1. God promises His perfect provision—God is always good. (17a)
2. God promises His permanent position—God never changes. (17b)
3. God promises His purposeful plan—God has a plan. (18)
Two brothers were left alone in the kitchen. The older brother pulled the egg carton out of the refrigerator. He pulled the eggs out of the refrigerator and told his little brother, “I’ll give you a dollar if you let me break three of these eggs over your head.” The little brother said, “You promise?” And the older brother said, “I promise.” Then he pulled out an egg and broke it over his brother’s head. It oozed down through his hair and ran down his face. Then he pulled out the second egg and broke it over his brother’s head. This one was really messy. It went all the way down the back of his neck and inside his shirt collar. After the second one, the little brother really braced himself. He knew the third egg was going to be really nasty. And he waited. And waited. He waited but the third egg never did come. Finally, he spoke up. “Hey, when’s the third egg coming?” Finally, the older boy told him, “It’s not—if I broke that one over your head, it would cost me a dollar.” I can’t even imagine what happened next. All I know is, it couldn’t have been pretty. You know, that’s one thing about kids. They’re innocent enough to believe the promises they hear. If somebody promises them something, they believe it. Some people call that naïve. I call it trusting. But what happens to that innocent trust that children have? It starts to go away when people around them break their promises. Just like the younger brother with egg on his head, we say things like, “you won’t fool me again.” “I won’t fall for that again.” Sometimes, after the biggest promises have been broken, we can get to the point where we say, “I’ll never trust anyone again.” The fact is, we live in a world where people break promises. But even though people break promises, God doesn’t. From the first page of the Bible all the way through to the last page, God is a God who makes promises. But the wonderful thing is, He not only makes promises, He keeps them. Over the last few weeks, we’ve been looking at the overview James wrote for his letter. In that overview, he tells his readers what his letter is going to be about. In verses 2-18, he tells his readers that his letter is going to be about testing. Not just testing for testing’s sake, but testing for a reason. He talks about the tests that God places in our lives. Tests that if we pass, prove our faith. Tests that if we fail, prove our need for Him. Two weeks ago when we looked at verses 2-8, we saw God’s purpose in testing. We saw that God’s testing produces patience, perfection, wisdom and faith. Then last week when we looked at verses 9-16, we saw the nature of God’s testing. We saw how God’s intentions for His tests are good. And we saw how Satan’s intentions for God’s tests are evil. This morning, we’re looking at the last two verses of James’ overview. In these two verses, James outlines some of God’s promises that can give us joyful hope in testing. You see, even though testing is an everyday part of the Christian life, we can have joy in the promises God has given us. No matter what kind of trial or test you’re going through this morning, I want each of you to place your hope in the promises of God. Trust Him. He is faithful and He always fulfills His promises. In order for you to be able to place your hope in the promises of God, we’re going to look at three of His promises that can give you joyful hope in testing. The first promise is of God’s perfect provision. Look with me at the first part of verse 17:
JAMES 1:17a (Every good and perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights)
God promises His perfect provision. We all like to get presents, don’t we? In my house, it seems like the kids hardly get finished opening Christmas presents before they start thinking about what they want for their birthday. But the thing about most presents is, they don’t last. They break or they wear out or they don’t fit or they just aren’t as much fun as you thought they were going to be. But what do the gifts that last all have in common? They all mean something. Most of the time they wouldn’t mean anything to anybody else, but they mean something to you. And more than likely, they mean something to you because of who gave them to you. Your kids can take a crayon and scribble something on a piece of scrap paper. But when they give it to you, it means the world to you. Not because of what it is, but because of who gave it to you. Well, the thing about the gifts God gives us is that it’s not only special because of the gift itself, it’s special because He’s the giver. Now remember the context of this verse. It’s easy to pluck it out of context and make it say something it doesn’t. This verse is in the context of the tests God gives us. James has spent the previous 15 verses talking about testing. More specifically, having joy in testing. And now he calls those tests gifts from God. You see, the tests in your life are not mistakes. They’re not events that just happen to you. They don’t surprise God. They don’t catch Him off guard. God either places them there or allows them to happen to you. And then He calls them a gift. God gives us the gift of trials and testing. God gives us the gift of testing our faith. Why? As a provision for our good. Because God is good. And He is in control of everything. And everything that He gives us is good. Everything that He gives us is perfect. Does that mean that we have to understand it all? Does that mean that we have to enjoy it all, right when it’s happening to us? No. But what we do have to understand is that God promises His perfect provision. He is in control. And whatever circumstance you may find yourself in has passed through His hands. It has passed through His hands, not for evil purposes. But it has passed through His hands for good. For the accomplishment of His perfect will for your life. Now, does that mean that we have to call bad things that happen to us good? No. Death isn’t good. Sickness isn’t good. Tragedy isn’t good. Heartache isn’t good. But God is good. And when those things happen in your life, He is still good. He is still perfect. And when you trust Him as sovereign in the midst of your circumstances, He will shower you with blessings you can never explain. He will give you the joy that James talks about in verse 2. The good gift of joy. The perfect gift of joy. The kind of good and perfect joy that can only come from a God as powerful as the one who created the light and separated it from the darkness. The kind of good and perfect joy that can only come from a God who loves you enough to call you His child. Who loves you enough to provide for you in the way that only an all-loving, all-powerful Father can. The first promise that can give us joyful hope in testing is that God promises us His perfect provision. The second is that God promises us His permanent position. Look at the second part of verse 17:
JAMES 1:17b (and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness neither shadow of turning.)
God promises His permanent position. Have you ever felt insecure? When you were little, did you ever get lost in the store? Did you ever get separated from your parents? Do you remember the panic you felt? We all have times in our life where we feel insecurity. Life is made up of change. Change in relationships. Change at work. Change in family. Change in friends. Change in our community. Change at church. Change in our society. Change in our bodies. Everything around us changes. That’s all the more reason we need an unchanging reference point. The tests we face in this ever-changing world we live in can be too much to handle. Unless you have a permanent, unchanging place to place your trust and your focus. That’s the picture of God that James paints here. Look at the words he uses. They don’t show up too well in our English text, but the picture is majestic in the original. The words James uses here are astronomy words. They’re words that describe the mysteries and majesty of the night sky. First, he shows God in His rightful place as creator of the heavenly bodies. He brings to mind God’s creative work in Genesis 1 where He said, “Let there be light.” And then He separated the light from the darkness. And then He created the planets and the stars as beacons of that light. By calling God the Father of lights, James points out that God is even more permanent than the lights that He created. Tonight when you look up at the night sky, remember that. God is more permanent than the stars you see. He was before them. And He will be after them. Oh, but there’s something even more amazing than that. Throughout all of God’s eternal existence, He has never changed. Those stars that you see have changed. As a matter of fact, we can see light from stars that no longer even exist. They grow, they shrink, sometimes they even blow up. But God never changes. James says God has no variableness. The original word used here is where modern scientists get the word parallax from. Now, I slept through the part of science class where we talked about parallax, but let me describe it to you. My daughter and I were outside the other night looking up at the stars. I showed her the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper. And I showed her how to find the North Star. And when I showed it to her, it was right over top of a big oak tree in our front yard. But what happened when we walked a couple hundred yards off to our right? Was it still over that same tree? No. Well, what happened—did it move? No. Well, did the tree move? No. Who moved? We did. Here’s the point. If we had used the tree as our reference point, we would have assumed that the star had moved. And if we decided to use that tree to navigate our way through the darkness, we would have surely gotten lost. But if we used the fixed unchanging point of the North Star as our reference point, we would have seen that everything else changed with our perspective. If we took our eyes of the tree and focused on the unchanging star, we would never be lost. The tests God places in our lives can be like that oak tree. If we focus on the tests, the next thing you know, we can look up and it looks like God has moved. But God doesn’t move. In Him there is no parallax. There is no variableness or shadow of turning. He doesn’t move. If you’re going through a test and it looks like God has moved, He hasn’t. You have. You’ve taken your focus off Him and begun to focus on the tests. You’ve done like Peter did when he was walking on the water and taken your eyes of Jesus. And when you do that, the only place to go is down. You’ll sink just like Peter did. But God promises His permanent position. He promises that He is a permanent steady place to guide you through your trials. He is an unchanging point to focus your gaze upon. In the midst of an ever-changing world, He never changes. That’s a promise. A promise that will give you joyful hope in testing. God promises His perfect provision and His permanent position. He also promises His purposeful plan. Look with me at verse 18:
JAMES 1:18
God promises His purposeful plan. If God never changes and everything He gives us is good and perfect, then why doesn’t it always look like it? Why do the tests in our lives look so far from good and perfect? Because we don’t know the purpose of them. We don’t, but God does. Did God know His plan for Job when all seemed to be going well for him? When he was sitting there in the middle of his wealth and comfort and prosperity? When he had his health and his home and his family? Yes, He did. Well, did God know His plan for Job when things began to fall apart for him? When he lost his children? When he lost his wealth? When he lost his health? Yes, He did. Well, if He did, what was it? We get a clue because we get to see what happened behind the scenes. Turn with me to Job 1:8.
JOB 1:8
“Hey Satan, have you thought about Job.” Why would God do that? Because He had a plan. He had a purpose for it all. Was God’s plan for Job to be miserable? No. Was His plan for Job to be defeated? No—His plan was for Job to be victorious. His plan was for Job to bring honor and glory to God by passing the test that was placed before him. His plan was to hold Job up before all the unseen world as an example of service, love and devotion. Have you ever watched your child face a difficult situation? You know it’s going to be hard on them. But you know they have to do it on their own in order for them to grow. And what happens when they make the right choices and do the right thing. You stick your chest out and say, “That’s my boy”—or “that’s my girl.” This is one scene we didn’t get to look into in Scripture, but can’t you imagine what God did when Job passed the test? I can picture Him proclaiming all over heaven, “That’s my boy!” You see, when God saves you, He does it because He wants to. He does it of His own free will. And He planned to do it from before the foundations of the world. Just like He planned to test you from before the foundations of the world. Why? So you’ll pass just like Job did. When James uses the word firstfruits here in verse 18, he’s using it to mean first in priority, not first in order. In other words, God chooses to save us. And He chooses to test us. And He does it so that we can shine before all heaven and earth when we accept His salvation and when we pass His tests.
God has planned a time when all the tests will be finished. He has planned a time when all that will be left will be to hand out the grades. The first question on the test is strictly pass/fail. That question is: “What have you done with my Son?” If you have trusted Him as your Lord and Savior, good news—you pass. You will be welcomed into eternal life. If not, you have permanently failed and will be cast into eternal punishment. But that’s just the first question on the test. The rest of the questions concern how you’ve dealt with the tests you’ve had to face in this life. Did you trust in God’s promises? Did you trust His promise of His perfect provision? Did you trust His promise of His permanent position? Did you trust His promise of His purposeful plan? If you did, that’s when God sticks His chest out and proclaims before all of heaven, “That’s My child—well done My good and faithful servant.” What are you going to hear on that day? You know, none of us knows when that day is going to come. What will you hear when it comes for you? Will you hear, “Well done my good and faithful servant?” Or will you hear, “Depart from Me, I never knew you?” That all depends on how you answer that first question. So, what are you going to do with the Son of God today? Today is the day to trust Him. Trust Him to be your Lord and Savior. Trust Him to be your perfect provision. Trust Him to be your permanent position. Trust His purposeful plan for your life. He has promised. All you have to do is trust Him today.
