Sermon Tone Analysis

Rejoicing in Trials

We are Creatures of Comfort

crea′ture com′forts

n.pl.

things that contribute to bodily comfort and ease of mind, as food, warmth, or sleeping facilities.

In most definitions creature comforts are things not really needed by humans, but that improve comfort or a sense of being at ease.

A private hot tub is one amenity that may be considered a creature comfort.

You can define creature comforts in many ways, and many of us view some of our creature comforts as near necessities.

(https://www.homequestionsanswered.com/what-are-creature-comforts.htm)

JRR Tolkien was a Christian professor who taught the Anglo-Saxon Language at Oxford.

He was also one of

the people instrumental in the conversion of CS Lewis.

But that is not what most people remember him for.

His literary trilogy entitled The Lord of the Rings is regarded by many as some of the best of the 20th century.

At the center of these stories is a quirky little people called hobbits.

Theessential nature of hobbits is that they are homebodies.

They like food, fellowship, and the easy life.

They like things regular and predictable.

The worst way a hobbit can describe something is to call it “uncomfortable.”

So it is surprising that a particular hobbit is selected to go on a series of adventures in which he discovers that there is more to life and to hobbits than just being comfortable.

The reason I bring this up is because we are all Hobbits in one shape or another.

We enjoy the easy life, are quickly annoyed, and hate to be uncomfortable.

So when life gets hard, we, like good little hobbits, look for the path of least resistance.

We retreat or surrender or blend in with the hopes of avoiding inconveniences or challenges.

The Path of Least Resistance

The path of least resistance is the physical or metaphorical pathway that provides the least resistance to forward motion by a given object or entity, among a set of alternative paths.

The concept is often used to describe why an object or entity takes a given path.

The way in which water flows is often given as an example for the idea.

The path of least resistance is also used to describe certain human behaviors, although with much less specificity than in the strictly physical sense.

In these cases, resistance is often used as a metaphor for personal effort or confrontation; a person taking the path of least resistance avoids these.

In library science and technical writing, information is ideally arranged for users according to the principle of least effort, or the "path of least resistance".

The Goal of the Path of Least Resistance is Comfort

Take a look at how some describe the result of taking the Path of Ease: POWER POINT SLIDES

Author Elbert Hubbard - “The Path of Least Resistance is what makes rivers run crooked.

Henry David Thoreau - “The path of least resistance leads to crooked rivers and crooked men.”

H.G. Wells - “The path of least resistance is the path of the loser.”

Lee Ann Womack - “Never settle for the path of least resistance.”

That was the situation facing James’s readers.

They were in difficult situations.

They had probably fled their homelands looking for peace and were most likely finding it difficult to fit in where they had found themselves.

Many of them were probably wondering what to do.

Some were maybe even starting to doubt their faith because of the hardship or compromised their beliefs in order to make life easier for themselves.

We have all been there.

We have all found ourselves saying things like “Why is this happening to me?” or “Wouldn’t it be easier if…?”

We have wondered why some calamity great or small befell us.

Sometimes we phrase the questions, “Why did God let this happen to me?” Sometimes we are so desperate that we will do anything to be out of the situation.

We want it to be over; we want to be out if it.

Such suffering can cause us to doubt God: doubt He cares about us, doubt He is in control.

It can lead us to try to manage as best as we can.

It might even tempt us to do things we might not normally do.

James doesn’t mince any words.

He doesn’t beat around the bush or build up to his main point.

He starts off with a direct challenge not to give up.

His advice is to do something unexpected, something that goes against our hobbit nature.

• Consider it All Joy – We are called to be joyful, not necessarily happy.

Joy is something different.

It is the deep-down assurance that everything is okay no matter what the circumstances because God is in control and has a plan.

At a funeral, before we or a friend goes in for surgery, when we have lost all our money, or are facing an uncertain future, we need not and even should not necessarily be giddy or happy.

But we can choose to trust God and not our own fears or emotions.

• My Brothers – Sometimes, the overlooked words contain important truth.

There is something profound to the fact that James begins his letter by calling his readers, “my brothers.”

Hopefully it goes without saying that James is addressing both men and women alike.

It’s a term not just of friendship but of kinship and family devotion.

James is saying hard things to his audience.

It is important for him to show them that he isn’t cruel or unfeeling.

He isn’t lecturing or condescending.

He uses the language of family and the language of equality.

He is talking to fellow children of God; to his brothers.

He knows what he is saying is hard.

It is probably hard for him as well.

And he wants his readers to know that he is in the same boat.

• When You Experience Various Trials – Trials here aren’t necessarily temptations to sin.

Trials have the capacity to turn into temptations.

James will deal with how this happens later in this chapter.

The exact definition of “trials” can be hard to pin down.

They are things that cause us to wonder if we are on the right path, doubt ourselves, worry that we are stuck and that only bad can come of this.

More importantly, they are things that shake our faith in God.

It might shake our faith in His power (maybe He can’t help), or His love (maybe He doesn’t want to help), or His existence (maybe He isn’t even there); hard situations where things aren’t going as planned and we are wondering what to do next.

Truth be told, it’s a word that is hard to write a definition for, but we all know what it means.

We have been there far too often.

James uses several words to illustrate the exact nature of trials to help us gain a biblical perspective on them:

o Experience – The joy we are called to have doesn’t come from the trial.

The word James uses that is translated “experience” literally means “to fall into.”

Though it may seem like trials are a neverending and therefore normal part of life, it is important to realize that from God’s perspective, they constitute something abnormal, something you fall into, something that will one day be over.

AMP

For our momentary, light distress [this passing trouble] is producing for us an eternal weight of glory [a fullness] beyond all measure [surpassing all comparisons, a transcendent splendor and an endless blessedness]!

o Various (but common to everyone) – various is another word with a cool meaning.

The word literally means, “multicolored.”

In fact, it’s the word that is used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament to describe Joseph’s Coat of Many Colors.

The idea is that trials come in all sorts of intensities and varieties.

One wonders if the list of topics James will address in the rest of the book provide a clue into the nature of the trials we can expect to experience.

He will go on to write about widows, orphan, poverty, favoritism, slander, business, and sickness, to name a few.

But we shouldn’t expect to have thesame trials as other people or expect all our trials to be of the same quality or intensity.

As a result of living in a fallen, cursed, and imperfect world as a result of what happened in the story of Adam and Eve, every single one of us will have to face a certain amount of trials and tribulations as we journey through this earthly life.

A Reason to Rejoice

• Testing Produces Endurance v3 – Like a coach uses training, God uses trials to develop us into the types of people God has created us to be.

God didn’t create us to be spiritual couch potatoes, so He won’t allow us to remain spiritually weak, lazy, sluggish people.

He is developing in us characteristics He knows we need for the race He has set for us to run.

God has a plan for our lives.

It’s a plan for His glory and for our good but it requires some spiritual muscle.