Steadfast Joy

Background

There is a reason that the book of James is important to the local church. We have in it themes of things that we deal with. But with the issues that arise, James gives us insight with how to deal with these issues. I would say that the issues that James addresses are timeless, they are things that we continue to deal with even today. As we begin, we need to understand the who, what, when, where, and why of this letter.

First is the who, and we find that in the very first verse. James 1:1

James 1:1 (ESV)

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

We know that the author of this letter is a man by the name of James. So who was James? There were a couple of people by the name of James in the New Testament. The James that is writing this is most likely the half-brother of Jesus who was named James. We have evidence in the book of Acts and Galatians that this James was a leader in the early church. He was held in esteem in the early church just like Peter and John were. So the church respected him and would listen to what he had to say. James was not always a follower of Jesus. And this might be hard to believe. James and his brothers were always a little weary of Jesus’ claim to be the messiah. It wasn’t until the resurrections that he was converted when he saw Jesus alive after his execution. A fun fact about James, it was said that he spend so much time in prayer, that his knees became calloused and resembled the knees of a camel.

The what is pretty simple. This is a letter to the twelve tribes. This is a distinction used to address the church. There were people from all different walks of life, backgrounds, and cultures. The church was multigenerational, multicultural, and multiethnic. So, by James addressing them as the twelve tribes, he is encompassing the whole church. And this also describes the where. It was written to the Christian Jews that were scattered. The letter would have been intended to be a letter to be passed around to Christians all over.

It is believed that this letter is written somewhere around A.D. 50. But there is a chance that it was written a little earlier, which may would even give it the distinction of being the first New Testament writing that we would have. As for the why, we will be covering that over the course of this study. Verse one gives us a good insight for the background of who wrote this letter and who this letter was written to.

As we dive into these next few verses, we will be dealing with the idea of suffering. How many of us have ever suffered before? I want to make this somewhat interactive. Does anyone want to share in some way that they have experienced suffering?

The point of this passage today is for us to grasp an understanding of how Christians should deal with suffering.

James 1:2 ESV

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

James tells us that we should count it joy when we face trials. In 1988, Bobby McFerrin had the widely acclaimed song “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”. It sounds like he may have read these first few verses of James. But how many of us kind of wish that this verse wasn’t in the bible? Yea, me too at times. None of us want to face trials. In fact, we do everything possible to avoid them. But we cannot ultimately avoid them because they will come. James implies this when he says “when you meet trials”. He doesn’t say if, but when. So we should expect them.

Trials can be expected because of sin in the world. Because of the sin in the garden of Eden, there are things that can be expected like death and pain. But also, trials. So, our response as Christians should be angry and frustration. We need to punch holes in walls and want to fight someone and want to throw things. We could be like Peter and cut someones ear off. This is not the response that we should have.

But also, James is not saying that we should not feel emotions such as sadness and disappointment. If you were to walk into work tomorrow and get told that your services were no longer needed. Or if you were to take your parents or spouse of children to the doctor and hear that they have found cancer. James is not saying that we be happy and joyful about the situations. What James is saying is different.

As Christians, we should understand that there are commands that are given to us in scripture that are very clear. This passage is extremely clear. We are to have joy in the midst of trials. This word “joy” is very distinctive to believers. The world may have some definition for this but the word that is used in the Greek here is defined as a “primary response to the event of salvation of human beings”. So the joy that we can experience as believers is rooted in our salvation. We can be joyful in trials because we know that this situation is not forever and this world is not our home.

Tell about salvation and the gospel.

The command that we have is to be joyful when we meet trials of various kinds. So what are some trials that we may face? We have this theological lie going around today that tells us God never wants us to be sick or poor. They tell us to name it and claim it and it will happen. That our thoughts manifest the good and bad things in our life. So we need to have positive thoughts.

This word of faith movement is anti-biblical. You cannot tell me that Job did not have the faith to keep himself from suffering. He lost everything except for his wife and God. You cannot tell me that Paul needed more faith and if he had it then he would not have suffered.

English Standard Version Chapter 11

24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.

I guess Paul just needed more faith. No, Paul was being obedient and was expecting trials. He met them head on because he knew that his salvation was in Jesus Christ. He had joy. I have heard this notion that people think that the story of Jesus was made up by the apostles so that it looked like they won. Think about what happened to the apostles. If they had made up this story of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, at least one of them would have recanted when being tortured and killed. But none of them did. And it was because they had faith. Which is where James goes in verse 3.

English Standard Version Chapter 1

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.

Trials test our faith. They test our faith by seeing how we react to the test. We can react two different ways. We can have the worldly reaction or we can have the Christlike reaction. When Job was in the midst of dealing with all of his loss, his wife told him to just curse God and die. What if he would have? God went on to restore all that Job had, and then some. If he would not have had the right reaction, he would not have experienced this. While Paul was on his missionary journeys and being beaten and shipwrecked and sick, what if he would have said that he was done with this kind of life? He would not be considered one of the greatest New Testament writers, and we would probably not have any of his writings today. The difference in Job and Paul was the worldly outcome. Job had everything restored while Paul was executed for his faith. The common thing was joy in the midst of trials. When it says that we should “count it all joy”, this means that there must be an intentional decision that we are going to have this Christlike response.

And what does the testing of our faith produce? Steadfastness. Other translations may have endurance or maybe patience. This idea of steadfastness is countercultural to the life of the unbeliever. This reminds me of wedding vows. We vow to not leave our spouse, in sickness and in health, in richer or poorer, and till death do us part. This is having endurance, having steadfastness. This is having “staying power”. Even though things are not going the way that we have envisioned it, even though our lives may have been turned upside down, I am not going anywhere. Because, through faith, I have been given perseverance.

I want to give a caveat to what I am about to say. What I am not saying is that anxiety and depression is not real. It is very real. But I think there is an application for this verse in the life of the Christian who suffers from depression and/or anxiety. Depression and anxiety can be caused from us looking at our trials and situations and we just want the problems fixed. If our goal is for the problem to be fixed, we will never be satisfied. Because once that problem goes away, another problem shows up. And a lot of the time it is a bigger problem than the one before.

But by having joy in our circumstance, we are molded and shaped into someone who can persevere. Someone who knows that it isn’t about fixing our problems but it is about having joy in our salvation in spite of what is going on.

Endurance, steadfastness, perseverance. It doesn’t matter what word you use. The idea is us saying that we see our salvation in a more eternal way. That we know that our goal is not getting rid of all of our problems. But that even when the world is coming at us, even when our spouse is mad, even when we lose our job, even when our hands are tied behind our backs and there is someone with a sword ready to take our head off because of our faith, we know that our eternal situation does not change. And now they takes us to what happens when we have steadfastness.

English Standard Version Chapter 1

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

Let steadfastness have its full effect. Let our lives be defined as steadfastness. When issues come, let us turn to the endurance that we have been given to run this race. John MacArthur calls this having a submissive will. To let steadfastness have its full effect. God never promises that we will not have trials. But God promises that our faith will grow through our trials. And what does this growth produce?

A faith that is perfect and complete. But this requires our submission. We must submit ourselves to God and his sovereignty through trials. God is in control. He is not surprised by anything. He can stop the problem in an instant if he wanted to. But what would that accomplish for your submission and your faith. We have these great examples like I said of Paul and Job.

But, if you are like me, it might be really easy to get hung up on the words that are used here. First, he uses the words perfect and complete. What do you think of when you hear the word perfect? My thought goes to Jesus. Jesus was sinless, morally and spiritually without blemish. He was fully perfect. So does this mean that we will be perfect? No, that isn’t what this means. James even acknowledges in chapter 3 of this letter that we all stumble. So he cannot be referring to sinlessness. The Christian Standard Bible may have a more accurate translation for our understanding today. It says, “so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.”

Spiritual perfection is not attainable for us on earth. But spiritual maturity is. When we think of what maturity means, it means that you are fully developed. This is true for our spiritual life. Peter Davids says, “Perfection is not just a maturing of character, but a rounding out as more and more parts of the righteous character are added”. This means that our whole spiritual being is being added to and shaped to make us mature.

So that we can be lacking in nothing. James is just solidifying his point that God will sustain us to completeness. This is what happens when we endure trials, when we persevere through trials. We become mature and complete, not needing anything deeper than what we already have with our faith. God will take care of us. That does not mean that we will always be physically comfortable. But through these trials and afflictions, we can be assured that if we endure it and have joy through our faith in Jesus, then we will grow and mature in our faith.