James

The Double Minded

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: The Double Minded

Genre: Sermon

Lesson: 4 of 16

Track: #22

Year:

Dictation Name: RR328L22

[Rushdoony] Let us worship God.

One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple. Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and He shall strengthen Thine heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord. Let us pray.

Our Lord and our God we wait on Thee. Thou art our Savior, our King, our ever present help in time of need. And so we come again casting all our cares upon Thee who carest for us, mindful of Thy greatness, Thy grace, and Thy mercy. Teach us the way that we should go, strengthen us in adversity, comfort us in our affliction, and make us joyful in all things, knowing that Thou art He who doest make all things work together for good to them that love Thee, to the called according to Thy purpose. How great Thou art oh Lord, and we praise Thee, in Christ’s name, amen.

Our scripture is James 1:8-18, our subject “The Double Minded” James 1:8-18, The Double Minded.

8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

9 Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted:

10 But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.

11 For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.

12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:

14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

16 Do not err, my beloved brethren.

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

The verses in our text can be divided as follows, first verse 8 is a general warning, it calls for a clear-cut faith, one without reservations, no double mindedness. Then second in verses 9-11 riches are a curse, we are told, when given priority. Then third in verse 12 we have a beatitude pronounced on all who are righteous or just. Fourth the meaning of temptations is set forth in verses 13-15, and then fifth in verses 16-18 we are told that God’s gifts to us are only good.

First, in this letter, James is writing to ostensible believers. Given the early date we can understand why he is concerned with double mindedness. There was a choice to be made, Christ or the temple; Christ or the religious establishment. For many the requirement to choose was unwelcome, they wanted the best of all worlds, but James insists on a decision; if Jesus Christ is indeed Lord He must be followed and He must be obeyed unequivocally. The double minded man is described as radically unstable in all His ways, not merely in his thinking about Jesus Christ but in all His ways. Our faith expresses the core of our being so that more than a mental indecision or reservation is involved in what He is talking about. Our commitment to the Lord governs every aspect of our being so that our faith is either unreserved or it is dangerous in the instability which it gives.

In the second section verses 9-11 James tells us that if we seek our stability and wealth we in effect seek it in sand. This may be an echo of the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 7:26 & 7, where the ruin of the man whose life has a false foundation, whose life is built on sand, is described. Wealth is transient, truth faith is not. The man who trusts in his wealth rather than the Lord is double minded and his prayers will get him nothing from the Lord. The brevity of life like the short duration of green grass leaves; the rich are naked and dead before they know it. All flesh is grass says Isaiah and it is a motive, a theme, common in the Old Testament. Grass cannot take the heat of life as God ordains it, neither can the men who trust in riches.

Then third we have the beatitude of verse 12, blessed is the man that endureth temptation, for when he is tried he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love Him. The reward is the crown, which is life; life here and forever, the fullness of life, eternal life now and forevermore. This is God’s gift to all who endure testing; it is testing, the refining fire of adversity, that God ordains for us. A distinction is made here and in verse 13 between trials and temptations to sin. The beatitudes of the Bible are not intended to be comforting thoughts, rather they are promises from God of the consequences of certain stands and actions on our parts. A beatitude is thus an assurance of God’s faithfulness to the faithful.

Then fourth in verses 13-15 as against trials or testing’s of our faith we now have a statement concerning temptation, or the urge to stray, or to commit sin. We cannot legitimately say that God tempts us into sin. To say I am tempted of God is wrong, “for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man.” Because God is all holy He cannot be tempted to do evil, He is untemptable. Because God gives man the freedom to do good or evil does not mean that He is tempting man, but verse 14 tells us everyman is tempted when He is drawn away of His own lust and enticed. We are responsible for our own sins, James makes no reference to the devil here because we have no moral ground for blaming him. John Donne in one of his poems spoke very tellingly of man’s habit of tempting Satan to tempt us. Whatever the part of other persons or the devil we ourselves are responsible for our own sins, and we cannot legitimately blame anyone else, God, man, or the devil, when we sin. The sin of Adam was not only to succumb to temptation, but then to blame God, the devil, and in Adam’s case, Eve as well. The imagery of verse 15 is of desire, leading to conception, leading to the birth of sin, but sin then brings forth or gives birth to death. As against righteousness or justice sin is abnormal and it leads to death.

In the fifth section verses 16-18 we are warned in verse 16 against blaming God for our sinning, God’s gift to us is then cited; it is good, and it is perfect. God is the Father of lights, not of darkness, and with Him there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. All things else change and are variable, but not so God, He is the unchanging and changeless One, the same yesterday, today, and forever. Verse 18 tells us of His own will begat He us with a word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of His creatures. God begat us, brought us forth, or created us, that like the first fruits cited in His law we should be dedicated and consecrated to His service. This is an image very common in the New Testament as in Roman’s 8:23, and 16:5 and first Corinthians 15:20&23 and Revelation 14 verse 4. As in verse 15 we have again the metaphor of birth, but this time in a good sense.

No less then Hebrews, James calls for a decision between the Israel of the past and the new Israel of God. The historical crisis that Hebrews had to confront is here in its infancy and it is presented as a moral crisis. The choices between being double minded and unstable or strong and single minded in ones allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ. This is still the choice from James day to our own double mindedness has been the curse of the church over the centuries. Certainly Hebrews indicates that the double minded existed in the early church. We do not know how many remained in the church double minded and unstable, but certainly in our time the churches are full of people who are unwilling to give an unswerving and unequivocal allegiance to Jesus Christ, and the church is often paralyzed by their double mindedness, this has been a problem over the generations when Elijah had to face Ahab, stand up to the power of Ahab and Jezebel, no-one stood with Him. Although the Lord told him “there are yet 7,000” meaning a considerable number, “who have not yet bowed their knee to Baal”; but they did not do so openly. Or in the time of the early church we have in particular the figure of Athanasius who stood virtually alone against the evil forces in the church and in the empire. There were those very intensely in sympathy with Athanasius, but they did not risk their lives by standing with him.

But Elijah triumphed, so did Athanasius, the instability of the double-minded gets them no-where. Those who are single minded in their face and unswerving there-in are blessed of God, and they triumph in a mighty way, and this is why James stresses single-mindedness. This is why James goes after some very ordinary sins, as we shall see next time and at greater length subsequently. the tongue or speech for one, because he sees in little things our double mindedness coming out; and so James is very practical in his concern. He wants a people single minded in their faith who will stand unswervingly for Jesus Christ, who will not be driven one way or another by the winds of the times, but who will stand and thereby conquer. Let us pray.

Our Father Thou knowest us better than we know ourselves, cleanse us of all things that weaken us and make us double minded in the face of adversity and affliction. Give us an unequivocal faith that we may stand in the face of all trials, temptations, and adversities. Make our lives count in the war for Thy kingdom. Grant us this we beseech Thee, in Christ’s name, amen.

Are there any questions now about our lesson?

Yes?

[Audience member] It seems James here Rush seems clearly to link double mindedness with a weak faith, or lack of faith, hasn’t it been your experience that those who accomplish great things for God, are people who have great faith and don’t doubt, who have a great, you said singleness of purpose, and whose faith doesn’t waver, and don’t spend a lot of time doubting, that seems to be the way it is.

[Rushdoony] Yes, the single minded person is a reproach to the vast multitude that are double minded, he accomplishes a great deal more and he is hated also a great deal more. John Calvin was a thoroughly single minded man, he was a gentle and a kindly person, and yet it is incredible the hostility in the faith of even those with faith, against him, because he is a reproach to them. It is interesting that a man who was as kindly, scholarly, and somewhat withdrawn and yet very active in his charitable activities, should create such hatred, but even in his own lifetime the slanders about him were incredible. I have somewhere in my study a picture of him, contemporary picture, it’s a portrait entirely made up of reptiles, so whether it’s his hair, his nose, his ears, his eyebrows, everything is drawn with reptiles so it’s a portrait seething with reptiles. At night his enemies would come and fire their guns under his window to destroy his rest, when he was walking to go someplace they’d sic their dogs on him; now that’s the kind of treatment he received. Well it was a hostility against someone who was single minded, and if you go down the centuries figures great and minor the single minded-men are resented because they are a reproach to the others who want to keep a foot in both camps.

I think very telling is the old story about the priest who was confessing a man on his death bed and asked him if he renounced the world of flesh and the devil, and the man would not answer, and so the priest said “are you not going to renounce the world, the flesh, and the devil?” and the man said “Padre I’m in position to offend anybody!” Well, that’s the attitude of many, they don’t want to offend God or the devil, and it doesn’t work.

Are there any other questions or comments?

Yes?

[Audience member] Could you comment more on the phrase you used that sin is abnormal? Because I would of thought after Adam’s fall sin is more the norm for man, than abnormal.

[Rushdoony] Yes, from man’s perspective sin is the normal thing in the world, but if you look at it from God’s perspective, he created everything very good so that sin came into the world as an abnormality, a perversion, of what God created the world to be. So sin and death are both abnormal facts from God’s perspective, and that’s why Paul speaks of death as the last enemy which shall be destroyed, because sin and death are abnormal facts, they are enemies to God’s order, and they are in time to be destroyed. We feel every sin and every sickness, as an abnormal fact. Our health is not a perfect one in this world, we don’t have the perfect health that Adam and Eve had, or that those who are in heaven have. But whatever illness we get it strikes us as something wrong, something abnormal, something that should not be; and we are right in feeling that way because it’s instinctive to us being God’s creation to see anything that hinders or mars, or retards, His handiwork, as abnormal.

Any other questions or comments? Well if not, let us conclude with prayer.

Our Father we give thanks unto Thee that through Thy word and through Thy servant James Thou hast spoken to our needs, to our sins and failings. Thy word is truth and Thy truth is a practical down to earth one. Give us grace to grow in terms of Thy word, to set aside every sin that impedes us, to grow in Thy health, in Thy strength, in Thy nurture. We praise Thee our Father for Thy grace and mercy unto us. And now go in peace God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit bless you and keep you, guide and protect you, this day and always, amen.