James 4:21 clearly calls us to “receive with meekness the implanted word.”  Last Sunday we learned that when God saves us, He puts new desires for His Word within us by the Spirit. Then we were challenged with this thought – if you don’t have a desire for the Word something is wrong.  

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What if I don’t desire the Word?

Three possibilities come to mind.  All three involve some serious examination.

First, examine yourself to see if you’re in the faith. 2 Corinthians 13:5 states this very clearly.  One evidence that God has regenerated your soul is the desire for His Word.  Many people can get involved in a Church, say and do all the accepted Christian external behaviors but inside not know God personally. (Matthew 7:21-23)  

Think about the closed Bible illustration. If I say I’m a Christian but have no desire for God’s Word, my life is stating I don’t want to hear anything from God.  I don’t want to hear about who God is and how I’m united with his Son Jesus Christ.  I’m not interested in God’s Word and what I’m called to do as one of His children. 

Examining yourself to see if you’re in the faith will be the toughest but most fruitful examination you can do. If you have any concerns in this area, contact your Pastors, a Community Group leader or a trusted, mature believer you know. 

Second, examine your desires.  I would submit that for most regenerated believers the desire for meeting God in His Word is there but possibly buried.  Buried down deep below other desires that dominate your life right now. 

That image of God’s Word being closed to us like an unopened Bible is powerful.  For most of us it’s simply examining our lives to see what else has taken desire into our lives.  Maybe multiple things have risen in our hearts so that what is most important - opening God’s Word on a regular basis- now is secondary or only occurs only when it’s convenient, etc.  Picture God’s Word closed yet you are zipping by it numerous times a day desiring/chasing other less important things that have captured your heart.

Third, examine your season.  If you are typically hungry for God’s Word yet sit under a message like James 1:19-21 and sense the Spirit say “you’re that person”, maybe you’ve simply drifted and allowed other desires to temporarily bury your desire for God’s Word.  We all drift, we need to guard our hearts (Proverbs 4:23- in fact just read all of Proverbs 4!) and grow to ruthlessly guard the desires of our hearts.

For every believer, God has not only implanted His Word in us but give us His Spirit.  The Spirit of God is there to help us grow in understanding what a gift His Word is to us and for us.  He will transform our desires and bring us to a place where we eagerly desire His Word.

If you read the first 2 chapters of Genesis carefully, you’ll quickly see that what makes us distinct from the rest of creation is our ability to interpret the facts before us and respond in ways that glorify our Creator (or not.)  We don’t just live by the facts, we live by how we interpret those facts as we see in Genesis 3 where Eve listened to Satan re-interpret the facts of what God said.

Fast forward to James 1 and now we are instructed how to respond differently to trials.

Christians who follow James’ wisdom can be transformed in how they respond to the facts of their trials.

What we have learned is that looking inward instead of outwardly blaming God is an important part of the process.  It’s not the only part we’ve learned so far but it’s an important part.

By the grace of God we can resolve to resist the temptation to outwardly blame God and spend much more fruitful time examining our hearts. As God instructs us to be steadfast in James 1:4, 12 , one aspect is to grow and learn to know when we are tempted and to avoid being lured away.  This is fruitful work especially as we grow to “count our trials” pure joy knowing God is at work.  

We heard last Sunday that temptations aren’t sinful.  They simply bring us to a point of decision (Galatians 5:14-16).  What fantastic imagery we get from God’s Word!  An untreated temptation can quickly be like a lure to a fisherman.  Most fish have God given instincts to be nervous Nellie’s as they seek to feed all day long.  Fish just won’t eat something that doesn’t look perfectly normal. When fly fishermen attempt to create a fly they go to great detail to make sure it looks organic and matches the bugs in the river.  If not, they will never “lure” the fish away.  Fish instinctively avoid flies that unnatural, inorganic, etc. 

That’s a great picture for us. As we heard on Sunday, we need to engage with our temptations allowing God’s Word to inform our response and like fish, be extremely careful so we aren’t being lured away into sin. That’s step one on the road to “let steadfastness have its full effect.”

Step two is for many of us who do get lured away.  God gives grace to those who realize they have been lured away and given birth to sin.

Repentance allows us to put off being lured away and turn to God in forgiveness.

What’s the key? Sobriety and intentionality (Hebrews 3:12-13) when it comes to examining our hearts and making sure we aren’t “enticed by his own desire.” Let’s not be lured away!

James begins his brief letter to the scattered and battered Jewish Christians with a radical and seemingly irrational command—Count it all joy when you meet trials of various kinds. Below are a few words from the sermon on 2/21/21 that show the brilliant rationale to such a radical command.

Scripture

We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance - Romans 5:3

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. - Colossians 3:1-4

For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. - 2 Corinthians 4:17-18

Quotes

“Frankly, many of us would prefer that this passage was not in the Bible! But it may also be one of the most profound and crucial for truly mature Christian living.” - Craig Blomberg

“James is commending the conscious embrace of a Christian understanding of life that brings joy into the trials.” - Kent Hughes

A Gospel Primer for Christians: Learning to See the Glories of God's Love

By Vincent, Milton

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“More than anything else I could ever do, the gospel enables me to embrace my tribulations and thereby position myself to gain full benefit from them. For the gospel is the one great permanent circumstance in which I live and move; and every hardship in my life is allowed by God only because it serves His gospel purposes in me. When I view my circumstances in this light, I realize that the gospel is not just one piece of good news that fits into my life somewhere among all the bad. I realize that the gospel makes genuinely good news out of every other aspect of my life, including my severest trials. The good news about my trials is that God is forcing them to bow to His gospel purposes and do good unto me by improving my character and making me more conformed to the image of Christ. Preaching the gospel to myself each day provides a lens through which I can view my trials in this way and see the true cause for rejoicing that exists in them. I can then embrace trials as friends and allow them to do God’s good work in me.” - Milton Vincent, The Gospel Primer