God's Master Piece

I have stood over my Dad’s shoulder many times as he created beautiful pieces of Jewelry. Starting with raw metal and a mold it is cast then stripped. At first glance its hard to see the work of art that the ring will be. Then the rough edges are removed by file, sandpaper, and pumice wheels. The stones are set and the ring is polished and a beautiful work of art is handed to its new owner. Likewise God is working on us, through difficult trials and troubles God removes the rough edges and polishes us into a master piece, a mature Christian before we are physically handed over to our owner.

God works through our trials in order to perfect us. Yet, our first reaction is of anger, despair, and relentless actions that tries to bring the trial to a halt. Trials or as the KJV translates Temptations is the Greek noun peirasmos which means examination, it is to submit to a test in order to learn the true nature or character of an object. In context it is a difficult time physically, emotionally, and sometimes spiritually through a circumstance you find yourself in. No people have endured more trials than the Jewish people. James the half brother of Jesus writes this letter to the Jewish believers dispersed throughout the Roman World. These Jewish believers had likely lost their homes, faced persecution from Gentiles and non-believing Jews.

Trials are difficult, however, they are a part of the Christian experience. They are inevitable and come from many places they include financial, family, political, and cultural issues. Many of us today are experiencing difficult times.... loss, sickness, injuries, financial hardships and wayward children but we must look past our circumstance to see what good can come from them.

CPS: Whatever trial you face know that God is faithful and is always working to bring glory to Himself and good to us. So, we must not fall pray to distraction but learn to look past the hardship to what God is accomplishing in that time. Trials are like a paint brush in the hand of God who is working on His masterpiece before it is revealed to the judge on the last day.

I. Trials are difficult and inevitable but Joy must be obtained. (2)

Notice the affectionate term James uses, My Brethren, James has the love of God poured upon his heart and speaks with an intimate affection. By calling his audience brother we can see that he is writing to fellow Christians. Many people have the wrong view of Christianity, believing that a loving God would not allow difficult times to come upon them. Jesus told His disciples, “the world will hate you but know that it first hated me (Jn. 15:18)"and “if they persecuted me they will also persecute you. (Jn. 15:20).” James is speaking words of affection and encouragement because he understood the truth of trials, they are inevitable!

“Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations.” Notice, he does not say if you fall into but when you fall into. It has been said that you are either in the midst of a trial, coming out of a trial, or about to head into a trial. Many of us here today are in the midst of one, some of us here are on the verge of coming out on the other side of a trial, while some may be about to fall into to a time of trial. The Greek verb fall peripiptō means to experience or face, It often translated encounter (NASB). In Acts 27:41 it is used to describe striking a sandbar with a ship. When paired with divers/various It gives the image of being surrounded by trials. James; audience likely knew what it was like to be surrounded by trials. They faced persecution from gentiles, and persecution from their own people the Jews and having likely been put out of synagogue they formed little bands to worship the risen Lord Jesus. Could you fathom today having no rights to worship the Lord Jesus. That is likely their situation.

However, James instructs them to count it all joy! Count/consider is the Greek verb hēgeomai which means to be of an opinion, to think or regard. During trials this is not natural to us, ILL: Imagine… you are driving your car in the middle of no-where when all of a sudden your tire blows. You get out and start to change the tire and learn that your spare is flat and you don’t have a jack. Most likely you will not double fist pump and shout YES! You are likely to feel dismayed, discouraged, and defeated. James tells us a choice must be made. This verb is in the 1st Arorist tense instructing us to “Do it now, once and for all.” ILL: While in the police academy I was taught that when you pulled a car over you must have decided before you ever step out of your car whether or not you were going to write a ticket. Likewise we must make up our minds through the help and strength of the Holy Spirit to consider it All Joy before when we encounter trials.

All Joy (Pas Chara), this means the complete sate of gladness or rejoicing. It is whole joy, unmixed joy. It is being in the state pure joy not a little joy mixed with grief but total joy, and this can be accomplished as we will soon see when you consider that God is working all things out for your good.

ILL: The only survivor of a shipwreck washed up on a small uninhabited island. He cried out to God to save him, and every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming. Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a rough hut and put his few possessions in it. But then one day, after hunting for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, the smoke rolling up to the sky. The worst had happened; he was stung with grief. But early the next day, a ship drew near the island and rescued him. “How did you know I was here?” he asked the crew. “We saw your smoke signal,” they replied.

Though it may not seem so now, your present difficulty is instrumental to your future and thus to our joy .

II. Trials are difficult and inevitable but patience must be sustained so that perfection can be gained. (3,4)

Trials are difficult and inevitable but the outcome of our trials, when viewed through the lens of faith brings joy to our hearts because it is an opportunity to trust God and see first hand that He is Sovereign and faithful to keeps His promises.

We believe that God is sovereign and that nothing is outside of His control. However, God does not cause our trials to come they are a result of a fallen world due to sin. But God rules and over rules for His Glory and our good. He allows trials to take place and uses the effect of sin and evil to mold us into who He wants us to be.

A. Patience Gained

It has been said that “patience is a virtue”, it is God’s school, wherein we learn some of His most valuable lesson. You can have joy during trials because you come to learn that in them God is tasting your faith. Knowing (vb) is experiential knowledge. We go through trials to find the genuineness of our faith. Trials are God’s acid test of faith.

The trying of our faith produces endurance. Trying is the Greek noun dokimion it means testing. It is used similarly in 1 Peter 1:7 as the proof of your faith. ILL: I test gold at work in order to find out if it is plumb or not. I test for its purity.I file into the metal to get passed the surface elements to the heart of what I’m testing. I then drop of nitric acid into my file mark, if the metal causes the acid to bubble then it is not the purity I am looking for. Trials are the Acid Test of faith, its not to see if you have faith but the purity of your faith.

These trials produces patience. Patience (hypomonē) is often translated endurance, in this sense it means steadfastness or staying power. Knowing that trials test your faith leads you to hold on during these times of trouble as you trust God’s faithfulness to sustain you.

B. Patience Sustained

Most often when we enter trials we look for an escape door. we would do most anything to exit this trial or bring it quickly to an end. But James tells us we must have staying power to allow God to accomplish His purpose in us. He says Let patience have her perfect work. Let have is the Greek verb echō it is allowing the trial to accomplish what it intends. The verb is in the present active tense giving the idea of let it keep having. Let it keep working its work until it is finished. ILL: In the earlier days of refining the smelter refined gold by fire. He held the crucible over the intense flames until they could see their reflection. It took a while for the gold to reach the proper temperature, if it was removed before there would be impurities thus the gold was not pure and the refiners purpose was not accomplished.

By having the mindset of pure joy during trials, knowing that your faith is being proved you will hang in there allowing God to finish what He started. Philippians 1:6 “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”

C. Perfection Gained

God’s purpose is for us to be perfect and complete, it is a gradual process of removing flaws and adding virtue upon virtue until we are lacking nothing. James is telling us that trials make us a mature Christian with faith complete in the fullest sense and ready to stand before God in Judgment where we are handed over to our owner, the Lord Jesus!

Conclusion: Trials are inevitable and difficult but in them God is ruling and overruling bring glory to Himself and good to us. I am reminded of what Joseph said in Gen. 50:20 after his horrible trial was completed, at the death of his father Jacob he tells his brothers who sold him into slavery, “What you meant for evil God meant for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.

Friends, in times of trials God glorifies Himself and brings undefiled goodness to us. He is working on his masterpiece sanding away rough edges and removing flaws so that when we are handed to the Lord Jesus there will be much joy. So today we must make up our minds to be joyful in trials and submit ourselves to His faithful work. Let’s submit in such a way that our heart sings joyfully:

“Have Thine own way Lord, Have Thine own way, Thou art the Master, I am the clay, mold me and make me after thy will, while I am waiting yielded and still.”