"Disposition Towards God"

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Hebrews 13:15
• Hymn — We Praise You, O God, Our Redeemer, Creator (#247)
• Prayer of Invocation
• Heidelberg Catechism — Lord's Day 31 (Questions 83–85)
• Hymn — In Christ There Is No East or West (#414)
• Pastoral Prayer
• Sermon
• Hymn — Great Is Thy Faithfulness (#245)
• Benediction — 2 Corinthians 13:14

---

Sermon Title: Disposition Towards God

Scripture: James 1:9–18

I. How Do You See Your Status in the World?

A. James addresses both the poor and the rich within the church (James 1:9–11)

1. The rich are warned not to find their identity in wealth — like a flower of the grass, the rich man himself will fade away
2. The image of the scorching east wind evokes divine judgment (cf. Hosea 13:15)

B. The key word throughout verses 9–11 is boast

1. You can know a person by what they boast about
2. The poor are not to boast in their poverty — asceticism has the appearance of godliness but is not true godliness (cf. Colossians 2)
3. Both rich and poor are to boast in their standing in Christ — in his exaltation and in his humiliation on their behalf

C. The Christian is to be status-blind

1. This is only possible when one's identity is fully rooted in the person and work of Christ
2. Wealth or poverty becomes irrelevant when Christ is the defining marker

II. Where Is the Reward You Are Seeking?

A. James 1:12 serves as a segue: the crown of life is promised to those who love God and remain steadfast under trial

B. Some in James's audience were blaming God for tempting them into sin (James 1:13–15)

1. God cannot be tempted with evil and tempts no one
2. Each person is tempted by their own desire — desire conceives sin, sin brings forth death
3. Accusing God of tempting you contradicts any claim to love him — like a husband who slanders his wife and then says "I love you"

C. God is the unchanging giver of every good and perfect gift (James 1:17)

1. The language of the Father of lights — sun, moon, stars — contrasts God's constancy with creation's variation
2. The contrast is of cosmic proportions: the great Giver is being accused of wanting to harm his children
3. The call is to move from accusing God to boasting about God — those who love him long to be where he dwells

III. What Is the Desire of Your Heart?

A. James draws a parallel between James 1:15 and James 1:18 using birth language

1. Human desire gives birth to sin, which fully grown brings death
2. God of his own will brings forth new birth by the word of truth — the first fruits of his creation

B. Two wills, two births, two destinies

1. Man's will in bondage to sin gives birth to death
2. God's free will gives birth to righteousness and life
3. This echoes Luther's Bondage of the Will against Erasmus: salvation is not a cooperation of wills — man's will is in bondage; it is all of God's will

C. James likely has the Fall in view (Genesis 3)

1. Adam was surrounded by every gift of God and yet followed his own desire toward the one forbidden thing
2. Adam's response — "the woman you gave me" — mirrors those who blame God for their temptation
3. Luther's rebuke of Erasmus applies here: Your thoughts concerning God are too human

D. Closing challenge: Whose will do you want for your life — yours or God's?

1. Man's will leads to emptiness, sin, and death
2. God's will leads to new creation by the Spirit, the crown of life, and the eternal presence of God