James: A Faith That Works (2)
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If one’s creed does not control one’s conduct, his creed is worthless!
In his book, In The Eye of the Storm, Max Lucado tells the story of Chippie the Parakeet…
Chippie never saw it coming… one minute he is perched peacefully in his cage… and other next he is sucked in, washed up, and blown over!
It all began when his owner decided to clean his cage… with a vacuum cleaner.
She put the end of the hose into Chippie’s cage… and everything was going fine… but… Then the phone rang…
She turned to answer the phone and… SHOOPPPP!!!
Chippie was sucked into the vacuum!
She gasped… put down the phone… and quickly opened the bag…
There was Chippie… still alive… but stunned and covered in grime!
Since he had dust and dirt all over him, she took him to the bathroom and rinsed him off in the sink…
Realizing that poor Chippie was now in shock… soaked… and shivering… She did what any responsible bird owner would do for the bird she loved…
She grabbed the hair drier…
Poor Chippie never knew what hit him.
A few days after the trauma, a reporter who had originally written about the event… called Chippie’s owner to see how he was doing.
“Well,” said his owner, “Chippie doesn’t sing much anymore… he just sits and stares.”
M. Scott Peck in his book, The Road Less Traveled, begins with these three words: “Life is difficult.”
There’s no doubt… amen?!
James says “Whenever you face trials...” (James 1:2)
Jesus said “In this life you will have trouble, but take heart. I have overcome the world.” (Jn 16:33)
Nowhere in this book does it say that life as a Christian is going to be easy… simple… safe…
But… It does say that if we have Faith, God will give us victory!
That is a “Faith That Works”.
1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings.
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,
3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.
4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.
6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.
7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.
8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.
Notice that the very first topic James tackles is … trials.
And he wastes no time getting to it!
Why?
Because of who he is writing to: “the twelve tribes scattered among the nations.”
The recipients of this letter knew trials… they knew suffering…
They were facing them… They had been forced to leave their homes do to the severe persecution of Christians in Jerusalem.
They were now living in strange lands… among total strangers… and had to adjust to entirely new situations…
But… Over and over… in the Bible… we find the stories of how God’s faithful people turn defeat… turn trials … into victory!
— Daniel in the Lion’s den…
— Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace…
— Job…
Look at Joseph:
Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery in Egypt…
Potiphar’s wife betrayed him (Gen. 39:1–20), and Pharaoh’s cupbearer forgot him (Gen. 40:23)…
Still, in God’s plan he became the second most powerful leader in Egypt.
After their father Jacob died in Egypt, Joseph’s brothers asked for mercy and forgiveness for their past wrongs to him.
Joseph’s inspiring response was, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Gen. 50:19–20).
Enduring affliction had produced in Joseph an ability to see God’s greater hand in the malicious intentions of his brothers. God had used trials to make Joseph mature and complete.
No matter the trials we face… through our faith in God… we CAN experience victory!
(I want you to hear that!)
The world may seem… at times… to be coming to an end… It may seem hopeless now… but this is temporary!
God Promises:
11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
James is confronts us with the reality of the trials we face… because he wants us to see the victory they bring!
You see… Troubles are certain… they are a guaranteed in this world… How we respond to them is what matters!
7 but human beings are born to trouble just as sparks fly upward.
There is no denying that!
— We are a broken people living in a broken world… Trials and tribulation are guaranteed!
The world has been suffering under a “pandemic”…
Christians are being severely persecuted in Afghanistan after the fiasco of the US withdrawal there....
Now… we have the craziness of the war in the Ukraine…
Everyday… for the past several years… we have heard news about “mass shootings”… hate motivated violence… internet hacking and crimes… war…
And worse… sin seems to be being promoted and celebrated more and more…
We live in a fallen world… nothing works the way it is supposed to!
— sin has stained every part of the physical universe
— it has deeply infected the human heart
— because of that things break, our bodies wear out, and we grow old and die…
— People hurt people every day… marriages come apart…
— People get hooked on drugs… alcohol… gambling… sex…
— Our leaders disappoint us… friends become enemies…
— employers “downsize” and jobs get lost… sometimes for reasons we don’t even understand…
We know that trials WILL come… there is no doubt of that… HBut we do not have to be beat down and broken by them… We know the savior of the world!
How we respond to the trials is what matters!
Ray Prichard tells what a friend once said to him:
“Ray, when hard times come, be a student, not a victim.”
Be a student, not a victim.
That is great advice!
You see… A victim says “Why did this happen to me?”
But… a student says, “What can I learn from this?”
Turning trials into triumphs means learning from them, not avoiding them…
2 My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy,
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 in nothing.
James says, “WHEN you face trials… ”…
No matter who we are… no matter where we live… trouble is always just a phone call away…
— that diagnosis of cancer
— that call that your child has just been arrested… or in an accident…
— that spouse who no longer wants to be married…
— being fired unexpectedly…
— the list is endless… and varied…
How are we supposed to respond when these times come?!
Well… James says, “Consider it pure Joy!”
What?!
Are you kidding me?!
How are we supposed to consider job loss… cancer… the loss of a loved one… “Pure Joy”?
Does James even know what he is saying?!
It sounds idealistic and impossible… right?!
But… James doesn’t stutter… He lays it out plainly:
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,
The Message says:
2 Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides.
The J.B. Phillips translation (the New Test. in Modern English):
“When all kinds of trials and temptations crowd into your lives, my brothers, don’t resent them as intruders, but welcome them as friends!”
That seems crazy doesn’t it?!
We must not see trials as intruders, but as friends?
That goes against our natural inclination…
We naturally respond to trials and troubles with anger… despair… complaining… or running away and trying to escape them!
It is not a natural response to find JOY in hardship…
James isn’t talking about a “natural” reaction… he’s talking about a “supernatural” reaction… through Faith.
“Counting it all Joy” is a choice!
James is telling us: “Do not look at your hardships through the eyes of this world, or through the eyes of your emotions… they will mislead you… look at them through the eyes of Faith!”
We need to learn to see things through God’s eyes… from His perspective…
We only do that by putting our Trust in Him.
I want you to notice something....
James addressed this letter to those “in the dispersion”… the term “in the dispersion” carries the idea of “scattering seed”…
4 Now those who were scattered went from place to place, proclaiming the word.
“It was really the sowing of seed in many places...” — Weirsbe
When we handle trials with Faith… It doesn’t just benefit us… it is a testimony to those who are watching us. (our families, friends, neighbors, etc…)
This is why Jesus told us:
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
26 Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
27 And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?
People need to see us face trials in Faith!
Not because it removes the trials, not because we somehow escape them, but because it changes the way we see and respond to them…
We need to see trials the way God does… they are opportunities for His Children to grow!
But here’s the problem…
We tend to think of Joy as…
— Happiness
— as circumstantial… like a pep rally, or Party with friends…
We tend to think that JOY means “the absence of pain”… But… that’s not what the Bible says…
(Spiritually speaking) JOY is deep satisfaction that comes from knowing that we are in a relationship with a good, loving God… who is control of ALL things…
We can experience the deep satisfaction of JOY… even while we mourn our hardship and pain… knowing that God loves us, and that He WILL carry us through and that we will be stronger because of it!
3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance;
Scripture uses the idea of Gold being purified through fire… Trials are our fire…
They are where the “dross” of our lives is brought to the surface… and drawn off…
The result is pure Christ-like character.
This is something Job understood.
10 But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I shall come out like gold.
Can I tell you this? Until our faith is put to the test, it remains theoretical.
(Remember) Theoretical faith is not Biblical faith.
(Last week) We only truly believe what we put into action.
Let me say it this way: We only truly have Faith in what we put into action!
So… when we say that we trust God, and then the trials come, but we run from the testing… we lie to ourselves!
It is only when we face the trial… that we find out… for better or worse… just how strong and real our faith truly is!
James tells us that… God uses trials to produce endurance… and endurance produces perseverance… and perseverance produces complete maturity.
Let me tell you… The world does not need to see Theoretical faith… it needs to see the Faith of God’s Children that endures the trials and comes out strong!
Barclay — “in the early church, the martyrs gained the respect of unbelievers because in the moment of death, they had this quality — endurance — they died with their faith intact.”
Meriam Ibrahim… when pressured by her Muslim persecutor to renounce her faith in Christ… knowing that it meant her death… said, “I am a Christian and I will remain a Christian.”
How could she do that? Faith!
She knew who her God was… and she knew that they could kill her body, but they couldn’t take eternity from her!
That’s what perseverance looks like… it isn’t tested in “good times”… it can only be exercised and developed in hard times.
“A Faith That Works” welcomes trials with JOY because it understands that through them God can develop in us a “mature and complete” faith…
4 and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.
How many of us don’t want that?!
We all desire to have a strong… mature… complete faith… that lacks nothing, right?
But, here’s the problem… we don’t want to go through the process that develops it…
Complete maturity says: “I will not give up… no matter what happens, or how bad life may be. I will hold on because I promised and because I believe the Lord has something greater in store for me.”
I believe that God can use my testimony to plant a seed in someone else’s life!
Not my will… my strength… my abilities… my desires… but His!
I will walk through this… because God is with me!
That sort of gritty, stubborn faith produces genuine spiritual maturity.
James promises… When our trials have finished their work in us, we will lack nothing the Lord wants us to have!
4 and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.
But… one of the dangers we face when going through trials is that we try to short-circuit the process… we try to “get out” … to escape the hardship and pain…
Eugene Patterson in The Message puts verse 4 this way:
4 So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.
That’s good advice, but it’s not always easy to follow…
Most of us know the story of Elisabeth and Jim Elliot…
They were a part of the missionary group that worked to reach out to the Auca indians in Ecuador…
We know the story.... Jim and four of the men, after making several successful attempts to make contact with the Auca’s… finally landed for a “face-to-face”… all of them were killed…
Years later… Elisabeth married Addison Leitch — a former president of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary… He contracted cancer shortly after their marriage and died a slow and painful death…
Listen to what Elisabeth says about the situation:
“The experiences of my life are not such that I could infer from them that God is good, gracious, and merciful necessarily. To have one husband murdered and another one disintegrate body, soul, and spirit through cancer, is not what you would call proof of the love of God. In fact,… it looks just the opposite. But my belief in the love of God is not by inference or instinct. It is by faith. [It is] To apprehend God’s sovereignty working in that love is… the last and highest victory of the faith that overcomes the world.”
When trials come… and they will… there is something we can’t know, and something we can know.
— We can’t know why ....
— We can know that when hard times come… God is at work in them for our benefit and His glory!
28 We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.
The Christian life is not an “easy life”… and any suggestions to the contrary are false…
Trials will come....
We will face troubles…
But… we can choose how we respond to them…
33 I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!”
There is one more thing I want you to see before we go…
Faith that works… Faith that gains victory… Faith that stands in the face of troubles and perseveres… requires one more thing....
4 and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.
What if we lack? What do we do when we find that we lack something? How do we learn to persevere through our trials?
5 If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you.
6 But ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind;
7 for the doubter, being double-minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord.
We pray!
True… Faith-filled… Prayer is essential…
We have resources available… unfortunately, we often fail to make use of them!
James tells us… pray… pray for wisdom… pray for the wisdom that helps us have faith.... KNOWING that God will give it to us!
God does not desire to see His children suffer....
God does not desire to leave us hanging… as some sort of cruel joke…
God will give us the wisdom we need to build the Faith He desires… a mature and complete Faith in Him.
5 If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you.
Remember who James was…
He was a man of prayer… Mr. Camel Knees himself…
He understood that Faith in the face of the troubles of this world was key… and … that he could not stand in the midst of them… without Prayer!
Our strength to stand in Faith… is found on our knees…