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Call to worship: Ezekiel 36:22-27

Text: James 1:13-18

Summary:

For James, the Christian life is the tried life. Trial is of two broad sorts: external pressures (1:2-11) and internal principalities at war (1:13-27). James doesn't want us to be deceived. Temptation to sin, bringing forth death, originates from within us. We're tempted with evil when our desires, corrupted by sin, convince us the evil is desirable. We are our own worst enemy. No one is responsible for one's spiritual demise but the person themselves. Don't be deceived. God's the Savior of sinners. While, by nature, our desire is for sin, God's desired and, therefore, willed to bring us forth through the Word of truth that, above nature, we might live to God. The new birth frees our desires, infuses them with light and life and truth, so that, when temptation to sin arises, love for God is there to put away sin for 'the righteousness that God requires.'

Semon Outline:

1. Don't be deceived, we are the sinners by nature. (1:13-16)
2. Don't be deceived, God's saved us to live above nature. (1:16-18)

Prepare

Discussion Questions:

1. Read James 1:13-18.
2. In ch. 1, James seems to conceive of trials under two broad categories (1:2-11, 1:13-18 and so on). How would you characterize the two broad categories? If 1:12 is the apex of a mountain, and these two categories of trial comprise the two sides up and down from the apex, what does James highlight as the primary issue of Christian faithfulness? (Hint: sit on the last few words of 1:12).
3. How does love for God stabilize us against external pressures (1:2-11) AND internal principalities at war with our Christ-likeness (1:13-15)? 1:16 seems to be the hinge in these verses, 1:13-18. What does it say?
4. Given what James writes in 1:13-15, how might the Christian be deceived? Or what deception is at play that would bring James to address it? What does James teach about temptation to sin as it relates to God? What does he teach about it as it relates to us? If you could detail the anatomy of sin, how would you? Who is your worst enemy?
5. Given what James writes in 1:17-18, what other deceptions might he be addressing? What does he imply about every grace we have? What's the origin of any spiritual life in us? Does God change and, if not, is the life He gives and requires of us---is it variable? Does it change over time? What has God desired and done within us, and through what means, and to what end? How has the new birth, by the Word of truth, given us internal power against temptation to sin? What has God regenerated us to be in this world?