Joy through trials
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
Good morning!
Man I’m glad to be here this morning!
I’m Jamie one of the pastors here at REVO!
I always get excited anytime I get to share the word of God and today is no different!
We are starting my wife’s favorite book
See if you know Kase she is very straight forward, not much small talk
She likes to jump in and get to the meat — no fluff
And that is exactly what the book of James does
A fun fact for you in the book of James there are 108 verses in the entire book, and in the 108 verses there are 54 commands
That means there is one command for every two verses
James is a book that is both challenging and rewarding
So much so that we bought James journaling bibles because we believe it will help you grow
I’ve always heard the book of James is the book with boxing gloves because He doesn’t pull punches and wants you to know exactly what you need to do
So with it being my wife’s favorite book, lets see if I get an A+ on the sermon HA!
And today this might be one of the most challenging sections in the book of James — we are going to be talking about Trials
It’s important for us to first and foremost understand what a trial is
A trial is any external hardship, big or small, that tests what we truly believe about God.
When I say external I mean something outside of our control
We go through trials all the time to some degree or another
Not every trial is a major life event, sometimes a trial is simply your baby waking up in the middle of the night and having to respond correctly
Other times trials are tragic deaths that causes you to question why did this happen
Both are trials — though with varying degrees of testing
They both force us to put what we believe about Christ into action — how we act, respond, and care for others
James when talking about trials tells us to have joy in them
So today we are going to breakdown what it looks like to have joy in trials
But before we break this down lets pray together
Prayer
Prayer
Father thanks for this gift
Thanks for your Word
Remove distractions
Help us see you
Be with Nathan
Be with Matthew
Understand Jesus must be our focus
Understand Jesus must be our focus
The book of James starts like this
1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings.
Like most New Testament letters the author of the book identifies himself as James
Now this James actually turns out to be the half brother of Jesus
Which could be a good thing — but it also could be a bad thing
I mean think about it
Really think, would you want Jesus as your brother?
I can see it now, Mary is cooking dinner in the kitchen and she hears her boys fighting
Like most moms she yells — boys whats going on in there?
Jesus pipes up, “James is messing with me He won’t stop picking on me”
James “That’s not true he’s lying”
Mary “James you know your brother… go to your room”
Like come on James’ brother was the son of God! Full perfection, you’re never winning an argument with him!
Like shoot!
You know I love my family, my extended family, all of them. But just because I love them and would bend over backwards to help them I’d never call them “Lord or Savior”
James and his brothers had this same mentality
I mean when Jesus goes out preaching and starting His ministry look at his family:
21 And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”
They go out there saying “he’s out of his mind!” He’s crazy!
In fact James reject’s His brothers message all the way up until Jesus is resurrected!
But once he believers in Jesus’ He goes all in
To the point where James ends up leading the church in Jerusalem — which by the way was the first mega church!
But thats not all — James as you may have realized is the son of Mary — you know the mother of the Son of God
And to top this all off
James’ cousin was the son of Elizabeth and Zechariah who’s name was John
You know the guy that was wearing camel’s hair and eating locusts and honey all day
AKA John the Baptist — one of the most famous preachers who was martyred for their faith
The one who came before Jesus
James had one of the strongest pedigrees and could have made the strongest case for why you should follow him
But instead notice what he said:
1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings.
He simply says “James a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ”
In the Greek, James changes the word order to emphasize the two masters he serves. The phrase “of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ” is placed before “servant” in Greek to emphasize it
That he isn’t serving or living for anyone but God and Christ
Then in verse 1 James tells us who he is writing too:
The twelve tribes who are in Dispersion
James was writing to a mostly Jewish audience — probably Jews who accepted Jesus as savior
When talking about dispersion that means that they are outside of their homeland
Or another term used is scattered
Now why were they scattered and running? Well the Bible actually tells us
1 And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.
Stephen a strong believer in Jesus, a Jewish convert to Christianity, was just killed for his faith
Persecution was coming onto all the believers and they dispersed running for their life
These are the people that James is writing too — a people that are going through an intense trial in their life
And in the opening sentence of his letter James is already telling the believers how to have joy in a trial
To have joy, be a servant of Jesus
See James had all the respect in the world — he was from a solid family, he led the largest church in the world, everyone wanted to be around him
YET James when writing to people who are fleeing for their life doesn’t introduce himself as the half-brother of Jesus, the cousin of John the Baptist, son of Mary
He simply says James a servant of the Lord
He’s modeling the truth that to have joy in trials its not your circumstances that dictate joy — its your relationship with Christ
James is setting the example that only following Christ matters
So our first move in a trial must be to shift the focus off of 'Why is this happening to me?' and onto 'Who is the God I serve?'"
When this happens it shifts our focus from self to Christ
When our focus is on our self we aren’t becoming a servant of Jesus like James tells us too
To focus on Christ in our trials means to step back and say “how can I serve God in this moment”
Trials are difficult, costly, painful
BUT
If we see ourself as a servant of Christ like James does, then our joy is no longer wrapped up in the circumstances we find ourself in — instead our joy is wrapped up in who Jesus is
When our focus is on Christ it allows us to have joy in all moments because we know that He is with us
Understand that trials are coming
Understand that trials are coming
Talking about trials James continues:
2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,
James tells them to count it all joy
The thesis of the message today to count it all joy!
I love what James does here though
He tells them to count it all joy then adds the phrase “my brothers” before getting on with what they should count as joy
He does this for two reasons
It recharacterizes the people. They are no long “the scattered tribes” instead they are family “my brothers” it’s deep, emotional, and shows that James truly cares about them
James’ extra reference to his audience also interrupts the flow of the sentence, serving as a rhetorical speed bump before something really important
James stops the reader and reminds them that they aren’t just scattered and all alone, but instead family, then after reminding them of this he hits them with one of the hardest things to be joyful for — a trial
Like we already defined a trial is any external hardship, big or small, that tests what we truly believe about God.
Some common trials that we see in the Bible:
The story of Joseph — sold into slavery by his brothers, thrown in jail by Potiphers wife, forgotten by the baker
Daniel in the lions den - worship the king or be thrown in the lions den
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego - bow down to the golden statue or be thrown in a fiery furnace
Yet James tells us to count the trials as joy
And then in this verse he gives us the second way to have joy
To have joy know that trials are coming
He tells us to understand that trials are coming!
That they are going to happen — it is a natural fact of life that trials are going to come
This is a result of a fallen and sinful world that we live in
Listen to what Jesus tells us:
18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
22 and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
John tells us:
13 Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you.
Then we have James tell us
2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,
We should expect a trial to come if we believe in Jesus
Jesus in just these three examples show us that the world is going to hate us, Satan is going to attack us, your faith will be tested
The Apostle John affirms this — the world will hate you
James tells us when a trial is coming
Don’t be surprised when a trial comes EXPECT THEM!
All too often trials prompt groanings and complaints. And this kind of response does not contribute to Christian maturity.
Man I am a parent now, all my friends are becoming new parents as well
It’s the stage of life that we’re in
Is anyone in here a parent? — yeah a couple of you
Awesome, get ready this might hurt a little bit
I was talking to a friend of mine the other day who’s baby is almost 2 months old and all he did was talk about how his new born isn’t sleeping, how they are tired, how life is falling apart
“It’s the new born trenches you know, it’s like you’re going to war”
He’s expressing how he just didn’t see this coming, him and his wife are overwhelmed and he just can’t handle it
As he was talking about all I could think was — what did you expect??
Then I did the wrong thing, I said that to him
Like “bro what did you expect”
I’m thinking did he not read the book “what to expect when you’re expecting”
Did he not look at instagram of all the reels of parents talking about how their baby wakes up every 2 hours?
Did he not talk to other parents about how their new born is sleeping?
Like did he expect to get his full 8-10 hours of beauty sleep with a new born?
I somewhat kindly pointed that out to him — we are friends, brothers even he knows I love him
Then I shared with him my perspective on the new born days, my perspective now as well
“What a blessing it is that I get to wake up and take care of my child. He wants me to take care of him, and one day it’ll just be ‘Gideon do it’”
“Of course he’s waking up, healthy babies wake up to eat, so he’s healthy”
“Sleep is for the weak and I don’t want to be weak”
haha
A couple weeks later we talked and he told me that when he shifted his thought pattern he noticed how much easy the nights got
He almost felt like he wasn’t as tired any more
That’s what James and Jesus and John are telling us about trials!
Stop acting so surprised that a trial came — stop being surprised that the world hates you and you’re being attacked
Instead come prepared expecting it
Don’t be floored when a trial comes like my friend — every warning light is telling him “YOUR BABY WON’T SLEEP” but here he is in lala land thinking that is not true
Instead expect that you’re going to face hard times, allow that expectation to fuel you
Allow your expectations to push you to Christ instead of feeling helpless and overwhelmed in the trial
Because when we are looking at Christ that is when we can have joy — and in a trial we can only look to God if we are expecting it
So expect them
Understand there is purpose of trials
Understand there is purpose of trials
James then finishes talking about trials by saying this
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.
He gives us the last reason we should have joy in trials:
To have joy understand there is a purpose
He tells us that when you face a trial — because you will — know that the trial has a purpose
You’re going through this for a reason
James writing to the people that are scattered with the fear of death says — you’re facing this for a reason!
You are given a test!
I remember being in school and I always hated tests — I would get so stressed out before the teacher would pass out the test.
First question: Name —
Panic “what’s my name”
“idk skip it, i’ll come back later”
Right anyone else like that?
That’s why I was always more of an essay guy than a test guy
But trials are tests
Trails are the spiritual tests that we are going to face in life
And it’s important to remember why a test is given in the first place
See a test is given to see if a student can pass, not pass out
Teachers don’t give tests to see you panic and squirm and then stand over you like I told you so!
No they give tests with the goal of you passing
They give you tests so that you can pass with the information you’ve been given
The same is true of the trials that we face spiritually
God is our teacher guiding us and teaching us to help us pass the trials
We listen to Him and we will pass, we ignore Him and we will fail
Trials have a purpose and James tells us exactly what they are
Their goal is to test us and to produce steadfastness and completeness of Character
Their goal is to make us perfect mature Christians
James tells us that the trials are there to give us steadfastness, or a better word — endurance
Trials are meant to give us spiritual endurance so that we can serve the Lord more
Then James says that when we are allowing our endurance to continue our faith will be perfected or complete — we will no longer be lacking
In other words when we are becoming the Christian that we are meant to be because of the trials that we are facing
We talked about a common trial in the OT — the story of Joseph
I want you to notice what Joseph said at the end when he final got out of jail, he was put second in command in the land of Egypt, his brothers come to him for grain, listen to what Joseph said:
20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
“you meant evil, God meant it for good”
God used trials to make Joseph complete — fully mature
The trials we face have the same purpose — to make us mature
To allow us to serve the Lord regardless of the circumstances
So we can have joy in them
Conclusion / Gospel Connection
Conclusion / Gospel Connection
James teaches us that we can count all trials as joy if we
Are a servant of the Lord
Know that trials are coming
Understand trials have a purpose
But what if you're in a trial so deep that the idea of 'joy' feels like a cruel joke?
If that's you, I want you to look at the greatest trial in all of history: the cross.
Jesus, the only one who deserved no trial at all, took on the ultimate trial for us.
And Hebrews tells us
2 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.
What was that joy?
It was you.
It was rescuing you. He endured His trial so that you could have hope and joy in yours.
The joy James is talking about isn't a fake smile; it's a deep confidence that is only possible because of what Jesus did.
While Jesus was on the cross dying a death we deserve He did it for the joy that was coming! He did it to rescue us
He endured the shame, the death, the pain, all for us
And then is now seated at the right hand of God
When we are in the midst of a trial we are can look ahead to Christ who promises to always be with us, take care of us, and rescue us
All we have to do is call on his name!
9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
Just confess our need for Jesus to come and save us, believing that we are far from God without Him
There is joy in trials, but only because of Christ!
Let’s pray
