Baccaleureate 2020

Faith Perseveres

Introduction

Congratulations Class of 2020. You have worked so very hard to get to this point and we are all so very proud of you. I think we can honestly admit something together…you have had the craziest high school career! From the regular challenges of academic work and social/relational issues, you have had added…frightening violence, loss of students and teachers, and a global pandemic!

But still, here you are. You made it. You didn’t give up and you didn’t give in. Here is a challenge you’ll face in the coming days…the naïve thought that now that HS is over, it’s all smooth sailing from here. The hard stuff is behind you. That’s just not true. While I certainly hope you have different kinds of challenges than you’ve faced the last 4 years, you will still have challenges. So how do we respond to those? What difference does your faith make as you face them? Let’s talk about that for a few minutes.

What you believe determines what you do.

If you want to know what a person believes, pay attention to what they do. If you want to know why a person behaves the way they do, get to know about their beliefs.

For example:

--If someone prays, it is because they believe God hears them and cares. If they don’t believe that, they won’t pray.

--If someone exercises it is because they believe it matters and will make a difference. If someone does not exercise, they may say they should, but they do not believe it will do anything.

--If you watch kids on Christmas Eve, those who believe in Santa react much differently than those who do not.

What you believe determines what you do.

TS—For the next few minutes together I want us to go to a book of the Bible that is based on that truth. It is a short letter in the NT called James. He teaches us what it means to have faith, how faith changes everything for us, the difference that faith makes in everyday life.

And since that is what James is about, it is crazy to me how he begins:

James 1:2-4 – “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

What? Why start here? That is not necessarily what we want to hear. But it really is what we need to hear.

Here is what I love about James – he paints a picture of reality. There is no viewing of faith and life through rose-colored lenses. Let’s look at the entire text:

James 1:2-8,12 – “2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.

12 Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.”

So here is a clear acknowledgement that trials are a normal part of life, normal to a life of faith. And here we find not just the information that we should expect them, but how to respond to them when they show up.

JB Phillips – “1:2 - When all kinds of trials and temptations crowd into your lives my brothers, don't resent them as intruders, but welcome them as friends!”

TS - So how do we do this? How can we view trials, difficulty, pain…this way? Let’s look at a few words that he uses here and talk about them for a few minutes.

1. CONSIDER

This is an important word. Notice it does not say that trials are pure joy. They are most certainly not. This is not a call to rejoice in challenges or loss, etc.

To consider is to make a careful and deliberate decision to view trials in a certain way. This is not something that is going to happen naturally or automatically. This is a choice.

When the trial comes we all usually respond in a certain way – as victim, upset, maybe depression a bit, asking certain questions—why me, why not them, etc.

But when we choose to view trials from the perspective of Scripture, all that changes.

--“What did I do to deserve this?” changes to “What do you have for me in the midst of this?”

--“When will this end?” becomes “When will you reveal yourself in this circumstance?”

--“How am I going to make it through this?” becomes “How are you going to get me through this?”

You know, this is much easier to talk about than to actually do. Here is why—what I know and how I feel are usually very different.

I may know God is sovereign and is planning on using this for his glory and my good. But I usually don’t feel that anytime too quickly. So we must choose to view trials they way God does. Pure joy because he is at work in it all.

Remember these? – PIC-3D picture.

If you were to just look at this normally, it’s a mess. No rhyme or reason. But when you look at it rightly, a picture pops right off the page. And once you look at it rightly and see the picture, it is much easier to see it the next time. You know what you’re looking for and you know how to look at it. That is what the bible is inviting us to do with our challenges. Look at them the right way and we will see what God sees.

2. TESTING

While it may sound odd to think that God would test you and your faith, it makes perfect sense.

ILL - In 8th grade we had to build a bridge out of wooden dowel rods. Any structure we wanted. Then take it in and have it hold weight. Well, you don’t leave it to chance and have the first time it holds weight to be with the teacher. You test that first. You want it to be the best it can be.

That is what God does with our faith. He allows trials to come (I will not say God causes them all, but at the very least he does allow them) so that our faith can be the best it can be. He tests his work. And the quality of his work is always great.

1 Peter 1:6-7 - 6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

Testing makes things stronger and more pure. Gold is never more pure than after it comes out of the fire. Steel is never stronger than after it is forged in fire.

Faith is never stronger or more pure than after coming through difficulty.

Thomas Watson, Puritan – “Affliction promotes holiness: the more the diamond is cut, the more it sparkles.”

3. MATURE

This testing leads to perseverance. Know this—simply having trials does not bring maturity. Persevering through trials rightly brings maturity.

I’ve known people, and I’m sure you do as well, who have encountered difficulties and responded with selfishness, victim mentality and blame toward God. They allow these times to push them far from God and bitter toward others.

That is not maturity. That is immaturity. Only through right perseverance through trials does maturity come.

Someone defined maturity as a personality that is fully developed. You become who you are supposed to be in fullness. This only comes from trials.

Notice how James put it—complete, not lacking anything.

A releasing from trials, not having to go through them actually cripples us. If you free a butterfly from its chrysalis without forcing it to force and fight its way out, you end up killing it. It must fight through to gain the strength to emerge if it ever hopes to fly. God has designed us the same way.

4. WISDOM

Trials must drive us to ask. Not to ask, “Why?” But to ask for wisdom.

As you are going through trials, what is the course of action to take? Do we just gut through it and stand to face the storm?

ILL - I attended part of the Get Motivated seminar in STL years ago. One of the themes that came up in multiple sessions with these great motivational speakers is persevering through trials.

But for the most part their idea of how to endure difficulty was just to toughen up. One speaker said, “tough times never last; but tough people do.”

That is the kind of self-reliance that disappoints every time. It may motivate but it doesn’t actually work. So what do we do when we encounter trouble? We turn to God.

“You should ask God who gives generously without finding fault.”

That phrase literally means, “Let him ask the constantly giving God.’

We turn to him for help, for guidance, for the ability to persevere.

So when we encounter trouble and trials we do not rely on ourselves to muscle through it…instead we turn to God and ask him for the wisdom (the daily practical outpouring of what we already know) to see us through.

5. DOUBT

But when we do so, we do ask with complete confidence. This doubt is not someone who doubts God’s existence. This is someone who turns to God and says they are going to rely on him, only to say ‘amen’ and return to their pitiful self-reliance.

James says the one who does this is double-minded. That literally means to be ‘two-souled.’ Someone who is divided over loyalty to God and loyalty to self.

Author John Bunyan called this person “Mr. Facing Both Ways.”

So this person is most definitely like a wave on the sea. I trust in God, I trust in self, I trust in God, I trust in self. Back and forth they go.

And James is honest here—that person should not expect to receive anything from God.

Why? Because you’ve gotten in your own way. You are standing in the way of God’s help for you. When we go to God we go fully.

6. BLESSED

And those who do, the bible says, are blessed. God’s divine favor rests upon them.

By looking to God in all this and not relying on self, it brings a quiet confidence. Not in self and my ability to endure, but in God’s goodness toward me.

That God loves me and nothing will ever change that or get in the way of that.

There is blessing to be found in the pain. Don’t avoid it. Don’t turn away from Him. Run to God.

Conclusion

James 1:12 – “12 Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

There is a crown of life for those who turn to God, cling to Him and keep going.

I don’t know what you’re going to face in the days and years to come. But with this truth from James, it doesn’t really matter. What challenges we all face will be different and difficult. But God doesn’t change. He will always be there for you to turn to. He will always be there guiding you. His love never fails.