Sermon Tone Analysis

!!! James 1:2-4

 

! Translation

2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you are encountered by various trials, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.

4 But let perseverance perfect its work, in order that you might be whole and complete, lacking in nothing.

!

Sermon Manuscript

 

Turn with me to James chapter 1.

We will continue moving through James by reading [[James 1:2-4|Bible:James 1:2-4]].

The Epistle from James has been loved by many Christians for the help it offers to those going through trials.

Christianity is somewhat unique in how we are called to face trials and tribulations.

Buddhism is probably the religion best known for offering its adherents a way to handle suffering.

In Buddhism, suffering is a guaranteed part of life, the only promise that life keeps.

In order to cope with suffering one must learn how to become detached from the world.

The physical reality is unimportant, and so a Buddhist will work to achieve a state of complete detachment from the world so that the troubles of the world will be unable to affect him.

The Christian response to suffering is a bit different.

Christianity, like Buddhism, teaches that trials and tribulations are guaranteed.

Note in verse two what James says and what he doesn’t say.

We don’t find, “If you face trials”.

Trials are certain – “WHEN you face trials”.

If anyone becomes a Christian thinking that this means suffering and hard times are over, that person is in for a bit of a surprise.

But rather than trying to become detached from the world, rather than trying to become desensitized to trials, Christians are called to consider it pure joy whenever we face trials.

Joy is the blessed gift to the believer.

Joy allows us to trust and have hope even in the midst of pain.

Joy does not take away the pain, but it makes the pain meaningful.

When we face the troubles of the world with a joyful, grateful heart, trusting in the grace and mercy of God, we will find that trials take on a new dimension, one which James will address in the next few verses.

The trials James refer to here are the things beyond our control.

They are situations that we did not create.

James does not so much have in mind the man who squanders all his money and ends up in financial ruin, or the man who breaks the law and ends up in jail; these trials are things that happen in the daily flow of life.

For his readers, James most likely has persecution in mind.

The believers were suffering trials at the hands of other people who oppressed them because they were Christians.

But his words could also address any trials that come upon us, and so James says to consider it pure joy when we face /many kinds/ of trials.

This passage is not just for those facing persecution, it is for all of those who face the troubles of life.

Accidents, natural disasters, persecution, economic instability – these are all things included in what James has to say.

As for those whose troubles are of their own making, there is grace and there is peace and there is hope for such a one, but James would not say to consider it pure joy when we face the troubles of our own making.

Sin and its consequences is not an occasion for joy – it is an occasion for sorrow and repentance, and while God in his grace will often redeem us from the consequences of our sin, and will even help us to grow closer to him when we do repent, the best way for a Christian to grow is through humble obedience and standing the test of the trials of life.

In [[verse 3|Bible:James 1:3]] James tells the reader why he should have such an unusual response to suffering: because God will bring something good out of the trial.

The testing of our faith is like a refining fire, like a fire that purifies.

This does not refer to God putting us through a trial and stepping back to see how we perform, this is more like a person who is building muscle by lifting weights.

He tests himself every time the weights go up, and with the test he is made stronger.

God tests us through the trial; he refines us; he purifies us; and he makes our faith genuine and sure.

It is faith that is grown in these times of trouble and uncertainty.

Faith is that which allows us to trust in God in all things.

For so many of us that faith is a weak and sickly thing.

We might trust God to protect us from harm when we go to the dentist, but we are not so sure that he will protect us from harm when the storm is raging around us.

When things are truly dangerous, will you still have joy and trust in your Father who commands all the universe?

If you stand the test and trust him in all things then your faith will grow all the more.

This growing faith is frightening to some people: “If I grow in faith, won’t God put me through even more trying situations?” Perhaps!

And praise God if he does.

We do not go out looking to suffer, but we do trust in the will and wisdom of our Father.

Do you believe that your God is good?

Do you believe that he wants good things for you?

Then trust him even in this! Do not fear to grow as a believer; delight in it!

I once heard someone say that he had been praying for God to help him be a more patient person.

The person he was talking to responded, “No! Don’t do that!

If you do then God will let bad things happen to you!” Why do we treat God this way?

Why do we try and keep him at a distance as if he were evil and desired bad things for his children?

Trust in God’s refining fire even when it burns hot and painful.

Consider it pure joy when your Heavenly Father allows you to face trials!

He will not let us face something we cannot bear, and through the trial we will become more and more like his Son, Jesus Christ.

Through trials we are refined, purified, and our faith is strengthened.

As a result of this we develop perseverance.

Perseverance here is not the passive ability to endure troubles.

This does not simply give us the ability to make it through a trial, but to thrive even in the midst of suffering.

The first Christians seem to have had this.

They faced severe trials and testings of their faith through many periods of great persecution.

The Roman officials sought to suppress Christianity and they often tried to do so through very violent means.

Some Christians abandoned the faith; many remained faithful and suffered for it.

But even in their suffering they had joy.

They rejoiced with Paul in [[Colossians 1:24|Bible:Colossians 1:24]] when he said that he rejoiced in his suffering.

They felt they were being honored by God for being chosen to face such a terrible trial.

The world saw their faithfulness, the world saw their joy, and the world wanted to share in that kind of life.

In just a few generations the Roman empire went from being thoroughly pagan to thoroughly Christian.

What kind of indictment is against the church today when we now see society heading the other direction?

Instead of being attracted to Christianity because of the example of believers, many people are turned off by the way we live.

Certainly this is due in part because of the spiritual blindness of the lost and the work of Satan to keep them from Christ, but I am convinced that Christians bear quite a bit of responsibility; we are not living, we are not trusting, we are not following God in the ways that we should.

What does a person look like who has grown through trials and has developed this kind of perseverance?

Just the other day I stumbled on a poem by William Wordsworth that I think illustrates very well the ideal for the believer:

\\  

The little hedge-row birds,

That peck along the road, regard him not.

He travels on, and in his face, his step,

His gait, is one expression; every limb,

His look and bending figure, all bespeak

A man who does not move with pain, but moves

With thought – he is insensibly subdued

To settled quiet: he is one by whom

All effort seems forgotten, one to whom

Long patience has such mild composure given,

That patience now doth seem a thing, of which

He hath no need.

He is by nature led

To peace so perfect, that the young behold

With envy, what the old man hardly feels.

-  I asked him whither he was bound, and what

The object of his journey; he replied

‘Sir!

I am going many miles to take

A last leave of my son, a mariner,

Who from a sea-fight has been brought to Falmouth,

And there is dying in an hospital.’

[1]

 

I pray that someday those words can be used to describe me: “Long patience has such mild composure given, that patience now doth seem a thing, of which he hath no need…” Here is a man who has faced the sufferings of this life and has trusted God throughout it all.

God has grown his faith, and he has developed his patience, his perseverance, so that it is such a part of him he gives no thought to it.