THE TRUTH ABOUT TRIALS
Intro: How Many People Love to Take Tests?
With Persperation on your Forehead, and Sweat on your Palms, the Teachers Hand out the Test, with a Smile on their Face and say, “This is not intended to discourage you or make you nervous—It is simply to see what you know. IT’s a learning Experience.”
You know what is Funny about those Tests: The only questions that I missed were the ones that I Missed.
James Gives us Some incredible insight on the Tests and Trials of Life.
Trials are Essential for our Growth as Christians.
Maybe You are in a Trial Right now, Maybe you just got through One, or Maybe there is one in the distance.
WE all need to hear the Advice of James.
James 1:2-4
Notice the Links in the Text. It is like a Chain Linked Together.
Trials—Testing; Perseverance—Perseverance; Lacking—Lacks
Throughout James, There are 12 Obvious Connections to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and 8 Close Connections.
Matthew 5:10-11, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven”
Matthew 5:48→ BE Perfect as Your Father is Perfect.
Trials⇒
The Greek Word means: TO TEMPT; TO TRY; TO TEST OR TO PROVE.
You have to understand that God uses Trials, Difficulties and Challenges in life to MAKE US STRONGER AND PURER.
When James Says, “TO FALL INTO TRIALS of Various Kinds”→ This is Not Yielding to Sin, but rather to Fall into an Unexpected Situation.
It is an Attack that You Don’t See Coming.
It means to Encounter a circumstance which Surrounds a Person Unexpectedly.
⇒IT IS A PICTURE OF BEING SURROUNDED ON ALL SIDES By TRIALS.
Luke 10:30→ The Story of the Man who Fell among the Theives.
This is An Unavoidable Situation.
APP. Maybe you are in Here this Morning and You are in a Situation that is Surrounding you. Personal, Marriage, Finances, Job, Sales, Family, or Future. Maybe a LOVED ONE.
How Should WE ACT when Were in a TRIAL?
I. THE PROPER ATTITUDE TOWARDS TESTING
VERSE 2
A. JOY—Supreme Joy; Full Joy; Pure Joy; Joy to the Highest.
“Count it All Joy” → Consider It All Joy
What is Our NORMAL Response when we Face Trials in Life?
Negative, Upset, Disturbed.
We Have to Change the way we think about Trials.
How can We Remain Joyful when Facing such Trials as: Disease, Accidents, Pain, Sorrows, Disappointments, suffering, Pain, and Death?
How can We Be Joyful when we are Facing Seductions and Temptations in Life?
You Must Know that the Trials of Life are not Intended to Destroy, Defeat or Discourage us, but rather they are intended to Make you Stronger, To prove Us.
We Cant Remain on the Mountaintop Forever.
A Billy Graham said, “Mountaintops are for views and inspiration, but fruit is grown in the valleys.”
APP: We must understand what James is calling for here. He is not suggesting some kind of Superficial happiness in the hurts and losses of life.
He is not saying that we are to enjoy being sick, losing a loved one, getting laid off from our job, being persecuted, etc.
Some of us here today are hurting. We are suffering. James does not suggest that we manufacture some kind of other-worldly, phony sense of happiness about our troubles. So, what is he suggesting?
There is a reason to be joyful in the midst of trials. It is not being happy about the trouble. It is finding joy in what the trouble produces. It is enjoying the sweet fruit produced only by bitter times.
What is The Reason for our REJOICING?
II. THE POWERFUL OUTCOME OF TESTING
A. TESTING PURIFIES FAITH
Verse 3→ THE TESTING OF YOUR FAITH
James Explains the Purification Process:
APP: In the LXX, this word is used to describe the process of refining silver and Gold. Metal would be Heated in those Days and the Impurities would rise to the Surface. Our Faith, According to James, undergoes the same kind of Testing. The Trials of Life may be hard, but We profit from them because our Faith is Strengthened.
LISTEN TO PETER: 1 Peter 1:6-7
BIBLICAL EXAMPLE⇒ JOB
Job 1→ Satan was Looking for Someone to Test. God Said, “Have you Considered Job.”
God Pointed Out Job.
God is in the Business of Testing Us, Of Making Us More Like Him.
God Delights in us When We have Proved Ourselves Faithful to Him.
Job 23:8-10, “Behold, I go forward, but he is not there, and backward, but I do not perceive him; on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him; he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him. But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.”
God Set this Up for Job to Pass the Test. TO STRENGTHEN His Faith.
JOSEPH→ Gen 39—Verse 2, 3, 21, 23. THE LORD WAS WITH HIM.
CHURCH: God is IN CONTROL OF Everything.
The Devil Can’t Tempt you Unless God Lets Him, The Devil Cant Test us Unless God Lets Him.
A. TESTING PURIFIES FAITH
B. TESTING PRODUCES PERSEVERANCE
IN the Language of the New Testament, The word for Stedfastness can Also Mean: PATIENCE, PERSEVERANCE, or ENDURANCE.
When We are in a Trial, The Natural Reaction is for Us to HURRY UP and Get out of It.
WE MUST KNOW: When You are in the Midst of Trials, They make You Stronger.
QUOTE: When I was Training Brazilian Jui-Jitsu, we had a motto: “What Doesn’t Kill You, Makes you Stronger.”
ILL: I love this parable of endurance. It seems that an old dog fell into a farmers well. After considering the situation, the farmer decided that neither the dog nor the well were worth saving. So, he decided to bury the old dog and put him out of his misery. When the farmer began shoveling, the dog was hysterical. But as the farmer kept on shoveling, and the dirt hit his back, a thought struck the old dog. Each time a shovel full of dirt hit his back, the dog would shake off the dirt and step up. So, blow after blow, the dog would shake it off and step up. No matter how painful those shovels of dirt were, the old dog fought panic, he just kept shaking it off and stepping up. Finally, the dog, battered and exhausted stepped triumphantly over the wall of that well.
NOTICE: What he thought would bury him actually benefited him because of the way he handled his adversity.
THIS IS OUR PROBLEM: When Times Get Hard, WE want Out and When we Do this We MISS WHAT GOD IS TRYING TO DO WITH US.
WE Never Grow, We Never Mature, We Never become what God wants Us to Be.
WE MUST STAND FIRM. STAY STRONG.
⇒WE Have to Step Back, so God can SHOW UP, STEP IN and Show UP.
The Only Thing we have to Do is STAND FIRM.
Ephesians 6:13, “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and shaving put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints”
A. TESTING PURIFIES FAITH
B. TESTING PRODUCES PERSEVERANCE
C. TESTING PERFECTS CHARACTER
Verse 4→ MATURE AND COMPLETE.
How Many Want to Be LACKING IN NOTHING.
PAUL WAS STRUGGLING WITH A SITUATION IN HIS LIFE:
2 CORINTHIANS 12:7-10
WHEN WE ARE THE Weakest, God is The Strongest.
When we in the Trials of Life, God is Transforming Us.
When we Are Shook Too and Fro, God is Shaping Us.
When we are Beat Down, God works the Best.
⇒When You Have Lost it All in Katrina and Made it Through, You are A Stronger Person for It.
When your Marriage is Being Shaken to the Core and you Persevere, You are Closer to the Lord.
When you hang on to a Call from God and Work a Job waiting for a Ministry opportunity to Open, It makes the Reward that Much Sweeter.
APP: Every person here today can think of a trial which he or she has gone through. If I asked you, “Would you like to go through that again?” You would undoubtedly say, “No way.” But if I asked you, “Are you grateful for what that difficulty accomplished in your life?” Many of you would say, “I wouldn’t trade those lessons and the character developed in those trials for anything.”
APP. That is why we consider it all JOY. We consider it all joy because we know that when tough times come, the end result is going to be perseverance and maturity and THAT is What PLEASES GOD.
There is NO Way around it→ There will Be hard Times.
Illustration: Someone asked C.S. Lewis, "Why do the righteous suffer?" "Why not?" he replied. "They’re the only ones who can take it."
APP. Anyone Can Whine and Throw a Fit when Bad things Happen, But What Develops Maturity is PATIENCE, PERSEVERANCE, and WAITING ON GOD.
⇒If your life isn’t Challenging, You might want to Wonder if God is Shaping you and Making you into the Person he wants you to Be.
When We are Able to Persevere in Trials, It makes the Normal routines of Life a Breeze.
CONCLUSION: John Eldredge tells the story of a Scottish discus thrower from the 19th century. He lived days before professional trainers and developed his skills alone in the highlands. He made his own discus from the description he read in a book. What he didn’t know was that the competition discus was made of wood with an outer rim of iron. His discus was made of pure metal, four times heavier than the ones used by his would-be challengers. This committed Scotsman trained day after day, laboring under the burden of extra weight. He marked the record distance and kept working until he could throw that far.
Of course, when he arrived at the competition, he was handed the official wooden discus. He threw it like a tea saucer. He set new records and for many years, none of his competitors could touch him.
As Eldredge reflected on this story, he said, “So that’s how you do it – train under a great burden.”
Some of us here today are training under a great burden. It hurts. It is unpleasant. Sometimes we despair. Sometimes we cry. Sometimes we are angry at the burden. But we must always take heart. We must always have a deep sense of joy. Why? Because the burden is producing perseverance. Perseverance is producing maturity. Neither of these virtues so prized by God would ever be ours without the burden.
NO MATTER WHAT THE SITUATION, HOW HARD IT IS, HOW BAD IT IS, GOD IS IN CONTROL.
POEM: Without my trials and hardships, I would never know the way That You turn burdens into blessings with every passing day. Oglesby
This song was 1st Introduced by the Billy Graham Crusade in 1954:
SONG: Great is thy faithfulness
Great is thy faithfulness
Morning by morning new mercies I see
All I have needed thy hand hath provided
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me
Great is thy faithfulness
Great is thy faithfulness
STAND FIRM IN YOUR FAITH
