TRIUMPHANT TRIALS
James: Faith that Works • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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REMEMBER THAT TRIALS HAVE A PURPOSE
REMEMBER THAT TRIALS HAVE A PURPOSE
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,
The opening word of verse 2 is a command. It is the first of 53 that James will issue in his 108-verse letter. James is a book about doing. It teaches what to do in a life that is daily filled with trials and temptations. Here is an easy example: We are facing a trial/test and a temptation this morning.
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror.
For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.
But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,
James says: “Count”. He is not telling us so much how to feel as how to think. He is not saying: Pretend this is fun. Nor is he calling us always to have a sickly grin or stiff upper lip. James is telling us to think about our trials in a certain way. There is a point of view we need to adopt, a particular way to consider what is going on.
Count call us to a deliberate and careful judgment stemming from external proof, not subjective judgment based on feelings.Count is also a mathematical term which says "Think about it and come to a conclusion."
The verb tense is a command calling for action, and can even convey a sense of urgency It is also a command because it is not our natural response to trials. We are to regard our experiences of testing as the ground for all joy, not just part joy! Remember that God never commands us to do anything which He does not enable or empower.
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.
Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.
I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.
I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
The literal rendering emphasizes the call to joy even more pointedly -- "All joy count it"! On the surface, this command is one of the most difficult in all of the Bible, in my opinion. It ranks up there with "in everything, give thanks." And yet we know that God is not trying to frustrate us or defeat us but to conform us to the image of His Son, and in so doing, He wastes no circumstance, no adversity, no affliction, no sickness, no success, no failure, etc., in achieving His end, which in fact He will achieve.
And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
James is not saying the trials are joyful in themselves but are a means to an end, which is joyful. In other words, joy in trials comes from knowing that the outcome will be good. It's as if, while in the trial, we have a future-focused mindset because we know that the trial in the hands of the good and loving Potter is valuable regarding the sculpting of our character. We must know that a loving Father allows (sometimes sends) trials in our lives, not to impair us but to improve us. Not to destroy us but to develop us. In other words, our Father takes us into His darkroom to develop our character, not destroy it.
Our values determine our evaluations. If we value comfort more than character, then trials will upset us. If we value the material and physical more than the spiritual, we will not be able to ‘count it all joy!’ If we live only for the present and forget about the future, the trials will make us bitter, not better.
Peter gives a command which is similar to that of James, writing that…
but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.
to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing (present imperative = Command to make it your habit to rejoice in your trials. Why? Read on); so that also at the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice with exultation.
In a similar exhortation, Paul writes…
Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,
and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,
and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
The paradox of "all joy in trials" is not normal but supernormal. In other words, joy in trials is not a natural reaction but must be a supernatural reaction. Ultimately, it seems to me, that the man or woman who is most able to obey this command is the one who is walking by the Spirit, filled with the Spirit, controlled by the Spirit. As the believer yields to the Spirit, making the determined choice of his will, he or she is enabled to manifest joy.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
For example, recall the exhortation of the writer of Hebrews to continually (present tense) fix…
looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Peter said
For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.
If you look at trials through the eyes of the flesh you will fail. If you look at trials through the eyes of faith you will finish.
Note that James is not commanding believers to enjoy their trials which in themselves are grievous not joyful. If this were his intent, James would be calling for a stoic like resignation, in which the one simply "grins and bears" the trial. To the contrary, James is saying that believers should (and can) see their trials not so much as obstacles but as opportunities, which when "leavened" with God's grace, prove to be "fertilizer" for growth in Christ-likeness.
Trials when seen with eyes of faith can then be accepted as God's tools for producing beneficial results and can then be occasions for rejoicing. As an aside, James is not a masochist and is not calling for us to seek out or needlessly rush into trials.
Biblical joy in times of trials is not natural optimism. It is the joy of hope (Ed: absolute assurance of future good) in God and His sure promises. This radical attitude results from a deliberate choice. The choice is, “Will I trust in God and His promises, or not?” As James says, it is our faith that is being tested. We do not know if our faith is genuine until it stands up under the test.
You can buy a jacket that claims to be waterproof. If you wear it on dry days, you have not put the jacket to the test. The test of that jacket is, if you get caught in a downpour, does it keep you dry? If it does, you say, “That’s a good jacket!”
It’s easy to proclaim, “I trust in God!” Anybody can say that. But, the test of your faith is when you really do choose to trust God in a severe trial. Afterwards, you know that your faith is genuine, because it brought you through the trial. But the point is, when you are faced with a trial, you have a choice: Will I trust God and the promises of His Word, as I have professed to do, or not? To trust God and experience His hope and joy in the midst of trials is a radical attitude that James commands us to adopt.
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,
My brothers He is referring to true believers addressing them with a feeling of warmth and love, as well as identification, which would assure them that they are not alone in their trials.
When you meet… Note carefully James does not say "if" but "when" referring not to possibility but to inevitability! Trials are not an elective, but a required course in the "school of Christ"! Trials then are an expected/guaranteed element of the normal Christian life, and so, beloved, as Peter says
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.
Do not be surprised (command to stop continually being surprised!) at the fiery trial among you which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you.
Many Christians naively think that if they obey the Lord, they will be spared from any trials. When trials hit them, they are confused and often angry at God: “I was following You! Why did You allow this to happen?” But the Bible gives abundant testimony that all of God’s saints encounter trials. And these trials are not necessarily the consequence of disobedience. Rather, God uses them to test our faith. They will be varied according to His sovereign purpose. We cannot understand why He sends the particular trials that He does, but whatever they are, we can know that they are from Him.
Notice that while the world says "count it joy when you escape trials", James says "No, count it joy when you are in the midst of trials!"
Meet/Encounter . . . This verb can also convey the sense of falling into something suddenly or unexpectedly -- isn't that what most trials do? They "jump" on us and catch us off guard! I like the picture presented by the Amplified version "whenever you are enveloped in or encounter trials of any sort or fall into various temptations." The picture is one encompassed by these trials, something with which we can all readily identify!
It is used in the story of the Good Samaritan
Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead.
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,
Trials . . . John Newton describes these trials as like medicines which our gracious and wise Physician prescribes, because we need them; and He proportions the frequency and weight of them to what the case requires.
Various Troubles . . . Our troubles may be many-coloured, but so is the grace of God; There is no color in the human situation which grace cannot match. There is a grace to match every trial and there is no trial without its grace…
All kinds of experiences will come to us. There will be the test of the sorrows and the disappointments which seek to take our faith away. There will be the test of the seductions which seek to lure us from the right way. There will be the tests of the dangers, the sacrifices, the unpopularity which the Christian way must so often involve. But they are not meant to make us fall; they are meant to make us soar. They are not meant to defeat us; they are meant to be defeated. They are not meant to make us weaker; they are meant to make us stronger. Therefore we should not bemoan them; we should rejoice in them. The Christian is like the athlete. The heavier the course of training he undergoes, the more he is glad, because he knows that it is fitting him all the better for victorious effort. As Browning said, we must “welcome each rebuff that turns earth’s smoothness rough,” for every hard thing is another step on the upward way.
Every possible trial to the child of God is a masterpiece of strategy of the Captain of his salvation for his good.
Every possible trial to the child of God is a masterpiece of strategy of the Captain of his salvation for his good.
All kinds of experiences will come to us. There will be the test of the sorrows and the disappointments which seek to take our faith away. There will be the test of the seductions which seek to lure us from the right way. There will be the tests of the dangers, the sacrifices, the unpopularity which the Christian way must so often involve. But
they are not meant to make us fall;
they are meant to make us soar.
They are not meant to defeat us;
they are meant to be defeated.
They are not meant to make us weaker;
they are meant to make us stronger.
Therefore we should not bemoan them;
we should rejoice in them.
Erwin Lutzer - God often puts us in situations that are too much for us so that we will learn that no situation is too much for Him.
Notice that James does not say that the trial will necessarily "feel good", and in fact it usually does not, which emphasizes the importance of acting based on faith rather than reacting based on feelings/emotions.
Matthew Henry - God's design in afflicting His people is their probation, not their destruction; their advantage, not their ruin.
The Puritan saint Richard Sibbes rightly said that
God promises no immunity from crosses.
God promises no immunity from crosses.
Spurgeon aptly adds that…
There are no crown-wearers in heaven that were not cross-bearers here below.
There are no crown-wearers in heaven that were not cross-bearers here below.
John Calvin adds that these necessary trials… they are not afflicted by chance, but through the infallible providence of God.
No wound? No scar?
Yes, as the Master shall the servant be,
And pierced are the feet that follow Me;
But thine are whole: can he have followed far
Who has no wound nor scar?
No wound? No scar?
Yes, as the Master shall the servant be,
And pierced are the feet that follow Me;
But thine are whole: can he have followed far
Who has no wound nor scar?
VERSE 1
I asked the Lord that I might grow
In faith and love and ev’ry grace,
Might more of His salvation know,
And seek more earnestly His face.
VERSE 1
I asked the Lord that I might grow
In faith and love and ev’ry grace,
Might more of His salvation know,
And seek more earnestly His face.
VERSE 2
‘Twas He who taught me thus to pray,
And He, I trust, has answered prayer,
But it has been in such a way
As almost drove me to despair.
VERSE 2
‘Twas He who taught me thus to pray,
And He, I trust, has answered prayer,
But it has been in such a way
As almost drove me to despair.
VERSE 3
I hoped that in some favored hour
At once He’d answer my request
And, by His love’s constraining pow’r,
Subdue my sins and give me rest.
VERSE 3
I hoped that in some favored hour
At once He’d answer my request
And, by His love’s constraining pow’r,
Subdue my sins and give me rest.
VERSE 4
Instead of this, He made me feel
The hidden evils of my heart
And let the angry pow’rs of hell
Assault my soul in ev’ry part.
VERSE 4
Instead of this, He made me feel
The hidden evils of my heart
And let the angry pow’rs of hell
Assault my soul in ev’ry part.
VERSE 5
Yea, more with His own hand He seemed
Intent to aggravate my woe,
Crossed all the fair designs I schemed,
Humbled my heart and laid me low.
VERSE 5
Yea, more with His own hand He seemed
Intent to aggravate my woe,
Crossed all the fair designs I schemed,
Humbled my heart and laid me low.
VERSE 6
“Lord, why is this,” I trembling cried;
“Wilt Thou pursue Thy worm to death?”
“’Tis in this way,” the Lord replied,
“I answer prayer for grace and faith.”
VERSE 6
“Lord, why is this,” I trembling cried;
“Wilt Thou pursue Thy worm to death?”
“’Tis in this way,” the Lord replied,
“I answer prayer for grace and faith.”
VERSE 7
“These inward trials I employ
From self and pride to set thee free
And break thy schemes of earthly joy
That thou may’st find thy all in Me.”
VERSE 7
“These inward trials I employ
From self and pride to set thee free
And break thy schemes of earthly joy
That thou may’st find thy all in Me.”
No one has ever experienced a great relationship with Christ without first experiencing a great trial.
Trials remove that which impedes our relationship with Christ.
Trials enable us to triumph over all that seeks to keep us from finding our all in the ALL IN ALL.
Trials enable us to triumph over all that seeks to keep us from finding our all in the ALL IN ALL.