Our Heavenly Father Gives Good Gifts

James 1:16-21

The words that precede our text deal with the trials and temptations of the Christians. We Christians are not magically immune from hardships and difficulties and earthly sorrows. The Bible says: blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial.

Neither are we immune from temptation. All of us struggle to be the people that God wants us to be. The Bible says that we are “lured and enticed by our own desire.”

And so we experience earthly difficulties and temptations just like those who do not share our faith at all!

Christians have always struggled with this. We want to believe that since I am God’s child, surely he will give me all that I want and make my life’s journey smooth. We want to believe that since I have faith in Jesus and want to do the right thing that I will go from spiritual victory to spiritual victory.

But of course we know that is not true and that “disconnect” from who we are as God’s children- and what we actually experience in life- has always been a faith struggle for Christians—it makes us wonder why is life this way and why do I feel this way.

Satan uses these difficulties to call into question the goodness of God. He says, maybe the problem is not with you—maybe the problem is not with the world—maybe the problem is with God. The Holy Spirit inspired James to write an answer to these questions we have and respond to these temptations of the devil. The Bible says:

Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

The idea that somehow God has failed us when it comes to trial and temptation—this idea the Bible calls a deception—just the opposite of the truth. The fact of the matter is that our heavenly Father can be counted on to give his children good gifts.

In the section of Luther’s Small Catechism that deals with the First Article of the Creed and God as our Creator, we say: I believe that God has made me and all creatures—that he richly and daily provides me all that I need to support this body and life—that he defends me from all danger—and that all of this he does out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy.

The Bible teaches and Christians believe that every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights.

God gives good gifts because he is our Father and he loves us—but we also need to understand that God gives good gifts AS our Father. In other words, it is his wisdom and his values and his foresight and his plans for us that govern the gifts he gives and when he gives them. That begins to explain some of the disconnect between our identity as God’s children and what we actually experience in life.

All of us who are parents know that it is neither good nor wise to give our children everything they ask for. Some things are not good for them. Some gifts are inappropriate for their age. Some things are not part of the values of our family.

Some gifts are not even things that they would ask for. When we get braces for our children’s teeth it costs us thousands of dollars and is not all that pleasant for them—but we know that it is for their own good. So it is with God and the God gifts he gives us.

None us would choose some trial for ourselves. None of us enjoy pain. But God already knows the kind of person he wants us to become and we mature in our faith as we face those challenges and endure that pain and learn to trust his wisdom—confident that he is working good in our lives because that is who he is. The Bible says that with him “there is no variation or shadow due to change.”

What a blessing it is to know that! Our heavenly Father has always been good to us and will always be good to us because he does not change.

When Luther concludes his explanation to the First Article of the Creed that deals with God as Creator, he says that the Father gives me all good things apart from “any merit or worthiness in me.” In other words, God’s goodness to me does not depend upon my goodness—but his. This is the best possible news!

Sometimes our faith is strong—sometimes it is a flickering flame. Sometimes we do a pretty good job walking in obedience to his will—sometimes we live in open rebellion. We’re all over the map when it comes to our faith and faithfulness. What a blessing to know that we can count on a heavenly Father who is good to us simply because he is good!

The truth of that goodness and steadfastness is shown nowhere more clearly than in his desire to save us. The Bible says that:

Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

It is the will of God to save us. The Bible says that this is what love is—not that we loved God but the he loved us and sent his Son Jesus to be the sacrifice for our sins—that in Jesus we see how broad and high and deep the love of God is---and that God has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be his own—and that the Father who did not spare his own Son will graciously give us all things.

The Father’s steadfast will to save us is seen most clearly in the perfect gift he gave to us in his Son Jesus. God has always loved us and will always love us and has given his Son to prove that love beyond any shadow of a doubt.

There may be times of trial and temptation when the love of the Father and his attitude towards us is in doubt—but we are directed to the cross where the proof of his unchanging love and saving will is seen again and again.

And not only has he given us his Son but he has graciously and providentially ordered our lives so that we could come to faith in Jesus and be saved. He is the one who has brought us forth, causing us to be born again unto eternal life.

Many of us were born to Christian parents who taught us the faith. All of us have been baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus and had the good news of forgiveness preached to us. Our salvation from beginning to end is the work of a loving Father who has chosen to give us life through faith in his Son by the power of the Holy Spirit working in our lives through the Word.

And he did this for a reason—that we would be “a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” Now, what does the Bible mean by that? Just this: It is in the lives of Christians who have been born again by the word of truth that we can actually see the fruit of Christ’s redeeming work—we can see what he has accomplished.

One day there will be a new heaven and a new earth—but we can’t see that with our eyes, we have to accept it by faith. One day there will be no more sorrow or suffering—but we can’t see that with our eyes, we have to accept it by faith. One day there will be no more trials or temptation—but we can’t see that with our eyes, we have to accept it by faith.

But the fruit of Christ’s redeeming work can be seen in people who have come to faith in Jesus Christ. In the lives of Christians we see and hear living and breathing examples of God’s saving purpose in the world—the firstfruits of a new creation where sin and death and the power of the devil have no place.

But what happens when we Christians (who are the fruit of Christ’s redeeming work) do not show the saving work of God because we continue to live in sin as if Christ hadn’t saved us at all? The Bible says:

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

James uses the specific examples of anger and sins of speech to make his point—but the effect of sin in our lives, whatever it is, is the same: it does not produce the righteousness of God in our lives.

Here the Bible is NOT talking about the righteousness that counts before God as salvation—that only comes through Jesus—but the Bible is talking about the righteous life that ought to come from our faith in Jesus.

Let me give you an example. When Joseph discovered that Mary was pregnant before they came together as husband and wife, he decided to put her away because as the Bible say, he was a righteous man. In other words, his faith in God made him act a certain way—refusing to have anything to do with what he thought was Mary’s sin.

So it is to be for us. The righteousness that we have by faith in Jesus ought to produce a righteous life in us—having nothing to do with sin and making sure that we are doing the RIGHT thing.

The specific example from our text has to do with our relationships and the things we say. Just imagine to yourself what your marriage and family would be like if you were always quick to listen to others, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.

Of course, we know about ourselves that just the opposite is much too often true—we don’t listen carefully to others—we are much too willing to make sure that we are heard—and we become angry quickly. And so what is the solution when we find that our lives are not showing the fruit of Christ’s saving work? The Bible says:

Put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

One of the greatest gifts our heavenly Father gives us is the opportunity to start over. He never washes his hands of us. He never says you can’t come back home. He never tires of forgiving us and lifting us up again.

We don’t always live the righteous way we ought to live as those who are the first-fruits of Christ’s redeeming work. Often times we give in to temptation. Often times we let the trials of life lead us to doubt God’s love. In those moments we need to be clear: God hasn’t failed us—we’ve failed God.

That is when it is time to call the sin and doubt what it is-- and put it way by being sorry for it and repenting of it and confessing it to God. And then listen to God when he tells us that he forgives us and loves us and we are his children and he is our Father and he can be trusted for salvation. Amen.