How Do I Deal With Temptation? James 1:13-18

We're looking at the Book of James. It's a letter written by Jesus, half brother, one of the key leaders in the early church in Jerusalem. That's actually one of the. The first. That is the first Christian community that's quite, you know, interesting to think about.

And James was known as a pillar of that early church. He was someone who was respected for his wisdom, his courage, how he brought people together. And he led that church through some incredibly difficult circumstances. And what we have in this letter is, in many ways, James's wisdom distilled for us. It's short, it's direct, and it doesn't pull any punches.

And that's what I like about it. And last week, Pastor Simon took us through the first half of chapter one. It's where James tells us that life's trials and hardships can paradoxically become opportunities for God to produce endurance in us. God can do amazing work in the midst of suffering. He can use those moments to shape our character, help us become people who are more closely resembling Jesus, or, in James's words, people who are becoming perfect and complete.

And that's good news for us. You know, what James has outlined for us already is that God is at work. He's restoring fractured people and making us whole. And as Pastor Simon showed us, that begins with wisdom. That begins with wisdom, the ability to see our circumstances from a different perspective.

And so Pastor Simon ended his sermon last week with this verse. It's James, chapter one, verse 12. He says, God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterwards, they will receive the crown of life that God has promised of those who love him. So that's.

That's what true wisdom looks like. Choosing to trust that God will bring about something good even when our circumstances don't feel good, trusting that God will bring about a blessing for those who patiently endure through testing and temptation. And. But what you might notice there is that James makes an important shift in that verse. He moves from talking about testing to talking about temptation.

And in doing so, he highlights the difference between being tested by difficult circumstances and being tempted to do something wrong. And James wants us to understand that difference, because sometimes the hardest part of a difficult circumstance isn't the circumstance itself. It's the temptation that it stirs up inside of us and temptation. It's an interesting thing to think about, and I thought of it recently as I watched the Odyssey. I'm sure most of you have seen or know at least about the Odyssey.

This is, you know, Christopher Nolan's latest retelling of an ancient Greek piece of literature. It's an epic. And in that it's got a story about Odysseus, who's a hero. Odysseus and the Sirens. And the Sirens, they're these mythical creatures.

They have this song that has this power to lure people in to their destruction. And so their song, it's so irresistible that sailors who are passing by, they hear it, they're drawn towards the Sirens and they're destroy, right? And in that story, Odysseus, he knows the Sirens are dangerous. He's aware of the power that they hold, but he wants to hear their song. And now his crew, they do the smart thing in this story.

They put wax in their ears and so they don't listen to the song at all. They remove themselves from the temptation and so they sail past the Sirens. They're unaffected by what they hear, or more accurately, by what they don't hear. But Odysseus, he wants something different. He wants to hear the song.

And so he comes up with a plan. He asks the crew to tie him to the mast of the ship. And no matter how much he begs not to release him. And now that's, you could say, certainly wiser than simply sailing past with no protection at all. But there's still something unwise about his decision, isn't there?

He's deliberately putting himself in a situation where he knows that he'll be tempted and so he knows it's dangerous, he knows it's going to affect him, and yet he wants to experience it anyway. And when that moment comes, exactly what he feared happens, right? He hears a song he desperately wants to give into it, and he pleads for his crew to release him. The desire becomes so strong that he no longer wants that protection that he's previously asked for. But the crew, they keep him tied to the mast like they're commanded to, and they pass by the Sirens and he survives.

And that's what makes the story so interesting. Odysseus knew the danger, but he still wanted the thing that was dangerous. And I think that is something that we can all understand on some level. We all know what it's like to be in a situation where we know what we should do. But there's something else, incredibly, something else seems so incredibly appealing.

So we know that we should tell the truth, but telling a lie would be easier. We know that we should be content. We want what someone else has. We know that we should walk away, but we choose to stay. And yet, in the moment, the wrong choice can look incredibly Attractive.

And so that's the question that James wants us to wrestle with this morning. Why can we know that something is dangerous and still want it? And James doesn't just tell us that temptation is a problem. He helps take us beneath the surface. We go a bit deeper.

He shows us where temptation comes from, how it works, and where it leads. So we're going to step into God's word, and we're looking at James, chapter one. We're going to step through verses 13 to 18. It's going to be up on the screen, but I'd encourage you to have this open in your own Bible as well. And if you don't have a Bible, we do have copies down the back.

They're free. So let's get into this together. This is verse 13. It says this. And remember, when you're being tempted, do not say, God is tempting me.

God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else. So the first thing James makes clear is that temptation is going to be part of the Christian experience. He doesn't say if you're tempted. He says when we're all going to experience that this is just part of the human condition. And so James has been talking about trials and testing, and now he knows there's a danger in confusing the difficult circumstances that God allows with the temptation to respond wrongly to those circumstances.

And so he wants to make sure we're all on the same page here. He says very clearly, God is never tempted to do wrong and he never tempts anyone else. He's telling us something about God's character, something really important. God isn't attracted to evil. He isn't standing over us waiting for us to fail.

The difficult circumstances may be real, but God is not enticing us to sin through them. God is not the source of the temptation. Right? So James says that actually it's impossible for God to do that. Instead, the source is us.

He goes on to say this in verse 14, temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. And so James says the source of temptation is. Isn't God. It's also not the situation we're in. He traces the problem much further upstream.

The source is our own desires. And so he's getting at the fact that there is something going on inside of us that no one sees. There are desires that we have that are deep inside of us, and the issue lies there. And we might describe that place as the heart. Proverbs 4.

23 says, above all else, guard your Heart, for everything that you do flows from it. And so the heart in the biblical sense isn't simply our emotions. It's the core of who we are, the part of us that shapes what we love, what we value, our desires, and ultimately what we pursue. And from that place deep inside of us comes our desires. And James says those desires are so strong, they're so strong they can entice us and drag us away.

And that's powerful language, isn't it? You know, this picture is something that draws us in and then begins to pull us in a direction, direction that we don't want to go in. Something that becomes uncontrollable. And so is James suggesting that desire itself is bad? And we'd have to say no, that the Bible doesn't present human desire as inherently evil.

Scripture celebrates good desires like love, intimacy, security, belonging. And a good example of that comes from the Song of Songs or the Song of so on. And the example I've got here is from chapter eight, verse six, it says this.

Well, actually first of all, the song, if you're not familiar, this is an entire book of the Bible that is, that celebrates love, attraction, intimacy between people. It's quite remarkable in and of itself that there's an entire book of the Bible dedicated to that topic. And so in this verse here, it's describing love and it says this, it says, place me like a seal on over your heart, like a seal on your arm. For love is as strong as death, it's jealousy as enduring as a grave. Love flashes like fire, the brightest kind of flame.

And so that's, I think that's a beautiful picture of desire in a good place. It's talking about this love and passion that men and women have for one another. The writer isn't embarrassed by the strength of that human desire. They're celebrating it, actually. They're celebrating it and they talk about placing that desire over their heart.

That's symbolic of something that is deeply treasured. But notice the metaphor they use. It talks about desire being like fire and it flashes like fire, the brightest kind of flame. And fire is an interesting thing. Is fire good or is fire bad?

It's. It depends, doesn't it? It depends. You can't say where it's good or bad. It depends.

It can be good when it's in an environment where its power can be channeled towards positive life giving things. So fire is good when it's providing warmth on a cold night. It's good when it's lighting a candle, when it's used to cook food on a campfire fire can be channeled towards these positive life giving purposes. And it's good when it's in an environment that promotes that. And so fire isn't something that we just need to eliminate.

But you put that same fire in the wrong place and it becomes incredibly destructive. And we know what that looks like. We live in Australia. We know the destruction that the bushfires wreak. You know, that same fire that provides warmth in one environment can destroy landscapes, homes, people's lives in another.

And I think that's a helpful way of thinking about desire. So coming back to this verse in James, desire itself isn't necessarily the problem. The problem is what we do with that desire and where we allow it to take us. And so James's point here is to not make us think that all desires are bad and should be suppressed. Desires are not inherently bad.

We have legitimate desires. We know that there's love, there's intimacy, acceptance, security, respect. You know, those desires aren't inherently sinful. The problem comes when those legitimate desires are misdirected. So, for example, we might say, I want to feel secure.

That is a legitimate desire. You know, and we all need some level of security and stability in our lives. But it can become, I need more and more money and possessions so that I can guarantee my future. And so the desire for security, that's not necessarily the problem. The desire has become distorted into greed, right?

The belief that having more than we need will finally make us feel secure. Or you could say, I want intimacy, that's a legitimate human desire. But it becomes, I will have an affair because I want that intimacy. And again, the desire for intimacy isn't inherently sinful. The desire has been misdirected towards something God has forbidden.

And that's what makes temptation so subtle. Often temptation doesn't begin with us wanting something that's obviously evil. It begins with something that is perhaps good in itself. But we begin wanting it in ways that are wrong, at the wrong time or at any cost. And James says those desires can entice us and drag us away.

And that's why we shouldn't simply ask, is this desire good or bad? It's not really the right question. We should ask, where is this desire taking me? Because a legitimate desire, when it's disconnected from God's good purposes, that becomes a destructive one. And James is about to show us just how serious that process can become.

He goes on to say this in verse 15, these desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow it. It gives birth to death. So James gives us a progression here. He says, these misguided desires, they turn into sin that becomes death.

And notice the image that James creates for us here. He describes temptation almost like a pregnancy. He says, you know, something is conceived, then it grows, then eventually it gives birth to something else. And that's important because James is showing us that sin rarely begins with the final action. Right?

No one wakes up one day thinking, today is a day I'm going to be consumed by greed. No, that doesn't happen. Greed might begin with simply wanting something more. I wish I had what they have. And that turns into I deserve that too.

Which becomes, I need more. And eventually I'll do whatever it takes to get it. And lust can begin with a passing attraction. And then that turns into us choosing to look again, which becomes, you know, us beginning to fantasize about that moment. And then we start deliberately seeking out things that feed that desire more.

And eventually, what began as this passing thought, it's become something that we're actively pursuing. And James is warning us. He's warning us. He's saying, don't underestimate those small beginnings. There's an old illustration about temptation, actually, that I really like.

It's a attributed to Martin Luther. You would know him. He's a German reformer. He says, you can't keep birds from flying over your head, but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair. And I love that.

It's a really great and helpful picture, I think, of temptation. Helpful picture. You can't necessarily control every thought that enters your mind. You can't stop every temptation from appearing. But there's a difference between a bird flying over your head and letting it build a nest in your hair.

So that's a helpful way of thinking about what James is saying here. Not every passing thought is a sin, or we repeatedly entertain can eventually take over. And James wants us to know that this is serious, saying this is really serious. So we need to reorient ourselves and change our focus. And so he finishes off this section with these verses.

He says, so don't be misled, my dear brothers and sisters. Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow. He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession.

James says, don't be misled. He's just told us where temptation comes from and where it Leads. And now he says, don't be deceived about this. Don't believe the lie that God is somehow holding out on you, that you're missing out, that you'd be happier if you took matters into your own hands. James says, the truth is, everything that is genuinely good comes from God.

So don't be misled. Instead, look at who God actually is and ask, what do I know about God's character? We know, like he says in verse 17. He says, he never changes or casts a shifting shadow. God doesn't change, and that's good news for us.

It means his goodness isn't here one day and gone the next. His goodness doesn't depend on our circumstances. He is consistently and completely good. We also know he chose to give birth to us by giving us his true Word. That's what James says in verse 18.

That's the ultimate evidence of God's goodness, isn't it? James is saying, God didn't give us rules. He gave us new life. He chose to give us birth through His Word. He's talking about that transformative power that Jesus brings into our lives.

And so the goal here is not just to modify the behavior. It's about allowing Jesus himself to work on those core issues in our heart. And then James finishes with this incredible statement. He says, and we, out of all creation, became his prized possession. And that is the opposite of the lie temptation tells us.

Temptation is saying, God is holding out on you. James says, you are deeply loved by God. God isn't trying to deprive you. He is the Father who gives, and he calls us his prized possession. And so perhaps the deepest issue James is addressing isn't simply how do we resist temptation.

It's do we trust that God is good? Because when we trust that God is good, we don't have to believe the lie that we're missing out. Right at the heart of temptation is a lie about God. And the lie says, God isn't giving you what you really need. And once we believe that, we start looking elsewhere for what we think will satisfy us.

James is telling us, don't be misled, because God is not the God who withholds what is genuinely good. He is the Father who gives. And he has already demonstrated his goodness by giving us new life through Jesus. And so when temptation comes, we're not simply trying to summon enough willpower to say no. We're reinforcing our belief in something deeper.

God is good and his way leads to life. And when we know that, that changes how we respond to Temptation.

So what does this actually look like in our lives? James gives us, I think, some really practical things to think about. They're on the screen there. The first one is this. Identify the desire underneath the temptation.

All right? So when you are tempted, don't just ask, what am I being tempted to do? Ask, where is this desire? What is the desire driving this action? What am I really wanting?

James identifies the problem much further upstream. He's saying it's not the situation we're in. It's actually a problem in our hearts. He says temptation comes from our own desires. It comes from a place that's deep in our hearts.

And it's usually not about the thing itself. Usually it is much deeper. We say, you know, I. I want to be respected. I want to feel loved. I want to feel secure.

And I think the more honestly we can identify the desire, the better we can bring it before God. So don't. Don't justify the behavior. Trace it back to the source and then bring that to God. The second one there is Ask where the desire is taking you.

James says that our desires can entice us and drag us away. So ask, where is this desire taking me to? A desire for intimacy can become an affair. A desire for security can become greed. A desire for success can become dishonesty.

A desire for rest can become laziness. The question isn't simply, is the desire bad? It's am I allowing this desire to pull me away from God? The third one there is deal with temptation early. James gives us this powerful picture of something that is conceived, then it grows, and eventually it gives birth to something else.

It's like a monster that you're feeding, you know, and you know it's dangerous, but you keep on feeding it, and eventually it becomes so strong that it overpowers you and it drags you away. And James's advice is deal with the temptation while it's still small. Right. If you know a particular situation is consistently pulling you away from God, put some boundaries around it. If certain conversations are feeding resentment, step away from those.

If certain websites or apps are feeding lust in you, then change your access to them. Delete those apps. If your smartphone is the problem, get a dumb phone. Do what it takes to change your habits. If your desire for that financial security is feeding greed, put some boundaries around your pursuit of money.

Set a limit on your spending. Decide in advance what you're going to give away, and don't keep changing those goalposts for what you need to feel secure. And so none of those Things are necessarily going to be easy or convenient. But James says that you need to be decisive about this. If you don't deal with it early, it will consume you.

And finally, the fourth one there, I think the most important one is remember who you are. Now, James finishes by saying, you are God's prized possession. Right? That's important to remember when you're being tempted, because temptation can make you forget who you are. Temptation is telling you that you need this, you have to have this, and this will make you whole.

But James reminds us here, he says, you already belong to God. You don't have to find your identity in the things that you're being tempted by. You don't have to prove your worth. You are already God's prized possession, and he has already given you new life through Jesus. And so when temptation comes, you can just pause and say, I belong to God.

I know that God is good. God has not forgotten me. I don't need to take matters into my own hands because I can trust God with this desire. Because ultimately, James isn't just teaching us how to say no to temptation. He's teaching us to say yes to God, to trust that God is good.

Let's pray. Dear Lord, we just come before you this morning and we declare that. We declare that you are a good, good God. And we trust you, Lord. You have proven that you are good, that you are trustworthy.

Because you have sent Jesus, Lord, to die for us, to rise again, to give us new life. And we pray, Lord, that that would just transform us. We. We ask for forgiveness, Lord, for letting those misdirected desires in our lives take hold. Forgive us, Lord, for those times where we've dwelt on those thoughts, where we've turned them into sinful action.

Lord, we ask for your forgiveness. There we repent. And we recommit ourselves to you this morning. Lord, we just declare that we love you, that we trust you, Lord, and we ask for you to transform our hearts. We ask, Lord, that Jesus would just renew us and transform those things that are deeply rooted, those things that are hidden, that are deeply personal, that are problems in our heart, Lord, that you would work on those in a supernatural way and transform us into people who are becoming perfect and complete people who are like Jesus.

Amen.