The Crown of Life | James 1:12-18
Introduction
What if I told you that your life was like the Truman Show? Everything and everyone is staged around you, and situations are being manufactured to see how you will respond. And those responses are being documented for millions of faithful viewers to analyze and pick apart.
Unnerving, right? Can you imagine—every single day in every single moment landmines are everywhere, and the entire world is watching you to see how you will respond. And worst of all…if you remember the movie…you have no idea it’s happening.
But what would happen if you could somehow find out that everything you face comes from somewhere, that the world around you isn’t random? Would that help reframe and reorient the way you view the various circumstances that come to you—whether joyful circumstances or hard circumstances? Would that inform how you respond to them and how you behave in the midst of them? And what if you knew the end, could see the ultimate rewards? As Loren said last week so well, knowing the end from the beginning should have a regulating effect on our emotions and our actions.
And the Lord, in his kindness to us, through his servant James, gives us such a perspective. And he has been the entire letter thus far—acknowledging us exactly where we are in the business and trials of life…exactly where we are every Monday–Saturday.
The Christian life is not just one constant blissful mountaintop experience, but made up of hills and valleys and plateaus and deserts and ravines that need courage to cross…it’s not the perfectly staged coast town of the Truman Show, but the battleground where war is waged against our own sin and desires. That’s the glory of the entire Word of God, but particularly in this letter of James—it locates us in the every day of life and gives us a perspective and understanding for all that I experience, and then calls me to respond.
What kind of people ought we to be? How ought we to respond when the trials of various kinds come—how do we remain steadfast? Those are the questions we return to in our text today, and in it we find a sober reality and a glorious reward promised.
In verse 12, James pivots back. Having discussed wisdom and faith, the seasons of poverty and prosperity, he returns now to focus back on the topic that he opened the letter with—trials and suffering. Only now, he begins to draw distinctions. What was above described as “trials of various kinds”—an intentionally broad stroke—he now unpacks with nuance. We must tread carefully here.
Of all that is going on in this passage, James seems to be drawing a contrast between 2 distinct types of trials: testings and temptations. These twin trials may look similar, but they have a different source, call for different responses, and ultimately promise two totally different outcomes. And it is in these two categories—tests and temptations—that we begin to make sense of the various ways that we are tried in this walk of life. And it is uniquely in how we respond to these hard circumstances, regardless of their source, that we begin to understand ourselves and our need for the gospel.
So as we walk through this glorious passage, we are going to compare and contrast testings and temptations, looking at their roots, their responses, and their ultimate rewards.
Testing & Temptations: The Roots
Verse 12 begins by congratulating all those who face trials that test their faith and have remained standing.
Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.
—James 1:12
And it is that word test that is important to remember. It is the same Greek word used back in verse 2–3…
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
—James 1:2–3
The word being used here for testing is meant to convey this approval that can only come from putting pressure on something, trying it out to see if it’s genuine or not. Like a bridge that has been tested and approved for its structural integrity, or an aircraft where every rivet and bolt and electrical system has been tried and tested and signed off on, giving it the green light to carry millions of souls around the world at 30,000 feet in the sky. There is a type assurance and security that comes from something that has been tested and approved.
Paul communicates this idea to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:15 when he says…
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
—2 Timothy 2:15
How will you do with the test of handling the word, Timothy? You must rightly handle it so that you have no need to be ashamed…and notice who it is you are to report to, who it is handing out the exams—God himself.
Under his divine sovereignty, all things ultimately come from God, the creator and sustainer of all things. Remember Job 1 and the divine throne room, where Satan, the ultimate temptor must come into God’s presence in order to be given the permission needed to carry out and inflict the horrific trials that were brought upon Job. Satan is the evil actor, but all done under the divine supervision of the Almighty for the testing and trying of Job’s faith.
Or think of Jesus in Matthew 4—immediately after his baptism, Matthew records this…
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
—Matthew 4:1
It is the Spirit of God, the same Spirit that had just descended in his baptism, that now leads him into the wilderness in order to be tested. So Scripture repeatedly communicates that, when we face trials, our faith is tested, and it is ultimately being tested by God to see what our faith is made of. It is ultimately a kindness from God, a refining process, that exposes our weaknesses, laying us bare before the God who knows all things, and reveals to each of us where the gospel needs to be applied.
Of course, the scene James likely has in mind when discussing the testing of our faith under trial is in the very beginning, where the first man and woman were tested, and failed miserably. The test was simple: would they obey the simple command to not eat the fruit of the tree. Would they trust that God was good and intended all things for their good, and would they trust that he would provide everything they need? As we know, epic, cosmic failure.
One final example from God’s word of the Lord testing his people…Abraham and Isaac. After all the tremendous promises God had made to Abraham—he would be the father of many nations and his descendents more numerous than the stars—and then his miraculous provision of those promises, seen in the birth of his son Isaac when he and Sarah were at such an old age. And now, out of nowhere, God commands the unthinkable (Genesis 22:1)…
After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
—Genesis 22:1–2
Can you imagine? Literally every parents’ worst nightmare, and it clearly coming from the very hand of God? James is clear that this testing is from God, and it serves a purpose…to reveal our hearts and assess the integrity of our faith. John Calvin, commenting on this passage makes clear the distinction between tests from God and evil temptations this way…
[God] tries us as to what we are by laying before us an occasion by which our hearts are made known. But to draw out what is hid in our hearts is a far different thing from inwardly alluring our hearts by wicked lusts.
—John Calvin
So the root, the origin and source of testing, that which examines and assesses the genuineness of our faith, comes from God. But James makes a sharp distinction in v. 13…
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.
—James 1:13
You can just hear the tone of James: “DO NOT BLAME GOD FOR YOUR TEMPTATIONS!” Well…what are temptations and how are they different from testing?
The Greek word used for “temptations” is different then the one used here for “tested”—to be tempted is to be enticed by sin for sin. Temptations are done by evil doers for the purpose of tripping up the feet of the Christian.
Again, think of the Garden scene. The Lord tested the man and his wife by placing the tree in the Garden and commanding them not to eat of it, to see if they would respond and obey by faith. Enter the crafty serpent—of course happening under the sovereignty of God—whose aim is to ruin the perfect garden. Think again of Matthew 4 when the Spirit of God led Jesus out to the wilderness to be tested…by being tempted by the devil himself.
In v. 14, James makes clear the origin of all temptations
But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.
—James 1:14
Temptation finds its origin in sin—both external and internal. You can hear this fishing metaphor…sin, the demonic, false idols, they put bait before us, dangling out in front of us, enticing and luring us…we might not want it, we didn’t ask for it, but it's there promising to satisfy you, and just asking you to take it.
In our hyper-sexualized age, temptations to sexual sin seem to be everywhere! Someone who struggles with lust can genuinely say, “There are lewd images everywhere, and I did not ask for them!” True…but James won’t let us off the hook that easily.
The bait is put before us, but we take that bait because we desire it. And those desires are ours. We are lured and enticed by our own desires! These are inordinate desires that flow from our corrupt sinful nature, but they are ours nonetheless. Sin affects not only the things that we do, but the things we desire as well.
Anyone who is tempted to sin—which is every single person in this room—doesn’t ask to be tempted. So how then are we culpable? It’s like a sting operation is being run on us all the time! Like Truman, is everything staged and stacked against us?
James is crystal clear that, although all things sovereignly come from God, he is not to be blamed for our sin. Calvin puts it this way…
This warning [to not blame God] is very necessary, for nothing is more common among men than to transfer to another the blame of the evils they commit; and they then especially seem to free themselves, when they ascribe it to God himself. This kind of evasion we constantly imitate, delivered down to us as it is from the first man. For this reason James calls us to confess our own guilt, and not to implicate God, as though he compelled us to sin.
—John Calvin
These distinctions are fine, and maybe can feel like semantics…but the difference is vital. Is God responsible for the evil we face? Or are we? When we face temptations every single day, can we look to the heavens and say, “This is your fault! You made me this way!” James is crystal clear—NO!
So the root of our temptations come from sin, and the source of the testings of faith we experience are from the Lord…what about how we respond to these circumstances?
Testing & Temptations: The Responses
Some of you may or may not know this, but in college I was heavily involved in theatre. I loved acting, and musical theatre, and all that was involved. One of my favorite plays I was in was Jane Austen’s classic Pride & Prejudice. A common question I would get from my friends and those who came to the play, saw us rattle off these long monologues, and would be to ask, “How on earth can you memorize all those lines?? I could never do that.”
My answer to them is that there really isn’t any great secret to memorizing lines—those of you who have memorized Scripture know that the only way to really memorize something is simple: repetition, repetition, repetition! I would begin by just saying the lines over and over and over and over again to get them just into my bones. Some actors would write all their lines out several times…whatever was needed to just get them into your system, you do it.
But then, as the rehearsal process continued, actors would say their lines the same way over and over again so that you would begin to anticipate what the next line would be. In other words, the lines in a conversation between two characters would just make sense.
But how do you move from memorizing lines (which any one can do), to “acting”? The next question I would ask is, “ok, I know the lines this character says, but now I need to figure out why he is saying them. What is this character’s motivation—pride, love, selfishness, anger, jealousy, etc?” Then I would simply try and communicate and embody that motive in how I delivered the lines I’d already memorized. Viola…the magic of acting!
We are all characters in a story. Not like Truman, but we are characters. We are not just bodies or robots that simply do things or say things, but we do and say the things we do because we are certain kinds of characters. How we react to the various circumstances—the various trials—of daily life is wholly dependent on the type of people we are.
And the reality is, when it comes to our self-awareness, we are often self-deceived. In every story, we naturally want to cast ourselves as the hero, the Mr. Darcy of the story…when in reality, we may be a Mr. Wickham—deceptive and nefarious, using our charm and charisma to insert ourselves into the lives of others for our own benefit. Or, more likely, we are a Mr. Collins—awkward and aloof, bumbling through life unaware of how we are perceived.
Our responses are a good indicator of what type of person we are. As we said, we do the things we do because we desire them. Regardless of the source or origin of the trials we face, how we respond reveals our desires
James describes the relationship between the temptations we face and our responses in v. 14–15…
But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
—James 1:14–15
The metaphor James imploys here is that of human development. Conception, birth, and growth. That’s powerful. The connection between the sinful actions we commit, regardless of the scale and scope of those actions, and our sinful desires is like the connection between you now and the you in the womb. Those are not two different people, but rather the same you at different stages of development. Is there any more organic connection than that?
Jesus uses a different metaphor to make the same point in Luke 6…
“For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
—Luke 6:43–45
You will know a tree by its fruit. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Apple trees produce apples, not oranges. There is no compartmentalizing our actions and our desires—they are organically and intrinsically linked. You can not divide the sinner from the sin. Sinful people do sinful things. And the diagnosis that James gives us is that when we respond to circumstances of life with sin, that is the fruit of our hearts revealed…thus is the nature of trials—they reveal who we really are.
So the circumstances come and we often respond with the sin in our hearts. Finances are hard, like Loren preached last week, causing us to doubt the providence of God in our lives. The sudden death of a loved one causes us to doubt the goodness and love of God. The suffering we experience in our struggle and the ease by which the wicked seem to succeed cause us to doubt the justice of God. Doug Moo summarizes it by saying…
Testing almost always includes temptation, and temptation is itself a test.
—Douglas Moo
Every circumstance, regardless of its root, is an opportunity to remain steadfast. And James, under the inspiration of the Spirit, is warning you that, in the midst of the heat of trials, your emotions are check-engine lights for the state of your heart. And if you find yourself lashing out or responding in sinful ways, trace it back to the source: your own heart.
So how do we change? What hope is there for us? Well, James doesn’t just leave us in the midst of the storm, but shows us the end of the road and where temptations and testing find their conclusions.
Testings & Temptations: The Rewards
The stakes could not be higher. James spells out for us the final destination of the road set before—life or death. Listen to the warning again James gives in v. 14–15…
But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
—James 1:14–15
If you take that bait, and if you feed that beast, and you don’t cut it off and see it for what it is, you are walking the path that ends in death. Temptations are everywhere, so tread carefully—your very life is at stake. Temptations offer satisfaction, but it is a trap. Sin can not satisfy the desires of your heart—and haven’t we all experienced that reality? So why do we return again and again? Don’t fall for it! Be like Odyseus, when he hears the sirens call, and tie yourself to the mast of your ship and sail on.
The book of James is often seen as the NT version of the OT book of Proverbs. James likely knew the book of Proverbs well, and thus wrote for us a kind of “Guidebook to the Christian Life” that has many echoes of Proverbs in it.
Solomon knew the dangers of temptations well. Listen to this warning to his son concerning the adulterous woman in Proverbs 7 (this is worth reading the whole thing…)
For at the window of my house I have looked out through my lattice, and I have seen among the simple, I have perceived among the youths, a young man lacking sense, passing along the street near her corner, taking the road to her house in the twilight, in the evening, at the time of night and darkness. And behold, the woman meets him, dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart. She is loud and wayward; her feet do not stay at home; now in the street, now in the market, and at every corner she lies in wait.
She seizes him and kisses him, and with bold face she says to him, “I had to offer sacrifices, and today I have paid my vows; so now I have come out to meet you, to seek you eagerly, and I have found you. I have spread my couch with coverings, colored linens from Egyptian linen; I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love till morning; let us delight ourselves with love. For my husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey; he took a bag of money with him; at full moon he will come home.”
With much seductive speech she persuades him; with her smooth talk she compels him. All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a stag is caught fast till an arrow pierces its liver; as a bird rushes into a snare; he does not know that it will cost him his life. And now, O sons, listen to me, and be attentive to the words of my mouth. Let not your heart turn aside to her ways; do not stray into her paths, for many a victim has she laid low, and all her slain are a mighty throng. Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death.
—Proverbs 7:10–27
This is serious. Notice…the adulterous woman didn’t break into the young man’s house, kidnap him, and force him to come away with him. No. He was strolling about the city at night near her house. Solomon is right to characterize him as “lacking sense”. And when she confronts him, he is seduced, persuaded, and on his own free will follows her, not knowing that he is a dead man walking.
What that boy needed in that moment was for someone who loved him enough to yell, “Don’t go out there! Don’t go near her house! Don’t go with her no matter what she promises! Don’t take the bait! Run in the other direction!” And that is what James is doing for you and for me.
But death is not the only thing promised here. Don’t miss the great promise James gives at the beginning of this passage…
Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.
—James 1:12
Sin and temptation, while falsely offering satisfaction, lead to death and the grave; but steadfastness under trial, standing up in the midst of suffering and clinging to all that God has promised for you by faith leads to the glorious crown of life.
Life! That’s what’s promised. And where does this come from? From the same place all good and perfect gifts come from—God the Father. James announces, as he did back in v. 5 when he exhorted those who lack wisdom to ask God, that any good gift we receive, anything, comes from God, and that he does not change.
And what is it that we need more than anything? If our fruit comes from the sinful root that we all have, we can not just replace our fruit. Just cut away the apples and tape oranges on our branches. No, behavior modification will not do here—it will not receive the crown of life. What we need is a new tree. We need our heart of stone replaced with a heart of flesh. We need new desires. Our sinful desires are at war within us. Paul describes this dilemma and proclaims the solution beautifully in Romans 7…
So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!.
—Romans 7:21–25
The greatest gift that God has given you is not a reprieve from hard circumstances, or an easy life, or a rich life…the greatest gift he has given you is the person and work of his only son, Jesus Christ, in whom we have received grace upon grace upon grace—new desires that long to obey, new longings yearns for more of his Spirit, and a fixed focus on the great reward of the crown of life, which can only be received by the steadfast and faithful.
And here is what I believe James was working towards in this entire passage…
In Christ, we receive new hearts and new desires that can resist temptation no matter the circumstance, and pass the test by faith to receive the crown of life.
And the reality is that this is all from God and his gracious giving, and is expressed in the ordinary, every day of life. That’s where 99% of the fight of faith, the fight against the temptations of sin, takes place. Oswald Chambers says it succinctly…
“Discipleship is built entirely on the supernatural grace of God. Walking on water is easy to someone with impulsive boldness, but walking on dry land as a disciple of Jesus Christ is something altogether different. Peter walked on the water to go to Jesus, but he “followed Him at a distance” on dry land (Mark 14:54). We do not need the grace of God to withstand crises— human nature and pride are sufficient for us to face the stress and strain magnificently. But it does require the supernatural grace of God to live twenty-four hours of every day as a saint, going through drudgery, and living an ordinary, unnoticed, and ignored existence as a disciple of Jesus. It is ingrained in us that we have to do exceptional things for God— but we do not. We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things of life, and holy on the ordinary streets, among ordinary people— and this is not learned in five minutes.”
—Oswald Chambers
Where is it learned? It is learned in Christ. It is Christ, the god-man who was tempted in every way that you and I are, and yet did not take the bait. He withstood every test, every trial, every temptation and declared, “Not my will, but yours!” And thus secured for each of us the ability to now do what he did and what Adam and Israel failed to do—to resist all temptations and remain steadfast under trial..the ability to be exceptional in the ordinary. The miracle of regeneration means that you do not need to remain that sinful character. You, by God’s grace, can become a new character in the great drama of redemption. That character, James says, is blessed.
Do you know him? Do you see him? Do you thank God in the midst of your suffering that you do not walk alone, but have received the greatest gift of all—Christ Jesus our Lord, whose body was broken and blood shed for you? Paul summarizes this way…
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
—Philippians 2:5–11
Because of King Jesus, you can have victory over sin. So hold fast as he holds you, and cling to him who has defeated death, and receive the crown of life.