Persevering with wisdom and focus

James 1:2-8

When you read the book of James, it can seem that he had a lot of favorite teachings, wrote them out on slips of paper, threw them up in the air and when they fell, picked them up in any order and put them in a letter.

After all, who starts a letter telling people to consider it joy when trials come? That is not the beginning of a letter; it comes much better later on in the letter after he builds up to it, after saying how proud he is of them for being faithful to Jesus and how much he loves them. (The slip of paper with that gentle introduction must have slipped under a crack in the floor and was lost because you don’t find that anywhere in the letter from James.)

And then what is the connection between his teaching on persevering through trials and the teaching on wisdom that follows and the teaching on being double-minded that follows that? Next week we will get to the next teaching in his letter about how we are to deal with being  rich or poor which is followed by one sentence that goes back to verse 2 about persevering through trials. How does being rich or poor make any difference to persevering through trials?

It takes a bit more work to see the flow than in some other books of the Bible, but there are central themes in James and there is a connection to what he is writing, which we will get to as we move through the sermons on this letter of James. It is important to remember that James was writing to people with particular needs and the teaching he sent to them in this letter was meant specifically to help them with their present condition. James was not completely random in what he wrote.

So let’s begin by reviewing verses 2-4 that I covered last week. James says we are to consider it joy when trials come because they produce perseverance which leads us to wholeness. God grows our faith through the trials that come to us. There is a redemptive purpose in suffering and the faith that results is far greater than the pain that was endured.

This teaching is followed by an encouragement to ask for wisdom.

James 1:2–8
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

James establishes a connection between what can seem to be unrelated teachings by using the phrase, lacking in nothing, in verse 4 and then saying in verse 5, if any of you lacks wisdom. The use of the word lack in both verses indicates they are connected. He seems to be saying that in order to persevere, we will need wisdom. This raises three questions: What is wisdom? What does perseverance without wisdom look like? What does perseverance with wisdom look like?

First of all, what is wisdom?

The book of Job was written to examine the problem of suffering in a world created by a loving God. How could a loving God allow suffering on the part of those he loves?

The book opens with Job described as a man who had it all. (Job 1:2–3)
There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. 3 He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and very many servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east.

Job had it all and then in catastrophe after catastrophe, his children were killed and his animals either stolen or destroyed. To top it off, his health deteriorated and he suffered from painful sores on his body.

In his misery and suffering, three friends came to talk with Job and gave long discourses about sin and suffering. For 37 chapters his friends talked to him and gave their advice and Job responded. Finally, in chapter 38 God speaks.
“Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
3 Dress for action like a man;
I will question you, and you make it known to me.
4 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.

God never directly answers Job’s and his friends’ questions; he simply asks his own questions. Where were you when I …?

After 51 verses of God’s thundering questions, he asks Job one more: (Job 40:2–5)
“Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty?
He who argues with God, let him answer it.”

and Job responded with wisdom:
3 Then Job answered the Lord and said:
4 “Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you?
I lay my hand on my mouth.
5 I have spoken once, and I will not answer;
twice, but I will proceed no further.”

After some more questions from God, Job responds once again: (Job 42:2-3)
“I know that you can do all things,
and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
… I have uttered what I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.

Wisdom is submission to God. Job did not receive answers to his questions. He still did not understand why his children and wealth and health had been taken away from him, but he knew who God was and knew his place in relationship to God was to be silent and submissive.

Mark Twain is credited with saying, “It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.” He may have written this after reading Proverbs 17:28
Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise;
when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.

There is wisdom in submission and silence. Wisdom is a recognition of who God is and knowing our place before him.

What does perseverance without wisdom look like?

There are a lot of ways people respond to trials. There is a narcissistic approach that sees only me and my problems. This type of person is filled with self-pity. Why is this happening to me? What did I ever do to deserve this? I’m a good person, why should I have to suffer? Whining and complaining mark this kind of person. They view themselves as innocent victims who are unjustly suffering and want the world to focus its pity on them.

Some people respond to trials by becoming angry. This anger can be expressed outwardly and so some people become abusive and strike out at others. They are angry and irritated and unwilling to suffer alone. They blame others for their situation. Everything and everyone becomes an irritation.

Others take the anger and turn it inwards, becoming sullen and depressed, lethargic and apathetic.

None of these are wise responses to trials. All of these are acts of defiance toward God and an unwillingness to submit to him.

What does perseverance look like when wisdom is present?

Paul wrote in II Corinthians about his thorn in the flesh. Scholars speculate about what that might be. There are some hints that it might have been a problem with his eyes. But whatever it was, it was a trial he faced over a long period of time. He pleaded with Jesus three times to take it away but Jesus did not.

Paul did not say how he handled his thorn in the flesh, but I can imagine he was discouraged that Jesus did not heal him. As time passed by and people around him were being healed, he probably asked why he was not healed. Over the passing of time I imagine he felt the human emotions we feel when things do not go our way. So he might have indulged in self-pity, “Lord, I am working so hard for you, why do you not do this little thing for me?” Maybe he got angry and kicked or threw a pot. What we do know is how he eventually came out in his struggle against his thorn in the flesh.

2 Corinthians 12:7–10
So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Paul submitted to God. It is not that he quit praying about it. It is not that he settled into complacency with this ailment. But he submitted and he was given the wisdom that perhaps God was using this thorn in the flesh for good purposes. With Paul’s enormous intelligence and charisma and spiritual power and authority, it would have been easy for Paul to become impressed with himself. He could have begun to take glory to himself and accept some of the praise from others rather than deflecting it to God. But Paul came to realize this thorn in the flesh was given to him to prevent him from becoming conceited. This response reveals great wisdom in Paul and allowed him to continue to be used by God to do great things for the kingdom of God.

Wisdom believes that suffering will lead to something better, that there is meaning in the suffering. Wisdom understands that our goal is not an earthly paradise but a heavenly one. Wisdom knows that we are passing through this world as we prepare for our real home.

Perseverance without wisdom is a path that leads to death. Perseverance with wisdom is a path that leads to life. Consider it joy when you face trials of any kind and perservere, but persevere with wisdom and take the path to life.

James writes:
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

So do you need wisdom? Just pray to God, ask for wisdom and it will be given to you. Is that the teaching of James? If this is true, why don’t more people have wisdom?

But this cannot be what James means. Wisdom does not come just by asking for it; it takes time to receive wisdom.

In a book about the Amish communities in the US (the Amish are a community of people who have largely separated themselves and resist the technology and culture of the world around them), the author made the point that in a world where technology develops rapidly, the elderly are not respected because they do not hold the information that is needed to be successful. But in a world where technology develops slowly, like the Amish who do not use tractors but still plow their fields with horses, the elderly are respected because the knowledge they hold is needed to be successful.

What the younger generations in cultures where technology develops rapidly miss is that while the elderly may not know how to operate a computer, they do hold the wisdom that has come with their years and this wisdom is needed if life is to be lived well. The success of life can be very shallow if there is not wisdom to go along with it.

My point is that wisdom comes with experience, with time, not by simply asking for it.

In order to consider it joy when trials come, we need to persevere with wisdom and now James introduces another element that must come along with wisdom if we are to persevere and grow in faith.
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6 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. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

Because people take these verses from James out of context, this text is used to support a teaching that when praying for healing, anyone who doubts must leave the room or the healing will not take place. This is a terrible teaching on many points but I don’t have time to address that here. All I will say is that this is not what James means in this text.

This teaching is firmly linked to his discussion of persevering in the midst of trials. But before we can see how this teaching about doubting relates to his theme of persevering when trials come, we need to understand what James means by using the word doubt?

What he does not mean is what we think when we hear the word doubt. We hear doubt and think it means we don’t know for sure that God exists, or don’t believe God loves us or that God can help us. How do we know this is not what James means? For one thing, in the next chapter James holds up Abraham as a model of a righteous man, a great man of faith. Certainly Abraham is one who persevered through trials with wisdom. And yet Abraham is a man who doubted.

Abraham was promised by God that he would be the father of many and yet he had no sons. After some years of frustration, Abraham took matters into his own hand and had a son through the maid of his wife, Ishmael. When Ishmael was thirteen years old, God appeared to Abraham and told him Ishmael was not the promised son and that he would have a son with his wife Sarah. Did Abraham believe what God told him? No. He laughed because he was 100 years old and Sarah was 90 years old. He was, what the writer of Hebrews describes, as good as dead and he knew it. So he laughed at the thought of he and Sarah having a son at their age.

Abraham doubted what God promised to him, but James still viewed him as righteous, a model for us all.

What James is talking about is doubting in the midst of perseverance. To see what James means by doubt, we look to verse 8 where James says that a man who doubts is double-minded, unstable in all his ways. This double-minded man is the definition of what James means by doubting.

We lived next to a watershed preserve when we were in the US and at the educational center they had a display of some of the creatures to be found in the watershed. One of these was a turtle they had discovered in a pond that had two heads. This turtle was not able to survive because each head saw food and tried to go after it – which led to it not being able to go anywhere.

What James says we need, when we ask in faith for wisdom, is a perseverance that moves forward without being distracted by all the alternatives. We need to be single-minded, having one goal, going in one direction.

Jesus taught about a double-minded person. (Matthew 6:24)
No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

Jesus said you have to choose one or the other; you cannot pursue both.

John wrote in (1 John 2:15–17)
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

Since the world is passing away, John exhorts us to let go of our pursuit of the world and choose God who will take us with him into forever.

James teaches that we need to persevere with wisdom and focus. Wisdom tells us what is important and helps us set our goals. Being single-minded concentrates our energy and attention to pursue what wisdom has revealed to us.

I know people who have great wealth and go to church. Some of these are single-minded and persevere with faith and wisdom. But others are caught up in the struggle between the riches of the world and a faith that calls them to come deeper. They cannot obey the call because the pull of the world’s riches is too strong. The result is they live a very superficial Christian life, skimming the surface. They can have very strong opinions about what we should and should not do as Christians, but there is a noticeable lack of depth in their faith. Their problem is that they cannot go deep in their relationship with Jesus because they are double-minded, torn between the world and God.

You don’t have to be rich to be double-minded. Lust for what the world offers is just as powerful when you don’t have riches as it is when you do have riches.

Being double-minded is a dangerous position for a follower of Jesus. James says a person who is driven and tossed by the wind must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. This is, in part, because such a person does not really desire to know Jesus. Jesus is a hobby, not a passion.

This is James’ teaching. We are to consider it joy when trials come because when we persevere, they will grow our faith, making us complete. To do this we need wisdom so we will be able to hold on to Jesus. And when we ask for wisdom, we need to be single-mindedly focused on the goals wisdom reveals to us.

Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 18:8–9 shows just how radical he expects us to be about our focus on his kingdom.
if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. 9 And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.

This was applied literally by some early saints of the church who struggled with lust. We are not called to cut off body parts but the strong image of Jesus’ teaching tells us how seriously we are to take our faith. We may view it as a choice. Jesus and Paul and James viewed it as a matter of life and death.

We live in the world and are supposed to enjoy what God has provided for us. We are supposed to give thanks for all the good things we receive. But we are to long only for heaven. As soon as we begin to long for the things of this world, we are in trouble and become like the two-headed turtle.

You can serve God or this world, you cannot do both. Being human we will struggle. All of us, to some extent or another, are double-minded, but James sets out the goal for us. We want to be single-minded, not distracted by the lure of the world and its possessions. Our experience of Jesus will be limited to the extent that we are pursuing the world and its rewards.

How do you know if you are being double-minded? Is there some way of testing yourself?

In John Ortberg’s book, The Me I Want to Be, he writes about being asked the question: “’How is your spiritual life going?’” This is how he responds:

I used to answer this question by looking at the state of my devotional activities: Did I pray and read the Bible enough today? The problem is that by this measure the Pharisees always win. People can be very disciplined, but remain proud and spiteful. How do we measure spiritual growth so that the Pharisees don’t win?

I asked a wise man, “How do you assess the well-being of your soul?” He immediately said, “I ask myself two questions”:

* Am I growing more easily discouraged these days?
* Am I growing more easily irritated these days?

At the core of a flourishing soul are the love of God and the peace of God. If peace is growing in me, I am less easily discouraged. If love is growing, I am less easily irritated. It was a brilliantly helpful diagnostic to assess the health of my soul.

The wise man Ortberg talked to was Dallas Willard.

I have to say that this test makes me very uncomfortable because I see how much I am caught up in the world. I am too easily discouraged and too easily irritated. My soul is not flourishing. The love of God and the peace of God are far too weak in me. I need to be more single-minded in my walk with Jesus. I need to give up my attachment to the world and long only for Jesus and his kingdom.

If I am going to be able to consider it joy when trials come, I will need to have perseverance grounded in God’s wisdom and a single-minded determination to follow Jesus no matter what happens.

How do you do in the test Ortberg talked about? Are you growing more easily discouraged these days? Are you growing more easily irritated these days?

Maybe what we need is more trials. I hate saying this, but it is trials that shape us and help us to focus. When I look at my life and see my strong attachment to this world, I wonder what it would take to break that off. I know if I had terminal cancer and had just three months to live, I would break off that attachment. But I face a possible thirty more years of life. How will I be able to stop holding on to the rewards of this world?

I need and we need a stronger, more intimate relationship with Jesus. We need a powerful experience of his love and his peace. We can take confidence that as we move through the years of our life, God, who loves us, will be present with us. The Holy Spirit will work with us to help us break off our worldly attachment. We will grow in wisdom and the trials that come our way will help us focus more single-mindedly on what has eternal significance. Our faith will grow.

So make good choices. Do not despair. Do not give up. And when trials come, you will be able to see, as Paul did with his thorn in the flesh, how God is using them to grow your faith.