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James 1:2-8
“Bring on the rain…”
“If my suffering produces the result God desires for my life – when do I pray, bring on the rain?”
Sunday morning Sermon
7.29.07
Intro: (Start with title and text)
(Advance)
2 Peter 1:5-8 (NIV)
5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Growing in your Christian life will be one of the hardest things you will ever do. Adding to your faith goodness and to that foundation of faith and that layer of goodness knowledge and to that knowledge self-control and on top of all of that perseverance and to that godliness and on and on – it’s not easy. I don’t want to be ineffective and unproductive in my knowledge of my Lord Jesus Christ. My guess is, neither do you. So how does God create in us the ability to grow, and mature, and be effective and productive? How does God create in his children, all of those things that will lead us to the goal of our faith, which is our salvation? What’s the word would you use to describe how God grows us into people he can use for his purpose?
Discussion:
Here’s the word: Suffering. It’s not an easy word to digest. You’ve seen the bumper sticker – NO PAIN, No…gain, right? I like this one better – No Pain, No Pain…We don’t like to suffer.
My favorite time of the year is spring. I love to see the flowers bloom out. I love the trees full of green leaves. This past spring we could sit on the back porch and see the baby ducks as they followed the momma duck. One thing I don’t like about the spring is the rain. It makes the grass grow, and I have to spend time pushing a lawn mower. It makes the weeds grow and I have to spend time pulling them out of the ground. The rain makes things grow. That’s true in life too. We go through seasons of growth – seasons where it doesn’t seem to stop raining. When I was a kid and it rained, we’d always check the rain gauge to see how much. Maybe in your life, the rain gauge is full. I’ve got a word for you this morning. The storms in your life, the rain in your life – the times of suffering, each produces something better than before.
(Advance)
Turn with me to James 1:2-8 (Read)
Our response to the suffering in our lives is important. James gives us 3 responses to trials and testing our faith.
(Advance)
I. Joy (Advance)
James 1:2 (NIV) – Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,
a. Seems like a strange response
i. Life + Trials = Joy
I want to suggest something – this is not a natural response. I don’t think you identify a trial in your life and have an overwhelming feeling of joy.
b. A natural response
i. Confusion – questions like:
“Why is this happening to me?” “What did I do to deserve this?” You look at your life – you attend church, you listen to well developed sermons each week, you give your time and money, you do crazy water bottle projects. You add everything in your life together and it’s confusing why the trials come – why the testing of your faith – has to be difficult to go through. Sometimes the response is different:
ii. Rejection of the Christian life
This involves a movement away from the fellowship of believers. This involves a movement away from dedication. A person with this reaction might even look around and justify their movement away. Listen this happens over and over for a number of different reasons. Regardless of where you are in your Christian walk – some of my very best friends are no longer in ministry because of this testing process.
c. What brings joy in a trial?
I think this has much to do with the church’s response to those who are going through these trials. I think it has much to do with the depth of friendship and relationship, and family.
i. Biblical Joy – “Pure joy”
1. Not based on situations
The boss walks in and says – we’ve decided to give you a 50% raise – that might make you a little excited – but that’s not Biblical joy. That’s happiness based on the situation. When the situation changes – so will your happiness. The boss walks in and says – “we’re going in a different direction”, which is basically the same as saying, “you’re fired.” – it might make you upset – but when the situation changes so will feelings of being upset.
Listen, church, if you are chasing happiness based on a situation, you will never be happy. It’s not based on a boss or the lack of a boss – it’s not based on the balance of a bank account, or how well the car runs.
2. True joy is based on Condition
a. God’s grace – growing in God’s grace
b. God’s Complete love for you – growing in his complete love
c. God’s purpose in your life – Growing in purpose
I think we grow in our purpose. I knew when I was very young that I wanted to be a preacher. But my purpose at that point was not preaching, it was growing and purity and preparation.
The same God who is testing your faith, who causes the rain in your life is the same God who gave his one and only son for you, because he loves you. Just like it’s a parent’s desire for their children to walk – their love will motivate them to remove obstacles that are dangerous. God does the same thing – but he expects us to walk. He expects us and desires for us to grow up.
d. Joy is the goal – perseverance is how you get there.
Persevere is a theme in the NT – The KJV translates this word “patience” it’s also translated: steadfastness, and endurance. Here’s what it means: in the NT – the characteristic of a man who is not swerved from his deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trials and sufferings. Joy is the result of the times of perseverance. Joy in suffering was the formula for Paul.
(Advance)
Romans 5:3-4 (NIV) – Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope.
e. Character is who you are when no one is looking
It’s who you are when no one will know. Do you correct the mistake the cashier made when she gave you too much money? Are you honest with your tithe and offering?
The Bible says that bad company can corrupt good character. Maybe a good question is – who am I allowing to invest in my life that’s keeping me down? People who wouldn’t steal money from you will steal your time and energy. Those who have no direction in their lives are often steered by people who have some direction, even if it’s bad.
i. Bad Character
1. Doesn’t produce hope
It produces worry, and fear and a real lack of hope. You give those around you, those who aren’t good church people, those who struggle with their sin, those who are even proud of their sin – you give them hope about their lives and situations – church, it will change who they are, because it will change the direction they are headed.
You give a person hope – you have given them a chance, a reason to keep going, a reason to live. Our hope is in God’s unfailing love. The Psalms says that God delights in you when you fear or respect him…Read (Advance)
Psalm 147:11 – the LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.
It’s not easy to look at the periods of rain and trials in life, seasons of change and growth, and really understand the joy we should have. Church, I want that joy in my life. If it takes seasons of rain and trails, if it takes God molding and shaping me – my prayer, and I hope you can join me in this…bring on the rain. Lord, do something so awesome in my life – if you have to get me there through bending and twisting and removing junk that I hold on to – bring on the rain. You can’t experience the pure joy, without the rain.
Joy is the first excellent response to trials – James gives us a few more. (Advance)
II. Maturity and Completion
(Advance)
James 1:4 (NIV) Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
Like our physical bodies will grow up and mature – so with our spiritual lives we must also grow up and mature.
Hailey will be 3 years old next month (she’s registered at Macy’s, Bloomingdales and Target). She can sing the ABC’s – and pretty much get through the song. She’s doing great – she can tell you sounds of different animals – ask her what sound a cow makes – it’s funny, but she knows her animals.
I’m 33, and I can sing the ABC’s – and pretty much get through the entire song. Rob and I went to the zoo several weeks ago – so I’ve studied up on the sounds of different animals I bet I can also repeat most of the sounds.
Let me ask you something -- Between Hailey and I – which of us is where we should be? Listen, if after 33 years, knowing that I’m in good health, if all I can do is my ABC’s and repeat cow sounds something is wrong.
Some of you have been going to church most of your lives. Some of you have been going to church as long or longer than I’ve been alive. You should be mature – and growing in your maturity. You should be growing in levels of your faith that immature people can’t grow in yet. You shouldn’t be avoiding fellowship. The maturity of the church – all of us together is very important. If I teach something that is not Biblically sound – speaking to the mature – you should know it.
Here’s an example – you’ve decided to sleep in on Saturday morning but hear a knock at the door. You answer the door and some very nice people want to present another testament of Jesus Christ – so you listen – but you don’t know the difference between what you already believe and what they are telling you. They seem on fire so you go with them. You can blame it on not being able to understand the trinity or the virgin birth, but deep down it’s all a matter of – you didn’t know what you believed in the first place. Your faith – it was a mile wide but an inch thick.
a. Growing in maturity will happen several ways
i. Perseverance – coming to church
I call it an easy to listen to, well developed sermon – you call it perseverance. No matter how flat you smash it – it’s gonna have two sides. So persevere – don’t miss fellowship. Don’t miss times of teaching and growth. If you don’t understand something ask questions – seek out the answers. If you don’t agree with something – figure out why. Are you grabbing theology from Uncle Bill or are you getting it from scripture? Or is the spirit prompting you to think about your habits or your sin. Don’t miss fellowship, and don’t miss times of teaching.
ii. Perseverance – Personal Study
We are going to walk ourselves through the book of James, on Sunday mornings. It’s very practical. It deals with a lot of stuff we should work out – honestly, it’s very easy to preach through, hopefully it will be easy to listen to and challenging at the same time. If you need a place in your personal study – start this morning with the book of James. Take your Bibles out of the car when you get home – take them off the coffee tables and book shelves and put the words into your hearts.
The psalmist says: (Advance)
Psalm 119:11 (NASB) Your word I have treasured in my heart. That I may not sin against You.
You can’t get the word of God in your heart unless you get it off the table and put it in your hands. Get a version you understand, that you can read – ask me, I’ve got copies of almost every version – I’ll let you borrow them. Some of them read like poetry, some like dirt. There will be some perseverance in this personal study. (Advance)
2 Timothy 2:15 (KJV) – Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Listen – I’m offering something – if you take me up on this personal study idea and you really do it – and you get to something you don’t understand, I will help you – Daniel will help you – ask God for wisdom and he will help you. We have a lot of good biblical knowledge in our church – let’s use it for growth.
We aren’t totally done with the formula for not lacking anything.
b. Completion
I can’t remember what night of VBS it was but Hailey found the puzzles. While she can mooo with the best of them, she can’t do puzzles. She took all the pieces off every puzzle and made a mess. Pieces were scattered, puzzles were mixed. All the pieces were there – but they weren’t complete.
Sometimes in our lives that’s the way it is too --
i. God desires completion in our lives
1. A complete faith – built on a solid foundation of Biblical truth
2. A complete hope – build on a foundation of his everlasting love
3. A complete heart – not a divided heart
Here’s what I mean – a divided heart holds to some biblical truth and holds on to sins of the past, or worry, or doubt.
A heart that is complete – lacks nothing. Understands the depth of God’s love for you – and realizes the great distance he had to cross to bring you to a knowledge of the truth. Having a complete heart doesn’t make a person perfect, but it should make them humble. God can do much with a humble heart – because it makes you like Jesus (Advance)
Matthew 11:29 – Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Just as people were attracted to Christ because of his gentleness and his humility – we will do the same – only it’s our job to point them back to Jesus.
It’s hard to go through seasons of rain and periods of trials – it’s hard to see maturity and a time when you won’t lack anything.
Church, I want maturity and completion in my life. If it takes seasons of rain and trials, if it takes God molding and shaping me – my prayer, and I hope you can join me in this…bring on the rain.
Lord, do something amazing in my life – if you must put me into periods of growth and put the pieces back together through perseverance – bring on the rain. You can’t experience maturity and completion, without the rain. Here’s the third: (Advance)
III. Wisdom (Advance)
James 1:5-8 (NIV) – If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.
a. Joy is a choice – I choose to look at the bigger picture in my suffering
b. Maturity is also a choice – you can put yourself in situations where you won’t mature – if you always drink from the spiritual milk, instead of taking the meat – you will never be mature.
c. Completion – Again, it’s a choice. You can put yourself into situations where you would be complete – your heart will always be divided.
d. Wisdom – is something God does in you, it’s something you gain.
Wisdom is not the same as just knowledge – I can be book smart and not have wisdom. I can see situations and tell people how to react, based on what I’ve learned in a classroom and not have wisdom.
Adam and Eve were in the garden of Eden – do you remember – (Advance)
Genesis 3:6 – When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
e. Wisdom
i. Is something you should ask God for – there’s a promise – it will be given.
That’s right – I go to God and I’m honest – ‘cause he knows everything anyway. I tell him – I don’t understand this situation – I don’t understand this problem. There is a Biblical promise that he will give you wisdom.
Here’s where the God factor comes in – ‘cause we work on his time not ours. If God were a microwave – we’d push a couple of buttons, here the ding and bam the chicken is done. We expect the same with God – we are in times of testing, we don’t understand, say a little prayer and BAM – wisdom pops out of the microwave – that’s not the way it works.
1. Sometimes wisdom comes when we remove ourselves through time
1996 – I was really angry with God. Amanda and I were doing a part time youth ministry in Duenweg, MO – 5 minutes from school. We were working our tails off but couldn’t pay the bills. We left that ministry and moved closer to my mom – two houses down. Don’t move two houses down from your mother. My grandpa was suppose to get me a job and he did – I got laid off at Thanksgiving. I got the job back, got fired. Got another job working with people who should have been in prison. It was really dirty work – I took a shower at work and one at home. It was a 12 hour shift at work, 7pm to 7am, by the time both showers were done and I was home it was 8:30, I forced myself to stay awake until church started, Amanda elbowed me through many undeveloped sermons. All the time – I’m asking God for wisdom, asking God to give me understanding. The problem is – I’m not hearing a ding. I’m pushing buttons – and it’s not coming on.
4 years later – my mom passed away. Assume for a moment that God would have allowed me to continue in ministry, and even be effective. Assume for a moment that God would have allowed me to go along the path that made sense to me. I wouldn’t be here now. I would have had four years of effective ministry. I would have been done.
Here I am simply thankful for the times of life – that I didn’t understand. Wisdom can happen over time.
2. Sometimes wisdom can come through those around us
A prophet in the NT was not someone who could tell the future – God spoke prophecies through Isaiah and Jeremiah – they were about the future – about Christ – his birth and death and physical appearance. A prophet in the NT was someone who could tell people what was going on around them. They had God’s wisdom and they could not only see the obvious, but the source of the situation. James was someone like that. Towards the end of his letter he tells them why they are fighting and arguing among themselves – they want something but haven’t received it. DING DING DING – chicken’s done. You have people tearing each other’s heads off – all because they aren’t getting what they want…This whole letter is like that. James gives excellent insight into what is really going on.
f. When we ask
i. We shouldn’t doubt
We should believe. How would I have ever known what God was working through me – unless I remained faithful? How would I have ever been open to what I’ve been through to get to this point – unless I waited for his wisdom?
When you are going through periods of rain and the path you want to take is closed down – I’m not saying it’s easy, ‘cause I know it’s not. Ask God for his wisdom, and then wait. Be open to someone who is Christ-centered who might be able to tell what’s going on. Be open to the preparation that he is doing in your life to get you where you will be effective.
I am so thankful for the preparation – was it something I would have signed up for – Absolutely not. But without that season of rain, without those times of trials I couldn’t pray – bring on the rain. I couldn’t look forward to what God has prepared me for, not only now, but what he has prepared for me in the life to come. We’re going to close this morning a little bit different. I have a song I want you to listen to – it’s about praising God in the storm – being confident than he’s all there and he’s all the way in control. Listen to the song. Our youth minister/worship leader sang – “I’ll praise you in this storm” by Casting crowns.
Can you pray that prayer with me this morning – Lord, bring on the rain. I know some of you are going through seasons of rain, and storms. You think you get past it, and it’s clouding up again – 10 more inches expected. I know it’s hard – but God is good. He’s good all the time. It’s in those times when he seems miles away – that he has your hand walking you through – protecting you and bringing you to where you should be.
We’re going to sing a song this morning – and we invite you to come. We invite you to lay your cares before Christ – we invite you to ask for understanding. Maybe we just need to pray with you – we’ll do that too. Whatever you need this morning – please come and sing as we stand.
