Books of James & Jude - The value in testing of your Faith - James 1:9-12
James 1:9-12 · Bob Eckel · Feb 3, 2013
James & Jude, No. 05
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926342434079

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

All right, so we have no other capabilities this morning, so. That's right, we got her. Well, it makes it hard for me. Then I would have made it one per page. I'm having a little trouble. Oh, I disagree. Can you put it on your red drive then? I have this here. My handout's here. That's what I'm teaching you. Anyway, we'll get by. Laura's sufficient to meet the needs here. So we're going to read 9 through 12 today. That's the topic. Let's read from 1 down to 12. I think we need to put 9 down. position of leading the fellowship.

James 1, 1-12, anybody, please. Al, can you read that for us? James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. To the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greetings. My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, and gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord.

He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation, but the rich in his humiliation. because as a flower of the field he will pass away. For no sooner has a sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass, its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits.

Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he has been approved he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love him. amount of foundation in Old Testament verses that are brought forth by James here in this particular epistle.

So that's kind of exciting, and I think they will play out for us as we continue our study this morning. So the first point in the handout is here we see a contrast between the lowly and the rich. And I'm going to ask a question. Can it be presumed that brother here is a spiritual brother? We've got that one answered. Let's move on to topic questions. You're not going to ask why I said yes so fast? No, I'm not. It needs no further discussion. This is James 101 this morning. You're ready to move on to James 201. The next related question is yes for the lowly, but is the rich also a brother of the Lord?

Al says yes. But I'm going to suggest later it could be someone outside of the Lord. I'm not sure. I think you're right, Al. But I'm going to provide evidence when we get down a little lower in the verses, in I think verse 11, that perhaps this is an unbeliever. I don't disagree.

Clearly, are there people who are rich who are believers? Yes. So is richness a distraction for the believer? Could be, and can it be? Actually, having no wealth can be a distraction too. You know, woe is me, right? Kind of independent, this entitlement mindset. We're back to this thing that anything that draws you back to the old man is a distraction. Whether it appeals to fleshly desires or a fleshly state of mind, whatever it may be. I mean you don't have to. There's no law here. It's just all grace. I just thought, you know.

Sure. You sure you're okay? Yeah. Okay, good. When I look over there, without my glasses to read, I don't read very well without them either. You seem to be a lot better. It's kind of weird. I thought about that. Can we just let Al be the official narrator? We've got an Al the official teacher here.

He's a great reader. I think there is something about the way you read scripture and how you do a great job. It really portrays the word very carefully and correctly. But see the Superbowl is a perfect example. We've already talked about the Superbowl. But the Superbowl is. It can be. All the type and all the But isn't it a perfect example of the world and how the world can just take over your life? It really is a spectacle, isn't it?

So, how should we interpret lowly here? What do you think in context? It says, let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation. We'll come to what it means to glory in his exaltation in a second. How do we define lowly? Well, let's do a little look at scripture in terms of the use of that term in the New Testament.

So Doris, could you get Matthew 11, 29? These verses will all be pretty familiar with you. Jim, Luke 1, 52. Mani, 2 Corinthians 10, 1. And Roger, 1 Peter 5, 5. Let's take a look at the use of lowly and other texts. And by the way, this is just an example of the use of this word. Doris, please.

Matthew 11.29. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls. What do you think it means when Christ describes himself as lowly in heart? What does that mean? Not exalting himself. Okay. Does it suggest that he has a dependency on someone else? Okay. So lowliness here is not pejorative, it's in fact really a dependency.

The beautiful scripture where it says, let this mind be in you, that is in Christ Jesus, who didn't consider his position with God, but condescended brought down rulers from their thrones and has exalted those who are humble." Okay, so the humble here is lowly. So again, the concept of the lowly here has merit before God. I guess, again, I think Rogers said lowliness could potentially be used to your disadvantage too. So the idea of lowly is equated with humility, which is really a dependency.

Now I, Paul, myself, urge you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, I who am meek when face to face with you, but bold toward you when absent. You younger men likewise be subject to your elders, and all of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another. OK, so I think using these verses, and by the way, four authors, five authors, James, Matthew, Luke, Paul, and Peter all use this term. So I think it has relevance in terms of its importance as to how we carry ourselves.

OK, in the Greek, the word signifies both lowliness of mind and lowness of condition. But in context, lowly is to be understood as a condition, right? This is not lowliness of mind. This is really the condition that we find ourselves in, one of dependency and one of humility. Especially of such a low estate as we experience to further the gospel. So I think the Lord uses lowliness, meekness, humility, often to further the gospel because it shows that it's not our exaltation, and one's exaltation.

Well, I've written what I thought it means. Of course, remember with the slides, I can ask you and you can get your answer. So I said here, to glory in one's exaltation here indicates that the poor man who is lifted up should rejoice because his faith has been repeatedly tried and proven true. So despite the condition, ultimately his faith is being evidenced God's great grace and work in his life, and that's exaltation, because God is glorified, right?

So when we glory in our exaltation, when we're lowly, in fact that glory is not to be brought on ourselves, but the glory is given to God. And it shows the lowly not fixing his eyes on his present condition, so taking a long-range view of what the Lord is doing in his life and what ultimately awaits him. Well, we've talked so many times about our condition needs to be conformed to our position, right? And I think here it in fact is, when the lowly in fact glories in his exaltation, it's in fact the Lord's glory that he exalts in, because the dependency is there. Keep in mind, what we just looked at in terms of the likes it. Now it says, let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation, but the rich in his humiliation, because there's a flower of the field who'll pass away. So let's look at this, but the rich in his humiliation.

Rich is presumably wealth, not all that we believers have in Christ, right? We think of our, what are our riches in? I mean, it doesn't make any difference what your income is or what your bank account looks like. It's our riches are in Christ Jesus, are they not? The God shall supply all your needs through his riches.

There's no other way to interpret that. Now, humiliation is autos, capentiosus, and it's to make yourself low. Isn't that interesting? You don't really get that in the English translation, but autos precedes the humiliation interpretation. So, what do you think about, why is this scenario so often the case, making ourselves low? So, humiliation is bring on ourselves. So, what's kind of the natural sequence that you see here? How does the rich bring on humiliation onto him or herself?

It's interesting though, I mean, like, verse 9 is a contrast to this double-minded man, right? We're going to go back to that. Go ahead. I was just going to say, I mean, thinking about humiliation instead of like a categorical humiliation, but seeing it in contrast to this this double-minded unstableness.

Here you can be rich, but in humility, stable. In humility, gentle. In humility, lowly. In humility, at rest. You know, so it's interesting, I think, just to see it in light of what James was just saying about this wrestling that, you know, a double-minded man and then, but, verse 9, here we've got the humility of circumstances, humility of even a financial state, potentially, that regardless of those circumstances, humility can exist.

Okay, so when the rich brings on humiliation onto himself, actually you could look at this in one of two ways. First of all, we see that the lowly brother glories in his exaltation, so there's something really uplifting and glorifying about being lowly. dependency, really the exaltation is really God's glory working through us as believers. Now, the rich in his humiliation could be either a positive, if we believe this is a believer, because the Lord will use the riches to bring humiliation to a believer and have him or her grow in grace through that this concept of dependency on who? Who's the dependency on?

Self. This auto-humiliation. It's really a self-inflicted sense of dependency. I don't know, the whole Roman VI commentary by Newell, I love it. To be disappointed with yourself is to have depended on yourself. In a sense, the humiliation that the flesh has to face really is when entitlement expectations that are not met.

And I think, you know, we'll come back to whether this is really a believer or not a little bit later. And I think you could interpret it both ways. I'm sure James meant one or the other. Yeah. Do you think this self-humiliation could be the kind of thing where a person says, oh, after being congratulated on some great feat, and he said, oh, that was nothing, and he's waiting for you to tell him, oh, no, it was great, it was wonderful. Yes, it really was, but I'm going to act like, well, I'm humbled.

Well, you know, that's a really practical day-to-day thing. I mean, Leavitt, in your tremendous work on praise for your work. I mean, did you go over to God? I mean, every time you said, you say, well, what's a response in humility or loyalty? You thank him and you go on. You know, the old nature can always put glory on your own performance, right? And the world system measures our performance with a certain metric, right?

And it's too easily to get trapped in that mindset. You know, but the thing is, that's not what we're about, trying to examine how we respond to every given circumstance, whether it's in the flesh or in the Lord. We live from above now, and we simply walk the life by faith that ultimately it's He that's glorified, not us. So keep that in mind. So humiliation could be used by God for a rich believer to bring him and conform him to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Alternatively, if this is an unsaved man, ultimately that humiliation really Let's see, where are we here? Okay, because as a flower of the field he will pass away. Now that makes you kind of think that this may not be a believer here. I mean the idea that this humiliation, that the rich in his humiliation, because as a flower of the field he will pass away.

Well, we're all going to pass away, right? Welcome to human existence, right? Except Elijah and... Who else was translated? Elijah, right. OK, so again, so why the metaphor? Because as a flower of the field, he will pass away. Well, because the metaphor represents what is elsewhere in scripture. So let's look at Isaiah 40, 6 through 8. Margaret, you can do that for us. Laban, would you do James 4, 14? And Katie, how about 1 Peter 1, 24? 6 through 8. The boy said, Cry, and he said, What shall I cry?

All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it. Surely the people is grass. The grass wherewith, the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. For all flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers and the flower falls.

There's an interesting aspect to this that didn't use something that was man-made. He used something that God does. We can't make a flower grow. We can't make it bloom. We can kill things, but we can't produce life. And to me, using this all through scripture is just to take us back to the fact that it's by God's power that these things happen. I think the concept here, either way you can't take it with you. We're all going to pass away, so those riches are ultimately going to be left behind.

Okay, so Philippians 3, 7 and 8. But whatever things were gained to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ." So here's Paul, an esteemed, probably reasonably wealthy Jewish leader, ultimately, who considers everything, all his education, his tradition, his Jewish law-based dependency, everything gets cashed in for the Lord Jesus Christ. So this could be the rich man and his humiliation as a believer, ultimately where God will use his I'm going to presume on your grace and add 18.

You can do that. It's not my grace. Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty. nor to trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let them do good, that they may be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share. Okay, so that just is indicating you can have resources and be a believer and still use the glory of God.

Okay, let's look at Philippians 3, 18 and 19. Did I give somebody that one? I don't think he did. I'll read it. Okay, good. Why don't you read this, Margaret? 3.18.19 For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weakened, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things. Okay, I mean, what are your thoughts? Is this a believer who has made coupled by his riches or is this in fact someone who in fact I mean I think Jim appropriately goes back to verse 8 where in fact this you know we talked about that last week this is a believer who can be knocked around in the waves in the sea and be blown you know yea and nay right? I tend to really think of it as a believer yeah and that this is a circumstantial issue that's causing James to talk about his mindset where's your head you know get to 12 here, we're going to see that's the path that he wants them, whether you're rich or poor, that's where he wants you to be focused.

Right. I favor that very much. The person who is rich and humbled ultimately is a believer. In context, that's the best interpretation. So I just thought I'd leave us down a little bit of a discussion, because keep in mind, the flesh is always the flesh. I mean, as believers, our earthly, sinful nature never changes. In fact, I think at times we see how ugly we really are as we grow in grace. As the light becomes brighter, the darkness of the sin nature becomes more evident for what it really is.

And so, in fact, I think we can James 1.11 For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass. Its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits. So no sooner has the sun risen, but it withers, dot dot dot, and falls.

All of this is aorist active indicative. or under its own control. So, Al, back to your point. This is exactly, I think, what is indicated to you. These things are auto-destructing. It's not that passively just happening. And it reminds me of Colossians 1.16. So, Roger, read that. Could you please? It's on the handout there. You can read it more clearly than I can. that are in the heaven and that are on the earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created through him and for him.

Okay, so think of the sun. Think of the burning heat of the sun that withers the grass. Think about the flower falling. going to wither. I mean this is biology, this is science, but nevertheless this I think is an aspect of the act of creation we sometimes take for granted. This is how God's creation operates. He didn't make flowers indestructible.

And when you equate that with us as human flesh and Paul in Romans talking about that outer man is perishing. As he writes, he realizes he's on his way to this earthly end, but he's looking farther down the road. Except for Enoch and Elijah, right? Those two guys have something going for them that we don't particularly have for us, I guess. All right, again, Isaiah 46 through 8.

I mean, we read that already, the flower withereth and Jim give you that one, and Job 1.18 and 19, Bond can you get that one for us? So Jonah and Job also reflect on this type of metaphor.

Jonah 4.8? Yeah.

When the sun came up, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah's head, so that he became faint and begged with all his soul to die, saying, Death is of 1, 18, and 19. While he was still speaking, another also came and said, your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house. And behold, a great wind came from across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house. And it fell on the young people, and they died. And I alone have escape to tell you.

And the natural environment around us has impact of life, plant life, animal life, human life. Alright, so it's beautiful appearance, actually I think in one or two translations it says grace here. And it's interesting, if you translate the grace of the fashion of it, which is kind of a King James translation, grace here is the only use of the New Testament. So the grace really is best translated, it's physical appearance, it's beautiful appearance. This is not the grace by which we're saved. Perishes. Didn't spend a lot of time here, but I thought it was interesting that Strong's number G622 matches the Greek word there and occurs 100 times in 86 verses in the Greek New Testament. Perish.

So what we're using this metaphor to describe is that the rich man is also going to get away. So there's nothing special about riches that makes him or her any different than anybody else. They're going to fade away too. And this is future passive indicative. So it will happen. And by the way, passive means it's out of our control. We got lots of life support today, right? going to be out of here unless we're raptured, right?

So how often do we pray for the Lord's return? I think not enough, perhaps. And I guess the motive there has to be questioned, too. Do we pray for him to return and get out of this earthly existence? Or do we pray for it to be the Lord Jesus Christ? I'll let you answer that for yourself.

And in his own ways and pursuits, what do you think the Well, you're back to this idea that if you're just looking at the earthly aspect of things, that's part of the parachute. OK. That you need something better for a foundation or a hope for the future. Other thoughts here about fading away in your own pursuits? Right. Right. So, again, Mike said this a long time ago, I like it, he said, you know, we're not measuring our performance here to think how many crowns we're going to get. That's really an earthly, kind of self-driven motivation.

But in fact, what Mike said was that the crowns, the way he reflects on them, is the fact that when you leave the earthly existence and you are the Lord Jesus Christ, everybody will be perfect and happy and content. opinion, but the idea of the crowns are those things done to the glory of God that ultimately we don't take credit for. It's by our faith that ultimately these things occur. I think we have a very, very poor concept about what these crowns are all about, but in his own pursuits, tends to reflect the life we've lived and how it's measured in godly terms, which are not red, white, and blue rivets. I think we need to dismiss ourselves from the idea that we're earning a higher position in heavenly places.

But I think we're all called, by God's great grace, by faith, to know the Lord Jesus Christ, that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of the sufferers being made conformable unto his death. I mean, that's what it's all about, knowing the Lord Jesus Christ. And I think in some way the crowns reflect that relationship. Yeah, now.

I had a rather lowly analogy that I used to use when thinking about things like this, that what we do here now that has eternal value is like building a bowl, or one of the, you know, things come in all sorts of sizes. And the more that you have done for God's glory rather than for your praise of man, the bigger the bowl. And God, it isn't my bowl, it's just what has gotten built. And when God pours his eternal riches that he's stored up, pours them out on us, if I have a bigger bowl, I appreciate the blessing more.

Let's say you're put in a position of counseling and someone comes to you who represents the rich man who really is glorying in his earthly riches. How does one counsel someone in that situation? I don't have an answer, just posing it as a theoretical question.

But isn't it their focus? I mean, isn't that really what it's about? If you're focused on the Lord, then you have a different view of those quote-unquote riches than if you are focused on building the riches for yourself or your inheritance for your children or whatever. are your pride. It's really about pride, I think. Okay, so how do you counsel such a person? I counsel... Counsel can mean different kinds of things. Well, if a person wanted to go to scripture, I immediately think of two places. One where Jesus used the parable of building the man who had a big harvest and built bigger barns. And Jesus in the parable pointed out is going to be required of you. Whose are these going to be now?

And Solomon lamenting, no matter how carefully I collect things, and no matter how big the kingdom, when I perish, it might be some idiot who comes on next, and it loses everything that it built up. So just to show difference, sort of like Margaret saying, if you're focusing on short-term, right now, what I have in this life, versus again a longer way. And the Lord can use and does people who have resources to further his work. I mean it goes on all over the world.

What I've done here is give you five sections of scripture that really look at how the rich man perishes in his own riches. And I think we'll not take time now to look at all five of them, but let's just look at a couple. Psalm 49, 6-14. Margaret, could you do that one? And let's look at Luke 16, 19-25. Laban, maybe you could do that one.

They that trust in their wealth and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches, none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom from him. For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceases forever, that he should still live forever and not see corruption. For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others, their inward thought is that their houses shall continue forever, and their dwelling places to all generations.

They call their lands after their own names. Nevertheless, man being in honor abideth not. He is like the beasts that perish. This their way is their folly. Yet their posterity approve their saying, Selah. Like sheep they are laid in the grave. Death shall feed on them, and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning. and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling.

There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died, and he was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried.

And in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham. at his side. And he called out, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in the water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame. But Abraham said, Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things. But now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish.

OK, so again, all five of these more extensive sections deal with how riches can dominate the human soul and separate men from God. Ultimately, riches themselves are not the sin. It's ultimately the dependency on them and the separation from God by the riches of this earth. By the way, we're not going to look at these verses.

We relate this to our citizenship. And Jim said nicely, pointing out James 1.8. Jim, do read 1.8 again. We dealt with that last week. of being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways? Yeah, so, yeah.

So, I mean, the point here is that we can fall into this trap as believers, and we believe this rich man who's being humiliated here is an example of a believer, which we, I think, all agree. Ultimately, we can fall into this trap, too, where our resources and our riches are things that we strongly depend on and separate us from God. But remember, our citizenship is in heaven, and in this double-minded kind of existence we we live in, ultimately as we grow closer to the Lord in grace, ultimately these things become less influential and less important to us. It's really an important reminder in 1 Timothy 6, 17 we've already looked at. Alright, let's go on to verse 12 then.

Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he's been approved, notice this, when he's been approved, okay, alright, He will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love him. And you know, this blessed is the man, what do you think of it? I mean, I thought of the Beatitudes, right? I mean, blessed is the rich, blessed is the poor in spirit, blessed is the meek. And you know, that's what I thought about. But, blessed is the man is used 16 times in the scripture, all but two are in the Old Testament.

In Romans 4.8, which is the other verse in the New Testament, there's a direct quote from Psalm 32.2. So this blessed is the man really is kind of couched in kind of a legal atmosphere of ultimately recognizing sin, confessing, and being made right before God.

Endures temptation, present active indicative, that's now. about all of us, right? Now, if you translate endures, it can mean preserve, it can mean remain, it can mean abide. So the concept here is one of citizenship played out. I mean, enduring temptation, really, I like abide because it really relates to our new nature and the life we have in Christ. Abiding through temptation is a little bit different than enduring. When I think of But don't you like remaining in the Lord Jesus Christ and abiding in Him? It makes the temptation then become relatively insignificant. It takes you back to the source. If you think of abiding, what am I abiding in? You go back to the vine and the branches and it immediately brings you back to Christ rather than to your situation. It really does, thanks, so important now.

Now, is this temptation temptation to sin? So is this a trial or is it both? I don't know which of those two words is it. Well, the commentators really have mixed opinions. They're on the map. But the word is parosmos, I believe. It is. So that's the negative one. But that can be interpreted alternatively, too, as trial. Yeah, I know. I know some would say it can be either.

James 1, 2, and 2 through 4, we read that here. Is anything that tests our faith, really? So it could be our sinful nature and or the world system and or Satan drawing us into falling short of God's glory. Or alternatively, our faith could be tried through the circumstances and trials that were presented. I like to think of trials or temptations. But temptation to sin, I think, is protectively related to this. But I kind of look at trials as proving us who we really are.

I mean, I try to equate Christ in the wilderness, right? And remember the devil tempted him. And could Christ have sinned? I believe that some believers believe he could have sinned, but he in fact showed his strong will and didn't sin. Well, he went back to God's word rather than in part in the whole. And I think that's where believers sometimes fall, pick out a verse that you particularly like, but take it out of context. I think it was to show that he couldn't sin. I think you're right, Bonnie.

And the thing here is that if we walk above in our position by faith in the new nature, then if we look at trials, whether they be economic, marital, job-related, whatever they are, if we look at trials to prove us who we are, we're not trying to prove to anybody else who we are. By faith, it proves who we are, right? This isn't plugging you know, something under the wall turning on the switch. This is an act of faith that these things are there. We already have the power to overcome them.

Now the question is, how often do we fall short of that? I don't think this is something you can intellectualize. Say, gee, I'm a new man in Christ, therefore these trials are meaningless. I'm going to just ignore them and live above them. You know, that's an intellectual process.

By faith, we need to put them into perspective as proving who we really are in the Lord Jesus Christ. In that book that Mike was peddling in the other class, the Hungry Heart book, devotional, and he also had a book by Watchman Nee, The Normal Christian Life. It was interesting, in The Hungry Heart this week, this past week, there was a quote from Watchman Nee that applies here, that talked about, if we see who we are in Christ, and realize that it's already been accomplished. Christ did it all. God has made the provision for all of our needs in Christ.

If we see that, then we can have the attitude that takes us through this kind of trial. I would suggest that it's more than seeing, it's really believing. He used the word seeing, but not just in the sense of a scanning see, but seeing as in understanding.

I really like the term approved here because what's being approved? The approval is our response by a mate in Christ, right? Actually, we have both the words we studied earlier. The approved is the other word. It's the documents word. So that's where God takes the trial that can be a negative thing and he turns it in to approve us. So it's actually saying that he'll take that temptation you know, for when we have been improved. So the idea he wants to improve us. So, so both the word DocuMast is improved word and temptation is the other word. So both words are sharpened here.

Well, and back to what Roger said earlier, which I agree with, if you go back to James 1, 2 through 4, you believe that this is a trial to prove who we are. It's really, but then you look at James 1, 13 and 14. Somebody want to read 13 and 14 because that's So that means we can be tempted to sin, right? We can't say war. Katie, you got that? 13 and 14?

Let no one say, when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God. For God cannot be tempted with evil. And he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Right, so again, the temptation we could look at either way. Temptation to sin, 13 and 14, we can be tempted to sin, or alternatively the temptation is one of a trial to prove who we really are in Christ. So I think it could be looked at either way.

So we're going to receive the crown of life, and I gave some examples of the crowns of life, and simply said it's a metaphor that is eternal as a prize for those whose servitude has been in Christ. That's my best interpretation of what these crowns are. Again, it's a metaphor of eternal blessedness. Notice eternal, which will be given as a prize, not red, green, red, white, blue ribbons, to those whose servitude has been in Christ. Okay, so it has something to do with identification, position, plate, and condition, and that's the best I can do with it.

And this is something that the Lord has promised to them that love him. And love is agape. I mean, so those that love him, remember he first loved us, that we might return to love him by the power of the Spirit in the new nature. And let's end with 1 Peter 4, 13. But rejoice in as much as you are partakers of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory shall be revealed, you may be That's kind of what it's all about. Again, the glory is his. The sufferings were in a position of identification and will be exceedingly joyful.

I think of Paul's comment about Colossians 3.10. It's identification. So, again, James challenges us, but when we put James in perspective in terms of what Paul's already taught us, James makes sense. And this isn't an act of works. This is an act of faith, lived out in the new nature. Any thoughts before we close? Lavin, you want to close us in prayer, please? Sure. Father, we just thank you for Just encouraging to know, be reminded where our focus needs to be through this.