Sunday message · Gospel Faith Works, James series
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Message Summary
In the second message of Gospel Faith Works, Pastor Phillip Santillan begins walking through James, which he calls one of the most practical books on what faith in Jesus looks like. For skeptics asking what difference Christ makes, James draws a clear line. After reading the whole letter together the week before, Phil now works through James 1:2–18 and the excuses that keep faith from working.
James wrote to Jewish believers scattered by persecution after Stephen was stoned, who had lost homes and jobs through no fault of their own. Those trials were giving them permission to excuse behavior that looked more like selfishness than Christ. James tells them to consider trials a joy, because testing produces endurance, and endurance makes us mature and complete. The worst that happens to us has the best potential to mature our faith, Phil says, but the linchpin is our choice to let endurance have its full effect.
Next, anyone who lacks wisdom should ask God, who gives generously (verses 5–8). When his son began learning an instrument Phil had played for years, Phil told him he would not hover but would gladly help if he simply asked. Jesus taught that if earthly parents give good gifts to their children, how much more will the heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask. Not knowing what to do is never an excuse when God has already promised wisdom. The question is, did we ask?
In verses 9–12, the humble are to boast in their exaltation and the rich in their humiliation, since riches fade like a flower in the sun. James is echoing the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7), where Jesus overturned the belief that prosperity signals God’s favor. A lack of resources, whether money, a seminary degree, a platform or time, is never an excuse for faith that does not work. God opens doors when we lean into our identity in Jesus rather than our circumstances.
Finally, no one should say God is tempting them; temptation comes from our own desires, which give birth to sin and then death, while every good and perfect gift comes from the unchanging Father of lights (verses 13–18). Yet we blame God anyway: if only he would make a spouse less frustrating or co-workers more open to faith. “God’s not the source of our temptations. He’s the source of our rescue,” Phil says.
Who, then, is to blame when we fail to follow Jesus? Phil borrows an illustration from follow the leader: no child could claim to play while sitting in a lounge chair, flapping his wings only in his heart, yet we treat following Jesus as heart belief alone. Excuses must stop, because the fault is ours. Citing Tim Keller, he reminds listeners that the gospel shows us to be more sinful than we imagine and more loved in Christ than we could hope. A gospel faith that works starts with humility: admitting we are broken and asking God to forgive, cleanse and heal us and make us his servants.
Questions about trials and wisdom in James 1
It means facing trials with joy because of what God does through them. James writes, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you encounter trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance” (James 1:2–3). Pastor Phil says the worst that happens to us has the best potential to mature our faith, but the linchpin is our choice to let endurance have its full effect.
James 1:5 promises that anyone who lacks wisdom “should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.” Pastor Phil compares it to telling his son he would gladly help with a new instrument if he simply asked. Since God has already promised wisdom, not knowing what to do is never an excuse. The question is, did we ask?
James 1:12 promises a reward for endurance: “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.” It completes the thought James began in verses 2–4, where testing develops perseverance so that we may be “mature and complete, not lacking anything” (1:4).
