Joy In Pain (trials 1st)

CONNECTION

2020 certainly been a trial for a lot of people. As I was thinking about it, I wanted to share an encouraging word today from the words of an apostle who was encouraging the early church.

Go with me to the book of James chapter 1:2-4

If you don’t know who James is...

He’s the half brother of Jesus; and in your face apostle. He is no holes bar, he doesn’t play. James is the apostle who said

If you cannot control your tongue your religion is worthless James 1:26

Faith without works is dead James 2:26

Humble yourself before God. Resist the devil and he will flee James 4:7

Draw nigh unto God and he will draw nigh unto you. James 4:8

INSTRUCTION

READ

(James 1:2-4 CSB) Consider it great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.

James is encouraging the church to have a Joy perspective when they are going through various difficulties.

I can’t speak for you but when I’m going through various trials and difficulties in my life Joy was not the first thing that I thought of.

Do we have any sports fans in attendance?

(Golden State Warriors’ Story)

• Steve Kerr: instituted Joy As A Core value

Change the perspective of the players and the organization the rest is history 5 straight trips to the NBA finals three championships.

I am a huge Golden State Warriors fan. Throughout my lifetime I have experience various trials rooting for my team. If you’re a Warrior fan you know what I mean. In 2016 we got a new coach. One of the first things Coach Kerr implement were new Core values.

Any guess what the number one Core value coach Kerr implemented? You guessed it joy. He wanted the player to live, play and practice with Joy. Since 2016 the Golden State Warriors have been to five straight NBA finals and won 3 NBA championships. Joy change the perspective of the players, the coaching staff and the entire organization.

So we see Joy is powerful

And sometimes in the midst of that joy comes unwelcome unexpected painful experiences these are trials.

Trials are an unwelcome or unexpected painful experience that people go through.

Trials are uncomfortable, hard, difficult, we want them over, we wondering why is this happening to me.

Today we see people going through various trials such as

The loss of a loved one

The loss of a job

Their business closing

Financial hardship

Disease

Hunger (not having enough to eat)

Homelessness

A wayward child

Mental health concerns

COVID 19 (the world stopped)

Being evacuated from their home due to fires.

These are just a few things people are going through today.

God does not have to cause the trial but He can use it to help grow us and conform us into the image of His son.

Romans 8:28–29 says

28 And we know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

29 For whom He forknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His son that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.

GOD’s PURPOSE FOR TRIALS

James is calling his audience to persevere through the difficulties they are experiencing, for it will result in their spiritual maturity.

So what is God trying to develop? The answer is patient endurance.

James uses the concept of endurance to describe the ability to trust God more and more.

As a runner gains endurance by suffering through another mile, christians also gain the ability to trust God through every trials.

Each experience or trials grants us a deeper, stronger level of trust in God. Why? Because we know He can and will bring us out. That’s where our hope lies.

Like the song says

I've seen You move, You’ve move the mountains

And I believe, I'll see You do it again

You made a way, where there was no way

And I believe, I'll see You do it again

Patients endurance expresses a growing determination in the face of adversity, based on hope.

Those who suffer express Joy doing times of trial because of their confidence in the day in which Christ will vindicate them.

Romans 5:3-4 NLT

“We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance.

And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.”

God is working to produce endurance in you, so you let endurance have its full effect. Don’t try to short-circuit a trial by seeking to exit it too early.

God is trying to make us spiritually mature and complete.

You see the testing of our faith is not intended to determine whether a person has faith or not, it is intended to strengthen the faith that already exist.

So as I stated earlier Joy is powerful, but why?

Common understanding of joy

Closely related to gladness and happiness

joy is more of a state of being than an emotion; a result of choice. One of the fruits of the spirit (Gal 5:22-23).

Having joy is part of the experience of being a Christian.

Rick Warren says “ Joy is the settle assurance that God is in control of all the details of my life, the quiet confidence that ultimately everything is going to be all right, and that determined choice to praise God in every situation”

(Psalm 34:1 NKJ) I will bless the Lord at ALL times; His praise shall continue to be in my mouth.

We need to understand the joy the world gives is not the same joy the The Holy Spirit gives. The world’s joy comes and goes as often as waves crashing the shore. It isn’t something you can cling to when you’re experiencing difficulties.

The Holy Spirits joy on the other hand, will stay with you for the long haul. It is like a bottomless well of water that never run dry. Even in the darkest days, when sadness, grief, and loss may threaten to overwhelm you, God’s joy is there.

None of us are there yet, but every believer in Jesus is on their way.

Application

James 1:5 CSB says

“Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God — who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly — and it will be given to him.”

The Scripture refers to the knowledge of God‘s plans and purposes and the ability to live accordingly. Wise people can identify the nature and purpose of their trials and understand how to overcome them.

James describes God as the giver of wisdom and wisdom aids us in our trials.

Proverbs 2:6 CSB says

“For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.”

Jonathan‘s story of juvenile diabetes/seizures?

Now there are three kinds of people who are listening to this message today.

Those who are going through a trial right now.

Those existing a trial.

Those who are about to enter into a trial and you don’t know it yet.

So this word is for everyone because trials are unavoidable in this life.

So I want to pray for you.

No I haven’t always perfected going through a trial and counting it Joy. But that’s what our heavenly father want us to do when we see ourselves in a trial. Because this is an opportunity for us to be strengthened in our character in our endurance to run the race that is set before us in our faith in the father and in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior so that we may be just like him

James writes that we shouldn't make the point of our lives an all-out effort to avoid trials. Instead, we should make the most of them by letting "endurance"—trusting God through another trial—create the result in us that it always does. Namely, more maturity, and more trust in God. In fact, James goes so far as to say that the one who can trust God without stopping, no matter how terrible the trial, will have arrived at perfection, complete maturity.