Play-Doh
Notes
Transcript
This letter is from James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I am writing to the “twelve tribes”—Jewish believers scattered abroad.
Greetings!
Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.
James has a simple greeting and then BOOM - you’re going to face troubles… Well thanks!
What’s the situation at this time for the church?
Persecution? Yeah probably.
Maybe there was the struggle of Jew and Gentile learning to live together and be united in Christ.
Most likely, it was simply the struggle of remaining faithful in life.
New Testament scholar N.T. Wright states “The moment you decide to follow Jesus is the moment to expect the trials to begin.” - The Early Christian Letters for Everyone, 4
Wright adds, “When a Christian is tested it shows something real is happening. There are many kinds of test: actual persecution, which many face today; fierce and nasty temptations, which can strike suddenly when we’re not expecting them; physical sickness or bereavement; family or financial troubles; and so on. But you wouldn’t be tested unless you were doing something serious… Those who follow Jesus the Messiah are not simply supposed to survive. They are supposed to count, to make a difference in the world, whether through the quiet daily witness of a faithful and gentle life or the chance, given to some, to speak and act in a way which reveals the gospel to many others. For all of that we need to become strong, to face up to the challenge.” - Wright, The Early Christian Letters, 4-5
God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.
It is no wonder Paul, after discussion the gift of being made right with God through faith declares that there will be struggles...
Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.
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.
And also
Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying.
And he shares his experience of struggle...
We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed.
And, let us not forget what Jesus said to His followers...
I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
It is the struggles that shape us into the person God is creating us to be!
The Play-Doh image
In order for us to be who God desires for us to be we must be stretched and pulled.
This does remind me of our original creation where God formed us and breathed into us
Paula Ripple in Growing Strong at Broken Places...
“The woman potter summarized not only the making of a pot but her basic belief about life:
Both my hands shaped this pot. And, the place where it actually forms is a place of tension between the pressure applied from the outside and the pressure of the hand on the inside. That’s the way my life has been. Sadness and death and misfortune and the love of friends and all the things that happened to me that I didn’t even choose. All of that influenced my life. But, there are things I believe in about myself, my faith in God and the love of some friends that worked on the insides of me. My life, like this pot, is the result of what happened on the outside and what was going on inside of me. Life, like this pot, comes to be in places of tension. Life comes to be when we learn how to avoid looking for answers and finally learn how to ask the questions that will bring us to life.
There is a tendency is us to want to live tension-free. But, like the woman potter, I believe that this tension is God’s gift to us, a gift that sometimes will not permit us to escape its presence. I believe that our creative energies are activated by just that kind of upsetting tension. It is in responding to the gnawing discomfort that we have the possibility of giving shape to dreams that are at once faithful to who we are and who we can become.”
For us to be the New Creation - God must continually be allowed to form us and breathe into us. However, this involves trials and struggles. It is not that God is a brute and gets some sort of sick pleasure in our trials. It is that God is allowing those trials and struggles to shape us into His people.
Mother Teresa - “Suffering is a gift of God - a gift that makes us most Christlike. People must not accept suffering as a punishment.”
The image of the Silversmith...
The story of the Silversmith: “And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver” (Mal. 3:3). This puzzled a Bible study group. One of the members offered to learn about the process of refining silver and inform them at their next study. He visited a silversmith and watched him at work. He watched the silversmith hold a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. The silversmith explained that in refining silver, you must hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest to burn away all the impurities. The member then thought about God holding us where the flames are the hottest to burn away our impurities. Then he thought again about the verse. “And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.” He asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire and watch the process at all times. The silversmith answered that not only did he have to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was tested in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed. You must leave it long enough to serve the purpose, but not too long as it would destroy it. The member was silent for a moment. Then asked the silversmith, “How do you know when silver is fully refined?” He smiled and answered, “Oh, that’s easy — when I see my image in it.” (Author Unknown)
You have tested us, O God; you have purified us like silver.
I have refined you, but not as silver is refined. Rather, I have refined you in the furnace of suffering.
Some reminders along the way...
Emmet Fox - “Suppose your whole world seems to rock on its foundations. Hold on steadily, let it rock, and when the rocking is over, the picture will have reassembled itself into something much nearer to your heart’s desire.” - The Seven Day Mental Diet
Julian of Norwich - “And these words: You will not be overcome, were said very insistently and strongly, for certainty and strength against every tribulation which may come. [God] did not say: You will not be assailed, you will not be belabored, you will not be disquieted, but [God] said: You will not be overcome. God wants us to pay attention to his words, and always to be strong in our certainty, in well-being and in woe, for [God] loves us and delights in us.”- Showings
And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.
And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.
And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others.
He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.
He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds.
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.
And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people.
The struggles that come our way can be used by God for good. They can mold us and shape us and form us into being the person God desires us to be. No, this doesn’t make the struggle easier. But, maybe it makes it more bearable as we consider who this struggle might push us into being.