The Journey - The Bumpy Road

Introduction:

James 1:2–17 ESV

2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 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. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6 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. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. 9 Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, 10 and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. 11 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. 12 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. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. 16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

On the journey, it feels like anything can happen. You can prepare all you want, but stuff happens.

flat tire

run out of gas

fender bender

Significant car accident

Most of the bumps on the road come down to annoyance more than anything (and often it could have been prevented by us). But everyone once in a while we can experience true pain that we cannot control.

And the same is true of our Christian journey. Stuff happens. A lot of it can be prevented if we were better faithful to Jesus. However, great persecution does happen in the world. How do we respond to it? How do we respond to it when it happens in someone else’s life.

The number 1 evidence often levied at Christians to dispute the Christian God is the existence of pain and suffering in the world. The argument goes that if God is all powerful he has the power to prevent pain. If God is all loving, he would of course prevent pain. Therefore the existence of pain either means that God is all powerful but not all loving or God is all loving and not all powerful.

C.S. Lewis said in the Problem of Pain that “If God is wiser that we, His judgement must differ from ours on many things, and not least on Good and evil. What seems to us good may therefore not be good in His eyes, and what seems to us evil may not be evil.”

The existence of Pain and suffering in this world is not all together evil, it is our response that becomes good or evil.

Just look at the cross. in our eyes, what can be more evil than the son of God, dying on a cross. Yet, this in fact was the greatest act of love. And on top of that Jesus told His followers, they would experience pain.

John 16:33 ESV

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.”

So knowing that in life, you are either going through pain, coming out of pain, or about to enter in. The questions is no matter when you go through it, how will you respond to it?

Big Idea: Grow through the struggle.

Introduction to James.

James is the half brother of Jesus. Son of Mary and Joseph. If you want to talk about evidence that Jesus is the son of God, think about what it would take for you to bow down and worship your own siblings as Lord.

Written to dispersed Christians in a time of great persecution.

And in a day when they couldn’t jsut find a new church wherever they ended up, James is concerned that in the face of pain and struggle that the people God entrusted to him, will turn their backs on Jesus.

He writes to exhort them to stay the course; comfort’s them in their pain, reprove them for some of the troubling things he’s heard; and encourage them that God is with them.

Let’s read James 1:2-5

James 1:2–5 ESV

2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 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. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

The first thing we learn from James is that:

1. Your pain has purpose. (2-5)

Now in many cases, we have been told to assume that if we expereince pain or suffering in this life that it means that God is either angry at us or neglected us. But James is clear that our pain has the purpose of helping us to grow.

Choose Joy

Testing of your faith produces steadfastness

Steadfastness leads to us being perfect and complete

Now since this borders on ridiculous, if you are struggling to see the purpose in your pain, this is when you can ask God for wisdom. This is another one of those passages that is often taken out of context. The wisdom is for understanding your pain and suffering.

Illustration: When something bad happens to us, we often ask “WHY GOD? WHY?” What we don’t often know or acknowledge is this actually a good response. Because if our pain has purpose, its appropriate to seek out what that purpose is. What growth is God bringing about in your life?

Now on the other hand when we see someone going through pain or loss, it’s not often helpful to say, “All things happen for a reason.” Not helpful. What would be helpful would be to say, “I believe that your pain has purpose. How might God be using this situation to grow you?

James 1:6–11 ESV

6 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. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. 9 Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, 10 and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. 11 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.

James challenges us:

2. Don’t let your pain stifle your faith. (6-11)

As a follower of Jesus, faith is one of your most powerful weapons for attack and defense. So it would make sense that satan would want to destroy your faith. Without faith we can wind up lost.

When asking for wisdom, faith is so important. Faith that your pain has purpose and that their is wisdom to be had regarding your situation.

If you find that you think your situation is meaningless and that God is not in control, what use is there asking for help?

God’s thoughts are not our thoughts. He thinks differently than we do. It’s not that God has abandoned us, but that he is right there with us. This is what David was saying in : Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me.

It’s not that God will prevent us from experiencing trouble, but that he’ll be there with us. And we’ll learn to trust him more.

Illustration: We can often define our identity by things other than Jesus. We can get caught up on our last mistake and it keeps us from moving forward. For me, this is why I struggled in sports. As a quarterback, if I threw an interception or made a mistake, I couldn’t let it go and it wound up leading to more mistakes and my identity became those mistakes.

For followers of Jesus, we must let go of our other identities, the pain we’ve experienced, past mistakes, failures and put our faith in our identity in Jesus.

We must recognize that our pain caused by others, our past mistakes, our failures were helping to grow us into more faithful followers of Jesus.

So how? Let’s finish James’ teaching on pain.

James 1:12–17 ESV

12 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. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. 16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

James 1:12-17

learn that

3. Speak truth to your pain. (12-17)

Truth:

First that your pain has purpose.

If I can learn from this pain and survive this pain, it will be worth it in the end. In many cases James’ people would die for their faith, so he reminds them of their eternal life that is coming even as they are being killed.

Don’t ever assume that your pain is God testing to see if you truly love Him. He’s walking with you to help you grown closer to Him through the pain.

In your pain, you are your greatest enemy. It is your desire that tempts you. Deny it.

The growth that you get as a result of walking with Jesus, is a gift.

The only way to combat lies is with the truth.

Reflection: How has God used past pain for present and future growth? How can you use your past pain to help someone in similar circumstances?

When I think about Pain, I often think about Jesus. Jesus experienced incredible pain and suffering for our sake.

Isaiah 53:4–6 ESV

4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Isaiah 53:4-

All of our pain and suffering was dealt with at the cross. And it is around the Lord’s table that we remember the great sacrifice that Jesus made for us.

Would the deacons join me down...

How can you use your past pain to help someone in similar circumstances?