James 1:13-18
One evening after worship I went into the office of a church I served and made a delightful discovery: someone had anonymously given me an entire box of donuts! There was a nice card, yet nicer still was the variety of donuts in the box: chocolate, vanilla, strawberry-iced and assorted cake donuts and cream-filled donuts. I have a sweet tooth and this gift made my night!
As I recall, most of them were gone before bedtime. I had given at least one away earlier, but the rest my family ate. And when I say, “My family” I mean mostly “Me.” Oh I didn’t eat all of them myself, but I ate far more than I should have.
Now, I could reason, “Well, you know, I deserved those donuts. After all, they were given to me and the person who gave them intended that I enjoy them.” Yes, but they probably did not intend that I enjoy them all at once.
Truth is, I allowed my desire for something good be an occasion for temptation. James says, “Each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.” My eating too many donuts was not the anonymous giver’s fault. Eating too many donuts was nobody’s fault but my own.
To be sure, my consuming too many donuts may be thought a relatively minor offense, not unlike the little boy whose mother caught him in the kitchen with his hand in the cookie jar. She thundered, “What are you doing?!” And he replied, “I’m fighting temptation!”
With such levity, I certainly don’t mean to overshadow the seriousness of greater temptations, I’m just not willing to describe my own in this post. Of this we may be certain: whatever the source and substance of our temptations, James indicates that the pattern is always the same: “Each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.”
In fact, James provides no fewer than three facts we must know about temptation. Let’s read the passage first:
13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.
14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.
15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.
16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
18 Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.
Know the Cause of Temptation
James cautions, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God.’” In other words, don’t blame God. God is not the cause of temptation. When you are battling temptation whether it is a temptation to overeat, to drink, to use drugs, to look lustfully at someone, to insult another, to strike another—whatever your temptation—don’t blame God. He is not the cause of temptation.
Not only is God not the cause of temptation, but He Himself, “cannot be tempted by evil.” We know this to be true of God if we have a biblical theology of God. The Bible teaches that God is all-sufficient. There’s nothing He needs, nothing He desires, nothing He craves. So God cannot be tempted by evil. He is completely satisfied in Himself and is all-sufficient.
And James adds, “Nor does He Himself tempt anyone.” Why? Because God does not delight in sin. He’s not going to tempt anyone to do evil. He hates evil. God is not the cause of our temptation.
Does this truth keep us from blaming God? No, the “blame game” was played first in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3). Our first parents (Adam and Eve) played the blame game. They both succumbed to the temptation to eat the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Life. Afterwards, God questions Adam and Adam blames Eve—and God! Remember what Adam said? “The woman…You gave me! She made me do it!” Then God turns to question Eve and Eve blames the serpent.
Will Rogers used to say there were two eras in history: the passing of the buffalo and the passing of the buck. Blaming others, or “passing the buck,” is inherent to our sin nature. We are, after all, Adam’s children.
No, we cannot blame God for being the cause of our temptation. So who is to blame? James teaches that the cause of temptation does not originate with God, but with us—or better still, within us. He write that “each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.”
Sin is always an inside job. Sin begins in the heart. Each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires, often wrong desires, or misplaced desires. We sin only when we allow ourselves to be “drawn away” by these desires and then “enticed.” We must recognize these desires for what they are and immediately renounce them. If we will do that we will avoid being “enticed” and led into sin. Therefore, yielding to temptation is nobody’s fault but our own. Rather than blaming our actions on others—including the devil—we must own our actions.
Like the construction worker during his lunch break at the job site. He opens up his lunch box and says, “Oh, no! Baloney sandwich again! 4 out 5 days this week, it’s been a baloney sandwich. If I see another baloney sandwich, I’m gonna be sick.” His construction worker buddy says, “Well, why don’t you ask your wife to pack you something else?” And he says, “Oh, I’m not married. I pack it myself.”
At least he owned his actions! The cause of temptation is an inside job. We must realize that we have within us the ability to be drawn away by our wrong or misplaced desires. If we yield to those desires, we will be “enticed” and fall into sin.
Owning our actions is to acknowledge that we can avoid sin. We are not powerlessly drawn away and enticed by something beyond our control. Someone has said, “You can’t keep birds from flying over your head, but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair.” So true!
In a moment we’ll consider behaviors that will help us respond correctly to temptation, lessening the likelihood of our yielding to it. Before we do that, let’s feel the full force of James’ warning by considering a word picture for the words “drawn away” and “enticed.” They are both words that convey ideas from fishing or hunting. They are the same words used to describe the “baiting” of something, like baiting a trap or baiting a fish. To be “drawn away” is to be “lured” as by a fishing lure.
Few fish will bite a hook if there’s nothing on it. So if you’re wanting to catch a fish you cover up the hook with some kind of bait. The bait hides the hook. So the fish comes along and sees the bait. He doesn’t see the hook. The fish swims up to the bait and finds the bait attractive. The fish is “drawn away by his own desires and enticed.” The fish has taken the bait. And what does the fish now discover? Underneath that bait is the snare of the hook. And all at once it is all over for the fish. Too late to turn back. The hook is set and the fish is caught.
It’s one thing to take about fish and quite another to talk about men and women, but the pattern is the same. Once we allow ourselves to be drawn away by our desires, it is just a matter of time before the hook is set and we have entered into sin.
Now this leads us to the next fact James wants us to know about temptation. We have considered first the cause of temptation. Next:
Know the Consequence of Temptation
Once we allow ourselves to be drawn away by our desires and enticed, James warns: “then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”
Remember: this all takes place within each person. Again, sin is an inside job. See how it works in one of the most familiar accounts in the Old Testament: King David, a godly man once described as a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22).
We read in 2 Samuel 11 that King David stays at home during a season when kings are generally found on the battlefield. The Bible says that one evening David walks out on his rooftop, to have a look around. And from this vantage point he happens to see a young woman bathing herself. Now, had David just turned away and gone back inside that would have been the end of it. But he didn’t. He kept looking, watching this young woman, Bathsheba, watching her as she bathed herself.
His perpetual looking was not Bathsheba’s fault. The text suggest she is completely unaware of his watching her. It was David’s fault to continue looking. And the more he looked, the more he thought and the more he felt. Desire was forming from within. And the longer he looks at this unsuspecting woman, a married woman as he will soon learn, the more greatly David allows himself to be “drawn away by his own desire and enticed.” Remember what James writes next? “When desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin.”
David calls for this woman, Bathsheba, and she is brought to the king’s palace. Given his royal position and the expected compliance of all persons under his authority we shouldn’t be too surprised by Bathsheba’s willingness to follow the king’s directives. The writer’s economy of words is understandable: “Then David sent messengers, and took her; and she came to him, and he lay with her…and she returned to her house (2 Samuel 11:4).”
Many today may call this merely a fling, an affair, or a one-night stand. The Bible calls it a sin, namely the sin of adultery. And, as is often the case with such egregious sins, the duration of the sin was remarkably short compared to the years of consequences that followed.
James asserts: “When desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” James is writing metaphorically and yet, in David’s case, this literally happened. The child conceived by Bathsheba dies as a consequence of David’s sin, discipline by God. And the death of the child was certainly a painful consequence for both David and Bathsheba—and yet a fate worse than physical death was the death of David’s vigor and spirit for the rest of his days. He is clearly a broken man after his adultery. He doesn’t strike us as the same man of God he once was. He is broken. Broken by sin and temptation. He failed to consider the hook that had been hidden by the bait.
Little wonder James should then caution, “Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.” Oh the deception that temptation engenders! Never think that you can give in to a particular temptation “just once” and all will be well. We must never toy with temptation. Learn from David! Do not flirt with others. Don’t click on questionable web links. Don’t look at the picture. Don’t watch the video. Don’t even joke about sin. Listen again to James’ warning: “Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.”
Here is a reminder that we are all capable of being deceived. Just as trials are inevitable, so is temptation inevitable. James writes: “Let no one say when (not if) he is tempted…” Every Christian is subject to temptation. As Paul warns elsewhere, “Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall (1 Corinthians 10:12).”
Thankfully, God provides the means of escape from every temptation. Paul goes on to say in the very next verse, “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it (1 Corinthians 10:13).”
This happy consideration takes us to the next fact Christians should know about temptation. We have read of temptation’s cause and consequences. Finally:
Know the Correction for Temptation
Perhaps the correction seems as easy as just saying “No” to temptation. Isn’t that all there is to it? Just stop, don’t look, don’t go there?
Saying “No” certainly is necessary, but this action alone is incomplete. We must not only say, “No” to something, we must also say “Yes” to something—or better, Someone.
When Christians give-in to temptation they are allowing themselves to be drawn away by wrong or misplaced desires. These desires are substitutes for the only thing that can completely satisfy our inner yearnings: a vibrant, sustaining, relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ. So while saying “No” to wrong desires is necessary, it is equally necessary to say “Yes” to right desires. We avoid the “badness” of sin by delighting in goodness of God.
Delight in God’s goodness
James writes: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”
Directing our gaze upward, James describes God as the, “Father of lights,” the one “with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”
There is some helpful theology here. The word “variation” James uses is an astronomical term. Unlike the ever-changing lights that move across the earth as it rotates on its axis creating “variation” of sun rays and moon beams that result in “shifting shadows,” the Heavenly Father of lights, the God who created the lights, He never changes.
God is constantly the same, perfect in all of His ways. He never changes, which means He always does what is right and always acts in good ways. You can count on Him to be there always and to be faithful always. He is always doing good things and providing good things for His children.
Why do you think James places this truth at this point in the text? Given the context, it would seem James is teaching that the correction for temptation is theological. This verse reminds us of the character and nature of God. He is consistently good. He is not temptation’s cause; He is temptation’s cure. He is the correction for temptation.
So rather than settling for a bad gift, the gift that comes in the form of a baited hook, delight in the goodness of God. Say “No” to sin—that’s half of it—and to the other half: Say “Yes” to God. Reject the broken cistern of murky water—your temptation to sin—and drink from the well that never shall run dry. Turn to God.
Delighting in God’s goodness means enjoying the abundance of good things He gives to His children. He gives good gifts like satisfaction, joy, peace, love. These good gifts are enjoyed precisely because God has given Christians the greatest gift of all: new life, regeneration and salvation through the power of the gospel.
James explains, “Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of His creatures.” The greatest and most perfect gift that comes from above is the gift of new life.
Delight in the gospel
Of God’s own will He “brought us forth by the word of truth.” That is, He birthed us or “caused us to be born again by the word of truth,” by the gospel.
Christians have been “brought forth” or birthed again by means of the gospel. And James adds that our being given new life does not end with us. God gives us new life “that we might be a kind of first fruits of His creatures.”
The term “firstfruits” is an agrarian term, a reference to the farmer’s first gleanings, “firstfruits” of the harvest. The first gleanings were a sign of a greater harvest to come. So we believers are “a kind of first fruits of His (God’s) creatures,” the first saved souls of more to come, the promise of more children with new natures to come, more persons who will be born again, more persons “brought forth by the word of truth,” by the gospel.
So Christians successfully tackle temptation by delighting in the gospel. Of all the good and perfect gifts God has given, new life in Christ is unquestionably the best. In fact, apart from the gift of salvation, Christians cannot enjoy any of the other gifts, such as true peace, love, and joy.
Delighting continuously in the goodness of God is the secret to tackling temptation. Intentional reflection upon, and experiencing of, the joy of our salvation is the means by which we will walk in holiness.
Earlier we recalled King David’s sin with Bathsheba. Most of us know the story quite well. After David had sinned, he was confronted by Nathan the prophet. David responds by confessing his sins of adultery and the plotting of the death of Bathsheba’s husband. David repents.
We have Psalm 51 as one of David’s greatest psalms of confession and repentance. It was written after David had been confronted by Nathan. One of the most stirring lines in the psalm is where David writes, “Restore to me the joy of Your salvation (verse 12).”
Have you ever wondered precisely when David lost his joy? Surely it did not happen all at once. It is hard to imagine David’s suddenly losing all of his joy moments before or even moments after his noticing Bathsheba. Does it not stand to reason that David lost the joy of his salvation slowly over time, long before that infamous evening?
In a practical devotional, writer Timothy Paul Jones, considers this very question:
I would suggest that David’s loss of joy was not the result of his sin but part of the cause. David’s sinful actions were the fruit of his failure to recall that the lasting joy of God’s salvation far outstripped the passing pleasure of Bathsheba’s flesh. David had already lost sight of the joy of God’s salvation before he saw the young woman bathing on the roof and chose to call her into his chambers. It was, at least in part, due to David’s misplaced joy that he sacrificed his integrity for a false and fleeting joy that could never satisfy his soul. Now, the penitent king begged God to restore his lost joy. 1
Then he adds:
“Purity flows from a heart that recognizes the joy of God’s salvation as a gift more satisfying than any competing pleasure the world can provide.” 2
Again, Christians must say “No” to that which is bad by saying “Yes” to that which is good. If we are walking regularly with the Lord, daily finding our soul’s satisfaction in Christ, delighting in God’s goodness and God’s gospel, then we are more likely to prevail over temptation. We will battle temptation from a position of strength rather than weakness.
What About You?
- “You can’t keep birds from flying over your head, but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair.” What are some of the “birds” that pester you? How can you “keep them from building a nest in your hair?”
- Paul writes that when Christians are tempted, God has made “the way of escape” for them (1 Corinthians 10:13).” What exactly is “the way of escape” and how does it work?
- Are you honestly experiencing “the joy of God’s salvation?” If so, how can you sustain that joy? If not, what can you do to get it—or get it back?
- 31 Days of Purity, ed., Tim Challies; www.challies.com/articles/31-days-of-purity-the-joy-of-salvation; accessed February 28, 2020
- ibid.
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