Title: Faith Under Attck

Text: James 1:12-15

Welcome:
How is your Faith? Rate it 1 to 10, 10 is the highest. Why you gave that rate?
Worship:
1. Sing a praise and worship “Lord I Offer My Life” or “Be With You”
2. Praises and Thanks giving
Word:
Ask Someone to read the ff: verses – James 1:12-15
12 Blessed is the man who endures trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the
crown of life which God has promised to those who love him. 13 Let no one say when he is
tempted, "I am tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself tempts
no one; 14 but each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15
Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin; and sin when it is full-grown brings forth
death.

James is writing to people who are struggling. Although they are united now to Christ and learning to
trust Him, their lives are full of difficulties. How then should they go through their trials as Christians?
This is the question James seeks to answer for them, and for us as well.

In the preceding section, James deals with the rich and the poor. Our perception is that the rich, by
definition, are immune from trials. James indicates, however, that riches will fade away, they offer no
real healing or solution to our trials. We cannot look to wealth as the answer to the trials that we face,
though we are tempted to.

Now James returns to the thought with which he began his letter. "Blessed is the man who endures
trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life which God has promised to those
who love him." This is parallel to vv.2-4 "Count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet various
trials..."

We certainly do not feel blessed in the midst of trials. In fact, we may wonder if we are cursed. We
may wonder in the midst of a trial if it is ever going to end, if there is any real hope that it is going to
turn out okay. In v. 12, as earlier, James reminds his readers that there is an end to this time that will
be far more glorious than we can imagine in our present circumstances. To endure, like counting it
joy, is not something that we do by sheer will power. To endure is to continue to turn to God as our
only source of life. It is to count on Him to give us His presence and His peace in the midst of
whatever we are facing. And it is to live as if He is working His transforming and redeeming will
through this current suffering. It is to wait on Him to give us wisdom and light when all we seem to
have to offer Him is our darkness.

Yes, James assures his readers--there is an endpoint. We endure not for the sake of the current
chaos, but for the promised resolution. God will bring good out of this, and we count on Him to do
this. We await the crown of life which is the same as being "perfect and complete, lacking in
nothing."(v.4)
Sometimes when we are in a trial, we are ambiguous about God. In fact when James speaks of being
"double-minded" in vv. 7-8, he could mean our being in two minds about the character of God. We
may be tempted to say that since God got me into this mess, it is His fault if I sin. In fact He is
tempting me to do evil by leaving me in this difficult circumstance. We are tempted to think that God
is double-minded about us! God both promises to help us and tempts us in our difficulties.

James deals with our temptation to see two sides to God here in this passage. "Let no one say when
he is tempted, 'I am tempted by God'; for God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself tempts no
one..."(v.13) When we are in a trial, we are tempted to doubt God's word and to take matters into our
hands. We are tempted to find our meaning, purpose, identity and life elsewhere than in our heavenly
Father. But, James assures us, God is never the one tempting us. His purpose in allowing us to walk
through the trials of living in the broken world is never to tempt us to not trust Him. Rather, He plans,
in spite of it, to enable us to more and more receive the transforming grace He is pouring on us, to
make us truly His children.

James leads his readers to see that to say that it is God tempting them in their trials is to
misunderstand or misrepresent the very nature and character of God. God is not the tempter just
because He chooses at certain times not to be. No. God has no relationship with evil at all. God is
never tempted with evil Himself. There is not a "dark side" to God. And "he himself tempts no one."
We can be assured that God is consistent, He is not "double-minded" about us. Whatever we are going
through and whatever temptations we face, it is wonderful to remember that God is never the one
tempting us to see if we will step away from Him. He always and only intends our ultimate good.

So then where does the temptation come from? Who is to blame? James goes on to say that it is our
own desire. We are "lured and enticed" by our own desires--our desire to be secure, or free of pain, or
well-liked, etc. These desires can lure us to be tempted to find a "quicker" or "more efficient" way to
meet those needs and wants that does not come from God or lead to God’s best for us. My desire to
be well-liked can tempt me to be deceiving. My desire for security can tempt me to ill-advised moves
financially. God of course, wants to meet our desires in the deepest ways, but we are tempted to look
elsewhere when we don't want to wait for God’s best and right solution.

But merely going ahead and acting on a particular temptation presented by our desire is not the end
of the story. James wants to show his readers that just as trusting God with our trials leads to
perfection, so our succumbing to temptation has an endpoint as well: "desire when it has conceived
gives birth to sin; and sin when it is full-grown brings forth death."

James is warning his readers not to be deceived. Going ahead and succumbing to a temptation now
has consequences that go on and that we cannot control. It is interesting that James uses the picture
of birth and growth here. There is a development to whatever we do. There are ongoing effects. We
do not just live a series of isolated incidents. Our actions have consequences. And the direction that
our temptation will take us is eventually death. Now that’s something to ponder. It’s so easy to take
lightly our little sins. We fail to see where they will lead us.

James wants to emphatically point out that no one and no other way can give us our identity or our
lives. Only God can. The other options out there are not just other forms of slightly lesser lives—no,
they all lead to death, non-life.
I have certainly seen the wisdom of James's words in my own life many times. When I have not taken
the time to wait on God and be reminded of His character so that I can respond in faith, the end
results are never good and often horrible.

As in previous passages, James points us to the truth of God's good and gracious character. He is
enabling us to focus again on Him so that we can hand our present circumstances back to Him. He is
never toying with us when we are struggling. It is great to remember that God has only one mind
about us--He is, as Paul says, totally and completely with his whole Triune being "for us." (Ro. 8:31)

Discussion Question:
1. Read James 1:12. What does it mean to be “blessed”? And what is the reward from God for those
who persevere through the trials of life?
2. Read James 1:13. What are the 2 reasons why no one should ever say, “I am being tempted by
God”?
3. Does God test us? Does God tempt us? What is the difference?
4. Read James 1:14–15. Can you be tempted without sinning? What is the dividing line between
temptation and sin?
5. How have you been tempted in the past and how did you respond to that temptation?

Leader State Your Conclusion:

Works:
1. Check if the names given last meeting was prayed everyday and collect the names of the
person you ask them in your last meeting for those who not submitted it. Ask them to
pray for those person everyday, and as a leader you also have to pray for those person.
2. Pray for our Church
3. Pray For each other.