Perfect submission – all is at rest,
I in my Savior am happy and blest;
Watching and waiting, looking above,
Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long;
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.
What a beautiful old hymn with such
powerful words. Those words would be powerful if anybody had written them but
they were written by Fanny J. Crosby and what makes them so powerful is when
you know that Fanny Crosby was completely blind. When she was only six weeks
old, a careless doctor treated her for a minor eye inflammation and caused her
to go completely and permanently blind.
Yet Fanny Crosby harbored no
bitterness against the physician. In fact, she once said of him, “If I could meet him now, I would say
thank you over and over again for making me blind.” She believed that her
blindness was a gift from God to help her write the hymns that flowed from her
pen, more than 8,000 in her lifetime.
Can tragedy be a gift? If it can be then how is it that some people,
like Crosby, can understand it that way but most other people can’t? Most
people just call a tragedy a tragedy and might even grieve over it all the rest
of their lives. How is it that she could declare it a blessing? Was she being
dishonest? Was she faking it just to look pious? How was she able to do that and how can we do
that?
Maybe you think you don’t even want to
do that even if you could. Why should we want to call a tragedy a blessing?
Because sometimes we just want to be mad, don’t we? It’s unfair and we don’t
deserve it and it’s mean and we deserve to be mad even if we are mad at God.
Have you ever felt that way? That can be a dangerous place to be.
And do you know what that sounds like
to me? It sounds like a little kid. It sounds like a child who has had his toy
taken away from him. He doesn’t understand why and so he is just going to pitch
a fit and be mad, even at his own mother who took his toy away from him. Now, I
understand that there is a big difference in having your toy taken away and
having your eyesight taken away. I’m not comparing the two. I’m comparing the
attitude of a child with that of someone who claims to be a believer, a
follower, a disciple of Jesus Christ who is going through a crisis and whines
and cries about it the whole time.
We are going through the book of James
for a while; just camping out here over the summer and the overall theme of the
book is basically, “Grow up!” We have graduated from Boot Camp and all sorts of
military training and we are no longer baby Christians. Some of you may be
young in the faith and some of you have been doing this for 40-50 years but for
the vast majority of us here at Christ Fellowship, we are not spiritual
infants.
We fed on milk through boot camp and
gradually started maturing to where we could eat solid spiritual food and now
it’s time to eat some meat. That’s what James is. It is meat and for a mature
believer it ought to be wonderful and tasty, if not a challenge sometimes. But God
expects those who have been believers for some length of time, like we have, to
start acting like it. We know that difficult times are going to come our way
and when they do, we need to know how a mature believer is expected to act.
That’s what the book of James is for. So, turn, please, to the first chapter of
James and let’s continue our study.
James is in between the books of Hebrews and 1 Peter in the New Testament. Last week we looked at verses 2-4 that talk about considering all things to be pure joy and we
saw that we don’t necessarily consider the circumstance to be joyous but we
should have joy knowing that God has allowed this trial into our life for a
reason and will give us more than enough grace to get through it and in the end
we will have everything we need, which is to look more and more like Him.
Reading the book of James is like
finding a pearl on the sea shore, and then finding another a few feet away and
then more and more pearls as you walk down the coast and sometimes it may seem
like those pearls are not related at all but if you study it closely,
oftentimes it becomes clear that one pearl relates wonderfully to the other.
That’s what we find with verses 5-8 as they relate to verses 2-4.
Let’s read James 1:5-8 now.
If
any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all
without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6But when you ask, you must
believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea,
blown and tossed by the wind. 7That person should not expect to receive
anything from the LORD. 8Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all
they do.
Now, the first thing you need to know
about this passage is that, like the whole book of James, it was written
specifically to Christian people and just like considering a trial to be joy is
impossible for unbelievers, asking God for wisdom has no guarantees for those
who are not truly followers and disciples of Jesus. If you don’t have the
wisdom to truly devote yourself to Him then you don’t get to ask Him for wisdom
about what car to buy or what woman to marry.
For any of you that are not true
believers; for those of you who do not have saving faith and believe that Jesus
Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life and that no man comes to the Father
except through Him, and this faith has changed your life; if you do not have
that and you need wisdom, I recommend getting one of those Magic 8-balls. Do
you remember those things? They’re like 10 bucks on Amazon. I checked. Go for
it. That’s probably your best bet because this passage is not for you.
Now, if you are a Christian, you need
to know exactly how James means that we ask for wisdom and how it relates to
the verses before it. So, let me give you an example and then we will discuss
it. In his commentary on the book of James, Warren Wiersbe describes an older
woman who was going through some great trials. She had had a stroke, her
husband had gone blind, and then she nearly died in the hospital. In the middle
of all this, her pastor saw her in church one Sunday and assured her that he
was praying for her.
“What are you asking God to do?” she
asked. Her question startled the pastor.
“Well,” he replied. “I’m asking God to
help you and strengthen you.”
“I appreciate that,” she said. “But
pray about one more thing. Pray that I’ll have the wisdom not to waste all of this” (Warren Wiersbe, Be Mature).
What she meant was she didn’t want to
miss out on what God was doing in the midst of this trial. She was trying to
consider it all pure joy and now she was asking for wisdom in how to do that;
how to see God at work; how to see how this would be for her good as Romans 8 says.
Now, in some other commentaries, I
read some guys say this is the only circumstance in which we should pray for
wisdom as James is saying; that we should only expect God to give us wisdom in
the midst of great trials, but I don’t know where they get that. I believe that
any good father would want his children to make wise choices and we should ask
about every decision we need to make.
I don’t know that God is too terribly
concerned with what brand of toothpaste we use but this scripture is not saying
we can’t pray about even that. I would rather err on the side of asking God for
wisdom too often than not often enough. There might be a two for one sale on
Colgate that we didn’t know about until we asked for wisdom. It says that God
gives generously without finding fault.
But any immature believer can ask for
God’s wisdom for toothpaste – and they should…but we’re not immature believers
anymore and we want wisdom, not just for the little things, not just for things
like what job to take or who to marry but also for understanding that God is
working in the midst of our cancer, divorce or even the death of a loved one
and so we will be able to consider it all pure joy.
Let me ask you this, is counting it
pure joy a natural reaction when the doctor has bad news? Of course not. That
can only be done by having a relationship with God and having faith that He is
allowing this for some reason and you know you can trust Him no matter what. As
we start to mature as believers, we should start to get better at this. It
should start to be our natural reaction after a while and one of these days we
will have everything we need as it says at the end of verse 4.
But until then, you may need to ask
for wisdom about how to do that and what it looks like for you. So, that brings
up the question of what does wisdom from God look like? Well, we are in the
right book to answer that question. We just need to go over a couple of
chapters to the last part of chapter 3. James tells us exactly what it looks like to
have wisdom from God.
James 3:17
says, “But the wisdom that comes from
heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full
of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.” Now, I want to read that
again but first I want to give you a scenario to imagine. Imagine (and some of
you don’t have to imagine, you can just remember) that the doctor has run a
bunch of tests on you and he gives you the worst possible news.
James 1:2
says to consider that to be pure joy. Remember we are mature Christians and we
have the power to do this. James doesn’t say it will be easy nor am I saying it
but we can do it. Now, to consider it all pure joy we need to understand that
God, in His sovereignty, has allowed this in our lives so we can have maturity
and perseverance and that leads to lacking nothing.
But we want wisdom on how to do that
and so we ask God and we don’t doubt but let’s look at what God’s wisdom looks
like in this scenario. When the doc gives us bad news, we pray for wisdom to be
able to consider it pure joy and that wisdom (now going back to 3:17) is first of all pure. How can wisdom be pure? By not
being mixed with anything else. God will not give you wisdom mixed with fear or
envy or selfishness. Verse 15 says
that kind of so-called “wisdom” is from the devil.
God’s wisdom is peace-loving. I have seen sickness in a family member bring out the
best in people but I’ve also seen it bring out the very worst. I’ve seen people
get mad at the doctor in this situation. When God gives wisdom it will always
promote peace.
God’s wisdom is considerate. I think of my friend Robert Miller again. He was the perfect example of this. In the
worst part of his cancer treatment, he always asked how he could pray for other
people. That kind of consideration doesn’t come naturally and it doesn’t come
to an immature Christian. That is God-given consideration when you pray for
wisdom as you consider it joy.
God’s wisdom is submissive. Now, is James
saying to be submissive to God or to man? The answer is both. It goes
hand-in-hand with peace-loving and considerate so God may give you the wisdom
to submit your will to somebody else, maybe a family member or doctor or to
God. That is what God’s wisdom looks like.
God’s wisdom is full of mercy. Webster’s definition of mercy is compassion or
forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one's power to punish or
harm. It’s so easy in a serious illness for the family to feel helpless,
guilty, or even an unwelcome and uncontrollable anger for any number of
reasons. How comforting for the rest of the family in a time like this for God
to give you the ability to say, “It’s
okay. I forgive you. I love you. I want the best for you.”
Next, James 3 says that God’s wisdom is full of good fruit. Times like
this are great times to tell somebody else about God’s love for them. They have
come to visit or they have called you to ask how you are doing and it is the
perfect tie-in to what God has done, will do and is doing in your life. But
you’re probably not mature enough for all that so just never mind. 😊
Two more…God’s wisdom is impartial. We have probably all been
around somebody that was impartial in their sickness. They were mean and rude
to everybody, all the same. I don’t think that is what God’s wisdom looks like.
Lastly, God’s wisdom is sincere.
Please don’t try to fake this. If God gives you wisdom, it will come naturally
and if it doesn’t come, then you need to continue to pray. Pray and believe and
don’t doubt that God will give it. He wants you to have it and have it
abundantly.
In Mark chapter 9, a young boy is brought to Jesus for Jesus to cast
out a demon from him. The boy’s father said to Jesus, “If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” “23 “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for
one who believes.” 24 Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my
unbelief!”
God honored that man’s prayer and He
will honor yours if you are praying for wisdom, especially wisdom to know how
to consider trials pure joy.
Imagine with me for a minute a
battlefield. There are tanks and troops everywhere.
Bombs are falling. Jets are flying. Men are screaming and people are dying. The
general in charge calls his trusted sergeant over and says, “Sergeant, I want you to gather up the gear
you need and take A Company around the right flank and rendezvous with B
Company by 1300 hours. Now go!”
But then the sergeant says, “But sir, I don’t think I can do that. I’m
scared and I don’t know how and what if things go wrong and what if this or
that…”
Now, what do you think the general is
going to say? “Oh, poor thing. I’m sorry.
Stay here with me and I’ll send somebody else. Don’t worry. It’s ok.” No,
that’s not what he would say. Why? Because that sergeant is trained and
prepared and motivated and has been given everything he needs to get the job
done for his own safety and for the good of his country AND he has been given
an order.
That’s right where we are today. I am
a sergeant speaking to other sergeants and we have been given a command by
General James here who is speaking for the Great Commander, our Lord and
Savior, God, who is in control and who loves us and has prepared us for this
mission and given us every resource we need to get the job done and make Him
look good in the process.
So, when He says to go and make
disciples, that’s what we do. When He says, “Don’t
be afraid.” We are not afraid. When He says to consider it all pure joy, we
understand and when we need more wisdom to do that, He will generously give it.
I want to leave you with this. I hope
you understand that none of this is possible on your own. Without a
life-changing relationship with God through His Son Jesus, this is just a fairy
tale. So, when people outside of the
faith see you living like this and having joy and peace in the difficult times
of life and still living a full and abundant life when others might have given
up, they take notice.
Somebody is watching you all the time
and if you react to difficulties like everybody else reacts, then your faith is
irrelevant to people. If your faith in God doesn’t change your life in a way
that is obvious to others, then why would anybody listen to what you say about
church or God or religion? They don’t need that. They’re falling apart on their
own just fine.
We are called to be holy, which means “different”
or “set apart”. Can people tell you are a disciple of Jesus by how you react to
trials in your life? If not, it’s time to repent and ask God for forgiveness
for not doing what we have been commanded and then ask for wisdom in how to do
it. Do that right now as the music plays.
Invitation / Prayer
Perfect submission – all is at rest,
I in my Savior am happy and blest;
Watching and waiting, looking above,
Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long;
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.
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