The Call of the Servant

Let me tell you a tale of two Toms,

One Tom you know. He was a star athlete and is known as the Greatest-of-All-Time in his sport. Winner of 7 Super Bowls, 3-time NFL MVP, and eventual Pro Football Hall of Famer, Tom Brady

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‌To know how commited he was to his profession, he once said, “If you want to compete against me, you better be willing to give up your life because I’m giving up mine.” And that, he did. He gave up his everything: his diet, his family, and his time.

His passion and zeal for the sport he loved propelled him to be recognized as the best.

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But there’s another Tom, one you do not know. He was a pastor, a leader, and an ordinary man. The only reason why I know who he is, is a book titled, Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor, written by his son, Don Carson.

In Tom Carson’s old age, his wife had been struggling with ailments and shown symptoms of Alzheimer’s. Yet through times of hardship as explained from his journal entries, he still found joy in trials praising God for the lives he and his wife had been blessed with.

Not only did he find joy in trials, but he also faithfully depended on the Lord. In his early days in ministry and further on, something he’d regularly do was he would spend 45 minutes or more in a closed room kneeling before God in prayer. Tom was a man of prayer so much so, that a roommate of his from seminary described his prayer life as a challenge and rebuke to many.

Tom’s life as a pastor was simple. He pastored a small church in Drummondville, Canada for 15 years that saw its highs and lows. He wasn’t a mega-church pastor, he didn’t write any books, nor was he the leader of some great revival. What he did, was he stewarded the gift that God gave Him to preach the word in faith.

Tom Carson’s passion and zeal for Christ is what drove him to be the husband, father and pastor he was.

As described, Tom Brady and Tom Carson are two completely different people. Tom Brady was a football superstar and Tom Carson was an ordinary pastor. However different these men were, both men were servants of something. To be a servant of something, you must devote your time to the thing in which you choose to serve. Tom Brady gave up his life for football. Because he had done so, he was a servant to football and self-glory. Tom Carson on the other hand, gave up his life to the preaching of God’s word and the mission of the gospel. For such reasons, he was a servant to God and not himself.

Having known who these two men are and what they chose to live in service to, which person’s legacy would you rather have?

If you are like me, the sound of winning seven super bowls is more appealing than living a life like Tom Carson’s as recognition and worth are things easily desired. Whether it be in our families, our hobbies, or careers, we all crave the satisfaction that comes in doing things well and receiving praise in the end.

However, if we were to open God’s word, we would find that life isn’t about the thrills, it’s not about personal success or making our names great.

Instead, what we would find, is how God makes His name great through His sovereignty, redemption and grace. He reigns supremely over all creation and calls upon us, his children, to something larger than ourselves: to be servants of Him which was something Tom Carson understood.

To know the call of the servant in light of God’s word, turn with me to James 1:1-11. In the pew Bibles underneath the chairs, that passage will be found on page 1011.

Here in James 1:1-11, we will find the call of the servant as the servant first, finds joy in trials, second, faithfully asks God for wisdom, and thirdly, forfeits worldly prosperity for eternal glory.

Starting in verse 1,

James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings.

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 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. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. 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.

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The grass withers, the flowers fade but the word of our Lord stands forever…

Pray

Our passage today gives us a blueprint for living a life of a servant:

As servants we are first called to find joy in trials, second, faithfully ask God for wisdom, and thirdly, forfeit worldly prosperity for eternal glory.

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We begin by looking at verses 2-4 as the servant first, finds joy in trials as James writes,

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

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Joy as we know, is an experience. It’s a sort of feeling inside of us that feels really good. In some ways it’s comparative to happiness because happiness like joy is also a good feeling. However, it must be different from happiness as happiness exists only for a short moment.

For example, you can be happy about your child getting an A on an exam, but that happiness can be stripped away after your child is sent to the principal’s office the next day.

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Imagine if we replaced joy with happiness in verse 2 and it read: Count it all happiness when you endure trials of various kinds…

Like how much different would that sound?

Do you recall anyone throughout the Bible who lived “happily” as they faced whatever hardship they went through?

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Consider Noah, was he happily slaving away while building the ark while people were mocking him? How about Abraham? Was Abraham jumping with exuberance as he walked his son Isaac up to be offered up on the altar? What about David? Was David cheerfully running away from Saul knowing that he could be killed any second? And what about the many more in scripture who faced trials of many kinds?

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The heroes of our faith must have had a different attitude.

Did they experience happiness? I’m sure they did at times, but through times of great difficulty, the attitude they possesd must have been greater than happiness. This attitude must have been joy.

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One of the best definitions on joy, comes from pastor John Piper as He describes joy as “a good feeling in the soul, produced by the Holy Spirit, as he causes us to see the beauty of Christ in the word and the world.”

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“Joy is a good feeling in the soul, produced by the Holy Spirit, as he causes us to see the beauty of Christ in the word and the world.”

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Like happiness, joy is a good feeling to be experienced. It’s not an idea that you can make up in your mind and instantly believe it.

Piper illustrates this point by using an example of a hungry grizzly bear standing outside of a tent as you wake up from camping for the night. When you awake and see the bear standing outside, you don’t take a second to think about what you should feel, instead, your response to the bear is reactionary based on understanding and experience. You know bears are dangerous so you begin to feel fear of what could happen. No matter how hard you could try to control that emotion, that emotion is what it is, and you cannot work your way around it.

Joy is not just a good feeling, but it is a good feeling in the soul produced by the spirit. The apostle Paul explains joy as a fruit of the Spirit which reveals to us that we cannot produce it ourselves. It’s a work of the Spirit and not of man. What joy does is it draws us to the magnificent beauty of Christ because one of the primary roles of the Spirit is to illuminate the person of Jesus who is glorious.

And finally, where is Christ revealed? Christ is revealed in the word and the world. God makes Himself manifest to us through such things and it’s our responsibility to have eyes open to see and hearts willing to accept the fulfillment that is found in Christ.

Now that we have a definition of what joy is, we must ask ourselves why are we to count it joy through trials?

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James in his wisdom answers that for us as move along in verse 3 of our text, he says:

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James 1:3

for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.

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When might’ve been the last time your faith was tested? What is a recent memory of yours that produced steadfastness in your life? This is what James is trying to help his readers recollect as they take in the words of his letter. Our memories and experiences teach us about God and how He has worked and produced steadfastness in us.

A helpful illustration would be to consider God as a surgeon and mankind as patients in need of surgery. Like the good surgeon He is, He sees what’s necessary to take the wounded and broken hearted to restore them for the better. And in doing so, He uses trials as to increase our faith so that when we arrive at the end of them, we walk away far better and far more mature than we ever have before.

As finite and weak patients we are, our tendency is to not see life as God sees ours. We are often so fixed on our problems and pain that we fail to recognize that God is working things out for our good. It can seem as if instead of God being in control, it’s the total opposite where Satan is in control and he’s doing everything he can to wreck us.

James is urging us here to put our feelings aside and cling to what we know about God from what we remember. We know that God is working in us everyday because we have seen that to be true. God’s word reminds us that He desires to make us new creations and like the parent who wants to see their child grow in maturity, this is the love of our Father.

One of the best ways we can learn to trust God is by looking back to what He’s done, so that, we can look forward to what He will do later.

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And what exactly will he do later? We find that in verse 4.

James 1:4

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

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The phrase: “to be lacking in nothing”, should be key to knowing what James meant by being perfect and complete. “To be” implies that there is an end goal in mind and that end goal as some commentaries put it is, maturity or better, wholeness.

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The idea of being perfect comes across very strong and doesn’t sound as attainable as growing in maturity, but I believe that James is intentional about his usage of the term “perfect”.

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Let’s take a brief second to call back the words of Christ in His sermon on the Mount as found in Matt. 5:48 where He says:

You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

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These words came from our Lord after he taught from the law concerning various issues. Christ spoke from the Law and expounded upon it to cause listeners to see their sin. The standard was set extremely high, so high that no matter how hard you could work at being obedient to the law you never would be fully obedient to it because only God is holy and perfect as we are not.

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Yet, even after explaining how impossible it is to live perfectly, Christ commands us to be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect!

So, how is that the only perfect one can give us the task to be perfect as well?

Is perfection really attainable and if so, where might we find our answer to this problem of perfection?

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I firmly believe our answer is right in front of us as it was in front of the crowds who heard from Jesus in His sermon on the Mount as perfection is attainable in the person of Christ.

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It’s the very reason that God sent His Son because of us in our sin and wretchedness we needed someone (God in the flesh) to take our punishment and die the death that we deserved. God knew that we could never be perfect no matter how hard we could try.

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Remember how God delivered Israel out of Egypt by a pillar of light? He even gave them kings and leaders to demonstrate His love and authority and so much more. No matter what means He took, His people turned their backs on Him and choose to be servants of their own sin and die in their sin.

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And how about you (Christian)? How about the many times God has helped you, been there for you, and revealed Himself to you? How often have you chosen to turn your back on Him?

Know that that despite this problem of sin, there is hope. While perfection is seemingly unattainable, it is attainable only in the person of Christ!

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While we were sinners, Christ died and rose from the grave so that by faith in Him we would be counted righteous with God, made whole, perfect, and complete!

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So Christian, it is good to endure trials because in them, steadfastness is produced. In steadfastness you are held in the hands of God who is making you perfect and complete, lacking nothing in Christ.

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How great a truth is this? There is no better joy than the joy that comes in Christ!

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So as servants we first find our joy in trials through the person of Jesus and now secondly, we must faithfully turn to God in asking for wisdom as the servant faithfully asks God for Wisdom

We continue in verse 5 as James writes,

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

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James makes a great transition here as he turns our attention from lacking nothing in verse 4 to something that can specifically be lacked, that being, wisdom.

As we walk in steadfastness and move toward reflecting the image of Christ, what the servant is in dire need of is wisdom which can only be given by God.

Now what is wisdom exactly?

If we pulled from what James teaches later in this letter concerning wisdom, we would find what wisdom is not.

In James 3, he describes 3 kinds of wisdom that are unrelated to God. Those three kinds of false wisdom are 1) Earthly, 2) Unspiritual, and 3) Demonic. He defines these three modes of wrong wisdom in relation to having jealousy, selfish ambition, wrongful boasting and being false to the truth.

Later after explaining what wisdom is not in chapter 3, he explains the wisdom from above in relation to God as it is pure, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere, as well as a harvest of righteousness sown in peace by those who make peace.

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Wisdom from above is one of the highest forms of good as it pertains to who God is as God Himself is pure, gentle, open to reason, and all the things James uses to describe wisdom. He is wisdom and He is the one who grants it.

Having known what wisdom is, what might it look like in practice? If you and I as Christians were to demonstrate what wisdom is, how should that look?

Looking at God’s word for what it is, my best way of explaining wisdom is this: it is the ability to discern between right and wrong and act on it accordingly.

Wisdom is the ability to discern between right and wrong and act on it accordingly.

To keep ourselves in thinking about the book of Ecclesiastes and Solomon, I believe Solomon to be an example of a man who was able to discern between right and wrong and act on it accordingly.

In 1 Kings 3 there is a story of two women who had been disputing over whos baby was whos. One of the women had a baby that died after birth and attempted to steal the other woman’s child. They argued for some time and then later brought the issue before King Solomon. After listening to the women, Solomon called for a sword to be brought to him so that he could divide the child in two between them. The call he made to have a sword brought to him was because he knew that by dooing so, the real mother of the child would reveal herself by being willing to do whatever it took to keep the child alive which is exactly what happened.

Solomon demonstrated a great act of wisdom and it’s the same wisdom God desires to bestow on us! The best news about wisdom is that it comes freely from our generous without reproach Lord! When He hears our plea for wisdom, He is joyfully willing to hand us the very thing we lack.

I mentioned how Solomon was a man of great wisdom but let me ask, do you have any idea of how he received it? The wisdom he was given was because he asked God but not only did he ask, he asked in faith. This way of asking in faith, is the same way James wants tells us to ask God for wisdom as found in verses 6-8 of our text.

Hear what James has to say in verses 6-8,

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James 1:6–8

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. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

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Earlier I made a distinction between happiness and joy, now I want to make another distinction but this time between wishful requests and faithful requests.

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Wishful requests look like empty prayers to God not expecting anything to come of them.

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An example might be such as a person who prays “Lord help me me be committed to the reading of your word” and then after praying they fail to act on it as they go an entire week without opening their Bible.

I think so often we (even I) treat our prayers, and ultimately God like that person. We hope to see change and blessing in our lives but only for a short moment. When a trial or temptation comes our way, we buckle and submit to the desires of our heart.

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Faithful requests are much more than wishful requests.

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Faithful requests unlike wishful requests require a surrendering of will to God. The same man who prayed about being more committed to God’s word doesn’t just pray “Help me God spend more time in your word” and hope for the best. What he does is he prays that prayer and follows through on it being a man of action. He also continues to pray fervantly like his life depends on it so when any moment of temptation approaches Him, He knows how to rightly respond by turning to God in faith.

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This way of living is what separates the faithful man from the double-minded man as spoken of in verse 8.

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The double-minded, doubtful man lives like a non-believer. He acts lost and appears as if He does not belong to the family of God because He doesn’t know who to turn to.

Like the foolish man who built his house on the sand and when the wind comes it blows away unlike the wise man who builds his house on the rock, his house remains. The man of faith as John Calvin puts it in his commentary on James, feels the weight of the wind but by the power of God and what sustains Him, he will not be moved!

Brothers and sisters, as we go through trials, know that the wisdom that we have in God keeps us firm and grounded. We certainly will feel the power of the wind especially as it gets heavier, but just because you feel the wind, that does not mean you waver. As you are in Christ, He keeps you still. He is our Good Shepherd and like the good shepherd, He will not us let us waver outside of the sheepfold.

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In James 1 it appears as if James is speaking of the double-minded as a non-believer. But we know that the reality is, even as Christians, we can look and smell like a non-believer who does waver all over the place. When we are out of tune with God, we look like we belong to someone else. This is why the prescription from James later in his letter is to draw near to God. In Christ we may not wander outside of the sheepfold because we are forever in His grasp, but that doesn’t mean we can’t try everything in our power to resist His care.

The enemy is crafty and does everything He can to deceive us so it’s vital that we cling to God. The best resources that we have to cling to God are through His word and prayer. God is active and the only way we can see His activity is in light of scripture and communion with Him. If you want wisdom and desire to know more about who God is, the answers are in front of us. We don’t serve a God who is distant and far off, we serve a God who is personal as well as relational.

As I mentioned earlier in Piper’s quote, joy causes us to see the beauty of Christ in the word and the world. What better way to experience joy and know wisdom by asking in faith as well as drawing near to Him through His word and prayer.

When we cling to God, we will find how faithful He is and that He promises something so much better in the life to come. This is what the servant trusts and looks ahead to as he forfeits worldly prosperity for eternal glory.

We servants must first find joy in trials, second, faithfully ask God for wisdom and finally, forfeit worldly prosperity for eternal glory.

We conclude with our last set of verses in James 1:9-11

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James 1:9–11

Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. 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.

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James adds a third distinction for us between two persons, the lowly brother and the rich man.

The lowly brother is exalted and somehow the rich man is left in humilation. This truth is difficult for our brains to comprehend because we live in a world that preaches the exact opposite. ‌

Looking back at my intro to the example of the two Toms, if I asked you which Tom will likely be more remembered one hundred years from now, I’m certain we would all share the same answer. Tom Brady’s successes that he had in his profession appear more notable than Tom Carson’s. Thousands of men have preached the name of Christ on the pulpit, but only one Tom Brady played football as great as Tom Brady.

You see our world attempts to convince us of one thing about earthly success but our God wants to teach us of something greater in His word: the lowly, steadfast, faithful brother who lived the quiet life will be exalted. As for the rich man, despite his fame, his successes, the dent that he left in society, all will wither like the flower of the grass.

What seemingly sets up the lowly/poor individual from verse 9 in a better position to trust God is that they recognize they have nothing of their own power to depend on. They have come to the end of themselves in humility which causes them to see their need of savior who lifts them up. The rich man on the other hand, sees the work they’ve been able to accomplish in this life giving them the feeling of exaltation here and now, but once this life comes to end, they shall be humbled because everything they did was vanity.

Something well worth highlighting is the phrase “his pursuits” from verse 11 as the this is the key issue for the rich man. His pursuits reveal the desires of his heart as the desires of his heart do not align with the things of God. Another problem found in the rich man is that he often wants more of what he already has and in wanting more, he is blinded by his own wealth and the things of this perishable world.

This begs a question for us all, rich or poor, what do you love? What are your pursuits? Are you pursuing the praise of your boss or the respect of your colleagues? Are you pursuing more wealth and financial freedom so that you can do all the things that you want to do? We all have things in our lives that appeal to us and distract us from what is of importance: God and eternity!

Nothing that we desire compares to the goodness of God. In Him we find fulfillment, In Him we find truth, and rest and joy. Knowing how magnificent He is should compel us to make Him and life after the desire of our hearts.

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The best things on this earth are nothing but shadows God’s glory and this is something that the lowly brother understands.

Whatever we do in this life will pass. We can break records like Tom Brady, we can acquire great wealth and pass it on to our kids, we can invent something new, but eventually whatever that thing we worked towards will get diminished.

However, there is one kind of work that we can do that will not be dimininished, and that’s the work of the great commission: preaching the gospel to the ends of the earth.

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One thing I believe we emphasize in Christian culture is this idea of looking to Jesus. While that is very true and must be preached what’s often a missing proponent of that message is looking to Jesus while also pointing others to look to Jesus. The gospel is not excluded to you and I; it’s meant for everyone. The joy we have in Christ should be enjoyed by everyone we interact with.

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And also don’t think that you have to be a pastor or a missionary to share the gospel with others. Sharing the gospel isn’t dependent upon circumstances and being in the right place at the right time. Where it starts is in the home with your children, with your friends or colleagues at work. It starts wherever your at and it starts now.

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We only get one life and if you truly do somehow want to make it count, make it count by living for the kingdom and not yourself because the labor is plenty, but the laborers are few and Christ came to serve and not be served.

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The life of the servant is not easy. There will be trials but as servants we must remember to first find joy in them knowing that they mold us into the image of Christ who is perfect. Second, we then must faithully ask God for wisdom because wisdom is a thing we often lack. And lastly we must forfeit worldly prosperity for eternal glory because what God has in store for us later is far better than what this earth has to offer.

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For 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.

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Let us anticipate that day when we see God in glory and all His promises fulfilled,

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Amen, let’s close in prayer…