James 1:5-8

1- Your greatest need in your trials is wisdom

2 – Your greatest enemy in your prayers is doubt

3 – Your greatest weapon in your arsenal is faith

Well, good morning, Saylorville. If you brought a copy of Scripture with you this morning, you can find the book of James, chapter one, as we continue in our series, Keeping It Real. James, chapter one.

So how goes the trial? Because we all know about trials, young and old, right? I mean, you’re either in a trial, you’re coming out of a trial, or you’re heading into one. It’s just our life, right? Did you know that the greatest need in your trial is wisdom? Did you know that? And did you know that the greatest enemy in your prayers is doubt? Did you know that? And did you know that the greatest weapon in your arsenal is faith? And that is a virtual outline of the passage we’ll be looking at this morning. James 1:5-8. Follow with me, where James says,

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith without doubting. For the one who doubts is like the wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. He’s a double-minded man, unstable in all of his ways.”

James is still talking about trials. Just to remind you, last week we really began in earnest this series. He said to [James 1:2-4] “count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet various trials,” right? You know, knowing, “therefore, you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness, but let steadfastness have its full effect,” right? “So that you can be complete, perfect, complete, and lacking in nothing.” That’s crazy stuff there. He’s still talking about the trial right now. James is dealing with the subject of our trials, And last week we said from that passage I just quoted that if we’re going to be able to kiss the waves that throw us up against the Rock of Ages, we’re going to have to see them as gifts, even though that’s very counterintuitive. We need to see our trials as gifts from God. We need to see them as joy in the making, and we need to see them as tests. And this was the thing that was most encouraging to me, is a test that God anticipates his children passing. God doesn’t try to flunk his kids. And then the intention is that we might be perfect or “teleios,” mature in our faith.

So this morning, I want to get right into that outline I just quoted for you because in your trial, you need to remember, your greatest need in trials is wisdom. I don’t think we often think that way, but we should. Your greatest need in your trial is wisdom. And we’re told that now if any of you lacks wisdom.

The 17th century philosopher Descartes was famous to have said, “I think, therefore I am.”

But biblical wisdom says, [James 1:21; 4:17] “I know, therefore I do.”

And that’s where we need to get, and that’s replete throughout the book of James right here in

[James 1:22] “Be doers of the word, not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”

And then [James 4:17], “…for him who knows to do what is good and does not do it, to him it is sin.”

And that kind of practical instruction is all over the book of James. Virtually every Old Testament and New Testament scholar and Bible expositor agrees that wisdom is the practical use of knowledge. “I know, therefore I do.” It’s not just amassing knowledge. It’s not just getting more data in your brain. It’s what you are doing with it.

So why claim wisdom as our greatest need? And the answer is because God does. I want you to look over to the book of Proverbs. We’ll put these up here for you. Proverbs, this is, we’re not going to, we could do all, the whole book of Proverbs is a study of wisdom, and James is like the New Testament book on Proverbs, but here’s Proverbs four. And in the beginning of verse five, [Proverbs 4:5] Solomon writes,

“Get wisdom; get insight; do not forget, do not turn away from the words of my mouth. Do not forsake her, and she will keep you; love her, and she will guard you. The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom…”

So God is being redundant over and over again about the necessity and need for wisdom. A couple of chapters over, the more famous chapter on wisdom is the chapter entirely dedicated to wisdom itself and the personification of wisdom, the eighth chapter. And it says in verse 11,

[Proverbs 8:11]

“For wisdom is better… (and whenever you see the word “better,” that’s a term of comparison. It’s better) “than jewels.” (It’s better than riches, it’s better than jewels… ”better than.” In fact) all that you may desire cannot compare to her. (This is an outstanding statement!) I, wisdom, (and this is the personification of wisdom,) I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, and I find knowledge and discretion. The fear of the Lord is the hatred of evil, pride and arrogance in the way of evil, and the perverted speech I hate. I have counsel and sound wisdom. I have insight, I have strength. By me kings reign, rulers decree, princes rule, nobles govern. I love those who love me. Enduring, (I’m sorry, I got ahead of my,) I love those who love me and those who seek me diligently will find me. Riches and honor are with me. (And I love the description of these riches.) Enduring wealth and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold, and my yield than choice silver. I walk in the way of righteousness, in the paths of justice, gaining an inheritance to those who love me…”

So we are talking about wisdom, and God is the one who says that wisdom is the greatest need. And that’s one of the reasons why I think all of us should be, give ourselves, if you’re followers of Christ, you should give yourself to the normal and regular reading of Proverbs, because this is where wisdom is. And sometimes you’ll come across Proverbs and you’ll think, ‘Did he just contradict himself?’ I mean, have you ever read Proverbs 26, where it says, [Proverbs 26:4] “Do not answer a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him,” right? But then you read the next verse, [Proverbs 26:5] “Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.” Well, what is it? Well, that’s the whole point. Wisdom is the ability to be able to discern when to open your mouth and when not to. Allow me to illustrate.

I’ve opened my mouth more times than I can count when I shouldn’t have. But just the other day, I got an email from a prospective visitor. This is a person who hasn’t even been here. Just checking it out on the website. Found us, and he wrote an email. He said, ‘I’ve got, yeah, I have eight questions. Could you please answer these questions before we visit?” And the questions were on marriage. ‘What’s your position on marriage? What’s your position on divorce? What’s your position on homosexuality? What’s your position on transgenderism? What’s your position on racial and social justice? What’s your position on politics? What’s your position on baptism? And who baptizes and who gets to be baptized? What’s your position on women in ministry’ and more. So this isn’t even somebody who’s come to see us yet. And I got to thinking, you know, it could take a solid hour to fill out these questions. So what I did was I kindly wrote him back. I said, hey, these are a lot of questions, but you know what? Why don’t we just have a phone conversation? Can we do that? And I gave him three consecutive days with large swaths of time for 20 minute phone call conversation. We just kind of go through this. Here’s what I got in response. ‘Here’s my eight questions, pretty much ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ I guess your church is not the right one for us.’ Now, do I respond to him… Or not? That is the question. Some would say, ‘Ah… just ignore it.’ And that might not have been a bad idea. Couldn’t do it. (congregation laughing) I did respond to him by saying, I said, “Now look,” I said, “You might want to reread your email because these are not, quote, ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions to be answered. I offered you a respectful reply so that we could talk and you answered me with a disrespectful reply. I’ll take this as the end of our communication,” and  signed off. Which is better than the email… I mean, I’m getting better at this because I got a (congregation laughing) Because some of you might remember, I got an email several years ago, a guy who gave me, sent me a tract that said “16 things that save.” I said, I got that tract, “16 things that save,” and I wrote him back and said, Thank you for your letter. My answer is found in Acts 13:10,” and I sign my name, which says, “You son of the devil. You enemy of all righteousness. How much longer will you pervert the right ways of God?” So I didn’t answer him like that. I still like that first answer, by the way. But I answered him, I said, “You might want to reread this.” I said, “But I’ll take your response as the end of our communication.” And he came right back with another snarky reply. I looked at my wife and said, “Pity the church that gets this guy.” (congregation laughing)

But that’s what wisdom allows you to do to be able to discern when to answer, when not to answer. Because back to James, you see, James says, [James 1:5]

“If anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach and will be given to him.”

I think many of us read that like this. ‘If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask John Piper or some other respected scholar. Since God only gives wisdom reluctantly and only to the most spiritual, often scolding us for even asking.’ That’s not what the text says, right? Seriously, could James be any simpler with his reply? “Ask God.” There it is. It’s one of the 54 imperatives we referred to in the introduction of this message. It’s a command. James isn’t saying, ‘You might want to consider talking to God about…’ No! He’s saying, “Ask God.” This is a command. When he says, “If anyone lacks wisdom,” he’s not saying, ‘Yeah.  Some of you are good to go on the wisdom thing.’ He’s not saying that. This is what we call first-class condition. He’s assuming we have need for wisdom. We all lack it, right? And so he says, “Let him,” imperative, “ask God.” Some of you never ask anyone for help. Your pride gets in your way. Some of you ask help from anyone… but God. And your shallowness gets in your way. Many ask. Few ask God, and we’re commanded to do so. In fact, the Greek here says, “Let him ask the constantly giving God.” That’s how God is described here. That’s beautiful, isn’t it? The constantly giving God. A little bit later, he’s going to say, [James 1:17]

“Every good gift and every perfect gift comes from above, from the Father of lights in whom there is no variation, not even a shadow of turning.”

But look back at the verse [James 1:5] again. “Who gives generously,” (and watch this) “without reproach.” See that? The Greek says, the word reproach there, what does that mean, without reproach? God gives generously without reproach. The word reproach means “to seriously reprimand.” If you got an old King James, it says, “upbraideth not.”

I say that because we were with a couple, my wife and I were with a couple getting married the other day, Luke and Hannah, and we’re talking about stuff, we’re going through the wedding ceremony, we’re talking, you know, when it comes time for the unity, you know. It used to be everybody just lit the candle, you know, two candles, one candle, that’s good, we’re done… candle. And now we got sand coming in, some people doing Lord’s table over here, and there’s all kinds of… they’re going to do a braid, which is really cool, because it’s right out of Ecclesiastes 4:12, you know, that third strand that not easily broken, so they’re going to braid. And so I looked at Luke and I said, have you ever braided? I loved his answer, he says, “No. I’ve been upbraided though.” That’s a good line. ‘Cause to upbraid someone means to scold them. It means to rebuke them. It means to censure them. And here’s the point, God never does that to his kids. That’s the point.

Many of you, some of us have had people in our lives who are constantly asking us for something, right? The takers, who just sort of wear you out, right? It’s like, ‘Here he comes, I’ll just go this way.’ We’ve all met the takers. Some of you are, don’t raise your hand or point any fingers here, okay? But here’s the point. God never does that. He never walks away from you. He never gets weary or tired of your request. He wants you to ask. He’s telling you to do so. Ask God. You’re never gonna wear him out.

In fact, Jesus even gave a parable to this sin, if you remember in Luke chapter 18, he said, ‘I gave this parable to you so you don’t lose heart.’ Have you ever read that? And then he talked, remember that wood, he goes, “Here’s this lady, she’s a widow, she’s coming before this judge, the unrighteous judge. She’s begging him incessantly. ‘Oh my goodness. I can’t take it anymore. Give her what she wants.’ Remember that? And Jesus is saying, God will give you what you want, but he won’t do it reluctantly. He won’t upbraid you. He won’t reproach you. What a good God we have. Amen?

Don’t lose heart for God. He never, ever loses his heart for you. He’s not like a parent, you  know, slaps the hand of his kids who’s reaching for candy. Of course, we’re not talking about candy here. We’re reaching for wisdom and God is glad to hand it out, so ask away, child of God, if indeed you are a child of God. Your greatest need in your trials is wisdom. Ask for it. That’s the command.

Secondly, your greatest enemy in your prayers is doubt. Is that true? I’m asking you, is that true? Yeah, I mean, that’s what the Bible says. ‘Cause look what he says here. He says,

[James  1:5-6]

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach, it’ll be given to him. But let him ask in faith with no doubting for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that’s driven and tossed by the wind.”

“The wind.” The recipients of James were not prayer warriors. If you study the prayer admonitions of this epistle, what you have to conclude is these individuals, generally speaking, were actually weak in their prayer life and their faith walk, and the two usually go together. Remember, James is the consummate practitioner. Their prayer life was weak, their walk was weak. Remember he says to him in chapter four,[James 4:3] ‘You pray and you ask for, you know, you pray, you have not ’cause you ask not, but you’re asking, you’re totally selfish in your prayers.’ Remember that? So yes, it is James who says [James 5:16] “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much,” but he’s not talking about them. He’s talking about what they should be. So these guys are not rocking it, spiritually speaking. And he uses the word “doubt” here a couple of times. See it? We got the old, again, the old King James, (sorry to pick on you with the old King James) but it does have, it’s the word “waver.” It literally pictures somebody who can’t bring things together. You ever met anybody like that? We have people in here like that, you just can’t pull it together. By the way, I love the differentiation. Somebody has said that,

“Knowledge is the ability to pull things apart. Wisdom is the ability to pull things back together.”

Doubters can’t do that. They can’t do that. They just can’t. They’re like “Mary, Mary, Mary.” Or not Mary, Mary’s sitting to at the feet of Jesus. Martha, like “Martha, Martha. Martha,” right? ‘You worry about many things,’ and the word “worry” means to be pulled apart. That’s what people who just amass knowledge, if all you do is dump information in you, you’re really setting yourself up for all kinds of disillusionment because wisdom is telling you to take that info and put it into practice. And what does it look like to ask in doubt? What does that look like?

I took my wife out for her birthday the other day and we went to a really nice restaurant in the area. Kind of a pricey one, I’d only been there, I think, one other time. You ever been to a restaurant where you didn’t know the menu going in, you didn’t check it out? And so you’re looking over the menu, What are you getting? What is he getting? What does she have? I don’t know. And then you see the waitress coming. (yells) You choose. And then you wonder the whole time, did I choose poorly? And then the food shows up and you know you chose poorly. That didn’t happen to me by the way. I got some good advice. On the other hand, there are those restaurants you know. You’ve been there four or five times, maybe more. You know the menu. You know the choice. You know going in what you’re gonna have. You might even know the waitress and you order. The one is ordering in doubt, this one is ordering with confidence, with faith. That’s what it means to order by faith.

By the way, James provides his own illustration for us. That’s the thing about James, if you’re a bad illustrator, just preach and teach on James ’cause you get tons of ’em there. And here it is. He uses “waves.” And waves are tossed. In fact, the Greek carries the idea of extreme agitation. They’re like the waves. Look at it again. [James 1:6-7]

“6 But the one who does so with doubt is like the wave of the sea that’s driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose he will receive anything from the Lord. He’s double-minded, (double-souled,) unstable in all his ways.”

The results are not good when we ask God in doubt. They’re just not good, and you just don’t get anything usually. Besides being discouraged or tossed, flailed about, you even get labeled. Did you see that? You get labeled if you’re a doubter. You are a double-minded person. Literally, the Greek says “double-souled.” You’re like two people trying to compete with one another. In fact, you see the word “suppose” there in James 1:7? “For that person must not suppose.” See that there? That word suggests that you’re operating on feelings rather than facts. Now remember we talked about this a few weeks ago. You remember the Proverbs, Proverbs 4 which says, ‘There’s a way that feels, seems, feels right to a person, but the end is the way of death.’ That’s this person, that’s the doubter. You’re operating on your feelings. There’s never been a culture that is more operated on feelings than the one we’re in now. And you’re setting yourself up for doubt, discouragement, and disillusionment. You might say, if you don’t kiss the rock that tosses you against the Rock of Ages, you just get tossed against the rocks.

Your greatest enemy in your prayers is doubt. Defeat it. And the way you defeat it is by faith. Your greatest weapon in your arsenal is faith. Look at it again. [James 1:5]

“If anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach.”

So he’s there, he’s like a pitcher of water ready to pour into you. [James 1:6] “It’ll be given him for, but let him ask in… (say it) faith.”

Faith. What is faith? We sling that word around And some of us don’t even understand what it is. We know there are certain strong statements in scripture made about faith.

“Without faith, it’s impossible to please God.” Hebrews 11:6. “For he who would come to God, must believe that he is.” (That is, that he exists, that he’s real, that he’s present, that he’s there.) And that he is the rewarder of those who diligently seek him.”

So that describes the necessity of faith. But what is it? Remember Job. Remember what happened to Job? So when you get to the end of the book of Job, you say, ‘Oh, thank you, God, that I’m at the end of the book of Job.’ Anyway, besides that, you get there, and Job gets restored. He gets his health back. He gets his wealth back. He even gets a plethora of kids back. And he’s just totally restored. You remember how God sits down with Job and explains it all to him, remember that? Where he says, “Job, so this is what was going on. ‘Satan came behind the curtain, within the divine council, started debating all this, and there’s all this, and so I let him do that.’ Remember that? Go like this. (Shake your head, ‘No.’) That’s not what happened. Was Job’s health restored? Yes. Was his wealth restored? Yes. Was his family restored? It was. But he never got an explanation. And there’s nothing in there after he gets humbled whereby he asks for that. Faith doesn’t say, ‘God, I’ll trust you if you’ll explain everything to me.’ It just means I’ll trust you.

Just the other day, my son, who’s actually planted a church a year ago in Illinois, he and I had not conferred back and forth. Can you believe it? He began a study, and he’s preaching through the book of James. And we’re on the exact same text. We never had one conversation. What are the odds of that happening? So, it was just so fun going back and forth, he’s looking at his notes and [I’m] encouraging him, and him, me. He wrote this in one of his messages. He said,

“I need resources for my trial, not reasons for my trial.”

And that’s a true statement. Your resource is God. Ask God who gives generously, right? Listen, we trust God because he’s good for his word, period.

And there’s a reason that Abraham was called the father of our faith. Because he virtually defines faith. When the apostle Paul was talking about Abraham, you know… you go back to the book of Genesis. You remember the story. God takes Abraham. He’s like about 100 years old. He doesn’t have any kids. Remember that? He says, ‘Hey, look, look out, can you count those stars, Abraham? No. Way too many to count. You’re not gonna be able to count how many kids I’m gonna give you either.’ ‘What… I’m almost 100 years old!’ No… He doesn’t do that. Genesis 15:6,

“Abraham believed God and it was accounted unto him for righteousness.”

And that gets repeated in Haggai. It gets repeated in the New Testament over and over again. That’s Abraham. But what does it mean that he believed? ‘Cause the word believe and faith are the same, virtually the same words in the original. So what does that mean? The apostle Paul helps us out. I know that, you know, when you think about, You’ve heard, what is faith? Someone says faith, “F-A-I-T-H, Forsaking All I Trust Him.” Okay, that’s good by the way, I like it. I’m not even against that. It’s probably worth memorizing, easy to memorize. I’d rather have something biblically robust to go on. What does that mean, forsaking all I trust him? I’ll show you what it means. Paul tells us what it means. You ought to memorize this verse ’cause it’s right out of scripture. Romans 4:21, where the Apostle Paul writes, Abraham was, this is where he’s describing, he’s defining faith.

“Abraham was fully convinced,” (there it is) “that God was able to do what he promised.“

That’s what it means to have faith. To be fully convinced that what God has said, what God has promised, he’s able to perform. He’s able to do, because he’s God, Amen? You don’t question him, you just believe it. That’s what faith is, right there.

I mean, here is Daniel, the great prophet. He’s old now. He’s been in Babylon for many years, and he’s reading the Bible. He’s reading a scroll from Jeremiah who wrote 70 years earlier. Well, here it is. Look at Daniel 9:2-, he reads this. Daniel nine,

“In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books,” (he’s talking about Jeremiah’s book,) “the number of years that, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, 70 years. Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying, “Oh Lord, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments.”

And he goes on and prays. What is Daniel doing? I’ll tell you what he’s doing. He’s praying by faith. Daniel’s prayer… Daniel was reading Jeremiah who had written 70 years earlier, who had said, you know, this captivity is gonna be 70 years. And Daniel’s reading, he’s going, ‘Oh my goodness, the 70 years is about up!’ And he starts praying. In other words, Daniel simply took the word of God at face value. He believed the promise of God and that the captivity was coming to a close. When you’re fully convinced that God is able to do what he says he can do, you’re ready to fight all doubt that creeps into your mind. And you do it by faith.

Just the other day, we had a prayer module. It was a wonderful thing. Some of you may have been there. And we had Pastor Chuck De Cleene, former pastor of our church, one of our pastors at least, was teaching on it, and he referred to Mark 11:22-24. We’re not gonna put it up there, but I’ll just… it’s where the context is, Jesus, remember Jesus cursed the tree. The next day they came back, it was just dead. Remember that? They’re going, ‘Oh my goodness, he cursed, it just died, can you believe that?’ And Jesus says, ‘Are you kidding me? If you have faith, you can say to this mountain… It goes… And then he says, “Have faith in God.” If you pray, whatever you pray, it’s gonna happen. And Chuck De Cleene said to us yesterday, he said, “I know the charismatics misuse this verse.” And then he paused, he goes, “But I love it.” And I loved that statement. Believing God to do great things, living by faith.

Your greatest weapon in your arsenal against all doubt is faith. Fight with it. Your ultimate resource is God. Your greatest gift is wisdom. Your greatest enemy is doubt. And your greatest weapon is faith.

But faith has to have an object. It has to have an object. We’re not having faith in our faith, right? It’s not faith in your feelings, not faith in your church, not faith in your pastor. We have to have an object, and that object needs to be the Lord Jesus Christ. The writer of Hebrews put it like this. [Hebrews 12:2]

‘Looking unto Jesus, the author and (what?) finisher of (what?) our faith (our faith) who for the joy that was set before him (remember, we said faith is joy in the making) for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and now he sat down at the right hand of the throne on high.’

You wanna join him? You can, if you’ll put your faith in the one who was crucified for you and rose again for you by faith, believing the promise of God that what he has promised he’s able to do. And here’s his promise from Jesus himself. [John 6:37]

“He who comes to me, I will in no way cast out.”

Do you believe that? Let’s pray.

Our Father in heaven, We thank you for giving us everything we need for life and godliness. Through the knowledge of your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, through the instruction and promises of your word, from the power of your Holy Spirit who comes to live within us, you, upon request, give us our greatest need, wisdom. And we have been reminded today, Lord, wisdom isn’t just knowledge. It’s the application. It’s the practice. It’s the use of that knowledge. Oh God, we ask you to give us wisdom. Give me wisdom and the willingness to do what you’ve told me to do. That’s wise. Help us to be like Paul who said, [Philippians 2:13]

“It’s God who’s at work in you, both to will and to to do for His good pleasure.”

Help us to that end, Lord. Help your children, those who really know you in this room and watching online, who are really, truly children of God, to obey your command, ask for wisdom, and believe you without doubting by that greatest weapon in our arsenal, faith. It is the victory. I pray, for those, Lord, who’ve never placed their faith in the greatest object of them all, the one who hung on a cross for their sins, died for their sins, rose again for their sins. Truly, Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith. And if that’s you, dear friend, if you have never had a time in your life where you said, “Lord, I am a sinner. “I’m separated from you. “I’m distant. “I need my sins to be expunged, forgiven, taken away.” And if you believe that Jesus being God died for you and rose again for you, would you just tell God that? Tell him you’re sorry. And by faith, you believe it. And if you believe by faith that God, that God who you’re coming to right now, will not cast you out, He will take you in. Would you believe that right now? Right now, would that be your prayer? Make it your prayer so that you might become, in this very moment, a child of God. God, we pray all these things. In the name of your son, the Lord Jesus. And all God’s people said, “Amen.” Let’s all stand.