One of the things James knows about human nature is that it is easy to cast blame when it comes to falling into sin: we can be quick to say: this person made me do it or the devil made me do it or even God made me do it.
Now if a person believes that God is the one tempting them there is a wrong thinking that will develop. You can 1) develop a wrong view of God and 2) develop a wrong view of sin.
- The wrong view of God is a God who toys with people trying to get you to stumble and mess up. Some of you may have grown up with a parent or some authority figure who was constantly teasing you in a way that it seemed like they delighted in you being embarrassed or looking foolish or even getting hurt. And you didn’t feel safe around them. And instead of a dad or a mom that was protecting you, you often felt like they were the ones tearing you down. If you think that God is tempting you then maybe you develop a theology that God delights in your downfall, in your weakness, in your humiliation. And God is not going to be someone in your life who is safe. He is not going to be a God that you run to in the midst of trials.
- The wrong view of sin that can be developed (if you believe God is tempting you) is that maybe God has a casual view of sin. If he is tempting me to do it, then maybe I should just give in to it. If he is tempting me then maybe it is not that big of deal.
If we believe God tempts us we can develop a wrong view of God and a wrong view of sin. And so James addresses this wrong thinking by giving us these two statements about God: He cannot be tempted by evil and he does not tempt people.
The reason God cannot be tempted by evil is that everything about God’s character and nature is contrary to evil and sin. While he is present in a world that is full of evil, while he is at work and actively engaged in a world full of evil, his nature and character are separate from sin and evil.
Scripture tells us that God is holy, righteous, his ways are perfect and that he never changes. 1 John 1:5 says, “God is Light, and in Him is no darkness at all” There is no place in his character for evil or the desire for evil or for him to entice others enter into evil.
Habbakkuk 1:13, “Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, and You cannot look on wickedness with favor.”
Not only is his holy nature contrary to evil, but the primary motivation for sin does not exist within God. Our primary motivation for sin is that we want something that we believe will fill a longing or lacking in our life: I want pleasure, I want love, I want power, I want security.
And one of the characteristics of God is that he is self-sufficient. He does not need anything outside of himself to be fulfilled, to be complete. Isaiah tells that he does not faint, he does not grow weary.
Now this raises the question: What about Jesus? Wasn’t he tempted? Hebrews 4:15 says, “Jesus was tempted in every way and yet did not sin.”
Scripture tells us that Jesus was tempted and also tells us here in James 1 that God cannot be tempted. What do we do with that?
Well, when we talk about Jesus we are talking about one who is fully God and also fully human. So where Isaiah tells us that God does not grow weary. John chapter 4 tells us that Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down by the well.
There are things that Jesus experienced in his humanity that God cannot. And I believe that part of it has to do with God creating humanity to need. So even in humanity’s perfection, humanity has a need to breathe, eat, sleep.
And in our need, we have been given the choice in how we satisfy our needs. We can seek to satisfy our needs within God’s design or outside of God’s design. That is the heart of temptation – to satisfy a God given need outside of God’s design.
And so Hebrews tells us that Jesus, being fully human, experienced the needs of humanity and was tempted in every way to satisfy those needs outside of God’s will and design for humanity. And Hebrews goes on to say, ‘He was tempted and did not sin.”
And so we come back to James and he writes that God, who is self-sufficient and fully holy and righteous, cannot sin and therefore out of that same nature does not tempt us to sin. That would be contrary to his nature.
But we may ask the question, what is the difference between tempted and tested? Because God himself tells us he does test us. In Isaiah, God says to Israel, “I have tested you in the furnace of affliction” (Isaiah 48:10). He tests to give them an opportunity to show their faith.
The difference is that God may allow difficult situations to come your way to test your faith but he is not directly enticing you to sin. Now that trial may present opportunities for you to not trust God and give in to your selfish desires leading to sin. But the purpose of the testing is to make known your faithfulness.
And so James now answers the question in verse 14: how are we tempted?
James begins and says that temptation comes from our own desires. Isn’t it interesting that James doesn’t mention Satan although we known Satan is a tempter, he doesn’t mention other people, our parents, our genes. He begins with us. James wants us to know that we can’t shift the blame. We can’t say, “they made me do it.”
Temptation begins with our desires. Now to be tempted is not a sin. Jesus was tempted. It is when in that moment of temptation our own desires begin to lure us and entice us.
I know I shouldn’t pass along this gossip, but I really want to say it.
I know I shouldn’t respond back with unkind words, but I they hurt me.
I know I shouldn’t look at those images, but I want the pleasure of it.
I know I should not give in to that thing that has been an addiction in the past, but I need some relief from my stress, it calms me.
We have desires for things that we know do not please God and that’s where the battle starts. And from a human perspective, it creates a momentary satisfaction. It can feel good to lash out in anger. It can feel good to address that anxiety with comfort food even though I am not really hungry.
When that desire that does not please God entices us, that lure can become irresistible. Especially if we have been freely and regularly giving in to the desire.
Now every single one of us has moments that we are enticed by our own selfish desires. And that things entices us may not be the thing that entices another person. One person’s sin of gossip is not a struggle for someone else. Someone’s issue of anger may not be someone else’s issue. But we all have those desires that hook us more quickly.
And we need to be aware of what those desires are. And we can be praying specifically in those areas: God, guard my mouth today, may I not speak words that tear down. God, help me to be patient today. God, I know later today I am going to have some free time let me not binge watch things that do not please you.
When Jesus instructs his disciples how to pray and he says, “lead me not into temptation” he is not saying that we are asking God not to tempt us, but rather that we would recognize where we are easily tempted and that we would guard our hearts in those areas.
A proactive prayer might be: God, I am going to be with a group of people who love to gossip please guard heart and mind, God help me not to share in that and God, show me how I could even encouragement my friends not to gossip.
If you find yourself giving in to the same temptation again and again and again and it is just crushing you, you need to ask yourself, are you proactively guarding yourself, first through prayer, then taking steps to put guardrails around you to keep you from that temptation and then bringing other people into your life to be praying with you.
James says when we give in to the enticement, when are lured in, that is when desire is conceived, and we give birth to sin. That is when we enter into the gossip, give in to anger, or sexual lust or whatever the sin is.
But James tells us that when we enter into sin, that doesn’t need to be the car going over the cliff moment. Even if the temptation leads to sin, we can still repent and turn from that sin and ask God for forgiveness. And be restored back into a right relationship with God.
1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
That is not just a statement about salvation where our sins no longer condemn us to hell but that is a statement about relational forgiveness where we can come back into a place of obedience before God.
James warns us that when we do not repent and turn from that sin that sin can lead to death. And we can read that and say, “what does that mean?”
Well, essentially, it means that sin destroys. Sin is not building us up, it is tearing us down. If we remain in a sin, it will destroy some aspect of our life. Now if I am believer in Jesus Christ, Romans 8 tells me that sin cannot condemn me to hell. But on this earth, if I have unrepentant sin in my life, it will bring destruction to some aspect of my life and it could even lead me to losing my physical life.
If someone gives into the temptation to lust after a woman who is not his wife through pornography. And that sin remains in that man’s life what is it going to destroy? The intimacy between the man and his wife. And when intimacy is destroyed what is next, the relationship between the man and his wife. And when the relationship is destroyed, the marriage is destroyed. Sin can bring death to a marriage. In fact, every divorce is rooted in sin.
Maybe someone gives into drunkenness and they get behind the wheel of a car and they kill someone or themselves. The sin of drunkenness can lead to a physical death.
Sin destroys.
Every single one of us faces temptation and will continue to face temptation. That is not the sin. In fact, temptations give us an opportunity for our faith to be matured. They give us the opportunity to be men and woman of prayer. To be men and women who lived obediently to the Word of God. They can give us opportunities to run to God, to hold to him and cling to him.
But when in the moment of temptation when we are lured and enticed by our desires, that is when it opens the door to sin. And when we remain in that sin, that is when the fire of sin destroys our life. Our reputation, our relationships, our work, our finances, our joy, our freedom, it enslaves us, burdens us.
This is a warning from James.
Do not allow the trials of life to lead to sin but rather remain steadfast under trials so that you will have stood the test and be found faithful.