[Originally preached 13 June, 2004]
James 1.5-8
The topic of our text is one that we need to hear often. James writes about prayer. Aware of the difficulties of faithful Christian living, he wants to encourage the saints to pray. So, he gives reasons to pray. But he also gives a warning about what will undercut prayer. I urge you to give your attention to the preaching of the Word so that you might be encouraged in this most important area.
James ended the previous paragraph pointing to the goal of faithful Christian living. ‘And let patient endurance have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.’ His thought was about the need for integrity and wholeness as a Christian. There should be no lack in these things. In our text he anticipates a possible concern of his listeners. ‘What if I do lack something?’ James focuses especially on lacking wisdom and that fits with the subject of trials that he was dealing with. But James’ comments apply to any lack. So, I’m going to put aside the specific lack of wisdom and consider what James has to say in a general way to see how this might encourage us in our prayers.
In bringing up the idea of a lack, James points to one of the prime motives for prayer: need. You won’t pray if you don’t have a sense of need. The person who doesn’t pray is saying, ‘I have no need, at least no need to bring to God.’ But that kind of thinking makes no sense for a Christian. At the very heart of the Gospel is the simple thought, ‘I need Jesus’. By definition, a Christian is someone who feels that need. It is a need that is real every day. So, you see why I say that lack of prayer makes absolutely no sense for the Christian. Christians will pray. But I hope that you see what an encouragement this is to us since we are aware of our need. James fairly shouts his counsel. ‘Do you have a sense of your need? Good. Ask God! Pray! Needs are met when you pray. So, don’t wait. Pray!’
But this isn’t enough for James. To encourage them even more, James directs the attention of his hearers to the character of God. It’s as if he were saying, ‘When you feel needy consider the kind of God you worship. As you do that, you will be even more encouraged to pray.’ Here, there are several things to see. The first is hard to make clear in an English translation of text. In the next part, your Bibles read something like, ‘God who gives generously…’ Translated that way the emphasis quickly goes to the idea of God being generous. But we miss something that James wanted us to get. The way he writes the sentence emphasizes that our God is the ‘giving God’. He loves to give us things. And there are lots of Scriptures that tie into this. For one thing, there is the familiar 23rd Psalm. ‘My cup runneth over.’ What is David saying here? He’s emphasizing the thought that his God is not miserly in passing out His blessings. He doesn’t give us just enough. We are given an abundance of His blessings. Our cup overflows. And even as it does overflow God is still saying, ‘Here, have some more.’ He is the giving God. Then, there is what Jesus said in Matthew 7. ‘If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!’ [Matthew 7:11] Good parents count it a joy to give gifts to their kids. One of the kids has a birthday and he’s opening his parents’ gift. When he sees what it is he’s excited. And a smile is on his parents’ faces. ‘Good. He likes it.’ What is this but a faint picture of your heavenly Father’s joy at doing the same thing. He loves to give to His children. He is the giving God. Now, some Christians don’t pray so much because they aren’t convinced that their God is actually like this. Maybe they haven’t seen a generous spirit in others and so assume that God is like that too. But James works to change that attitude. Our God is the giving God. If you have a need ask Him. Don’t be afraid. Ask Him. He loves to give to His children.
James then builds on this in a couple of ways. He talks about the God who gives ‘generously’ or ‘liberally’. Now, this word group is a bit odd. Listen to how it is translated in another place. ‘If your eye is single then your whole body will be full of light.’ [Matthew 6.22] That’s the KJV. Other translations describe the eye as ‘clear’, or ‘healthy’ or ‘good’. The basic idea of this word group is the notion of being focused, intent on one thing. So, it’s translated as ‘generous’ in our text. God is intent on giving you what you need. But there is a bit of a difference between someone who is generous and someone who is intent on giving. Someone who is generous will give once he is made aware of the need. But someone intent on giving doesn’t wait to be made aware. That’s what your God is like. He is eager to give to you because that is His intention. He is focused on you so that you might flourish.
James still isn’t done. He, then, adds another phrase, ‘without reproach’. What’s he getting at here? There are those who are reluctant to ask God for anything because they are afraid. They are afraid that God might say, ‘What! You again? Didn’t I just send you a bundle? And do you remember what you did with it? You wasted it. And now you expect more? You’re kidding, right?’ Now, the fact of the matter is that God could say that. How often have we taken His blessings and completely misused them! Our sin in these things is great. So, God could say those things and be justified. And yet, He won’t. He will never reproach you. Never. And that’s His promise. It’s like the father with his returning prodigal son. Even before the foolish boy has finished his speech the father is showering him with gifts. Imagine what he could have said. Your God is even better than that.
In all of these things, James is pointing to a key to a lively prayer life: understand your God. Get to know Him. He loves to give to you, to take care of all your needs. So, He gives abundantly, intent on your welfare. And no matter how badly you mess things up, He will never throw it in your face. That is your God. And as you get to know Him better and better you will find yourself more and more encouraged to pray.
James, however, isn’t finished. Verse 6 begins, ‘But…’ Here, some folk might be tempted to think, ‘Now, you’re going to take away what you just gave. Now, you’re going to tell us all the conditions and the fine print so that when you get to the end of it all praying is still an iffy proposition.’ Now, I would understand it if you thought something like that. So often, things seem too good to be true and the reason is that they are too good to be true. But the Gospel isn’t like that. It does seem too good to be true. But it’s even better than that. Don’t assume that James is going to take away anything of what he just wrote.
Let’s read a bit more of verse 6. ‘But let him ask in faith…’ Here, is another place where ignorance is not bliss. Ignorance of the Scriptures always results in trouble. For so many, praying in faith means praying with some special feeling, with a certain kind of conviction. It means having a certain state of mind about your request. We all know of people who have prayed thinking that they have this state of mind. They pray for healing of some disease or for Mr. Right to show up or for something else. But when nothing happens there are problems. Some become disappointed in God. ‘I prayed in faith. I just knew that prayer would be granted. I met all the conditions. But it didn’t happen. God let me down.’ Now, they may never say that out loud. They may never even admit it to themselves. But something within them changes. Hope withers a bit. God isn’t all that they were told that He is. And so, there is this cloud that casts a shadow on their relationship with God. The sun never shines on their walk with God as brightly as it once did. Then there are those who, instead of being disappointed in God, are disappointed in themselves. ‘I am such a terrible person. Why can’t I believe well enough? What’s wrong with me? God seems to answer other people’s prayers. Why can’t I get this right? I must be just one of those second-rate Christians.’ How sad. These are people who are discouraged and have given up hope. And why? It’s because they don’t understand what the Bible means by faith. Faith isn’t a feeling or even a conviction. Christian faith is always a response to something that God has said. Faith is the Christian saying, ‘I believe what You’ve told me, Lord.’ True faith can be strong and solid, convinced of what God has said beyond a shadow of a doubt, or it can be weak and feeble saying, ‘Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.’ But weak or strong it still moves God to action. Now, all of this hinges on one thing. I all hinges on what God has said. I can believe with all of my heart that God is going to give me a Mercedes tomorrow. But that conviction, that state of mind, is worthless unless God has told me that that is what He is going to do. So, faith is always tied to the Bible, to what God has said.
Again, some folk are discouraged at this. They assume that the Bible is only about the narrow slice of life that they talk about on Sundays. What about the rest of life? They assume that God doesn’t talk about that. And so, they assume that they can’t pray about that, at least not with any assurance. But again, they say this because they don’t know their Bibles. Praying in faith is praying about contentment when life unexpectedly takes a hard left turn, joy even though you have a harsh boss, the ability to lead your family well, control over your tongue, the wisdom to prepare your children well for real life, comfort in the midst of grief, being able to continue the marathon of the Christian life, getting help to heal a struggling marriage, being able to keep at it with grace when your body doesn’t work right. God talks about all of those things and lots more. And so, you can pray about all of those things, and pray with great confidence as you believe what God has said about all those different parts of life. But to do that you need to know exactly what it is that God has promised. You need to know your Bible. And you need to believe your Bible. But as you grow in knowledge, you will see prayers rooted in a true faith coming from your mouth. And those are prayers that God will most certainly answer.
James points to a second caution. ‘Let him ask in faith with no doubting…’ Here, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a collective groan. ‘Well, that leaves me out. I’m always struggling with doubts about God’s will and things like that.’ So, with one fell blow, James destroys all the hope that he encouraged in the rest of what he wrote. Or does he? James word for ‘doubt’ is about deciding between two or more alternatives. But the two alternatives being considered in our text aren’t, ‘Will God do A or B? Will He grant my request or not?’ The two alternatives that cause the doubt are not about God. They’re about us. The doubt isn’t about how God will decide to act. It’s about how we will decide to act. The rest of what James writes shows this. How does he describe the doubter? He is a ‘double minded man’. He is someone who is undecided between two courses of action. The issue isn’t God’s choice of action but ours. It’s like Elijah when he confronted the people of Israel on Mt. Carmel. ‘How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him. But if Baal, then follow him.’ [1 Kings 18.21] James isn’t talking about someone with a true, though weak faith. He is talking about someone who is limping in two directions at once. He is ‘following Christ’ and yet not really. He’s double-minded. Earlier I described God as intent on you and on your welfare. He is focused on that. Here, James is saying that you need to be intent on pursuing Christ, to be focused on Him, not wavering between two opinions on this but focused on one. Remember the greatest commandment. ‘You shall love the Lord with all of your heart, soul, mind and heart.’ It’s no good to try to love God with part of your heart while you love the world with the rest. So, James is telling us that there can be no doubt where your loyalties are, where your heart is. The double-minded man has a foot in two worlds. And, as a result, he is unstable not just in his prayer life but in every aspect of his life. However, there are those who can honestly say, ‘Lord Jesus, You know I love You. And while it’s certainly true that I don’t love You nearly as well as even I desire, You know that it is my desire to love You wholeheartedly. I am intent on You, Lord’. This is the person who will be blessed with answered prayer.
So, consider your prayer life. Compare it with James’ checklist. ‘Sense of need [check]. Getting to know God as the giving God [check] who is intent on my welfare [check], who will never reproach me [check]. Believing what God promises in His word [check]. Wanting to love Him with my whole heart [check].’ Any person who can check off James’ list of items will be asking God with confidence and will be seeing God grant His request.
James 1.5-8
The topic of our text is one that we need to hear often. James writes about prayer. Aware of the difficulties of faithful Christian living, he wants to encourage the saints to pray. So, he gives reasons to pray. But he also gives a warning about what will undercut prayer. I urge you to give your attention to the preaching of the Word so that you might be encouraged in this most important area.
James ended the previous paragraph pointing to the goal of faithful Christian living. ‘And let patient endurance have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.’ His thought was about the need for integrity and wholeness as a Christian. There should be no lack in these things. In our text he anticipates a possible concern of his listeners. ‘What if I do lack something?’ James focuses especially on lacking wisdom and that fits with the subject of trials that he was dealing with. But James’ comments apply to any lack. So, I’m going to put aside the specific lack of wisdom and consider what James has to say in a general way to see how this might encourage us in our prayers.
In bringing up the idea of a lack, James points to one of the prime motives for prayer: need. You won’t pray if you don’t have a sense of need. The person who doesn’t pray is saying, ‘I have no need, at least no need to bring to God.’ But that kind of thinking makes no sense for a Christian. At the very heart of the Gospel is the simple thought, ‘I need Jesus’. By definition, a Christian is someone who feels that need. It is a need that is real every day. So, you see why I say that lack of prayer makes absolutely no sense for the Christian. Christians will pray. But I hope that you see what an encouragement this is to us since we are aware of our need. James fairly shouts his counsel. ‘Do you have a sense of your need? Good. Ask God! Pray! Needs are met when you pray. So, don’t wait. Pray!’
But this isn’t enough for James. To encourage them even more, James directs the attention of his hearers to the character of God. It’s as if he were saying, ‘When you feel needy consider the kind of God you worship. As you do that, you will be even more encouraged to pray.’ Here, there are several things to see. The first is hard to make clear in an English translation of text. In the next part, your Bibles read something like, ‘God who gives generously…’ Translated that way the emphasis quickly goes to the idea of God being generous. But we miss something that James wanted us to get. The way he writes the sentence emphasizes that our God is the ‘giving God’. He loves to give us things. And there are lots of Scriptures that tie into this. For one thing, there is the familiar 23rd Psalm. ‘My cup runneth over.’ What is David saying here? He’s emphasizing the thought that his God is not miserly in passing out His blessings. He doesn’t give us just enough. We are given an abundance of His blessings. Our cup overflows. And even as it does overflow God is still saying, ‘Here, have some more.’ He is the giving God. Then, there is what Jesus said in Matthew 7. ‘If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!’ [Matthew 7:11] Good parents count it a joy to give gifts to their kids. One of the kids has a birthday and he’s opening his parents’ gift. When he sees what it is he’s excited. And a smile is on his parents’ faces. ‘Good. He likes it.’ What is this but a faint picture of your heavenly Father’s joy at doing the same thing. He loves to give to His children. He is the giving God. Now, some Christians don’t pray so much because they aren’t convinced that their God is actually like this. Maybe they haven’t seen a generous spirit in others and so assume that God is like that too. But James works to change that attitude. Our God is the giving God. If you have a need ask Him. Don’t be afraid. Ask Him. He loves to give to His children.
James then builds on this in a couple of ways. He talks about the God who gives ‘generously’ or ‘liberally’. Now, this word group is a bit odd. Listen to how it is translated in another place. ‘If your eye is single then your whole body will be full of light.’ [Matthew 6.22] That’s the KJV. Other translations describe the eye as ‘clear’, or ‘healthy’ or ‘good’. The basic idea of this word group is the notion of being focused, intent on one thing. So, it’s translated as ‘generous’ in our text. God is intent on giving you what you need. But there is a bit of a difference between someone who is generous and someone who is intent on giving. Someone who is generous will give once he is made aware of the need. But someone intent on giving doesn’t wait to be made aware. That’s what your God is like. He is eager to give to you because that is His intention. He is focused on you so that you might flourish.
James still isn’t done. He, then, adds another phrase, ‘without reproach’. What’s he getting at here? There are those who are reluctant to ask God for anything because they are afraid. They are afraid that God might say, ‘What! You again? Didn’t I just send you a bundle? And do you remember what you did with it? You wasted it. And now you expect more? You’re kidding, right?’ Now, the fact of the matter is that God could say that. How often have we taken His blessings and completely misused them! Our sin in these things is great. So, God could say those things and be justified. And yet, He won’t. He will never reproach you. Never. And that’s His promise. It’s like the father with his returning prodigal son. Even before the foolish boy has finished his speech the father is showering him with gifts. Imagine what he could have said. Your God is even better than that.
In all of these things, James is pointing to a key to a lively prayer life: understand your God. Get to know Him. He loves to give to you, to take care of all your needs. So, He gives abundantly, intent on your welfare. And no matter how badly you mess things up, He will never throw it in your face. That is your God. And as you get to know Him better and better you will find yourself more and more encouraged to pray.
James, however, isn’t finished. Verse 6 begins, ‘But…’ Here, some folk might be tempted to think, ‘Now, you’re going to take away what you just gave. Now, you’re going to tell us all the conditions and the fine print so that when you get to the end of it all praying is still an iffy proposition.’ Now, I would understand it if you thought something like that. So often, things seem too good to be true and the reason is that they are too good to be true. But the Gospel isn’t like that. It does seem too good to be true. But it’s even better than that. Don’t assume that James is going to take away anything of what he just wrote.
Let’s read a bit more of verse 6. ‘But let him ask in faith…’ Here, is another place where ignorance is not bliss. Ignorance of the Scriptures always results in trouble. For so many, praying in faith means praying with some special feeling, with a certain kind of conviction. It means having a certain state of mind about your request. We all know of people who have prayed thinking that they have this state of mind. They pray for healing of some disease or for Mr. Right to show up or for something else. But when nothing happens there are problems. Some become disappointed in God. ‘I prayed in faith. I just knew that prayer would be granted. I met all the conditions. But it didn’t happen. God let me down.’ Now, they may never say that out loud. They may never even admit it to themselves. But something within them changes. Hope withers a bit. God isn’t all that they were told that He is. And so, there is this cloud that casts a shadow on their relationship with God. The sun never shines on their walk with God as brightly as it once did. Then there are those who, instead of being disappointed in God, are disappointed in themselves. ‘I am such a terrible person. Why can’t I believe well enough? What’s wrong with me? God seems to answer other people’s prayers. Why can’t I get this right? I must be just one of those second-rate Christians.’ How sad. These are people who are discouraged and have given up hope. And why? It’s because they don’t understand what the Bible means by faith. Faith isn’t a feeling or even a conviction. Christian faith is always a response to something that God has said. Faith is the Christian saying, ‘I believe what You’ve told me, Lord.’ True faith can be strong and solid, convinced of what God has said beyond a shadow of a doubt, or it can be weak and feeble saying, ‘Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.’ But weak or strong it still moves God to action. Now, all of this hinges on one thing. I all hinges on what God has said. I can believe with all of my heart that God is going to give me a Mercedes tomorrow. But that conviction, that state of mind, is worthless unless God has told me that that is what He is going to do. So, faith is always tied to the Bible, to what God has said.
Again, some folk are discouraged at this. They assume that the Bible is only about the narrow slice of life that they talk about on Sundays. What about the rest of life? They assume that God doesn’t talk about that. And so, they assume that they can’t pray about that, at least not with any assurance. But again, they say this because they don’t know their Bibles. Praying in faith is praying about contentment when life unexpectedly takes a hard left turn, joy even though you have a harsh boss, the ability to lead your family well, control over your tongue, the wisdom to prepare your children well for real life, comfort in the midst of grief, being able to continue the marathon of the Christian life, getting help to heal a struggling marriage, being able to keep at it with grace when your body doesn’t work right. God talks about all of those things and lots more. And so, you can pray about all of those things, and pray with great confidence as you believe what God has said about all those different parts of life. But to do that you need to know exactly what it is that God has promised. You need to know your Bible. And you need to believe your Bible. But as you grow in knowledge, you will see prayers rooted in a true faith coming from your mouth. And those are prayers that God will most certainly answer.
James points to a second caution. ‘Let him ask in faith with no doubting…’ Here, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a collective groan. ‘Well, that leaves me out. I’m always struggling with doubts about God’s will and things like that.’ So, with one fell blow, James destroys all the hope that he encouraged in the rest of what he wrote. Or does he? James word for ‘doubt’ is about deciding between two or more alternatives. But the two alternatives being considered in our text aren’t, ‘Will God do A or B? Will He grant my request or not?’ The two alternatives that cause the doubt are not about God. They’re about us. The doubt isn’t about how God will decide to act. It’s about how we will decide to act. The rest of what James writes shows this. How does he describe the doubter? He is a ‘double minded man’. He is someone who is undecided between two courses of action. The issue isn’t God’s choice of action but ours. It’s like Elijah when he confronted the people of Israel on Mt. Carmel. ‘How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him. But if Baal, then follow him.’ [1 Kings 18.21] James isn’t talking about someone with a true, though weak faith. He is talking about someone who is limping in two directions at once. He is ‘following Christ’ and yet not really. He’s double-minded. Earlier I described God as intent on you and on your welfare. He is focused on that. Here, James is saying that you need to be intent on pursuing Christ, to be focused on Him, not wavering between two opinions on this but focused on one. Remember the greatest commandment. ‘You shall love the Lord with all of your heart, soul, mind and heart.’ It’s no good to try to love God with part of your heart while you love the world with the rest. So, James is telling us that there can be no doubt where your loyalties are, where your heart is. The double-minded man has a foot in two worlds. And, as a result, he is unstable not just in his prayer life but in every aspect of his life. However, there are those who can honestly say, ‘Lord Jesus, You know I love You. And while it’s certainly true that I don’t love You nearly as well as even I desire, You know that it is my desire to love You wholeheartedly. I am intent on You, Lord’. This is the person who will be blessed with answered prayer.
So, consider your prayer life. Compare it with James’ checklist. ‘Sense of need [check]. Getting to know God as the giving God [check] who is intent on my welfare [check], who will never reproach me [check]. Believing what God promises in His word [check]. Wanting to love Him with my whole heart [check].’ Any person who can check off James’ list of items will be asking God with confidence and will be seeing God grant His request.
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