James 1:2-4

Introduction

When I was the strength and conditioning coach at Lee University, I would often give my athletes challenges at the end of a training session to test their strength.

Sometimes, we would have them do relays, wall-sits, or plank hold combinations…similar to what you guys did earlier in the game.

One of the things that I always ask them after we finish, and I ask you tonight, is when your core and legs began to burn, what was the first thought that came into your head? If you are honest, you probably said… “what can I do to make this easier?” or “there is no way I can keep going?” or maybe, “how can I get out of this?

If you responded positively, thinking, “I got this,” or “no pain, no gain,” or maybe, “Its almost over?” What thoughts gave you the ability to endure the pain? In one way or another, it was probably the thought of winning the prize and knowing that the end result was worth the temporary discomfort.

You may have similar responses when it comes to your schoolwork. All the tests, assignments, projects, and papers, can be difficult and you are often tempted to give up because you do not want to remain steadfast bearing all the weight of those tasks each day, month, and year of your education process.

However, if you consider the fact that if you apply yourself in school, work hard, and endure all the way to graduation, you will ultimately earn a degree to help you eventually get a job and live the career that you aspire to do.

Ultimately, when we face trials, our mindset, the way we view our tests, will dictate and determine our outcome. You can think of it as E+R=O…event plus response equals the outcome. We often cannot control how many challenges we will encounter, but we can always control how we respond to those trials when they come.

But, If we are honest, when we face trials, whether it be physically, mentally, or a combination of both, we are normally more quick to complain, grumble, and give up before we even begin to start… BUT WHY IS THAT THE CASE?

Why do we complain and grumble when we face trials? Why do we often give up and allow trials to break us down and destroy our faith? Why does God even allow us to go through difficult things if He is good and loves us?

Last week, we walked through verse 1 of James and saw that the purpose of this small letter is that faith in the gospel should be demonstrated in a life of obedience…and than James puts “flesh on faith” to help us see what it really means to believe in Jesus by the way we live our lives.

Tonight, we will continue our study in chapter 1, and learn what it looks like to live like a servant of God and how we should respond to trials.

Verses 2-4 provide the solution to our problem in that we can respond to trials with joy because trials are good gifts from God that will help strengthen and complete our faith.

Now lets read verses 2-4 together as unpack this practical wisdom...

James 1:2-4 “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Let’s pray…

Trials Strengthen Our Faith (vs. 2-3)

The first reason we can respond in joy when we experience trials is because trials strengthen our faith.

James begins his encouragement to his brothers and sisters in Christ who were living in exile with a command… “Count it all joy, my brothers., when you meet trials of various kinds”

The word “count” can also be understood as “consider” or “reckon.” Essentially it means to “think about.” To count something means to have a settled conviction and to recognize it as true.

James tells believers to count “it”-which refers to the trials he will soon mention with all joy. Now it is important to see that the command James gives is to “count” or “consider” trials to be all joy…not to have the emotion of happiness when we experience trials. The command is not an emotion but a thought…it is not how one should feel but how one should think.

This is important because we cannot often force ourselves to be happy rather than depressed when we face difficult times… however, we can choose how we will think and what our mindset will be when we face trials.

The phrase, “all joy” can be understood as describing the type of joy we should have when we face trials. We could also translate this phrase as “count it pure joy or great joy, when you experience trials”

Counting it all joy does not mean a superficial happiness (putting on a happy face when you are suffering) but an awareness of the benefits of meeting a trial for the maturity of one’s faith. Joy is not an immediate feeling of happiness and pleasure, but rather an extended state of well-being.

You can relate joy to what a mother experiences during child birth. In the moment of labor, she is not happy or feeling very well, as she is experiencing immense pain, however, even in the midst of that pain she has joy because she knows what the end result will be.

It is the same way when we experience trials…we can have joy, even in the midst of pain and suffering because we know what the end result will be…steadfastness…as we will see later.

Next, we need to notice that James says, “when you meet trials,” not “if you meet trials.” The fact is that because we are exiles living in the Dispersion, we will face hardships and difficult times because this world is not our home. Jesus himself said in John 16:33 that, “In this world you will face tribulation...” And 1 Peter 4:12 says that we should not be surprised when fiery trials come upon us.

So what are these trials and why does God allow us to experience them?

“Trials” are anything that would test or examine us to demonstrate the nature of our character or faith. Trials put our lives to the proof and examine us to see if our faith in genuine.

For the immediate audience of the christians living in the dispersion, these trials could be general or could be more specific hardships that are later addressed in the letter (persecution, sickness, and poverty).

Yet, James describes these trials using the word “various,” which pretty much covers all types of trials that believers will face during their lifetime. This can entail physical, mental, or spiritual tests that could produce difficulties, suffering, and pain.

For you, some trials may be, how are you going to respond to being rejected by friends at school, when you do not make the sports team or band or choir audition, when your parents tell you no to something you really want, when one of your friends or family members tragically dies, or when you personally are sick or get in an accident that brings physical suffering.

Man…sounds like a difficult road lays ahead of us if we want to be servants of Christ Jesus…so why does God allow us to experience trials?

If we look at the context of this passage of Scripture on trials, verse 17 tells us that trials are a good gift from God to prove and increase the strength and quality of our faith to ultimately bring us to maturity and completion.

Now, we do not need to think that everything that happens to us is good, for evil and bad things will come our way....however, we can see that God will use bad and difficult things like trials for our good and His glory to help make us more like Jesus.

Theologian, Kurt Richardson, said, “James encourages them to embrace their trials not for what they were, but for what God could accomplish through them.”

This is why we can count it all joy when we meet trials of various kinds…because we know the end goal…the strengthening of our faith.

We see this in verse three as James uses the word “for”....why should we respond with joy when we meet various trials?? For or Because we know that the testing of our faith will produce steadfastness.

James assumes that his audience knows the benefit of tests and trials and is seeking to remind us so that we can count them as pure joy.

The word “testing” in verse 3 is different from “trials” and communicates displaying genuineness as a result of a test.

Testing can be likened to the way that a diamond is put into the furnace...so that impurities might be refined away and so it can become pure and valuable...the testing of faith is not intended to determine whether a person has faith or not; it is intended to purify faith that already exists.

James says that the result of this testing of our faith will produce steadfastness.

“Steadfastness” is the power and ability to withstand hardships. It is the inner fortitude and strength to continue to endure a trial. Steadfastness is not passive, “just sitting around” patience, but an active patience that works to hold up the weight of something.

Essentially, the testing of our faith through trials provides strength to our faith to give us the ability to persevere and eventually overcome trials.

Paul talks about this idea in Romans 3:3-5 where he says that steadfastness produces character, which eventually leads to hope. This hope will further strengthen our faith to bear under trials and “pass the test” as it talks about in verse 12.

We can liken trials to strength training. When we lift weights we are placing resistance and tension on our muscles. For our muscles to resist and eventually overcome this weight, they must get stronger. When our muscles are under a load it causes them to break down and then begin to grow and get stronger. Trials are like the load when we get under the bar to perform a squat and as we struggle and fight to get the bar up, our muscles get stronger, which can be seen as steadfastness. The more our faith is tested, the stronger we will become and be able to withstand heavier and heavier loads.

But we must remember that if we never lift weights and never place a load on our muscles to fight and resist…we will never get stronger. The same can be said for our faith…if it is never tested through trials, then we will ultimately never receive steadfastness and the ability to grow in our walk with Jesus.

So for us, we must respond to trials with joy....not just acting happy but knowing and remembering that God is allowing us to be tested to help strengthen our faith and give us the steadfastness and hope to be able to endure and pass the test. We must remember the end result of our trials, that through remaining steadfast, we will become more like our savior.

This is why we can respond to trials with all joy…

Trials Complete Our Faith (vs 4)

But, James is not done with the benefits of meeting various trials, He says in verse 4, “And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

James gives a second command to believers…not only do we need to respond in joy to trials so that we can receive steadfastness and our faith can be strengthened, but we also must let steadfastness have its full effect to grow into maturity and receive the full benefits of trials.

So, what does James mean by this statement?

The word “And” connects the two uses of steadfastness in verses 3-4 and provides a warning from James...if a believer does not endure to completion during the trial they will not reach the goal of maturity. Steadfastness must reach it’s full effect (or perfect work) for the believer to then be made perfect and complete.

Experiencing and going through trials does not guarantee automatic growth and maturity. Essentially, the blessing only comes if we allow steadfastness to have its full and compete result in our lives.

If we let steadfastness have its full effect, James says we will be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

“perfect” is the same word used for “full” and means to bring to completion, to accomplish the goal, to reach the highest standard. “Complete” communicates a similar meaning in describing something as having all the necessary qualities.

After two positive results of completion, James uses a negative form to further emphasize his point, we will not only have all necessary qualities…but we will also lack in none of them.

So, if we let steadfastness work itself out to completion through trials, by not giving up, our faith will be brought to completion and maturity and we will lack nothing.

A great example of the importance of allowing steadfastness to be completed so that we can become complete can be seen in the transformation of a caterpillar to a butterfly which is called a “chrysalis.”

The caterpillar begins in the cocoon and after period of time begins to fight to break out of the shell. After fighting for hours, the butterfly breaks a hole in the cocoon and begins to try and fly out. Yet, as it fights and struggles to get through the hole, it often gets stuck and remains trapped for a long period of time.

Now, if we were observing this ourselves, and thought… “I need to help that poor butterfly, it has been struggling long enough and I need to remove it from this trial…” and if we were to do just that and rip open the cocoon and not let the butter fly go through the full effect of the trial… the butterfly would not fly in freedom but actually fall to the ground and die.

You see, for the butterfly to complete its transformation and to have the strength to fly, it must allow the trial of escaping the cocoon to have its complete effect. For, as the butterfly fights through the hole, the struggle it endures strengthens and develops the butterfly’s wings in the process…so that once the butterfly overcomes the trial of escape, it will have reached the full strength and maturation of its wings and be able to fly and do what it was made to do.

Conclusion

It is the same with us… like the butterfly, we know the end result of our trials is growth and maturity in our faith. Through struggling and persevering under trials our hope and faith will grow and be strengthened like the wings of the butterfly, and as we let steadfastness have its full effect, we will have the strength to endure the trial and be made complete and mature in our faith.

God in his love knows that trials will strengthen and bring us to maturity in our faith… this is why he does not simply remove us from difficulties when we face them, like we would with the butterfly, but in his grace, he provides us with the strength to remain steadfast so that we can be transformed into the strong and mature christian he has made us to be.

So, how are we going to be able to endure? How are we going to have the strength to let steadfastness have its full effect in our lives so we can become complete and mature in our faith??

ULTIMATELY, WE MUST LOOK TO OUR SAVIOR, JESUS, who will give us the strength to endure trials, for Hebrews 12:1-3 tells us: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.”

Jesus saw the most difficult trial imaginable in the cross and taking the wrath of God for the sins of the world and looked upon it with joy…Jesus counted it pure joy…and he endured and remained steadfast to the very end…he never gave in or took the easy way out… so that you and I could be forgiven of our sin and have the grace to be able to endure the trials we face today.

So, because of Christ and what he has done for us through his perfect life, his sacrificial death, and his glorious resurrection, we can count all the trials we face with pure joy because we know that they will strengthen and complete our faith as we let them have their full effect in our lives.

Let’s pray.