God's Faith Test

1 I, James, am writing this letter. 

I serve God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

We all serve someone or something. 

We can serve people and things that drain the life out of us, 

or Christ who loves and gave Himself for us. 

I am sending this letter to you, the 12 tribes scattered among the nations.

The Jewish believers in Jesus were persecuted after the murder of Stephen for his faith(Acts 8), 

and they fled throughout the ancient world to save their lives. 

At the time of this letter, this was before the none Jewish people had been told about Jesus.

Therefore, there were only Jewish Christians at this time.  

Hence, James called them the 12 tribes (of Israel).  

Greetings.

2 My brothers and sisters, you will face all kinds of trouble. 

When you do, think of it as pure joy. 

These Jewish believers left their families, friends, and homes behind to follow Christ.

We are not promised to be trouble free if we follow Christ, but the exact opposite.

3 Your faith will be tested. 

You know that when this happens it will produce in you the strength to continue. 

Iron was put in a pot, and was heated to purge all the impurities in the ore.

This pot was called a tester. 

This persecution was refining their character to be more like Christ. 

Being made to be like Christ is the focus of our joy! 

  

4 And you must allow this strength to finish its work. 

We are being encouraged not to bail out on our faith in Christ, but to stick it out in the difficulty to be more like Him. 

Then you will be all you should be. 

God is big on loyalty.  

This is a test of loyalty.  

He has to be and to stay #1.  

(Genesis 22)  

You will have everything you need. 

We have a choice to make.  

If we stay the course, we will be more like Christ.  

If not, we won't.  

There is a promise here. 

Once God has refined us spiritually.  

He will provide for us physically. 

5 If any of you needs wisdom, you should ask God for it. 

We can look at this refining process  as a crisis, or we can look at this process like God sees it.  

That we are becoming like Him.

He will give it to you.

God wants us to be like Him, and He will help us to think like Him about the crisis if we but ask. 

God gives freely to everyone and doesn’t find fault. 

God knows and understands everything, 

and He doesn't look at us like we are dummies

because we don't know all that He knows.    

6 But when you ask, you must believe. 

For us to receive from God is conditional.

You must not doubt. 

We must focus on God and His trustworthiness alone.

That’s because a person who doubts is like a wave of the sea. 

The wind blows and tosses them around. 

Circumstances change like the shifting of the wind.  

We can't believe our circumstances; however,  most of us are tempted to.        

7 They shouldn’t expect to receive anything from the Lord. 

If our faith bounces back and forth between God and our situation,

we are in effect putting a request into His hands, 

but then taking it out of His hands before the answer comes. 

God promises to not answer our prayers if our faith wavers between Him and our circumstances.

Don't focus on circumstances.  

Ask yourself, am I going to believe what I 

see, 

hear, 

or feel, 

or am I going to believe what God has said?

  

Make a decision.  

Choose to believe that God is trustworthy,

faithful, 

does exactly what He says that He will do. 

Refuse to doubt God any longer.  

Refuse to think about circumstances.  

Keep refusing. 

This decision eliminates the wavering. 

This decision eliminates the doubting.      

8 This kind of person can’t make up their mind. 

They can never decide what to do.

God can help us, but He honors our choice which allows Him to help or not.  

To receive from God, our faith in Him must be resolute.  

9 Here’s what believers who are in low positions in life should be proud of. 

They should be proud that God has given them a high position in the kingdom. 

When the Christians fled for their lives, they left all their wealth and status behind in their past.

James explains that wealth and status awaits them in their future in kingdom of God. 

10 But rich people should take pride in their low positions. 

That’s because they will fade away like wild flowers. 

The rich people who followed Christ are being rewarded because they can now serve Him.  

11 The sun rises. 

Its burning heat dries up the plants. 

Their blossoms fall. 

Their beauty is destroyed. 

In the same way, rich people will fade away. 

They fade away even as they go about their business.

Riches are as temporary as the beauty of a flower on a summer day.  

One moment it looks beautiful. 

Then, it is gone. 

Riches cannot be trusted.   

12 Blessed is the person who keeps on going when times are hard. 

God's answer comes after the test is passed not before. 

After they have come through hard times, this person will receive a crown. 

The crown is like a trophy of a race that's been won.  

The type of race that we're in is an endurance race.  

We win when we out last our tests.  

The crown is life itself. 

The crown is proof that we loved God!

The loyal are those who pass.  

The prize is eternal life. 

The Lord has promised it to those who love him.

Those who win are those who truly love Jesus more in comparison than anything else.  

13 When a person is tempted, they shouldn’t say, “God is tempting me.” 

God is not the source of these difficulties that we're going through.  

God can’t be tempted by evil. 

Since God doesn't have any unfulfilled desires, 

He can't be tempted to do evil to fulfill them. 

And he doesn’t tempt anyone. 

God would never do anything to cause you to fail or stumble. 

14 But each person is tempted by their own evil desires. 

The source of our problems come from an unfulfilled desire from within us. 

These desires lead them on and drag them away. 

Satan uses unfulfilled desires to trap us.  

15 When these desires are allowed to remain, they lead to sin. 

Meditating on unfulfilled desires lead to fulfilling them in an ungodly way.   

And when sin is allowed to remain and grow, it leads to death.

Satan's plan for our lives is to kill us prematurely by using our unfulfilled desires. 

16 My dear brothers and sisters, don’t let anyone fool you. 

17 Every good and perfect gift is from God.

God's gifts for us are just perfect for us. 

This kind of gift comes down from the Father who created the heavenly lights. 

God's gifts for us are not only perfect, 

but perfectly timed just like the light from the sun, planets, and stars in the sky.

These lights create shadows that move. 

God's gifts are life giving, and there's no hidden motive of destruction underneath (unlike what Satan offers).

But the Father does not change like these shadows. 

God is immutable. 

This means that He does not nor cannot change (unlike circumstances).  

He is trustworthy, and can be trusted both with the gift, and it's timing.  

18 God chose to give us new birth through the message of truth. 

Foremost,God gave us a new birth and a brand new start.  

All that bad stuff has been washed away.  

He wanted us to be the first harvest of his new creation.

All of creation will be recreated to be made new.  

Inside it's already happened to those of us who have already trusted Christ.

19 My dear brothers and sisters, pay attention to what I say. 

This is James's way of saying. 

What I'm about to say is really important.  

Everyone should be quick to listen. 

We are commanded to be good listeners.

But they should be slow to speak. 

We are commanded to think through the impact of our words upon others before we speak them.  

They should be slow to get angry. 

We are commanded to not only to control our words, but our emotions behind them.   

20 Human anger doesn’t produce the holy life God wants. 

This is God's will for our lives.

He wants us to be holy.

He wants our desires, words, and emotions to not circumvent His will for us which is for us to be like Christ.  

21 So get rid of everything that is sinful. 

Is there a sin in your life that you're still nursing?

God's will for you is to let it go...

Get rid of the evil that is all around us. 

God's will for us is to avoid habits, places, and people that cultivate sin in us. 

Don’t be too proud to accept the word that is planted in you. It can save you.

God's will for us is not to question His Word (the Bible), 

but to open our hearts wide for whatever God has to say to us.

22 Don’t just listen to the word. 

God's will for us is to have a strategic plan to implement His word (the Bible)into our lives as an act of our love for Him.  

You fool yourselves if you do that. You must do what it says. 

If we're not actively planning to remember and obey what we're reading in God's word.

It is a waste of time.  

God doesn't bless that!

23 Suppose someone listens to the word but doesn’t do what it says. Then they are like a person who looks at their face in a mirror. 

24 After looking at themselves, they leave. And right away they forget what they look like. 

Don't we use a mirror to make improvements on our appearance?   

Shouldn't we be using God's word for our thoughts and actions in the same way?    

25 But suppose someone takes a good look at the perfect law that gives freedom. And they keep looking at it. Suppose they don’t forget what they’ve heard, but they do what the law says. Then this person will be blessed in what they do.

Here is our promise of blessing. 

If we use God's words to change our thoughts, words, and actions, we will be blessed. 

If we don't, we won't.

26 Suppose people think their beliefs and how they live are both right. But they don’t control what they say. Then they are fooling themselves. Their beliefs and way of life are not worth anything at all. 

If someone is truly following Christ, the best place to check their authenticity is in their mouth.  

27 Here are the beliefs and way of life that God our Father accepts as pure and without fault. When widows are in trouble, take care of them. Do the same for children who have no parents. 

We must help the helpless if our faith is authentic.

And don’t let the world make you impure.

We must live a pure life.

James 1 New International Reader's Version (NIRV)

KEY:

Highlighted in Red Means Command

Highlighted in Blue Means Explanation

Highlighted in yellow means a promise.

Highlighted in purple means a warning.

M. H. Dennis Orange highlights.

Charles Stanley highlighted in green.