Why me?

Opening

Why?

The three Stooges

The book of James opens by a slap in the face to wake open and open our eyes. We can be lulled into a “just make it through the day and hope nothing overwhelms us to the the point of desperation. Have you ever been driving and nodded off for a few seconds and started to drift out of your lane. You wake up with a start and say “Wow I need to stop and take a break from driving” and you pull off at the next exit and get out and walk around the car or something. So you near miss was a wake up call to take action

James is intended to serve as that wake up call. There is no “it’s OK we are just human and we all need to have a pity party, not niceties, and no coddling. It’s just straight talk that can guide us to an attitude adjustment. James is a spiritual chiropractor that is going to adjust our attitude about how we respond to difficult times in our lives.

This morning we will look at “Why me” in chapter 1:1-18

Consider it all Joy

There is in verse 2. The opening statement that sets the tone for the whole book. Consider it all joy. Come on you may be thinking “how in the world can I consider it joy if : you fill in the blank. I’m not sure what you would put in the blank because I know we have all been through the fire this past year. Job loss? Major surgery? Loss of a person that is close to you? There is one thing there is no shortage of and that is heartache. James frame this in a certain way though. He doesn’t say : Consider yourself lucky, or hey, don’t trials just tickle you to death. He wrote very pointedly: “Consider it all joy”. There is a difference. Joy is a calmness that runs beneath life’s storms, it is the anchor that stills the heart and anchors the soul.

The Lexham Bible Dictionary: Closely related to gladness and happiness, although joy is more 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.

It’s a part of what you signed up for when you began this walk of faith. Joy is your gift that God has given you. Our challenge is to chose joy and not despair when trials come and yes they are coming.

Part of the choosing of joy is to know there is purpose in it. God is using each one of those trials to make you into his masterpiece. My dauther Rachel was working on a puzzle last week. It was a beautiful picture and she worked for several evenings on it. I saw it on the table on morning and it was complete with the except on piece. It was incomplete in it’s whole. What if that trial your going through is the one piece you need to make you whole? Have a calmness in the storms knowing that in each way every piece is growing you into who you truly are.

It is easy to say, right? Till you have your dreams shattered. Have you ever asked Why? Have you ever wondered where God when life was overwhelming you? If you like me and have more of your life in your rear view mirror than in your windshield your seeing your dreams being left on the table.

In his book “Shattered Dreams”, Larry Crabb wrote: Satan’s masterpiece is not the prostitute or the skid row bum. It is the self-sufficient person who has made life comfortable, who is adjusting well to the world and truly like living here, a person who dreams of no better place to live, who only longs to be a little better- a little better off- than he already is”

If Satan’s masterpiece is a self-sufficient person, than God’s masterpiece is a God-dependent person. When it comes to spiritual things, we are all bankrupt before Him. We get it as we need it and when we need it. Our account is empty but it never goes into deficient. We find true joy when we understand that our best efforts will far short but God never stops giving. Our comfort in trials to know that God is with us and nothing can stand against His Power. We grow in our relationship going through the battle with Him.

We will encounter trials

Verse two does not include the word “if” so we know they are coming, and coming, and coming.

When I was in high school I couldn’t wait till I graduated got a descent job and my trials would be over

Then when I was a young adult I could wait to find a wife and settle down and my trials would be over

After I was married I thought my trials would be over when we had kids

Then after we had kids I thought my trials would be over when the kids were raised and out of the house

After we were empty nesters I thought my trials would be over when I could retire...

The verse says “when” for a reason. No one is immune from hardships. Not even you and not even me.

James teaches us through the Spirit that we can have calmness when we encounter trials. Instead of complaining and getting depressed we can enjoy a calm delight even in the face of hardship. It is how we view it that makes all the difference. If we believe that God is using this current hardship to develop us into the person we are to become we can endure.

I love that word in verse 4. “Endurance”

We conquer—not in any brilliant fashion—we conquer by continuing. George Matheson

What are you about to give up on this morning? Are you tired of your spouse and thinking of quitting your marriage? Are you struggling to eat right and ready to say the “heck with this health eating “ and stop at McDonald’s when you leave today? This is one thing I’ve learned “ If I can resist the urge to quit for a little while” the urge goes away. The next time the urge comes it won’t have the power it did the first time and it won’t last as long. Endurance is a character trait of a Christian and it serves us well over our lifetimes.

Wisdom and Knowledge

As some people confuse happiness and joy, they also miss the difference between wisdom and knowledge. We are living in the age of information. I think that is an understatement. Siri and Google are available to most of us and have changed our lives. I could know the distance, the time, the population of Anchorage AK in the matter of seconds. 40 years ago in would have taken a set of encyclopedias and 30 minutes. But does information make us wiser? Solomon name is name that comes to mind when we think of wisdom. How did he get to be the “Go to Person” in wisdom?

1 Kings 4:29 Now God gave Solomon wisdom and very great discernment and breadth of mind, like the sand that is on the seashore.

Why did God give him wisdom? Because He asked for it! 1 Kings 3:9

James explains to us that if we want wisdom we ask God in faith for it.

Serenity Prayer

grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.

I think James would say AMEN to the that prayer. To ask God have to wisdom to know what I need to left slide through my fingers instead of white knuckling to hold on to is wisdom.

The reason we are tossed about like a ship on a wind swept sea is we are holding on to things that are not in our ability to change.

I can change you, I can’t change the COVID crisis, I can’t change the weather. The only thing I can change is my attitude toward these things.

“Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.” ― Charles R. Swindoll

It’s all how we frame it

Time is the great leveler of position and rank. “Every dog has his day” is another way to say it. Verse 9-11 speak of a brother of low circumstances and a rich man. So I am not so sure where to place myself in this picture. Most of us would default to say “ I’m not rich”. Well my friend if you had a good meal this morning and had a warm house last night, you are better off that 3/4 of the world’s population. The key to having peace in this world is knowing this but at the same time knowing it’s not because we are special in God’s eyes. I have always looks to Eclec 12

New American Standard Bible Remember God in Your Youth

12:1 REMEMBER also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near when you will say, “I have no delight in them”; 2 before the sun, the light, the moon, and the stars are darkened, and clouds return after the rain; 3 in the day that the watchmen of the house tremble, and mighty men stoop, the grinding ones stand idle because they are few, and those who look through windows grow dim; 4 and the doors on the street are shut as the sound of the grinding mill is low, and one will arise at the sound of the bird, and all the daughters of song will sing softly. 5 Furthermore, men are afraid of a high place and of terrors on the road; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags himself along, and the caperberry is ineffective. For man goes to his eternal home while mourners go about in the street. 6 Remember Him before the silver cord is broken and the golden bowl is crushed, the pitcher by the well is shattered and the wheel at the cistern is crushed; 7 then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the bspirit will return to God who gave it. 8 “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, “all is vanity!”

We are all on the same road be kind to each other as we don’t know the burden others are carrying the Preacher is telling us

Time changes our perspective on life doesn’t it? If that is true then what of eternity? When we leave this world wealth, status, position, they all become unimportant when viewed through the lens of eternity. It’s been said that the ground is level at the cross. I find great comfort in that. It allows me to relax my grip on things and stuff and focus on living life in the moment.

Who done it?

Temptations come not from God but from enemy. We want to play the “blame game" and say it’s not our fault when we stubble and fall. God doesn’t cause us to do evil because it would do against His nature. God is good and there is nothing evil about Him. But He does allow us to be tested. As I started a new job this year much of my time has been in training. As I complete a training there is always a test at the end to see if I have assimilated the materials presented. Without a passing level on the test I have to back and do the material again. Trials are the tests of life. God has given us the materials in His Word and the Holy Spirit. He has laid it out very plainly what we are to do. If you are like me I have to repeat the material over and over sometimes. But sometimes I have victory and WOW it all come together. I see His footprint on my trial and how He designed it just to show me how to grow through it.

Closing

I’ve been reading a biography recently about Damon West. He is a person in recovery from Dallas Texas. Damon played D1 football and then worked in the political arena for several years. His parents brought him up in a middle class Christian home. Damon developed a substance use disorder and eventually went to Prison for stealing to support his habit. Damon turned to faith in God to see him through. Damon words are this “ Going to Prison is the Best Thing that ever could have happen to me”

In his brokenness God spoke to him and called Damon to minister to those who were incarcerated with him.

I have heard some of your stories here today. How cancer helped you to grow in your prayer life. How an affliction helped you to overcome fear that you would never measure up. How the loss of a spouse helped you to encourage your friends that they too could get through their loss.

Don’t let your trial go unused! Share how God is sufficient in all things. Build your story and share it with those who have not come to faith. We have a responsibility to do that. A trial shared is a victory over the suffering of this world and crown of a life well lived.