Pure Joy
James 1:1-8
At Christmas we sing songs like Joy to the world. We exchange gifts and decorate and most people find joy in the season. As Christians we connect all the celebration to the Birth of Jesus…..But the joy of the season often seems to fade very quickly.
There are other times in a year when we find joy in events and life situations. There are also special once in a lifetime events … lifetime things like Graduations and births that bring us special joy.
It seems to me that pretty much every day we have an endless opportunity for some kind of simple joy as we go through our days. Like some funny moment in your day or a special treat that you pickup. One that used to happen for me a log time ago was walk in through the door after work and hearing the kids shout “Daddy’s home and then come running for the door.”
I noticed that pretty much every joy in my life, an obvious exception being my marriage to Renee, seems to be relatively short lived.
So, I decided to make a list of the things that test my patience on a daily basis, that in some way steal my joy in my daily routine. I have not sorted my list in any level of priority.
1. Abrasive/bossy people -
2. Gas prices
3. Traffic lights around town
4. Slow traffic in general
5. Inconsiderate drivers
6. A slow checkout line at Wal-Mart
7. Slow service at a restaurant
8. Waiting in the emergency room
9. Car trouble
10. Worry over…work, family, bills, situations
Does anyone have another suggestion? ……
Looking over my list the word slow or waiting appears 4 times ….Humm
Today we are starting a study of the Book of James. This epistle…letter is considered a catholic epistle…..That means it is not addressed to a specific congregation. It is written to a wide audience, at least geographically.
It is grouped in the catholic or general description because it is named after the writer instead of a church.
The 5 chapters are only 108 verses total. The letter is full of “Do This” kinds of statements. It mentions faith 15 times, 14 of those in the first 2 chapters.
This book starts in the same format of the ancient letters that we have in scripture by telling us who the author is…. In this case we have the name James.
The writer claims no title or authority as part of the description, only servant hood to God and Jesus. He does not seem to need further introduction to his readers in order to give them a list of instructions and encouragement about their faith.
Most scholars make a case that this James is the half brother of Jesus, a son of Joseph and Mary and not the apostle James. And he is said to be the same James in the Book of Acts that is a leader in the Jerusalem Church.
He is writing to the Jewish believers that are spread out through the nations. Some had left Israel to escape persecution from the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem. You see they had this radical belief that this radical rabbi that had come to Jerusalem years ago was the promised messiah. How ridiculous and even blasphemous is that, a man killed on a cross like a common criminal.
They were outcast to the Jewish community and some would just assume that they were killed for this belief. Jewish believer faced the same kind of problems when they expressed their belief in Jesus in the synagogues all around the Roman world.
James is writing to people that live at odds with their faith community and the surrounding culture and wants to encourage the readers to lean on faith instead of personal and worldly judgment of situations.
-- I need encouragement in my faith from time to time. I believe that James offers us lessons on a faith that works.
James starts out telling his readers that they should “Consider it pure joy,” whenever they face trials of any kind…..
I need to point out the translation of a word. The KJV uses the word “temptations” instead of trials. Today temptations might lead us to think of something desirable that tempts us to do wrong. The word in the Greek text is said to be better translated as “testing” and comes from a context of the refiners’ fire of removing impurities.
Later in the letter James tells us that the trials and temptations don’t come from God. However, He is allowing for refinement and purification in the situations we face by circumstance or get ourselves into.
I have a bit of a problem; I don’t want to just assume that I am going to face temptations or trials in my life.
I want God to take care of me and my family and my church and my life and not have to worry about trouble and problems.
This facing trials kind of talk is why some people don’t like the book of James.
He starts his letter by laying a heavy truth on the minds of his readers…we are going to face problems.
Perhaps he is saying, you are facing trials in spite of your faith.
Trials are not an indication that there is something wrong with your faith.
But it gets even harder to listen too, when he says, “because, you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.”
Definition -- Perseverance - steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, especially in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement.
Is that like patience….or hope…
He continues, “Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
Perseverance is a word that I don’t mind hearing to describe my actions after a situation is over. But I really don’t want to hear it as a way of encouragement for me to hold out and keep my joy alive.
James suggests that all their troubles are somehow working to help them mature. The troubles will help them to Grow Up.
The problems that they are facing are somehow making them complete and fully equipped.
He is not suggesting that they are to have s stiff upper lip and just walk around with a fake smile on their face.
He is not telling them to be happy for the trials themselves but for how God will work with them to the end.
The Jewish believers of the day were dealing with problems of persecution. I can’t say that right now we really face that, perhaps we wonder about the future but, for today, for most of us, our trials are pretty different.
We primarily have problems in one or more of three categories.
The three F’s; Family, Finances, and Physical.
Yes, I know Physical starts with a P, but 3 fs sounded better. So we will say Fitness for physical.
Our struggles are real and many times unexpected and painful. The book of James is just as valid in helping us in our faith journey as it was so long ago.
James is telling his readers, then and today, that we learn when we deal with troubles.
When we pass through the darkness of hard times and find light again on the other side, we grow up and get stronger.
-- I believe it is safe to say that our faith increases.
-- I know some of you play golf.
Do you know how the first golf balls were made and shaped like?
(Started as round wooden)
Can someone tell me why a golf ball has dimples all over it?
( later leather bag sewed with feathers, then Smooth rubber – found scaring and imperfections increased flight.)
That is a bit like what James is suggesting. When life smacks us around and we pick up some scars and dents we end up with the ability to go farther, to face more.
James does not suggest that God sends trouble and he also does not imply any kind of blanket shield of protection for the faithful.
He says when, not if, we face troubles, we grow and mature in our faith.
I don’t like it but I have found that concept to be true.
The key thing to understand is that we need to learn from our experiences…good and bad.
I don’t know about you, but I tend to learn a lot more from my bad experiences than I remember from good ones.
I have been told a story where, as a child, I tested what my parent’s told me. (Evidentially, that was not a rear experience in my childhood.
There was an occasion where I reached out toward some kind of a wall heater and I was warned, “Don’t touch, it’s hot!” I touched the heater anyway and as shouts of concern continued, I looked back and said cold! The heater was off.
However, at some point, I learned to listen to the warnings of others.
When we go to a Mexican restaurant today, when I reach for a plate being placed by the server…when they say hot…I react by pulling my hands back. It is more automatic than a conscious decision.
That means that as a child, I learned what the word hot meant, probably as a personal and up close experience. I still benefit from the lesson I don’t recall today but a lesson that gets an immediate response of self protection.
I still learn things today, there are a lot of things about Family, Finances and Fitness that test and stretch my faith.
I know that this fallen world is full of problems that I will face.
The thing is that I still wonder why God would let me keep being scarred and beaten and abused by this world.
Someone once said, “No trials or troubles come your way before they have been filtered through the fingers of God.” I like the sound of that.
This is what I think James is explaining, we learn as we deal with the trials we experience. The problems and situations are a part of an earthly existence.
Ultimately, God is in control and that includes controlling, filtering every situation we face. Eventually the trials come to an end.
The faith we hold to ends up growing and being anchored deeper with us.
Folks our trials in family, finances and fitness can be terribly painful. They strip us of joy and happiness and hope. They squeeze us like a watermelon seed between our thumb and forefinger and we get right to the edge of shooting off in a random direction. Just to escape the pressure.
It is right at that time we always seem to want to know why.
Why is this happening?
Where is God?
We pray for relief that does not seem to come.
We beg for a miracle or for it all to just go away.
We want a reason.
We want to find blame in ourselves or God.
We want to understand…..
I feel like James addresses the questions that come when things are going wrong in our lives and community and country. When we get worried about our burdens and the future, when we feel depressed and just keep asking why?
James says that we can ask God for wisdom. You need to know something; Wisdom and knowledge are NOT the same thing.
Did you get that? Wisdom and knowledge are not the same thing!
James says, “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.”
When we have prayed for the pain to stop, the relationship to be repaired, the financial burdens to be lifted and nothing changes….we need to ask God for the wisdom to deal with the pressure. The endure, preserver in the trial.
When was the last time you asked God for wisdom during your trials? It is rarely the first thing on my prayer list. I tend to want the quick fix. However, over the years I have found that I do ask God for wisdom more and more. I thing that is because over the years I have found that when I reached the light at the end of the tunnel, I could see where God had led me and helped me even when I failed to ask. That light in hind sight also showed me that no matter what I thought I was never alone.
Next James says, “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. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.”
James directs us to do some hard stuff. Believe and not doubt. Believe that God is listening and is willing and able to help you in every aspect of your life.
James talks about the waves being blown randomly by the wind. We are more like a boat in the wind. We have faith that can help us to stay grounded and off the rocks when the storms of life get really bad. The wisdom we ask for can help us to notice how God is with us in the moment because He has not abandoned us. He is with us and active in ways that we don’t understand.
Three senior citizens were golfing together, and two of them griped endlessly. "The fairways are too long," said one. "The hills are too high," said the other. "The bunkers are too deep," said the first again. Finally the third man said, "At least we’re on the right side of the grass."
Wisdom helps us to focus on the destination when the journey seems unbearable.
James tells us to ask for wisdom not to know why, or who or how but to know that God is with us
To ask for a wisdom that understands that all things come to an end good and bad.
A wisdom that strengthens our faith because we know we are well grounded no matter what we face, we know that God is with us and is in control.
Wisdom is the only way that we can ever have pure joy.
All glory be to God!
Have thine own way, Lord 414
