Following Jesus, Even Through Trials And Tests Series

Full disclosure: this is edited from a message preached at First Baptist Church, Chamois, MO in August 2022

Introduction: Many of us think following Jesus is going to be a walk in the park, so to speak, but that isn’t always true. Certainly, as He promised, He’s there with us, but trials and tests are going to come our way. Think about it: if the Devil tempted Jesus Himself, putting Him to three different tests, he’s going to do it to us—that means you and me and everyone who is a believer in Jesus. But even though these are coming, there’s a promise and a reward for those who stay true to the Lord and don’t give in to these trials.

1 The problem: trials are coming

Text: James 1:2-12, KJV: 2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. 5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. 7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. 8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. 9 Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted: 10 But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. 11 For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways. 12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

James would know about “divers temptations” or various trials, for sure! Just think about growing up with the Son of God as your own half-brother (see the list of the boys in Joseph and Mary’s family in Mark 6). Mark Lowry, the Christian comedian and singer, had a sketch in one of his performances when he imagined the other children asking for help with, say, science—only to hear the parent say something like “Ask your brother—He wrote the book!”

But something that had to weigh heavily on the Lord’s heart is that none of His brothers believed He was the Messiah. John 7 has an account where the Lord’s own brothers, including James, said, “Why don’t You go to Judea so they can see all the good deeds You are doing here”—and I take that as kind of an insult. Even so, something happened in James’ heart as eventually he did believe in Jesus. James is also one of the few who ever saw Jesus after Jesus rose from the dead (see 1 Corinthians 15:3-11).

James did rise to become a leader in the early Church but even then, he had any number of trials and tests to go through. Remember, we don’t know when he became a believer in Jesus though we do know that at one time, he did believe. Surely James would have known or perhaps even experienced the various persecutions—by fellow Jews, of all people!—simply because they chose to believe (correctly) that Jesus was and is the Messiah and Savior of the world. The first several chapters of Acts document this clearly.

And the persecution of believers, nearly all Jewish-background or Messianic believers at this stage, caused many who had come to Jerusalem, and stayed, to leave. Some were probably running for dear life to escape who knew what at the hands of people like Saul of Tarsus (see Acts 9, for example). James, then, was led to write the Epistle or Letter, bearing his name, to these believers who were “scattered abroad” throughout the known world.

It didn’t take James long to mention “temptation (1:12)” and in view of what we know about Church history, he knew what he was talking about. The bad thing is that he knew trials (a different translation of the word “temptation”) were coming, but he also had good news because those who endured these would be blessed.

Again, he would know, if for nothing else remembering what had happened to Jesus! For 40 days He had been fasting and praying in desolate land, with wild beasts (Mark 1) and endured at least three different testings or temptations by the Devil. I confess, every time I read these passages in Matthew 4 and Luke 4, thinking how the Devil—a created being—is trying to get the Creator Himself to do this or that, even offering the whole world if Jesus would worship the Devil! Remember, if Satan did this to Jesus, he’ll do it to you and me. Just think about the various things we see these days, promising this or that if we do thus and so. It’s all temptations, and it’s all testing, and the purpose is to see how we’ll respond.