Do You See What I See (Part III)

OPENING

Please turn to James 1

Welcome. My name is Pastor Matt (Student Pastor)

Thanks for being here.

Connect Card

Today’s Scripture passage is James 1:1-8

Would you please stand as we read from God’s Word

James 1:1-8 (CSB)

1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ: To the twelve tribes dispersed abroad. Greetings.

2 Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials,

3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

4 And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.

5 Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God—who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly—and it will be given to him.

6 But let him ask in faith without doubting. For the doubter is like the surging sea, driven and tossed by the wind.

7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord,

8 being double-minded and unstable in all his ways.,

PRAYER

OPENING ILLUSTRATION

In my many, many years of life, I have found that the most rewarding things are not easy.

They take effort and determination.

Your Career.

Education

Raising Children

Relationships

I would imagine that everyone in here would agree that maintaining a good marriage takes a lot of work.

It’s not easy.

QUESTION: What is the most difficult aspect of marriage?

Finances?

Arguing?

Communication?

In-laws?

For Me: It’s Gift Giving.

I can’t figure it out.

I’m terrible at giving gifts to my wife.

BAD GIFT

STORY: On my six month anniversary of dating, I took Brittany somewhere nice to eat.

I wore my best shirt. (I even ironed it)

I took a shower.

I brushed my teeth.

I got her a gift.

It was perfect…until she opened the gift.

The gift: A $25 gift card…to Wal-Mart

THE MOST DIFFICULT

Let me ask you a question.

QUESTION: What would you say is the most difficult part of being a Christian?

Is it memorizing scripture passages?

Is it getting out of your comfort zone and sharing the Gospel?

Is it the time commitment? (Life groups, serving, and attending Church every week?

HARDEST THING: I believe it’s trusting in God during the hard times. During Trials. When bad things happen.

It’s hard to keep the faith while the world is kicking you in the stomach over and over again.

It’s hard to believe that God is there when it feels like He has abandoned you.

JAMES

The last couple of times I have preached, we have been going through the book of James.

It is a book of wisdom that shows us how the Christian is supposed to act.

The topic of hard times is something that a lot people avoid talking about because it’s a difficult topic.

Hard times can be full of pain and despair.

But trusting in God during the hard times is EXACTLY what James beings his letter talking about.

In fact, he establishes it right off the bat...

Not only are bad things going to happen to Christians.

We are to have joy during those times.

From the very beginning, James addresses the most difficult aspect of being a Christian.

It’s so easy to forget to love God during hard times.

We forget that being a Christian is very difficult.

It’s hard to say “I trust you Lord”...

When you lose your job unexpectedly.

When a friend turns their back on you.

When you feel like our country is going to hell in a hand basket.

When a loved one dies.

Do you forget that being a Christian can be very difficult?

“I didn’t go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity.”

C.S. Lewis

DO YOU SEE WHAT I SEE

Today, we are going to continue our series, Do You See What I See

We have been answering the question, “Are you seeing things the way God does?”

Week 1 we talked about seeing “people” correctly.

Week 2 we talked about seeing “faith” correctly.

Today I want to go backwards to chapter 1 and talk about seeing “trails” correctly.

How do you see the Hard Times that God allows you to go through?

SECRET: I’m going to let you in on a little secret.

The Devil doesn’t want you to see trials correctly.

He doesn’t want you to know that actual good can come out of terrible situations.

MAIN POINT: God and Devil want you to see trials differently.

“Do You See What I See” is a question that both God and the Devil are asking you right now.

The question is, who’s point of view are you going to take?

Let’s go over two ways in which God and the Devil see trials differently.

1. TRIALS ARE NOT POINTLESS. THEY ARE DOING SOMETHING.

EXAMPLE: If you were camping and looked inside your tent for a St. Bernard and didn’t see one, you would have good reason to assume there is no St. Bernard in your tent.

What if you were looking for Chiggers. These are insects that burrow into your skin which can leave you with an itchy rash.

They are so small that you need a magnifying glass to see them.

THE POINT: Just because you can’t see them doesn’t mean they are not there.

THE REALITY: Most times, during trials, we can’t see what God is doing.

Most times we don’t see what God is doing until after the trial is over.

Sometimes we never find out what God is doing.

It’s can be so difficult to think trials are for our good when we see seemingly pointless pain and suffering.

QUESTION: Why does James tell us to have joy during trials?

Trials can grow us even if we don’t see what they are doing at the time.

Hard times can be times of growth.

EXAMPLE: How do you really know when you are good at sailing a boat?

When the storm comes.

Not in calm waters.

Anyone can be a good sailor during in the calm times.

Sailing in a storm gives you the full experience.

PATIENCE

QUESTION: What does James tell us is the result of going through trials?

James 1:3

3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

Another word for endurance is Patience.

It’s funny that patience has become a negative thing in our society.

We don’t wait for things anymore.

We have to have things right now.

But let me say something… to all the young people in this audience.

Back in my day, we had to wait for things. (Allow me to rant for a second)

1. There was a day when Amazon 2 day shipping didn’t exist. We had to wait for packages.

2. If I didn’t know how to spell a word, I would ask my dad. You what he would make me do?

I would have to look it up in the dictionary.

Now I do what so many of us do, I get out my phone, speak text it and see how to spell it correctly.

3. If I needed to talk to someone on the phone and they weren’t home…I had to wait for them to get home.

Now it doesn’t matter where you are, you can talk on your phone anywhere.

STORY: Grew up in England. Bridge was bombed by the IRA and the school had no way of getting in touch with us to make sure we were ok.

4. Does anyone remember this sound? (Play the Dial Up tone)

To get on the internet you would have to wait for your phone line to connect to the internet.

Now, I freak out when a video takes 5 seconds to load.

And, if someone was on the phone and you wanted to get on the internet, you had to wait for them to get off before you could surf the web.

Patience is a foreign concept to this current generation.

But this is exactly what James tells us we can get when we go through various trials.

PATIENT PERSON AND IMPATIENT PERSON

QUESTION: Do you know the difference between a patient person and an impatient person?

The impatient person only sees what is in front of them.

They can’t see anything outside of their current situation.

The patient person is able to see beyond their current situation.

EXAMPLE: Think about being hungry.

The impatient person is only concerned with satisfying their hunger.

The patient person realizes that not eating all the time is better in the long term for their health.

The Devil wants us to think this way.

He wants you to focus only on the bad thing happening in front of you.

When you are only focused on the trial in front of you, of course it’s going to seem pointless.

God wants us to be able to look beyond and trust that He is doing something.

This is where Godly Wisdom comes in.

James 1:5

5 Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God—who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly—and it will be given to him.

GODLY WISDOM

This passage tells us that God will give you the wisdom to get through trials that come our way.

GODLY WISDOM: The ability to look ahead and make decisions that will prevent you from putting yourself in the position to sin.

STORY: Guy and girl mess up sexually in the back of his truck.

When did this happen?

We were parked in the woods and started making out in the back of my truck.

Godly wisdom would have prevented them from putting themselves in that situation.

“If we put ourselves in this situation, we could potentially do something that displeases and dishonors God.”

Godly wisdom will help you avoid many difficult things.

TRUTH: Some of you are going through unnecessary trials in your life that were created because of your sin.

Anger: You gossip about someone and it creates drama. God didn’t do that.

Financial: You are in massive debt because you can’t control your spending. God didn’t do that.

Lust: If you are watching porn or movies that cause you to lust. God didn’t do that.

QUESTION: How many trials in your life can you avoid by simply using Godly wisdom?

Godly Wisdom does two things:

It helps us avoid putting ourselves into compromising situations.

It helps us have patience to realize that God is doing something during your trial.

THE WORST THING

- The worst thing you can do during trials is believe the Devil and think that they are pointless.

- In a trial, God is growing you somehow.

- Godly wisdom helps us see this.

Pray that God will give you the insight to see that your hard times are producing something in you.

2. Don’t Believe Lies. Believe the Truth

It’s easy to believe lies when we are going through a trial.

Lies like:

God has abandoned me.

God doesn’t love me.

God would never let me go through a difficult time.

Even God isn’t big enough to get me through this hard time.

STORY: Lady asked me what we are going to do about our country.

We are going in the wrong direction.

There is no hope.

QUESTION: Can I tell you something?

I love America.

But my hope does not lie in this country.

My hope is in Jesus Christ.

I pray that our country flourishes and that we have freedom, but there is a great chance the United States might not exist someday.

But you know what will…the Gospel.

The Good News of Jesus Christ will live on.

How do I know?

Because Christianity outlived the Roman Empire.

STORY: Andy Stanley on a tour and looks up to see the cross over the colosseum.

The Gospel survived.

REMEMBER: We are on the winning side.

For this reason we should have hope.

Don’t believe the Devil that there is no hope.

He wants you to think your situation is hopeless.

He wants you to think that you have to go through trials on your own.

QUESTION: Do you want some good news?

You don’t have to do life alone.

You have the body of Christ to lean on.

Everyone look around…these are fellow believers to turn too.

If you are going through something, find someone to walk it with you.

Remember that the Holy Spirit lives inside you.

2 Corinthians 12:10

10 So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and in difficulties, for the sake of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

STRENGTH WE DON’T HAVE

God doesn’t want you to rely on your own strength.

“When the world knocks you on your back, all you can do is look up at God.”

QUESTION: Have you tried getting through difficult times on your own?

You can’t do it.

This is what Paul is talking about in this passage.

He was relying on a strength that wasn’t his own.

Not only is God strong enough for anything that comes our way, He will always be there.

Christians, don’t believe the lie that God has abandoned you.

Don’t believe the lie that He isn’t there.

Scripture promises us that God will never let you go.

SONG: As you listen to this song, imagine that God is speaking directly to you.

Play song.

CONCLUSION

STORY: Terri saying, “If I could go back and erase my cancer, I wouldn’t because of how much I have grown through it.”

Something that helps me:

During the hard times, remember what God has done.

We serve a God...

That created everything merely by speaking it into existence.

That cut a sea in half so that His people could walk through it and live.

That raised people from the dead.

That sacrificed himself in our place.

That makes spiritually dead people alive.

We serve a God that will come one day come back and make everything right again.

QUESTION: Does this sound like a God who can’t handle the hard time you are going through?

Let me end with some good news.

If you are a Christian, your trial will not last forever.

The difficulty of your trials should be overshadowed by the greatness of what waits for us…heaven.

Trials are temporary, but heaven is forever.

So have hope when times are tough.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

16 Therefore we do not give up. Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day.

17 For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory.

18 So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

CLOSE IN PRAYER