Count It All Joy

Opening

Good morning everyone,

Would you all open your Bibles with me to the book of James. We will be reading from its first chapter, verses 1 to 18, and then we’re going to open in prayer.

Read:

English Standard Version Chapter 1

1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,

To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion:

Greetings.

Testing of Your Faith

2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 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.

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

9 Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, 10 and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. 11 For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.

12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. 18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

Let’s pray:

Father, all praise, all glory, all honor be to you, for righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne. The heavens proclaim your righteousness and your people have seen your glory. In the coming moments, we ask that you would speak, that your word would be illuminated for us. Guard the ears of your people so that their feet are not stumbled, renew their hearts again so that their hearts would yield to your spirit. Call us to be still, o God, so that we may again find our refuge in you. This we pray, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Body

One of the most pressing questions that appear before us in our daily lives is the question “What now?”

After all, our lives are constantly going through changes. We, because time moves in a linear fashion, continually pick up new responsibilities. There are a few of us in school, others already in the workforce, and some of you are new parents. New life stages and circumstances, all inescapable.

With every change, we are faced with “What now?”

What should my life look like, what is expected of me, what do I do now?

And this question of “What now” becomes even more pressing when the changes in our lives are not just confusing or new but bad. Financial strain, relational strife, and deep painful loss. Heavy, heavy weight on our shoulders.

To further complicate things, you’ll find that there is more to this question of “What now.” As people of God, how are you expected to live?

If you’d look again with me to James chapter 1, verse 1, you’ll find that the audiences of this letter are the twelve tribes in the dispersion, the Jewish Christians living outside of Palestine, those living in a foreign and famished land. They are displaced and poverty stricken, starving from persecution and social exile.

In circumstances like that, it’s natural for hardship to bleed into character, it is expected. Under this pressure, our cracks begins to show, widening to reveal the already present flaws in our character.

If we’re being honest with ourselves, we can all recognize some inadequacies in ourselves, covered up and hidden behind our strengths.

Like we see in verse 14, what threatens to drag us away can so often come from the desires within us that seek to produce sin and subsequently death.

Life is hard and yet we find that James heaps instruction on the Jewish Christians, instructions that call for those of the dispersion to behave contrary to their circumstances, to go against the natural flow of action.

Consider it joy whenever you face trials. James makes the point – let this be an occasion for joy!

Joy?

This is a strange and unexpected response to suffering, it could almost feel inappropriate.

Don’t misunderstand this, don’t look at this and think “I must pretend that things are okay.” This is not a forced joy but an eschatological joy! A joy that comes from looking beyond and seeing something joyous!

Look with me at verse 2, James calls for his brothers and sisters to consider it joy when they face trials and the reason to consider such hardship as joy is because the testing of their faith produces steadfastness.

Note that the testing spoken of here is not to determine whether or not there is faith, but instead, it is here to refine faith that already exists, and in this refining of faith, steadfastness is produced.

Only through refining does this facet of steadfastness exists in believers.

But not just for the sake of being a steadfast person. Steadfastness itself is not the goal. Instead, looking at verse 4, you can see the goal and desired outcome of suffering under trial.

James 1:4 ESV

And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

The goal is not a specific virtue or a particular spiritual fruit!

The goal of steadfastness is your perfection, your completeness.

Perfection is central to James’ writing, it is this picture of wholeness, a finished and flawless work.

We can see this idea of perfection in verse 5 through the contrasting of two men.

The first is embodying wholeness, they are lacking in nothing for they ask in faith and receive wisdom from God. They are wise!

The second is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind, double-minded and unstable. They are doubtful of the security of God’s promises and are torn with inner conflict, wandering on and off all every path they can see. In all that they try to do, they are fractured and inconsistent. They are not whole and they are not wise

In all of this is the implication that God desires for his followers to live true to their title, to follow him.

More than that, it is implied that God desires for those who follow him to be refined, to be perfected, to be completed. To be wise and be affected by wisdom!

Not in part but in whole, for the collective voice of scripture calls for you to not just be followers, but imitators of Christ, that your whole being and every aspect of you would be refined and conformed into the likeness of the Rock That Is Higher and that from this completeness, your actions would be good and pleasing to God.

See, this is a continuing of the work of God. The call to count it all joy in poverty and humiliation is a command that is founded on the finished work of Jesus. Having been saved, you are called away from being fractured and inconsistent, you are called toward being whole in every aspect of your being.

The reality we see in James is that faith has an effect on life and the culmination of Christian life is whole and perfect conformity to the likeness of Christ.

Why should the lowly brother boast? Because his position in Christ is not lowly but exalted.

Why should the rich brother boast about his humiliation? Because his richness comes from the inheritance of heaven, not from the accumulation of earthly dust.

Why should those undergoing trials and temptations consider it joy? Because in the trying of your faith, you and those around you become witnesses to the work of God that is being done in you, you see with your eyes that faith is present in you, and now you are given this opportunity to exercise that faith by placing weight on it.

Do you see? The command here to consider it pure joy is not another burden for you to carry on top of the pains of life! It is an instruction so that you may live! Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.

Closing

And so, now, my brothers and sisters, in sickness, loneliness, bereavement, and disappointment, do not keep your eyes fixed on the circumstances of life nor on the desires of the flesh. Instead, look toward the object of your faith, the good and perfect gift of God to you. See that the promises of God are fulfilled to you in Christ, know that the work of Jesus will not be undone, that the Spirit is, at this very moment, making you more and more like Christ - and consider it all joy.

The task laid before you is this, joyfully lean into the work of God that is being done in you and continue on in that way. Become wholly/holy like Christ.

Let’s pray:

Citation

Davids, Peter H. The Epistle of James: A Commentary on the Greek Text. New International Greek Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1982.

Moo, Douglas J. The Letter of James. The Pillar New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: Eerdmans; Apollos, 2000.