12 are all about that. God's desire is for us to succeed. Like a father teaching his child to walk, He's cheering us on as we learn to take our steps of faith beside Him. In verse 13, a verse we will talk about in a few minutes, the word temptation is used. We all know that when a temptation to do wrong is set in front of us, it is Satan's way of creating losers and it is our old nature's way of destroying us or making us ineffective and dysfunctional.
Satan's desire is to see us fall. He is our grim reaper, not our cheer leader. Your old nature and Satan will not be happy until you are DONE with faithfulness. Today our focus from James will be on "endurance" through both the trial of our faith and on "enduring" when we are tempted to do wrong, tempted to sin. Let me start with this moving story. Some of us have followed the 2015, heart-wrenching story of 28 year olds, Hadley and Gentry Eddings, servants of the Lord in a Charlotte church, who lost their two year old son, Dobbs, and newborn son, Reed when a distracted 28 year old truck driver rearended them as they headed home to Charlotte after vacationing near here. On last Monday, TV news anchor, Frances Weller, reported another chapter of the Eddings story. WECT news disclosed that Hadley and Gentry were now pregnant -- with TWINS! I applaud the Lord this morning! The Eddings have consistently relied on their faith and trust in God to get them through the deaths of their sons and to help them forgive the man who hit their car that day. But they did not just "get through" this bad time. They ENDURED with God's help! By the way, many people raised money for them and the Eddings took that money and built a Christian grade school in impoverished Haiti in memory of their sons. It has been named "The Dobbs and Reed Eddings Primary School." Five hundred kids started school there in the fall, and thousands more in years to come will receive a Christ-centered education. If you're like me, you have to ask yourself, "How did they make it?"
"How could they do something positive when the negative was so large and the pain so tough?" "How could they hang tough when their hopes and dreams were snatched from them in one fell swoop?" I do not know them personally but I know others who do and I will tell you that this young couple persevered with their trust and help in the Lord and that's what got them through. Your Bibles this morning are open to James 1 as we continue our "CONNECTED" series. James spoke to us last week about suffering and this week, James is going to give us some lessons about enduring, about "hangin' tough" through life's struggles. When we persevere, when we refuse to quit on our faith and our calling, our testimony of stick-to-itiveness connects us to others. An enduring faith is a connector in the church! Here's how it works. When you and I hang tough when something bad happens to us, our testimony draws others into greater faith. Others see our endurance and say, "If they can make it through the death of a child, if they can make it through cancer, if they can make it through financial loss, if they can hang tough through some family crisis, if they can be restored after some sin, I can make it as well!" Many of you today are "faith connectors" because you have persevered. You stayed strong in faith. James says in verse 12 "Endure"! Hang TOUGH! When we see that English word "endure that is often found in our Scriptures we know a "hangin' tough" lesson is coming.
"Endure" comes from a Greek word that simply means "to remain". James 1:12 (NKJV) 12 Blessed is the man who endures--[remains faithful during]-- temptation; for when he has been approved [that is, gets a commendation from the Lord], he will receive the crown of life - [that's not referring to salvation's eternal life--that's already been obtained]--which the Lord has promised to those who love Him [or, who demonstrate that love in real ways]. Pretty tough verse when you think about it. Why? Because we have to take a very narrow viewpoint to practice its truth. So here we go... As in any Biblical truth we attempt to apply to our lives, we MUST always begin with a foundational or underpinning truth. So how do we remain faithful? How do we endure? How do we "hang tough" during temptation? Hangin' tough truth # 1: I can hang tough when I remember... The Jesus road I walk is very NARROW! For James to have written that verse, he had to have embraced a VERY NARROW, dogmatic, and non-negotiable directive from God! Everywhere I go in Wilmington, the DOT is widening the road. After the construction pain is over, I love the wider roads. I love the greater flexibility those widened roads give me. As a human in this culture, it's easy to get into the "wider road" viewpoint when it comes to belief systems.
It's easier because our old natures love the flexibility more lanes of thought and logic give us. In fact, the new reasoning roads in this culture are so wide and diverse that you can ride in multiple lanes all at the same time! It wasn't so much different in James' day or Jesus' day. The culture then was trying to embrace the immoral life style of the Romans while also cozying up to a variety of religious choices. But, Jesus came along and made His view abundantly clear. Jesus said to His disciples in Matthew 7:14, But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Some of you have been on the roads in Israel. In the old cities, the roads are so narrow that you can walk or ride a donkey on them but no cars can fit. When Jesus talked about narrow roads, EVERYONE knew and could visualize that of which He spoke. Jesus was talking about the fact that everyone has to make a choice about which "way", which "road", which belief system you will travel within life. The road to Heaven is the Jesus Road and it is very narrow. His belief system does not widen to give your old nature flexibility and choices or alternative lifestyles. The road to Hell, on the other hand, is the other way to live life and that road is a hundred miles wide. It offers plenty of different ways to look at how life began, how to see history, how to practice spirituality... you get the point don't you? Let me show you how "the narrow Jesus road" relates to "hangin' tough" through tough times. The Jesus way means there's only ONE WAY to think about anything we go through or experience in life.
You can bet that the Eddings faced the temptation to BLAME God for their loss during their trial, or BLAME the driver who hit them. Instead, they stayed faithful to the NARROW road thinking! They saw God faithful and they TRUSTED His Sovereignty! The world's way, which is a direct road to eternal hell, is very broad. Meaning, it accepts all sorts of logic, reasons and philosophies and lifestyle choices. We are like the first church, we are people of the WAY and it is the very, very opposite way our culture is on! James was ON THE WAY, ON THE NARROW ROAD with Jesus. And he wasn't looking for an exit on the road to help him avoid some conflict or some pain! All of James' discussions in this letter hinge on his introduction which says, "James, a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ!" A servant stays on the prescribed road given him by his master! And what did Jesus say would happen to all those on the narrow road? They would suffer persecution and trouble! John 15:18-20 Some of you in this room today have been beaten back by the celebrity and media and political pressure to accept the new norm in the world. The new norm is "gay and lesbians" are not sinning, they just express their love differently.
The new norm is "abortion is a woman's right". The new norm is "spiritualism is enough" so no need for church. The new norm is "live together" without being married. Marriage is old fashioned! The new norm is "sin is not sin" - who's to say what's right for me or for you! God is only about LOVE! The new norm says... "narrow truth should be considered a hate crime!"... and right now, some of you are so tired of the pressure that you are just about to agree to keep quiet about it because you feel like everyone will think you're a bigot and a moron! It's one of the tests of your endurance on the narrow road! The wide way of eternal death says... "those who are singleminded and only willing to see things in just one way, are bigoted and shouldn't be tolerated." But for those of us on the narrow road, we stay faithful to Him because of His love and because that's the way we demonstrate our love for Him! So when it comes to "hangin' tough", remaining faithful, God wants us to keep our eyes on the "narrow" or "very selective" way of thinking. The word picture of the "narrow road" helps us endure but let me add another word picture here. Some of you have experienced this word picture first hand and many of us have in our minds a picture of a Marine. I have great respect of the military but I especially respect the Marines.
They ALL travel a very NARROW road of thinking and fighting. They ALL understand the struggles of that NARROW Marine mentality. They ALL know there are NO EXITS on the NARROW road of being a Marine. And they ALL believe that the NARROW WAY OF THINKING is for LIFE! They do not have to understand everything but they do know about ENDURANCE on the narrow road! Marines are different and they don't mind being different! In fact, they are proud of being different! Every Marine wants a commendation for "hangin' tough" from a commander. Marines have to ENDURE! That's a good picture of how a Christian should demonstrate his faith. James said, "...when we are approved, we will be presented with the crown of life." That commendation, that crown is not something you wear on your head that makes you look like a king. It is something you carry in your heart! It means you will enjoy being a winner on the narrow road. It means you will know you have faced the enemy and you did not quit or leave your post of duty. It means that God empowered you to face and be victorious over your weaknesses and the world's pressure.
Marines should make the best Christians! ALL CHRISTIANS should be spiritual warriors! But, if you're a Marine or not, maybe the Narrow Jesus way confuses you sometimes when you are called to "hang tough". And that's why James said in verse 5, (paraphrase) "If you don't understand what you're going through, you need wisdom to understand it. So ask God for answers!" Remembering you are on a NARROW road with other believers will help you "hang tough" and stay connected! Are you just about ready to quit "hangin' tough"? If you remember that you signed on to a narrow road, then you can start a renewal. Verse 13 gives another "hangin' tough" truth: James 1:13 (NKJV) 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, Pause for a moment. This temptation is an enticement to do wrong, an allurement to leave the narrow road thinking! This is the DESTRUCTIVE appeal to the old nature. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. 16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.
Hangin' tough truth # 2: God is not to blame for MY FAILURE! James very emphatically is saying here, "Don't BLAME God for temptation to do wrong!" Let me illustrate these verses with three word pictures. The first has to do with that phrase "drawn away". 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. "Drawn away" comes from the idea of using bait to draw a fish out from under a rock. Fishermen know that fish are attracted to bait, to lures, so they use the right bait to "draw the fish out". James is saying that WE create the "bait" that lures us away from faith. Did you know that we can see someone who falls into an affair, or falls prey to drugs, or falls to cheating and then pays the price and we can say, "Stupid guy, you should've known better." But when we get the opportunity to do the same thing, we paint a picture in our minds of how great it will be and how fulfilling it will be to sin, and we justify in our lives the same thing we judge others for doing. We make the bait. We take the bait. And then the HOOK is set and we pay the consequence. There's another word picture here. It is that of a tree growing where it should not grow.
15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. When our family moved to Wilmington in 1999, we moved into a house on Gate Post Lane. In the right front corner of our front yard, there was one of those big green power boxes. It was totally necessary for our house to stay warm or cool, for us to cook, and for everything else electrical in the house. It connected us to the power grid. But I did not like the way it looked from the road. One day I noticed that a small pine sapling was growing out from under the big green electrical box. I let it grow thinking, "It will cover this thing up", "it will disguise it even though I need it." But, the problem was that the growing sapling presented issues that would stop the flow of electricity to my house. It grew and grew and grew until the root system began to invade the wires and the cavity under the box and it did not hide the box, it hurt the box. Now, I could blame the electric company for putting a box in my yard that did not look good or correct according to my desires, or I could blame the tree for having roots, or I could see the necessity of the box and remove the tree. The box was not the problem. The electric company was NOT the problem! The problem was ME! I wanted to let something grow that was NOT a part of the electric company's plan for my house! I removed the tree. No one to blame but me!
Going God's way doesn't always look appealing but it is totally necessary for us to have POWER. Letting temptation take root and grow is like that sapling pine. It eventually destroys the power of God in our lives! Don't blame God for sin and temptation... And don't make EXCUSES for your sin! Here's my last word picture for this passage. Leprosy is not as well-known a disease as it once was. But, it is still a problem in some areas even though we rarely hear of it anymore. In the Hebrew culture, (Leviticus 13:45), lepers had to wear torn clothes, couldn't wear a hat, and they had to cover their upper lip and yell, "I'm unclean!" When a leper covered his upper lip, that was a sign that he was not only a leper but that he should not make excuses for his sickness. Basically, the leper was not to blame anyone else for his condition! Leprosy in the Bible is a picture of sin. We can't make excuses or blame anyone for our "spiritual" leprosy! We were born sinners but to act on that nature is OUR CHOICE! And that choice brings us to our final thought. Hangin' Tough Truth # 3: God wants you to MOVE! God wants you to move away FROM your desires TOWARD HIS PURPOSE for you. Will you stand with me while I illustrate this truth. In 1976 Mary Jane and I were sitting in a Bible Conference when
the Lord called me specifically to preach. I wept, I sobbed, I accepted the call. Preaching was His call and purpose for me. What I also came to realize as God developed His gift in me was that my new focus called me to MOVE AWAY from the desires of the flesh. When you got saved, God gifted you with a new life, His Spirit within you, hope, and a new focus. It was a GOOD gift from above. If you embrace the narrow Jesus' road and own your failures, you can fully enjoy the GOOD GIFT and you will begin to let God MOVE you away from your old nature's tendencies into His nature of perfection and completeness. Will you be a CONNECTOR with your testimony of endurance? Will you HANG TOUGH in your confidence of God's way as the RIGHT WAY? Your testimony of faith will echo from Heaven to earth and you will make an impact for Jesus and you will make Him the PRIME CONNECTOR to God's glory! AMEN AND AMEN!