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Listener, are you facing a difficult situation today? Are you in need of wisdom? This morning, Reverend Daniel continues our sermon series on the book of James with this message entitled Wisdom Through Prayer. Let's ready our hearts and receive the Lord's word for today.

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The focus in James chapter 5, sorry, chapter 1, verses 5 to 8 is on the theme of wisdom. Right? The few verses that uh Judith, our sister, read for us is really all about wisdom and is closely related to the preceding section from James chapter 1 verse 4 through a linking word, and the word is lacking or lack, right? Uh is uh course uh um if you look at verse 4, it says, and let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. And James 1, verse 5 begins, if any of you lacks wisdom, so the word lacking and lack is the same word being used in Greek, the word lepo, right? So uh so there is a continuation of thought from verse 5 to verse 4. In other words, James is still speaking about trials, tribulations, and afflictions that we go through in life. So that is the context in which uh James is talking about wisdom, wisdom applied through our trials, through tribulations that we go through. Then James goes on to say, if any of you lack wisdom in the context of trials and tribulations, let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. So what James is saying in James chapter 1 verse 4 is that we need to allow steadfastness to have its full effect in the testing of our faith when we meet trials in its various forms. Yet the crucial connection is found in James 1, verse 5, which is on the theme of wisdom. And the second slide kind of is almost like a summary, uh, the big idea of what I want to focus on today. It's the kind of wisdom that James is talking about. He's not talking about practical wisdom that you read in uh Proverbs or some other parts of scripture, but when the word big wisdom is used in James, particularly in James 1, verse 5, and subsequently in chapter 3, verse 13 and 17, the focus of this wisdom is a transcendent wisdom. Or to use a simpler word, it's a divine wisdom that is beyond us, it comes from God, transcendent, above us, beyond us. It's not a wisdom that we possess inherently, but it's a wisdom that comes from outside us, to us, from God. A transcendent wisdom that God imparts to those who are close to him. So that is the kind of nuancing of what wisdom means in this context. When James talks about wisdom, it's a wisdom that comes to them from outside themselves, from God, that God imparts to them as they go through trials and tribulation. So, in other words, James is saying that this wisdom is our present possession, it's not left for future days when uh we have less trouble or when we meet Jesus again. But James is saying that this wisdom is the present possession of believers, and all we need to do is ask God for this wisdom. Um, and with this wisdom, uh transcendent wisdom that God imparts to us, it will enable us and all of us to resist and endure the tests of this age and how we need this wisdom that comes from God in our trial, in our time of testing, as we go through trials and tribulation. So James goes on to tell us that this wisdom can be sought from God in prayer. James chapter 1, verse 5 says, If any of you lacks this wisdom that comes from above, this transcendent wisdom from God, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. So we see a qualification here in verse 5 uh that this wisdom, the assurance of this wisdom is not rested on our human ability or to have uh some said, wow, this person is so wise because uh the person has a gift of wisdom. Or it's not inherent as a gift that rests on us, but the assurance of this wisdom rests on God's character, it's not on us, it's on who God is. Because James qualifies this, he says, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God. Because God is the one who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. So the assurance of wisdom, the comforting word for us is it does not rest on us, our intelligence or our own wisdom, but it comes from uh a rootedness in who God is, on his character, his desire to be generous, to bless us, to especially in and through the trials we go through. And we see this affirmed in two other scriptures in Luke chapter 11, verse 13. Uh, it says, If you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? So Jesus in in this context compares himself to an earthly father who, even though fallen and evil, evil in the sense as uh having the uh the nature of sin in them, yet gives to a son when he asks. You know, he wouldn't give a serpent or snake, but what is helpful, what more God as their heavenly father, would he withhold goodness or the Holy Spirit from those who ask him? Again, we see in Matthew chapter 7, verse 7 to 8. Um uh Matthew says, Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be open to you. For everyone who asks receives. The one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, it will be open. So again, Matthew 7, uh chapter 7, verse 7 to 8, Jesus encourages those present to not be passive in in their approach to prayer. In fact, all the verbs that are being used, ask, seek, knock, are all given in the present uh tense. It's in the active mood, and it is in the sorry, active voice, and is in the imperative mood, meaning that it is a command given uh in the present time for the present time. That means God desires us to keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking, and it's a command. God says, Us, keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking. Because everyone who keeps asking, who keeps seeking, who keeps knocking, God will give and answer our prayers. So, in other words, both text in Luke 11, verse 13, and Matthew 7, 7 to 8, uh, it reveals God's commitment to his people in desiring them to approach him in prayer is total and unreserved. As we approach God with the right attitude in prayer, we can expect to receive from him. So James chapter 1 to 6 goes on to speak of our part and posture. It says, Let him ask in faith. So now it goes to our human response. We have looked at how God is uh is a is a father who gives generously. Now, what is our response? Verse 6 to 8 tells us, let him ask in faith with no doubting. For the one who doubts is like the wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. So the qualification as we approach to seek God for wisdom through prayer is that we need to ask in faith towards God, in faith towards God, with no doubting. So this recalls an episode uh in the Gospel of Mark, chapter 11, verse 12 to 24. So it's a record of how Jesus, while he was at Bethany, uh an episode that happened. So let me just read uh the passage for us so that we are able to uh just have a sense of what is going on. So in Mark chapter 11, verse 12 to 24, reading from Mark chapter 11, verse 12 to 24, verse 12 says, On the following day when they came from Bethany, he was hungry, referring to Jesus, and seeing the distance, a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. And he said to it, May no one ever eat fruit from you again. And his disciples heard it. And they came to Jerusalem, and he entered the temple and began began to drive out those who sold, and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seeds of those who sow pigeons. Verse 17, and he was teaching them and saying to them, It is Is it not written, My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations, but you have made it a den of robbers. Verse 20, and as they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. And Peter remembered and said to him, Rabbi, look, the fig tree that you curse has withered. Then Jesus made a seemingly uh unrelated statement about the fig tree that is being withered. He said, Have faith in God. Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, be taken up and thrown into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. So, in this uh pericopy or this part of the reading, Jesus' cursing of the fig tree and a recollection of it, seeing it withered away from the roots, in Mark 11, verse 20, forms a literary uh device that is being used called a double sandwich. Right? So what happens is verse 11, we see Jesus going to the temple, right? He he went to the temple, and then there's an account of uh the fig tree in verse 13. And then after that, in verse 15, Jesus kind of cleanses the temple, and then there's an episode of the fig tree again. So, in the spirit within the account of Jesus going to the temple is the account of the fig tree that witnesses. So uh so what uh Mark was trying to say is that the fig tree being withered to its roots is a symbol or a sign closely related to the judgment that Jesus had in cleansing the temple. The withered fig tree that Jesus had cursed is a symbol of what the temple had become unproductive and useless. Instead of being a house of prayer for all nations, it had become a place to serve economic ventures. So the fig tree, the cursing of the fig tree, is a symbol of telling the audience that the temple is doomed. Like the fig tree that withered, the temple is doomed because it has lost its purpose of existence. Instead of being a house of prayer for all nations, it has become a den of robbers. Then we were asked the question: what then has the temple and the fig tree got to do with prayer? I mean, why did Jesus suddenly talk about temple, fig tree, and then he talks about the about prayer? So we need to understand that in the context of Mark's gospel, faith is what draws upon the gracious power of the in-breaking kingdom of God. So Mark is saying that if the disciples have the faith of God, the temple and its institutions are no longer needed. When prayers are made in faith, even when the temple is removed, because it has lost its purpose of existence, the prayer, the prayers will still be healed, still be heard and answered. So a lot of times, if we don't read this in context, we hear a lot of uh faith preachers just uh preaching from verse 22 to 24. It says, All you need to have is a great faith, because it's a faith that can move mountains and so on. But actually, it's taken in the context not of our faith, but a faith in God who hears our prayer even without the temple. So this is what uh Mark is saying. If you have the faith that God hears you, despite the not having the physical temple, uh you your prayers will be answered, in other words. So this is a radical thought that calls for radical faith during the time of the disciples, because they always associated the temple with God's presence, and in which prayers will be heard and answered. So if any time you have a problem, go to the temple to pray and God will hear. That's what Solomon said in the Old Testament. No, each time when there's a plague or when there's a judgment, there's a famine, go to the temple and pray towards Jerusalem, and there God will hear. But now Jesus is shifting focus, they are He's changing their mindset and their thinking. He's saying that, no, uh, if you have faith in when your prayers are made with in faith, if you have faith in God, even when the temple is removed, the prayers will be heard and answered. Similarly, if we have faith in God and not doubt, God is able to give us his divine transcendent wisdom from above to resist and endure the tests of this age, even when we think it's impossible, especially when we are facing pressing and trying circumstances. To the disciples of old, when Jesus shared in Mark's gospel, they will think, Jesus, are you in some way crazy? Because this is our identity, the temple, this is where we pray. How can you say, you know, if we have faith in God, you know, even without the temple, you will hear our prayer. So similarly, when we go through trials, tribulations, it's very hard for us to have that kind of faith that God can deliver us. But this is precisely what we need to do. That's why James 1, 6 to 8 tells us when we ask in faith, we need to ask without doubting. So the root cause of doubting is actually a distrust in God. It's a disbelief in what God can do based on who He is. A God who gives generously to all without reproach? The question I'd like to uh uh explore with us to ponder this morning is do we have faith in times of testing and trial? That God is able to give us timely, divine, transcendent wisdom from above freely, as we ask him. Let me repeat, do we have faith in times of testing and trials that God is able to give us timely, divine, transcendent wisdom from above, freely, as we ask him? I'd like to illustrate this principle by sharing with us a story of the faith journey of parents, uh Peter and Diona Tanchi. So this story was uh recorded in Salt and Light. Uh they compiled a book on stories, faith stories in families. Right? So this story was being recorded. So Peter and Diona Tanchi recounted their own pain and how God spoke to them in a tragedy that happened to their daughter Joy. So as we enter, as I narrate the story, uh I just want to invite us to just try to enter into uh without trying to judge them, but just to enter into uh the story, and there are points in the story where I will just mention uh glimpses of wisdom in which as they struggle and grabble with their faith, they actually receive God's wisdom in the midst of the struggle of the goodness of God. So the story begins: an innocent knight in with two friends turned into a nightmare. When robbers barched in into Joy's home in 1992, the three girls who were just 15 years old at that time were repeatedly gang raped. So this is the record of the faith journey of the mother, Dionna. When we entered the house on Friday night of the robbery and saw drawers and cabinets gutted with things spewed all over the floor, my first response was, I don't care what the robbers have taken, just so our children are okay and safe. Right? That's a mother's heart, right? You know, don't care, you can take everything, but children first, are they okay? To our relief, we were told that our children were safe in a dorm. But within minutes, a missionary approached me and whispered in my ear, Joy and her friends were raped by robbers. Immediately I felt my heart breaking as I burst into tears. My heart-wrenching question to God was, why did you allow this to happen to my innocent daughter? Why not me instead of her? In the 10 minutes or so, as Peter and I drove from our house to the dorm, we were silent. But thoughts were raging in my mind. What if I just turned away from God? He did not protect our family, even though we had been praying for protection. Then I counted my own argument, but where would I go? He is my life, my love, my reason for living. So this is wisdom now came to her. Transcendent wisdom came from God, downloaded to her. She says, In the midst of the uproar within, the Lord spoke to me in a barely audible voice. Will you trust me even with this? That I will cause it to work for good. I paused and in much pain I replied, Yes, Lord, I will trust you even with this. Like Jacob, I won't let you go until I see the blessing, because you are a God who does not lie. Immediately I felt my spirit come and rebound with a ray of hope for what God would do. Looking back, I realized Satan is an opportunist. In the midst of trials and pain, he capitalizes on our vulnerability and plants thoughts in our mind to turn against God. Satan tries to accuse God and his character, accuse God in his goodness, in his character, diminish God's power and discredit his love. He's a liar and the father of lies. She says, through her pain and experience, we must choose to trust God no matter what, because he never lies. God also sent a missionary friend to visit us the day after the robbery, who ministered to me personally. As Peter and I were standing in the driveway outside our home, he said to me simply, just remember, Dionna, the Lord loves joy more than you ever could. When we are in trials and pain, that's what she said, the Lord invites us to ask for wisdom. In the week that followed, I didn't go to others for comfort, but just to God. I knew that only He could embrace me on the inside to ease my pain and confirm the wonderful. And the why of all that had happened. So the wisdom now, God downloads his divine wisdom. This is what she says. He spoke so specifically to me from his word in John 10 10. The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I realized Satan had entered our home that night in the form of robbers with the intent to steal and to destroy our daughter, her friends, our faith, and to kill our children. But the Lord reassured me that he would give joy and our family the abundant life that he promised as we trusted in him. So now I move on to the father's response, a father's grief, Peter. My first response was, I think I would respond that way also. This is what he says. Then wisdom entered him. He says, The attack from the enemy in my mind was that it's useless to pray because God does not really answer our prayers or he's not able to protect. Then I realized that those thoughts were from the evil one. I had to make a choice to believe what the Bible says about God or to allow my experience to define my understanding of who God is. I decided to trust God. I told him that I don't understand why, and I prayed that someday he would help me realize why he allowed this tragedy to happen. In the meantime, I chose to trust him. And he was, Peter was doing his seminary studies overseas at that time, right? So when this tragedy struck. So when I went through our house after the robbery, I was in tears. As I cleaned up the mess, I saw that there's really evil in this world. I felt violated and angry at the evil and a sense of rage. As a father, I had never cried more than at this time. I would be driving and find myself crying as I thought about my daughter and how pure and innocent she was and how the man did such terrible things to her. I cried for many months. And then wisdom came to him. He says, and then I realized that faith is ultimately a choice. I could be a prisoner of anger and bitterness and a victim wanting revenge, or I could forgive the robbers. I chose to forgive. I grieved over the rape. Grieving is not a sin. However, I was not depressed because my eyes were focused on the Lord and my hope was in the Lord. As a family, we believe in the goodness of God and that he would cause something good to come out of this. So we decided to turn our energy to serving God, trusting in him, and forgiving evil men. I had also to make a choice to cooperate with God by responding to this tragedy in a manner that would honor God. I made a choice to believe Romans 8.28. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. And then that this comes to the crutch of the matter, which I hope that we will just take to heart. This is again a divine wisdom that came to him at that point. He says, it was then that I began to understand what faith is. Faith is not looking at circumstances and then drawing a conclusion from seeing the circumstances as to who God is. I repeat again, faith is not looking at our circumstances and then drawing a conclusion from seeing the circumstances as to who God is. That means we are allowing our circumstances to dict who God is. But rather through his painful experience, he realized faith is looking at who God is and interpreting your circumstances based on who he is. Today, as I look back, I see the goodness of God. In his wisdom, he allowed this to happen for a purpose. Joy has now become one of the most effective counselors for rape victims and sexually abused women. So of course I don't think he's saying that the end or the purpose justify the means for that to happen, but somehow, even through evil, God can make good come out of it. And especially I in the story, a lot of times when evil happens to Christians, you know, we attribute it to God. But actually, evil comes from the evil one, not from God. The world is in control of the evil one. Is in some way uh God is sovereign, but we are still living in a sinful, evil world. That's why bad things happen to good people. Uh so the faith journey. Uh we see here in the faith journey of parents, Peter and Dionna Tanchi, who recounted their own pain and how God spoke to them in a tragedy of receiving the news that their beloved daughter and friends were repeatedly gang-raped, that they were guided by God's wisdom in the midst of grappling with their faith in God. I think that speaks a lot about our lives today, right? We often uh grabble with our faith in God in the midst of the trials of life. That's why we need God's wisdom. And it's it's always asking difficult questions that we the Holy Spirit will inspire us with words of faith that we can bounce up back again. It's never so neat and clear that you know uh uh things are just uh God works through our pain, God works through our struggle, even questions of doubt. So I believe that why I took some time to share this story is because I believe uh that these questions that uh Peter and Dionna asked uh are really genuine questions that we which we will we will all ask at some point when we are all hit by trials or tragedy as Christians, because we affirm the goodness of God. At the same time, there's a presence of evil. For example, being diagnosed with end-stage cancer despite living a healthy life. Why, Lord, why why why do you allow this to happen? Losing a loved one in an accident, sudden death of a loved one, battling chronic depression or physical illness. So sometimes life brings us through those moments. Injustice at work, which we do not find a recourse. So all this can uh cause us to give up on our faith in God, you know, when we choose to yield to the devil's works, right? To steal, kill, and destroy and to draw us away from God. In fact, he's none happier, you know, like what uh C.S. Lewis in his book, uh The School Tape Letters, uh, he wrote something like that in the first chapter that let the humans there, you know. School tape letters is uh actually a satire of how a senior demon wrote to a junior demon or how to set Christians up for failure. So he's he said to them, he said these words to the junior demon, let those Christians there be so busy with what they can see, feel, and sense with their senses. That means what you see with your eyes, what you feel, uh, what you experience in terms of their sensual experience. Uh let them focus only on uh uh economics or getting by in life, what they can see, what they can feel, you know, and dial their senses to something that the things that they can't see. That means let them know that all they see and all that is real is materialism and problems and circumstances. Dial their senses to spiritual realities, to the divine, and in that way you will be successful. That's what uh I mean of course it's meant to tell us uh the reverse, that we should focus on the divine wisdom that comes from God. And of course, we all know uh Paul exhorts us and reminds us that uh let us focus on not what is seen, but on what is unseen. Because what is seen is temporal, but what is unseen is eternal. But we live in a world where we are dominated by the fine senses and by what we see. So it takes divine wisdom to be come to us, especially in trials and tribulations. So the faith journey of Peter and Dionna Tanchi with their daughter Joy ended with a sense of God's goodness. So the devil did not have the final say, but God's goodness prevailed. And it penetrated the deep darkness of the family family tragedy, the pain that they go through. And at the end, uh they are able to say, and we know that for those who love God, and we can say that also uh in the midst of pain and struggle, and we know that for those who love God, all things work for the good of those who love Him. So it rings true in their experience, despite their pain. Indeed, the saying that God is good all the time, and all the time God is good. It's not a religious jargon, it's not uh sometimes when we are forced to say, I say, God is good, and we say all the time, and all the time, God is good, yeah. But it is something that comes rooted in a robust faith in which we can have God's wisdom to see things, that He is good despite evil and sin. He is good despite uh questions that we can't reconcile with our human finite mind. And that's why we need his wisdom. That's why uh God promises wisdom in our trials and tribulations, and he calls us only to adopt one posture, to us in faith, trusting that as we continue to grabble with God, we he will speak to us. Never will he fail us if we turn to him, never will he fail to speak to us if we hold on and wait for an answer. And maybe be found in his presence in times of trials and tribulations. And the book of James is really about robust faith, it's really about how do we develop a robust faith in God, right? And uh one of the elements of a robust faith is really to have his wisdom, uh, especially in trials and tribulations.

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We pray that you've been ministered to by the Word of God today. If you'd like to know more about Eastern Christian Church, please visit our website at yccanglican.com. Have a blessed day.