The Proper Response to Suffering
Text: James 1:2-4
Message #: 2 of
Date Preached: January 2, 2009 (AM Service)
Exegetical Idea
The recipients of James’ letter were undergoing some difficult trials due to many different reasons. They were exiles, most of them were living in poverty and from James 2:6-7 & 5:1-6 they were being oppressed by the rich and powerful people they lived among. There was most definitely religious persecution (if they went to live among other Jews) due to their belief in Jesus as their Messiah.
In the very opening of his letter James is going to give an exhortation (in the original it is an imperative) as to how these believers should respond to their trials – with complete and full joy! He is not saying that they are to enjoy the trials as they are numerous and varied, but to respond to them with a positive, joyful attitude because they have come to know that God is using these trials for a greater purpose. These trials are testing their faith in that they are helping their faith to grow in endurance – patience, steadfast, not giving in with the result of remaining faithful to God. When endurance grows then its perfect and complete work will be that we grow more mature and more complete in character which is not deficient in anything.
Only when we “consider” – think about, regard as true – the purpose of trials and its end results can trials result in joy. The opposite result would be to give into trials and not remain true to God, seeking to escape the trials which results in a negative attitude of distress and complaining.
Universal Idea (Big Idea)
A joyful response to life’s trials allows us to stand firm so we can grow to be more like Christ.
What you think about trials will determine the end result of trials.
Purpose of Preaching
Trails and testing in life bring about pain, frustration, perplexity, anxiousness and questions. How do we respond to trials? Why do we have to go through them, what’s the point? The question of suffering is one of the oldest and most difficult questions to answer. When trials and tragedies happen the main question is why? Why me? Why now? Why this? For the child of God the ultimate goal for trials is to help grow in our maturity. While there are many different reasons for suffering (cleansing from sin, persecution, teaching us to comfort others, etc) the ultimate reason is to make us mature and complete and for that reason we should be filled with joy.
This is not the response of the world! The response of the world is to become bitter, angry, discouraged, depressed, and despondent. Instead of joy there is grief. Christians are not immune to trials, but we can be different in how we respond to the trials of life.
Outline
I. Introduction
II. The Response to Trials (1:2)
a. The attitude towards trials – Joy
i. The wrong response – Despair, resignation, complaining
ii. What it means to consider
iii. The truth we are to consider –
1. We are not immune to trials (Quote David Jeremiah)
2. God is in control and has a purpose for the trials
b. The timing – whenever you encounter trials
i. When – Not “if” but when we face trials
ii. Encounter – Fall into (cf. Luke 10:30). Theses are unexpected trials that “we fall into” and are “surrounded by”.
iii. Various – not necessarily number of trials but diversity of trials
1. Historical context
a. Exiles
b. Most of them were poor
c. Religious persecution – From fellow Jews?
d. Oppressed by the rich and powerful – cf. James 2:6-7; 5:1-6
2. Present day trials
a. Sickness, finances, cultural, financial, relationships, etc.
III. The Reason for Trials (1:3)
a. Knowing – Knowledge gained from personal experience
b. Testing – Refinement – cf. Psalm 12:6 & Proverbs 27:21
c. Endurance –
i. It’s meaning and parallel teaching (Rom. 5:3-4; 1 Peter 1:6-7)
ii. Illustration – Solider enduring in fight
IV. The Result of Trials (1:4)
a. Endurance, when allowed to complete its work, produces maturity in the believer.
b. The ways in which it produces maturity and what it looks like (Quote Keathley)
V. Conclusion
Introduction
When you woke up this morning little did you know that your life was about to change
· When you got into work you were called into the boss’s office and told that you were being let go because there is no more work
· The doctor called and confirmed your worst fear – it’s cancer
· You opened the mailbox to find the foreclosure notice – you must be out of the house by the end of the week
· Your accountant called and your investments and 401K are no longer a source of financial security
· Your car breaks down for the third time this week
· Your reputation is being slandered at work
· You are surrounded by people and ridiculed at school because you don’t give into the culture
Now, let me ask you – How would you respond?
· You become angry and filed with hate
· You are filled with resentment
· You are frustrated
· You are overwhelmed with grief and sorrow
· You grow bitter towards others and towards God
· You are filled with worry and despair
· You resign yourself to the inevitable and emotionally withdraw and give up.
· You “buck up” – you stand up with determination and fight the battle ahead so that you can overcome the obstacle
How about this response – “Consider it all joy.”
Joy?!! I lost my job and you’re telling me to be joyful about that? I’m losing my house, I’m being ridiculed at school, publicly embarrassed and you are telling me to be joyful – are you nuts?
No, in reality – I’m being biblical. Turn with me to James 1.
Last week we started our study in the book of James. As we did an overview of the book one of the features of this book I pointed out was that it is going to be very practical. It is going to address issues of every day living, issues that you and I deal with even today. I told you that James is focused on teaching us that a living faith impacts how we live each and everyday and the goal of his instruction was to help his readers mature and become more like Jesus Christ.
So it is not is not surprising that James, as a caring pastor, is going to start off his letter focusing on what was on the forefront of his readers minds and their experience – the issue of suffering.
And it is his response to their suffering that we learn how we are to respond to our suffering today. So read with me James 1:2-4.
[Read James 1:2-4]
The first issue that James is going to talk about is the response to trials.
Before we examine how we are to respond to trials I want to look at what he says about trials. The first thing is the guarantee of trials, “Whenever you encounter trials”. In order to properly respond to trials we need to accept the fact that it is not a matter of if we are going to have trials – but when. Peter tells his readers in 1 Peter 4:12,
" Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you;"
The second thing is the diversity of trials. The word translated various means varied or diverse. It is used to describe the different types of diseases Jesus healed[1]and in regards to trials it means that we are going to encounter different types of trials.
For James’s readers they were facing many different types of trials –
· They were exiles – getting a new home setup, finding jobs or setting up their trade, getting involved in society
· Most of them were poor so they had to find food, shelter, clothing
· Religious persecution – From fellow Jews? Because of their belief they could not join the local synagogue. Maybe they were afraid of Saul coming to arrest them
· Oppressed by the rich and powerful – cf. James 2:6-7; 5:1-6
You and I go through many different and diverse trials as well.
· It could be financial - How many have been effected by today’s economy?
· It could be relational – gossips, slander, false accusations are all trials that come upon us
· It could be health related
· It could be cultural – try to stand up for Christian values in the schools or workplace and see how quickly you are met with resistance.
The final thing about trials is the nature of trials. What kind of trials is James talking about? Quickly turn over to Luke 10:30.
[Read Luke 10:30]
This is the story of the Good Samaritan. What I’m interested is looking at the what happened to the man – he “fell among robbers”. Here you see the picture of a sudden attack, a man being surrounded by robbers. There is confusion, fear, anxiety and the great potential of harm. Get the picture?
The word translated “fell among” is the same word translated “encounter” in the NASB and “fall into” by the KJV & NKJV.
The compound verb, which pictures these trials as encircling the believer, implies that the reference is not to minor little irritations, but to larger adverse experiences which cannot be avoided. The references is to various adversities, afflictions and calamities which are hard to bear.[2] (73)
So James is telling us that we are going to face trials that are hard and diverse – now lets look at how we are to respond to them.
“All Joy” – This means that no matter the circumstance, no matter the intensity, no matter the type of trial we are going through, whenever we face a trial our response should not be complaining. It should not be with despair or resignation – it should be with joy.
BUT HOW?!!! Trials are hard and painful. Depending on the trial it can stop you dead in your tracks with grief and sorrow. Trials can wear you down emotionally and drive you to your knees – how can you consider trials something to be full of joy about?!
The key is to understanding this passage is bound up in the word – consider. In this passage this word consider is a command, the main thing the James wants us to do.
But what does it mean? It means to regard something as true, “to believe it to be true”[3]. It involves coming to a firm conclusion after much deliberation and examination of a subject. It is a final determination of an issue.
So what James is saying is that we are to come to a firm conclusion concerning trials and that conclusion is that we should respond to trials with joy:
He is not saying joy for trials, but joy in trials. Hebrews 12:11 teaches that these kinds of trials are grievous, not joyous. But do consider a trial as a cause, a basis, a ground for joy when it does happen and have a positive attitude about it.[4]
But the consideration a believer needs to have about trials not only includes how they are to respond to trials but also the reasons why we go through trials
[Read James 1:3]
James implies that we already know the reason. The word translated knowing comes from a word that means that we know by personal experience. This is not an abstract type of knowledge, what we might call book learning, it is knowledge learned in the school of experience.
So what have the readers come to know about trials that they are to consider that leads them to respond with joy? They have come to know that trials have a beneficial purpose.
Trials come into our lives to test our faith. The word translated test here means an outward process of testing our faith.
In the Greek translation of the Old Testament the writers chose this word in two key passages that gives us a good word picture for testing we go through:
"The words of the Lord are pure words; As silver tried in a furnace on the earth, refined seven times." (Psalm 12:6)
"The crucible is for silver and the furnace for gold, And each is tested by the praise accorded him." (Proverbs 27:21)
Both words describe the refining process of silver and gold. The metals are put through the refining fire so that all the impurities and dross would come to the top and then scrapped away leaving only the purest of metal.
In much the same way, one writer explains the testing our faith,
The difficulties of life are intended by God to refine our faith: heating it in the crucible of suffering so that impurities might be refined away and so that it might become pure and valuable before the Lord. The "testing of faith" here, then, is not intended to determine whether a person has faith or not; it is intended to purify faith that already exists.[5]
So God allows outward trials and difficulties to come to refine us in order to produce in us the characteristic of endurance.
So trials come into our lives so that we would grow in the characteristic of endurance. But what does James mean by the word endurance?
Have you ever had to endure something? Usually when we use endure in this context it means to put up with something that we really don’t want to do. He endured the opera. In this sense endurance is “a passive attitude of quiet submission or resignation”[6]. Another way of putting it – “she put up with his friends.”
But that is not the meaning here. In the Greek it means to remain under. There are many word pictures for endurance:
The picture is of a person successfully carrying a heavy load for a long time.[7]
It is the picture of a solider, “who braves all in his life-and-death struggle on the field of combat.”[8]
It is the picture of a brave man who “confronts the difficulties and contends against them.”[9]
It presents the picture of being under a heavy load and resolutely staying there instead of trying to escape.[10]
So what James is saying is that trials come into our lives in order to produce in use the endurance to remain faithful to God. Endurance in trials means that we do not retreat into trusting ourselves or our resources, but trust in God to bring us through the trials. It deepens our dependence on God and seeking his ways, not our own. It means walking by faith in the path God lays before us and trusting His purposes in the midst of trials.
· So the response to trials is to be completely joyful and filled with gladness.
· The reason for trials is the testing or refining of our faith so that the characteristic of endurance, patience, steadfastness is developed in us.
Finally James addresses the result of trials that we are to consider. When endurance is formed in us from the trials the result will be that we are complete and perfect – meaning that we will have become mature and we are not deficient in anything. One writer says it this way,
When believers live under suffering joyfully (i.e., they endure and keep on applying the promises and principles of the faith), Christ’s life or character will be more and more manifested as they grow through the suffering (2 Cor. 4:9-10; 3:18). This means trust, peace, joy, stability, biblical values, faithfulness and obedience in contrast to sinful mental attitudes, blaming, running, complaining, and reactions against God and people.
The reason we can rejoice in the midst of trials is because of the end result – maturity, Christ-likeness. If you want to grow and mature in the faith then prepare yourself for trials.
In nature a plant and trees grow stronger when the winds come. In the midst of the storms the roots grow even deeper to hold them in place. The same is true for you and me. Trials come so that the roots of faith will reach down deeper into the grace of God so that we may come through. And as we come through we find that we are stronger because of it.
Just because we are saved doesn’t mean that we are exempt from suffering and trials. David Jeremiah says this about a Christian and suffering,
When we become part of God’s own family, what sets us apart is not any difference in the sin environment around us, but in how we deal with it.[11]
How are you dealing with the trials you are facing today? James tells us that “A joyful response to life’s trials produces in us the ability to stand firm so we can grow to be more like Christ.” To put it more simply,
What you think about trials will determine the end result of trials.
CONCLUSION
In October of 2005 Tracy and I sat in a doctor’s office hearing the news – it’s breast cancer. I remembered we both cried on the way home, we both thought about what the worst case scenario would be – and we both thought about the road ahead, but something else happened in the days ahead – we both spent hours on our knees asking God to show us how we can learn and grow through this experience. We acknowledged that this was not a mistake and that God was right there with us. We submitted ourselves to the Lord and from that moment we were at peace and joy came into our hearts. Over time God gave each of us new insights into who He was and His great love for us that that we might not have learned if it wasn’t for the cancer – His faithfulness, His strength in weakness, His love experienced through other believers.
When we stop and consider the reason and the result of trials in our lives, then the only response we can have is – joy!
----
[1] See Matthew 4:24
[2] D. Edmond Hiebert, James, p. 73.
[3] Arnold Fruchtenbaum, The Messianic Epistles, p. 218
[4] Fruchtenbaum, p. 218
[5] Douglas Moo, James, The New Pillar New Testament Commentary, p. 54-55.
[6] Heibert, 76.
[7] Moo, p. 55.
[8] James, New American Commentary, p. 62
[9] Heibert, 76.
[10] Heibert, 76
[11] David Jeremiah, When Your World Falls Apart, Seeing Past the Pain of the Present (Nashville, TN: Word Publishing, 2000), p. 34