Trials, Perseverance, and Maturity
James 1:2-4 NIV
James 1:2-4 NIV
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
James AKA Camel Knees
1st James tells us to "Count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet various trials.
2nd James had also learned that difficulties can produce steadfastness or patience.
3rd James concludes with purpose of trials and patience: Spiritual maturity for service.
There are times when all we think we can do is hold on.
FOUR GUYS DECIDED to go mountain climbing one weekend. In the middle of the climb, one fella slipped over a cliff, dropped about sixty feet and landed with a thud on the ledge below. The other three, hoping to rescue him, yelled, "Joe, are you OK?"
"I’m alive ... but I think I broke both my arms!"
"We’ll toss a rope down to you and pull you up. Just lie still!" said the three.
"Fine," answered Joe.
A couple of minutes after dropping one end of the rope, they started tugging and grunting together, working feverishly to pull their wounded companion to safety. When they had him about three-fourths of the way up, they suddenly remembered he said he had broken BOTH his arms.
"Joe! If you broke both your arms, how in the world are you hanging on?"
Joe responded, "With my TEEEEEEEEEEEETH...."
Understand God’s testing.
His testing does not come when we are warned and ready.
Anyone can pass a test then. ... God’s tests catch us unprepared, off-guard. It is when we
are confronted with some simple situation no one will know about that the tests of life
really come. When you are relaxing at home and the phone rings and suddenly you are
confronted with a call for help, or a demand for a response-and you had planned to relax
and enjoy yourself all afternoon-what happens then? That’s the test.
1. The testing we go through demonstrates the genuineness of our faith.
2. This is the word Job used when he said, ’When he has tried me in the fire, I will come out like gold’ (Job 23:10).
3. A ship cannot prove that it has been sturdily built as long as it stays in dry dock. Its hull must get wet; it must face a storm to demonstrate genuine seaworthiness.
4. The same is true of our faith. When we hold fast to belief in Christ in spite of life’s storms and crushing criticism, that is when we demonstrate the genuineness of our faith."
Many time we fail because we are Feeling sorry about yourself
So you think you have problems. Who doesn’t? That is no reason for you to quit the church or abandon the Faith. "You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord--that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful" (James 5:11).
Put yourself in the shoes of Job for a moment:
1. HE LOST HIS WEALTH. In rapid succession three messengers came telling Job of the destruction of his property and servants by bands of robbers and by lightning.
2. HE LOST HIS FAMILY. A fourth messenger came telling of the death of all of Job’s children. Seven sons and three daughters were crushed in a moment when the house fell.
3. HE LOST HIS HEALTH. Job was smitten from head to foot with most loathsome ulcers. He was constrained to sit down among the ashes and scrape himself with a potsherd.
4. HE LOST HIS FRIENDS. His servants turned their backs on him. The children in the streets despised Job and mocked him. His friends told him that his sufferings were because of his wickedness. And his wife nagged him to curse God and die.
If you take any of these trials separately they would be great, but view them collectively and one is almost overwhelmed. But in the midst of calamity, "Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshiped" (Job 1:20).
We suffer many hardships, being often knocked down but never knocked out
Our memory of God’s goodness is often crushed by pain. When you suffer sharp pain, or weary aches, or a high fever, you tend to forget the days of health and strength. You only remember the sharp intervals of weakness and sorrow.
How to face the trials
1. Receive God’s Grace.
Gal 3:3 NIV
3 Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?
2. Know Gods scripture for trials
Ps 37:28 NIV
For the LORD loves the just and will not forsake his faithful ones. They will be protected forever, but the offspring of the wicked will be cut off;
Matt 5:10-12 NIV
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Acts 5:41 NIV
41 The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.
Rom 8:35-39 NIV
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
3. "Count it all joy" (James 1:2).
Count your blessings instead of your crosses;
Count your gains instead of your losses.
Count your joys instead of your woes;
Count your friends instead of your foes.
Count your smiles instead of your tears;
Count your courage instead of your fears.
Count your full years instead of your lean;
Count your kind deeds instead of your mean.
Count your health instead of your wealth;
Count on God instead of yourself.
4. REJOICE in trials.
Habakkuk 3:18
This is how to deal with God. Praise Him before you are delivered. Praise Him for what is coming. Adore Him for what He is going to do. I do not think there is a sweeter song in God’s ear than the song of one who blesses Him for grace that has not yet been tasted, who blesses Him for answers that have not been received but are sure to come.
The praise for past gratitude is sweet, but even sweeter is the praise of full confidence that all will be well. Therefore, take down your harps from the willows and sing a song of Zion (Ps. 137:2, 4).
"Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls-yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The LORD God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer’s feet, and He will make me walk on my high hills" (Hab. 3:17-19).
God is our strength in trials
2 Cor 4:7-10 KJV
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
God will brace us when we need him.
WHEN I SEE the magnificent Golden Gate Bridge, I remember that an engineer must take into account three loads, or stresses, while designing bridges. These are: the dead load, the live load, and the wind load.
The dead load is the weight of the bridge itself. The live load is the weight of the daily traffic that the bridge must carry. The wind load is the pressure of the storms that beat on the bridge. The designer plans for bracing’s that will enable the bridge to bear all these loads.
In our lives, too, we need bracing’s which make it possible to carry the dead load of self, the live load of daily living, and the wind load of emergencies. When we place our trust in Christ, He gives us the strength we need to withstand these various stresses. He thus gives our lives usefulness, stability, and durability.
The finished process is what God make of us
A BAR OF STEEL worth $5, when made into ordinary horseshoes is then worth $10. If this
same $5 bar is manufactured into needles, the values rises to $350. And yet if it’s made
into delicate springs for expensive watches, it is worth more than $250,000. The same bar
of steel is made more valuable by being cut to its proper size, passed through one blast
furnace after another, again and again, hammered and manipulated, beaten and pounded,
finished and polished until it’s ready for those delicate tasks.
Trials, Patience, and maturity brings Glory to God.
Dag Hammarskjold once wrote: "When the morning’s freshness has been replaced by the weariness of midday, when the leg muscles quiver under the strain, the climb seems endless, and suddenly nothing will go quite as you wish--it is then that you must not hesitate." He was unwilling to give up; he refused to quit!
The successful life prescribed by Christ requires faithfulness until death: a hand on the plow with no looking back, steadfast perseverance; racing hard for the tape, fighting the good fight of faith. The devil loves it when we simply relax our efforts. He has a good day if we become discouraged.
There are temptations to overcome disappointments to handle personal sins that beset us, burdens that depress us. And Satan is standing by urging that we quit trying. But wait; Christ is present. "Consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart" (Heb. 12:3).
Someone once asked James J. Corbett, at that time heavyweight champion of the world, what was the most important thing a man must do to become a champion. He replied, "Fight one more round."
The Duke of Wellington said that the British soldiers at the Battle of Waterloo were not any braver than Napoleon’s soldiers--but they were brave for five minutes longer.
That is about it for the Christian. A secret for success is: "fight just one more round. Be brave for five more minutes." It is the difference between defeat and victory.
