Wednesday after Invocabit - James 1:2-15 - February 17, 2016
Office of Matins - pg. 32
Hymn #447 Fight the Good FightO Lord, mercifully hear our prayer and stretch forth the right hand of Thy majesty to defend us from them that rise up against us; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
Sermon on the Epistle Lesson
In
the Name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
1)
“My brethren,
count it all joy when you fall into various trials.” When trials come upon
us, or as James says, when we fall into various trials, we are to rejoice.
James is calling us to rejoice in hardship, especially in spiritual hardship.
The word translated “trials” is peirasmoi/j, which is translated “temptation” a few verses later in verse 12. Trials
and temptations, however you wish to translate it, are bound to come in this
life. Sunday we heard that the devil, having no shame and endless tenacity,
even temps our Lord Jesus to sin. In today’s New Testament reading the same
Jesus tells His disciples, “you are the
those who have continued with me in my trials,” (Luke 22:28), in my peirasmoi/j. Those twelve men
continued with Jesus in His temptations and trials, but they would face their
own. Jesus tells Peter, “Simon, Simon!
Indeed Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat” (Luke
22:32). If the devil cannot destroy the Christ with temptation and trial then
he will most certainly do all he can to destroy the Christian with temptation
and trial. His goal is not to prick but to mortally wound. His purpose is grind
your faith down to a find dust, to chaff which the wind can blow away. He does
this through the temptation to sin and the temptation to despair of God’s mercy
once you realize your sin. The combination, when rightly used, is deadly. Luther
was not using flowery language when he wrote, “The old evil foe now means
deadly woe; deep guile and great might are his dread arms in fight. On earth is
not his equal.” When one considers just how dangerous temptation is, just how
spiritually deadly it can be, James’ words don’t make all that much sense. “Count it all joy when you fall into various
temptations.” It appears that instead of rejoicing in temptation we should
do all we can do blockade temptation’s entrance into our hearts and minds lest
it worm its way in and destroy us.
2) But the words of the Lord stands. “Count it all joy when you fall into various temptations.” Not, “when
you fall into temptation,” as in, “when you find yourself sinning, but “rejoice
when you are besieged by temptation, “when
you fall into various trials.” You know what it’s like to fall into various
trials. Jesus gives you a picture of it in the parable of the Good Samaritan. The
man who is on his way from Jericho to Jerusalem “fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead” (Luke 10:30. That
man fell, peripe,shte, and you are to
count it all joy when you fall, perie,pesen, into various temptations. When temptation falls upon you it often feels
like you are surrounded by thieves who strip off your clothing, wound you, then
leave you half dead. The devil comes along and through temptation tries to trip
you of the robe of Christ’s righteousness given to you have at baptism. He
excites your flesh with desire so that you sin, often against your conscience,
leaving you wounded, regretting what you’ve done. Once the temptation has run
its course he then taunts you with the fact that you sinned, magnifying it in
your own sight so that you feel as if you’re left for dead on the side of the
road. James states the progression of how temptation works in verses 14-15. “But each one is tempted when he is drawn
away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives
birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”
3) How is one to rejoice when he falls into trial and
temptation when we know the strength of the adversary? How are we to rejoice
whenever temptations come against us, knowing the weakness of our flesh, which
itself is tainted with sin and wants to sin!? We are to rejoice because we also
know “that the testing of your faith
produces patience.” Patience might be slightly misleading. James writes u`pomonh,n, which is better
translated “endurance” or “perseverance.” You can count it all joy when various
temptations fall upon you because you know that this is how the Lord your God
teaches you to endure and persevere. Trial and temptation are the Lord’s school
for learning the strength and fortitude of faith. Perseverance will complete its work in you so hat you are
whole and complete, lacking nothing.” Too often when we feel temptation we
automatically hit the panic button. It is a good thing to flee temptation. It
is a noble thing to be vigilant for it. But when it comes one must not simply
panic that you are being tempted. Too often people assume that if they are
being tempted that must mean they are weak in faith. You might reason to
yourself, “If I were a stronger Christian I would not face this temptation
anymore. If I had a stronger, more steadfast faith, I would be nonplused at
this temptation, I wouldn’t even desire it.” But that’s not how it works. If
you experience temptation in your flesh and in your mind then count yourself
blessed, for all the saints of God were tempted by various things! Christ
Himself was tempted by the devil, not just in the wilderness but all throughout
the days of His humiliation, even on the cross when the Jews taunted Him to
come down if He were really the Messiah. To feel temptation is not the same
thing as to give in to the temptation. If we assume they are the same thing
then at the first feeling of desire we must shrug our shoulders and jump right
into the sin.
4) Instead the Lord wants you to fight temptation so that He
may give you u`pomonh,n, endurance, perseverance, so that these might continue to perfect your
faith and trust this side of heaven. When various trials and temptations befall
you, you are not to shrug your shoulders and give in, assuming you have to. You
are called to fight! You are called to endure up underneath the temptation. You
are called to persevere through it, in many and manifold ways, until the
temptation lets up and God drives the devil away. You can rejoice in
temptations because you know that this is how God treats His sons. He led His
Only-Begotten Son into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. So He leads
His sons who He adopted through Holy Baptism into temptation as well, in order
to test them and prove their faith, not to Himself, but to them. It takes
wisdom to understand temptation in this way. This is why James writes that “If
any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives all liberally and without
reproach.” It takes wisdom to rejoice in trial and temptation because that
is not how we, by nature, understand temptation. But the Lord promises to give
wisdom to His baptized sons. Another part of this wisdom is understanding that
the temptation will subside at some point and that the Lord will provide an
escape. The escape hatch provided is the promise of perseverance and endurance.
The escape hatch in temptation is knowing that Christ Himself prays for you
just as He prayed for Peter during His passion, “that your faith should not fail.” Even when Peter failed and fell
to temptation, denying Christ three times, his faith did not fail but returned
him to Christ in penitential weeping and sorrow, the opposite of Judas’ worldly
contrition which told him the answer was at the end of the rope.
5) To rejoice in various trials and temptations you must
first remember that they are bound to come. More than that, you must remember
that God your Father allows them to come so that He can conform you to the
image of His Only-Begotten Son. Christ is the crucible into which He pours you
to remove the dross of your own imagination and self-reliance. The second thing
you must remember is that God the Father wills that you endure the temptation
and stand fast by placing your trust in His sure and certain Word. Christ
intercedes for you in the hour of temptation so that you do not succumb to
temptation and that your faith does not fail in the trial. Christ gives you
everything that is needed to overcome temptation in His promises. And when you
do fall to temptation, when you give in, give up, or fall by the weakness of your
flesh, do not despair. Your savior understands the weakness of the flesh and
the power and pull of temptation, for He was tempted just as we are, yet was
without sin. If Christ only had Christians who never fell into sin then Christ
would not have any Christians at all. Even the great teacher of the Gentiles,
St. Paul, confessed to all the world, “For
what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. I find then a law, that evil is present
with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God
according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring
against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin
which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this
body of death? I thank God -- through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 7:15, 21-25). If St. Paul struggled
against temptation and trial in his own flesh until the day of his death, you
can take heart that you will be no better than the Apostle. And when you fall
into sin, you can rejoice that you have the forgiveness of sins when you repent
of your sins and believe the promise of the Gospel.
6) So rejoice when you fall into various trials and
temptations. Pray that you may endure up underneath so heavy a cross. Pray that
you might persevere under such attacks of the devil and your own flesh. Pray
that you always remember that there is a difference between feeling temptation and
agreeing to the temptation. Finally, give thanks that your Lord Jesus prays for
you in your temptation just as He prayed for St. Peter, that your faith should
not fail, no matter the outcome. You are a beloved child of God because Christ
has baptized you. That means you will most certainly be tempted the devil. So
it is for all the sons of the Father. But rejoice, in these trials and
temptations He desires to impart heavenly wisdom, perseverance, and enduring
faith to last you not only through one temptation but through all them unto
life everlasting.
In the Name of the Father and of
the Son + and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.