Double-Minded

Double-Minded

James 1:1-8

            I remember one freezing cold Saturday in Ohio. It was the last weekend in October and snow was all over the place. We had just finished racing at the Regional Cross Country meet. For those of you who know about racing, you know that the runners wear very thin and very short shorts and tank tops. To say it was cold was an understatement. About an hour after the race, I was back in my warm coat and standing in the concession stand line. Right in front of me was one of my teammates. He ordered a can of coke and a candy bar. He took one drink of the coke and said, “Ughh! Why did I order this? The whole time I was in line I kept thinking, ‘I’m going to get something warm—a hot dog and some hot chocolate.’” He then gave me the ice cold coke and walked away.

            Have you ever had a debate in your brain about something? Maybe you’re going to a movie and there is more than one that you really want to see—the whole way to the movie you keep going back and forth on which one you want to see. Or maybe its sports. A few years ago Ohio State played for the National Championship against the University of Miami. Miami had a tough team, filled with speed. They had not lost a game in a few years. Ohio State played their last game the last weekend of November and they wouldn’t play again until the first week of January. This gave me six weeks of “OSU’s going to get beat.” “OSU has a chance.” “OSU’s defense will crush Miami.” “Miami is way to fast for our defense.” I was back and forth so much I was starting to get sea-sick.

            Maybe its clothes. Maybe its politics. Maybe its popularity, or your spiritual life. Anytime there are two sides waging war in your brain, you’re double-minded. Perhaps the best way to introduce the discussion on double-mindedness is to talk about single-mindedness. What comes to your mind when you think of single-mindedness? Focused, purpose-driven, goal oriented, not easily distracted, on target. Double-mindedness is the opposite of all of that.

            We just finished studying one of the hardest teachings in all of the Bible—The Sermon on the Mount. Now we’re going to start studying one of the hardest books of the Bible—James. James is one of the shortest books, but it is one of the most difficult to live out because, like the Sermon on the Mount, James asks us to do a lot of very difficult things. For this reason, many people choose not to read the book. I like to read James whenever I feel like I need a good kick in the pants.

            Incidentally, I decided I would memorize a chapter of the Bible for the Transforming your Mind Initiative. I chose 3 John because the whole book was a chapter long, and I figured I might as well say I memorized a whole book of the Bible if I’m going to memorize a chapter. That took me about a week. So I decided to memorize 2 John, which is also one chapter. That took me another week. Then I thought, “Why am I playing around memorizing books that I will rarely use in my daily life? Why not memorize something that will be more useful like James?” So I memorized James. James is five chapters and I had it memorized in five weeks. I had memorized seven chapters of three books in seven weeks.

            James 1:1-8 “James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad: Greetings.
² My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, ³ knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. ⁴ But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. ⁵ If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. ⁶ But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. ⁷ For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; ⁸ he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”    

            There are a couple of things worth mentioning before we get too deep into the study. First, James is the brother of Jesus. Some say half brother because he was a son of Joseph and Mary, whereas Jesus was a son of Mary and God. I say brother because Joseph raised them both as if they were his own. The important thing to note is that James didn’t mention it. If it were me I would bring it up in every conversation. “Hey, you should listen to me, I am Jesus’ brother.” “Did the Buckeyes win today? By the way Jesus and I are brothers.” “Do you wanna go on a date with me? You better say ‘Yes’ because I’m Jesus’ brother.” Not James. He didn’t feel worthy to be called Jesus’ brother. In fact, he calls himself a slave to Jesus. By the way, how bad would that suck to have Jesus as your brother? “Adam, why can’t you be more perfect like Jesus?” “Who broke the plate? Was it you Adam, or Jesus, the perfect son of God?”  Secondly, it is believed that James did not believe Jesus was the Messiah until His resurrection. How did he miss that? Didn’t Mary ever explain to him the miracle of His conception and the whole virgin birth thing? And third, some translations. The word “double-minded” is translated from a word that literally means “two souls.” In other words, you have two souls, each fighting for control of you. Perhaps one soul is devoted to worldly things and the other to heavenly things. The word “unstable” literally means to stagger around like a drunk. So a double-minded man staggers around like a drunk.

            Tonight we will look at two men--one single-minded and the other double-minded. The first man is Joseph. Joseph was one of Jacob’s twelve sons who formed the twelve tribes of Judah. His brothers became jealous of him and threw him into a well to die. One of them thought that it would be better to sell him and make some Benjamins rather than have him die. So he was sold to some Midianites, and then again to a man named Potiphar. Let’s pick up the story there…

When Joseph was taken to Egypt by the Ishmaelite traders, he was purchased by Potiphar, an Egyptian officer. Potiphar was captain of the guard for Pharaoh, the king of Egypt.

 ² The Lord was with Joseph, so he succeeded in everything he did as he served in the home of his Egyptian master. ³ Potiphar noticed this and realized that the Lord was with Joseph, giving him success in everything he did. ⁴ This pleased Potiphar, so he soon made Joseph his personal attendant. He put him in charge of his entire household and everything he owned. ⁵ From the day Joseph was put in charge of his master’s household and property, the Lord began to bless Potiphar’s household for Joseph’s sake. All his household affairs ran smoothly, and his crops and livestock flourished. ⁶ So Potiphar gave Joseph complete administrative responsibility over everything he owned. With Joseph there, he didn’t worry about a thing—except what kind of food to eat!

   Joseph was a very handsome and well-built young man, ⁷ and Potiphar’s wife soon began to look at him lustfully. “Come and sleep with me,” she demanded.

 ⁸ But Joseph refused. “Look,” he told her, “my master trusts me with everything in his entire household. ⁹ No one here has more authority than I do. He has held back nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How could I do such a wicked thing? It would be a great sin against God.”

 ¹⁰ She kept putting pressure on Joseph day after day, but he refused to sleep with her, and he kept out of her way as much as possible. ¹¹ One day, however, no one else was around when he went in to do his work. ¹² She came and grabbed him by his cloak, demanding, “Come on, sleep with me!” Joseph tore himself away, but he left his cloak in her hand as he ran from the house.

 ¹³ When she saw that she was holding his cloak and he had fled, ¹⁴ she called out to her servants. Soon all the men came running. “Look!” she said. “My husband has brought this Hebrew slave here to make fools of us! He came into my room to rape me, but I screamed. ¹⁵ When he heard me scream, he ran outside and got away, but he left his cloak behind with me.”

 ¹⁶ She kept the cloak with her until her husband came home. ¹⁷ Then she told him her story. “That Hebrew slave you’ve brought into our house tried to come in and fool around with me,” she said. ¹⁸ “But when I screamed, he ran outside, leaving his cloak with me!”

Joseph Put in Prison

 ¹⁹ Potiphar was furious when he heard his wife’s story about how Joseph had treated her. ²⁰ So he took Joseph and threw him into the prison where the king’s prisoners were held, and there he remained. ²¹ But the Lord was with Joseph in the prison and showed him his faithful love. And the Lord made Joseph a favorite with the prison warden. ²² Before long, the warden put Joseph in charge of all the other prisoners and over everything that happened in the prison. ²³ The warden had no more worries, because Joseph took care of everything. The Lord was with him and caused everything he did to succeed.

            Jospeh was a man of single-minded devotion to God. He would not allow anything to damage his integrity. We should note a few things in this story. It is believed that Potiphar was the head executioner for Pharoah’s government. It would be wise not to make that man mad. Secondly, we know that Potiphar’s wife must have been a very attractive young lady. How do we know that? If she wasn’t attractive, Joseph wouldn’t have been tempted by her. If he was n’t tempted by her, it wouldn’t have been that interesting of a story. The fact that she was attractive, he had plenty of opportunities to have the affair and still refused even though she tempted him every single day demonstrates his single-minded devotion to God.

Let’s introduce man number two: David. David was referred to as “a man after God’s own heart.” This would be someone you would expect to be single-minded in purpose and devotion to God. Let’s check out his story.

            In the spring of the year,^[a] when kings normally go out to war, David sent Joab and the Israelite army to fight the Ammonites. They destroyed the Ammonite army and laid siege to the city of Rabbah. However, David stayed behind in Jerusalem.

 ² Late one afternoon, after his midday rest, David got out of bed and was walking on the roof of the palace. As he looked out over the city, he noticed a woman of unusual beauty taking a bath. ³ He sent someone to find out who she was, and he was told, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” ⁴ Then David sent messengers to get her; and when she came to the palace, he slept with her. She had just completed the purification rites after having her menstrual period. Then she returned home. ⁵ Later, when Bathsheba discovered that she was pregnant, she sent David a message, saying, “I’m pregnant.”

⁶ Then David sent word to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent him to David. ⁷ When Uriah arrived, David asked him how Joab and the army were getting along and how the war was progressing. ⁸ Then he told Uriah, “Go on home and relax.^[b]” David even sent a gift to Uriah after he had left the palace. ⁹ But Uriah didn’t go home. He slept that night at the palace entrance with the king’s palace guard.

 ¹⁰ When David heard that Uriah had not gone home, he summoned him and asked, “What’s the matter? Why didn’t you go home last night after being away for so long?”

 ¹¹ Uriah replied, “The Ark and the armies of Israel and Judah are living in tents,^[c] and Joab and my master’s men are camping in the open fields. How could I go home to wine and dine and sleep with my wife? I swear that I would never do such a thing.”

 ¹² “Well, stay here today,” David told him, “and tomorrow you may return to the army.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and the next. ¹³ Then David invited him to dinner and got him drunk. But even then he couldn’t get Uriah to go home to his wife. Again he slept at the palace entrance with the king’s palace guard.

David Arranges for Uriah’s Death

 ¹⁴ So the next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and gave it to Uriah to deliver. ¹⁵ The letter instructed Joab, “Station Uriah on the front lines where the battle is fiercest. Then pull back so that he will be killed.” ¹⁶ So Joab assigned Uriah to a spot close to the city wall where he knew the enemy’s strongest men were fighting. ¹⁷ And when the enemy soldiers came out of the city to fight, Uriah the Hittite was killed along with several other Israelite soldiers.

 ¹⁸ Then Joab sent a battle report to David. ¹⁹ He told his messenger, “Report all the news of the battle to the king. ²⁰ But he might get angry and ask, ‘Why did the troops go so close to the city? Didn’t they know there would be shooting from the walls? ²¹ Wasn’t Abimelech son of Gideon^[d] killed at Thebez by a woman who threw a millstone down on him from the wall? Why would you get so close to the wall?’ Then tell him, ‘Uriah the Hittite was killed, too.’”

 ²² So the messenger went to Jerusalem and gave a complete report to David. ²³ “The enemy came out against us in the open fields,” he said. “And as we chased them back to the city gate, ²⁴ the archers on the wall shot arrows at us. Some of the king’s men were killed, including Uriah the Hittite.”

 ²⁵ “Well, tell Joab not to be discouraged,” David said. “The sword devours this one today and that one tomorrow! Fight harder next time, and conquer the city!”

 ²⁶ When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. ²⁷ When the period of mourning was over, David sent for her and brought her to the palace, and she became one of his wives. Then she gave birth to a son. But the Lord was displeased with what David had done.

            Here we have David, in the spring of the year when the kings go off to battle with their troops, up on his roof, not off in battles with his troops. Have you ever thought about how if he would have just been doing what he was supposed to have been doing this whole mess could have been avoided? Secondly, he sees a beautiful woman bathing. Now, did he know she was going to be there and that’s why he chose to take a stroll on his roof at that particular time, or was it by coincidence? We don’t know. We do know that he watched, and did not turn away. If David would have turned away, perhaps he would not have been drawn in and tempted to do something wrong.

            Here we have Israel’s greatest king not doing what he was supposed to be doing, committing adultery, perhaps raping another man’s wife, getting her pregnant, trying to cover it up, eventually killing the husband, marrying the woman, and pretending that nothing happened. Not exactly what I would call someone who was single-mindedly focused on God.

            So which of these two characters can you most closely identify with?

            It is not good to be double-minded. You want everyone you have a relationship with to be single-minded. You don’t want to come home from school and have your parents kissing and hugging you, and two minutes later screaming curse words at you. You don’t want to have a teacher tell you the test will be open book, and then on the day of the exam inform you that it is not. You wouldn’t want to stand before a judge who has a history of giving out completely different sentences for the same crime. You want people to be predictable and single-minded. You don’t want them having a war in their minds over how to make a decision.

            So what should you do? You should avoid being double-minded yourself and try to be single-minded. This doesn’t mean you can’t ever being indecisive, but if someone sees you, do they have to wonder what version of you are they going to encounter? The mean one or the nice one? The Christian or the partier? The honest one or the liar? You should have a stability of moods and a predictability about yourself. Secondly, you should decide before hand what your values are, so when you encounter trials you will be prepared for them. Joseph decided long before he met Potiphar’s wife that he would be a man of integrity and not commit adultery. David did not.

            If you want to be single-minded in your devotion to God, you need to decide now that you will be pure for your future husband or wife. Even if you have already given that part of yourself up, you can still decide to remain pure from this point forward. You need to decide that now, not when you’re making out with the hottest guy or girl in school, because at that point it is too late and other influences are now going to help make that decision for you. You need to decide now that you will not drink or do drugs, and how you will avoid it, rather than wait until you are at a party and the peer pressure is on. You need to decide now to be pro-life not when you are an un-wed pregnant teenager. You need to take a stand for what you believe in before the circumstances influence you to do something you wouldn’t normally do.

            Lastly, you need to decide where you are going to hang your fate of eternity. If you want to see double-mindedness look at someone who is trying to work their way into heaven. They do good deeds and are elated, and then have a sinful thought or desire and fall into a pit of despair. One sure way of being single-minded is resting your hope of salvation on the only one who can save you. Jesus Christ was the perfect lamb of God, who was sacrificed to pay a debt that He didn’t owe and we couldn’t pay. Knowing where you will go when you die sure clears up a lot of anxiety and pressures in your life.