James: Practical Christianity - Joy in Trials

We live in a culture where testing is a fundamental fact of life though it’s something most of us never see taking place. Our food is regularly tested by the producers who make it, and government agencies to ensure its safety. Our medicine goes through thorough clinical trials to be sure it works, but also to be sure it does us no harm. The software we use on our computers goes through rigorous testing to make sure it doesn’t contain programing flaws that will cause the program to ‘crash’ or work improperly. Some things are tested to verify their genuineness. To test the authenticity of a diamond, jewelers often place it in clear water, which causes a real diamond to sparkle with increased brilliance. On the other hand, an imitation stone will have almost no sparkle at all. When the two are placed side by side, even an untrained eye can easily tell the difference.

James writes that, in this world, our faith will be tested through various kinds of trials. In a sense, the testing of our faith, is God’s way of spiritual quality control in the believer’s life. The way in which we handle our trials lets other see the difference between genuine Christians and counterfeit Christians. Many people have great confidence in their faith until it is severely tested by hardships and disappointments. How a person handles trouble will reveal whether his faith is living or dead, genuine or imitation, saving or nonsaving.

James writes his epistle to Christians who have been driven from their homes and had possessions confiscated. He addresses people who suffer because they are exploited by the rich, dragged into court, and slandered for believing in the name of Jesus (2:6–7). How they handle the trials that come their way will reveal if the genuineness of their faith. To these people James directs a pastoral letter in which his first admonition is to rejoice when troubles come.

I. TRIALS ARE INEVITABLE

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,” (James 1:2, ESV)

1. you can read the Bible from cover to cover but nowhere will you find a promise that Christians will be immune to trials, troubles, and tribulations

a. Jesus was clear, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 15:33, ESV)

ILLUS. In 1987 on a commuter flight from Portland to Boston, Henry Dempsey, the pilot, heard an unusual rattle coming from the rear of the Beechcraft 99 turboprop. He turned the controls over to his co-pilot and went back to check it out.

As he reached the tail section, the plane hit an air pocket, and Dempsey was tossed against the rear door. He quickly discovered the source of the mysterious noise. The rear door had not been properly latched prior to take-off, and it flew open.

Dempsey was instantly sucked out of the airplane. The co-pilot, seeing the red light that indicated an open door, radioed the nearest airport, requesting permission to make an emergency landing. He reported that the pilot had fallen out of the plane and he requested a helicopter search of the area.

After the plane landed, they found Henry Dempsey — clinging to the outdoor ladder of the airplane for dear life. He had caught hold of the ladder and held on for ten minutes as the plane flew 200 mph at an altitude of 4,000 feet. It took airport personnel several minutes to pry Dempsey's fingers from the ladder.

2. Moral: Sometimes life gets really turbulent, and you find yourself holding on for dear life

a. but have you considered the alternative?

A. NOBODY LIVES WITHOUT TROUBLES

1. here at the very beginning of his letter the apostle James tells the church, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you - not if you - but when you meet trials of various kinds"

a. this is a corrective to an irrational expectation of many as to what the normative Christian life is like

1) there is, and you've heard me talk about this before, that segment of the Body of Christ that asserts that once you come to Christ there should never be any hardship or difficulties as long as your positively confess your faith

2) it’s called the Word of Faith movement, and it chief spokesman is Kenneth Hagin, who’s considered the father of the modern Word of Faith movement

a) Kenneth says, "What I confess, I possess"

ILLUS. Well, that sounds good ... it’s juste wrong!

b) Hagin (and many others) teach that Christians must regularly claim the grace God has promised them, whether in material goods, health, social position, or roles within the church

1) you do this through positive confession — hence the name-it-and-claim-it nickname for their theology

c) if you don’t have material goods, health, social position it’s because you’ve not claimed them

b. most of us are wise enough, and spiritually mature enough to understand that trials are a part of the Christian experience irregardless of how strong or weak our faith

c. Jesus told his disciples, “A servant is not above their master. Because I suffered, you’re going to suffer.”

2. when troubles come, people normally have a tendency to respond in a way that shows their true colors

a. many people tend to feel afraid, even traumatized when tragedy strikes

b. others tend to “shut down” and will withdraw from their family and friends

1) sometimes they descend into destructive behavior

c. some begin to doubt God, question His goodness and leave the church

3. trial come — this us one of the sad realities of life

a. our trials reveal the true intentions of our heart

b. James writes to encourage us in the faith so that when various trials do overtake us — and they will —we will find ourselves responding by faith in a way that grows our faith, and glorifies God

B. CHRISTIANS ARE NOT IMMUNE TO TROUBLES, AND MAY FACE MORE BECAUSE WE ARE CHRISTIANS

1. the normative Christian life is not a life without trials

a. now, we need to understand that the normal human life is a life full of trials, but the assumption of many Christians is that since they are a Christian that their life ought to be free of trials

b. but the entire New Testament reminds us that because we are Christians there are going to be trials we face simply because we are Christians

1) Jesus was pretty clear about this

""Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. 17 Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, 18 and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. 19 When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. 20 For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. 21 Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, 22 and you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 23 When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. 24 "A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master." (Matthew 10:16-24, ESV).

c. James writes when you meet trials or as the KJV says, when you fall into trials

1) the word meet here is the same word used by Jesus in the story of the Good Samaritan

2) the “certain man” of the story who is on his way from Jerusalem to Jericho meets or, more literally, falls into the hands of robbers

a) the word implies the suddenness of an unexpected event

b) the man didn’t see the robbery coming, but suddenly, unexpectedly WHAM he’s assaulted, beaten, robbed and left for dead

3) doesn’t that sound like how some of our trials come to us?

2. trials are often used by God to jolt us out of the comfortable ruts into which we settle

a. our trials are not mindless, senseless woes unleashed upon us by a cold and impersonal fate

b. they are permitted by a wise and loving heavenly Father who is too caring to be unkind, and too wise to make any mistakes

C. HOW WE HANDLE TROUBLES MEANS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BEING SHALLOW AND BITTER, OR MATURE AND JOYOUS

ILLUS. A Chinese proverb says: A gem is not polished without rubbing, nor a man made perfect without trials.

1. at the end of this passage James tells us that the full effect of our trials are to make us perfect and complete

a. i.e. spiritually whole and spiritually mature

2. the way we respond to our trials tells us a great deal about our spiritual condition

a. trials are not electives in God’s school of sanctification; they are required courses

3. they are not intended to give God an opportunity to “see how we are doing” — God always knows how we are doing, and because He is omniscient, He always knows how we will respond

ILLUS. God never ever says to Himself, “I wonder how David will do if I let him go through this particular trial.”

a. trials give us an opportunity to see how we are doing; to see how far we have come — or failed to come in our walk with God

... Trials are Inevitable

II. TRIALS ARE INEVITABLY DIFFERENT

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,” (James 1:2, ESV)

1. depending upon the Bible version you read determines how one of the key words in the verse is translated

a. the King James Version says, My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;

b. the New International Version reads, Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,

c. the English Standard Version says, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,”

2. 1st, the word peirasmois, translated trials refers to trials that come with a beneficial purpose and effect

a. the best Biblical example I can think of is the Apostle Paul and his ‘thorn in the flesh’

“So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (2 Corinthians 12:7–9, ESV)

b. Paul’s thorn in the flesh was a trial that daily reminded the Apostle of God’s daily sufficiency of strength

c. I don’t suppose that any of us truly like trials that test our faith

1) but such trials are important in helping us grow in our faith

3. 2nd, the word poikilois, translated various, many kinds, or divers literally means many-colored

a. in other words, not all trials are alike

b. trials might include ...

1) a bad doctor’s report

2) a pink slip from work

3) your roof springs a leak or the hot water heater goes out

4) death knocks on the door of a loved one

5) a flat tire when you’re already running late

c. all of those represent trials, but obviously some are more serious than others

B. THREE VARIETIES OF TRIALS THAT CHRISTIANS FACE

1. Reap-what-you-sow Trials

“Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.” (Galatians 6:7, ESV)

a. sometimes we make stupid mistakes, and we suffer the consequences of those mistakes

1) those mistakes might be a sinful choice, it might be an ill-timed decision, it might be a not well thought out plan

b. regardless of reap-what-you-sow trials, God can use even our sin, bad decisions or shortcomings to help us to learn more about Him, and mature in our faith

2. Spiritual Trials

“For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. 10 He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.” (2 Corinthians 1:8–10, ESV)

a. spiritual trials can come through persecution and rejection or just in the normal routines of life

ILLUS. Consider the prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah is known as the Weeping Prophet because he cried and grieved much for his people. They were unrepentant. They continued in sin though they were warned to repent. Though Jeremiah’s trials were not physical in nature, he suffered great spiritual anguish because of Israel. In the end, they refused to listen to the warnings of God through Jeremiah. The people were carried away as captives by the Babylonians.

b. but did you hear what Paul said about our spiritual trials? ... they come to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead

3. Beyond Comprehension Trials

ILLUS. In the opening chapter of the Book of Job, four times, in successive waves of bad tidings we hear, there came a messenger to Job ... concluded by I alone have escape to tell you.

a. some trials do not have a clear-cut reason, but are so traumatic they leave us reeling

1) this is Job “Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped.” (Job 1:20, ESV)

2) in those experiences he learned more about God then he could have without those experiences, and he emerges with his faith intact

4. most of our trials are simply the ramifications of living in a fallen world

... Trials Are Inevitably Different

III. TRIALS ARE INEVITABLY TO BE MET WITH JOY

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,” (James 1:2, ESV)

1. joy is not something that is well understood even by a lot of Christians

a. joy is, in the minds of most people, the equivalent of happiness

1) it's not

ILLUS. How do you count it all joy in the emergency room? How do you count it all joy in the bankruptcy court? How do you count it all joy when you have a child in rebellion against your authority? If joy means happiness, you can't

2. now happiness is not something to be discarded

a. we all like happiness

b. but we need to understand that happiness is the result of positive external events

3. but due to the trials of life we cannot always be happy —we can, however, always be joyful when Christ is at the center of our lives

a. joy is rooted in the fact that Christ is for us and is in us and is with us at all times in all circumstances

1) you take Jesus out of the picture and there is no possibility of joy

"What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died-more than that, who was raised-who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:31-39, ESV)

b. these words explode out of a heart full of joy

4. in the very first verse Paul reminds us that Christ is for us, and if he is for us no one can be against us, and this produces an unfathomable joy in the Christian heart

A. WHEN TRIALS COME SOME BELIEVERS GET ANGRY AT GOD

1. these are believers who tell God, “I don’t deserve this! I attend church a couple times a month. I’m a good person. I volunteer for the youth sports league. God. I don’t deserve this.”

a. these are Christians who practice a reciprocal religion — as long as God is blessing, as long as life is going well, they return God the favor by giving him an modicum amount of their life and time

b. but when trials come, they get angry because they believe that God is welshing on His end of the bargain

2. these are Christians who see God as a means-to-an-end and get angry when they don’t thing He’s holding up His end

B. WHEN TRIALS COME SOME BELIEVERS GET APATHETIC TOWARD THEIR FAITH

1. troubles aren't meant to destroy you, but to reveal areas in your life that you should develop

a. while God isn't the one who tempts us, the Bible says that He is the One who tests the hearts of men, so that He can purify them and make them righteous

“He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the LORD.” (Malachi 3:3, ESV)

lLLUS. The word testing in James 1:2 is a word that can also refer to smelting. Do you know what smelting is? If you take ore and crush it, and you apply enormous heat to it, the precious metals in it, like gold or silver, survive, but the worthless metals are either oxidized or they're turned into slag; they fall off as they separate from the precious metal.

b. not only James, but 1 Peter and Hebrews, talk about suffering as a kind of furnace

2. our trials are not meant to crush us but to purify our faith

a. God will allow us to go through fiery tests so that the intentions of our heart would be revealed and made plain even to ourselves

b. unfortunately, some Christians will loose heart in their trials and become apathetic toward their faith, never realizing that God is attempting to build their faith

C. WHEN TRIALS COME SOME BELIEVERS WILL COUNT IT AS JOY

1. it sounds like a simplistic cliche, or even masochism

a. "Consider" it pure joy James says

b. our attitude toward our trials makes the critical huge difference

2. we can have joy, because we know God has a purpose behind the trial

“for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:3–4, ESV)

3. joy is a state of faith

a. it is a theological affirmation that meets spiritual confidence and produces an outward expression of spiritual euphoria

4. on the other hand, joy is not the denial of reality

a. Paul deals with this when he writes to the Thessalonians who are concerned about those Christians who have died before the coming of the Lord

b. Paul writes to comfort them, and he tells them that they are not to grieve as those who have no hope

1) he recognizes that Christians grieve — the loss of a loved one is real, it hurts

2) but even in such a very real loss there can be a very real joy in knowing that the deceased was in Christ, and that there is a coming great day of reunion in the kingdom

5. to this end, James writes "Count it all joy" — it's an command, not a suggestion

IV. TRIALS ARE INEVITABLY MEANT TO BE SHARED

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,” (James 1:2, ESV)

1. in the church, we never face our trials alone ... at least we shouldn’t

a. we are, after all, in this together

2. in the original language the word brothers begins verse two

a. these are not just brothers in that many of them are ethnic Jews ... these are brothers because they are in Christ, just as James is in Christ putting them all in the family of God

3. as such they have a responsibility to be there for each other when a brother or sister is suffering a trial of some kind — weather it be minor or severe

“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:2, ESV)

V. TRIALS ARE INEVITABLY MEANT FOR OUR MATURITY

“for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:3–4, ESV)-

A. OUR TRIALS ARE MEANT TO PRODUCE PERSEVERANCE

1. the patience or steadfastness that James speaks of is more then just enduring an inconvenience but is stick-to-it-ness or endurance under fire

2. in other words – don't give up

a. steadfastness is about tenaciously hanging in there with God for the long haul because, like Peter confessed to whom else shall we go?

“Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”” (John 6:68–69, ESV)

ILLUS. Oswald Chambers, in his classic Christian work Utmost for His Highest, writes this about perseverance. “Perseverance means more than endurance— more than simply holding on until the end. A saint’s life is in the hands of God like a bow and arrow in the hands of an archer. God is aiming at something the saint cannot see, but our Lord continues to stretch and strain, and every once in a while the saint says, “I can’t take any more.” Yet God pays no attention; He goes on stretching until His purpose is in sight, and then He lets the arrow fly. Entrust yourself to God’s hands. Is there something in your life for which you need perseverance right now? Maintain your intimate relationship with Jesus Christ through the perseverance of faith. Proclaim as Job did, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (Job 13:15).”

3. James is saying the same thing – don't give up, God is not done with you yet

ILLUS. In "A View from a Zoo," Gary Richmond tells about the birth of a giraffe.

The first thing to emerge are the baby giraffe's front hooves and head. A few minutes later the plucky newborn calf is hurled forth, falls ten feet, and lands on its back. Within seconds, he rolls to an upright position with his legs tucked under his body.

From this position he considers the world for the first time. The mother giraffe lowers her head long enough to take a look. Then she positions herself directly over the calf. She waits for about a minute, and then she does the most unreasonable thing. She swings her long, pendulous leg outward and kicks her baby, so that it is sent sprawling head over heals.

When it doesn't get up, the violent process is repeated over and over again. The struggle to rise is momentous. As the baby calf grows tired, the mother kicks it again to stimulate its efforts...

Finally, the calf stands for the first time on its wobbly legs. Then the mother giraffe does the most remarkable thing. She kicks it off its feet again. Why? She wants it to remember how it got up.

In the wild, baby giraffes must be able to get up as quickly as possible in order to stay with the herd, where there is safety. Lions, hyenas, leopards, and wild hunting dogs all enjoy young giraffes. If the mother didn't teach her calf to get up quickly and get with it.

Has there ever been a time when you endured one trial, only to get knocked down again? It may be God helping you to remember how it was that you got up, urging you to walk, in his shadow, under his care.

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