From Trouble to Triumph
James 2:2-12
Intro
Trials in the life of a Christian are a part of life. How we view those trials and handle them is a whole different story though. The Scriptures mention at least eight purposes for the Lord’s allowing trials to come to the lives of His people.
• Trials are to test the strength of our faith.
• Trials are given to humble us, to remind us not to let our trust in the Lord turn into presumption and spiritual self satisfaction.
• God allows us to suffer trials in order to wean us from our dependence on worldly things.
• Trials call us to eternal and heavenly hope. The harder our trials become and the longer they last, the more we look forward to being with the Lord.
• Trials are used to reveal what we really love.
• Trials are given to teach us to value God’s blessings
• Trials are used to develop in enduring strength for greater usefulness.
• Trials enable us to better help others in their trials.
Since trials are so productive, it is essential for us to respond rightly to them. James helps us greatly in this by giving us five key means for persevering through trials. He then tells us of the reward for perseverance.
I. The Means for Perseverance
a. A Joyful Attitude (v. 2)
• The word consider, is an imperative because joy is not the natural human response to trouble.
1. Christians are under divine command though not simply to be somewhat joyful in their trials but to look upon those trials with all joy.
• We are not just to act joyful, in reluctant pretense, but to be genuinely joyful.
1. It is a matter of will, not of feelings, and should be the conscious, determined commitment of every faithful believer.
• The more we rejoice in our trials, he more we realize that they are not liabilities but privileges, ultimately beneficial and not harmful, no matter how destructive and painful the immediate experience of them might be.
1. When we face trials with the attitude that James admonishes, we discover that the greatest part of the joy is drawing closer to God – the Source of all joy.
• Although he was writing from prison and enduring great discomfort, frustration, and pain, Paul could say with complete sincerity, “I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.” (Phil. 4:11-12)
James Warren Wiersbe in his commentary on James wrote, “Our values determine our evaluations. If we value comfort more than character, then trials will upset us. If we value the material and physical more than the spiritual, we will not be able to count it all joy! If we live only for the present and forget the future, the trials will make us bitter not better.
• If a Christian cannot rejoice in his trials, his values are not godly and biblical.
b. An Understanding Mind(v. 3)
• A second means to triumphant perseverance in trials is an understanding mind.
• As Christians, we know from our own experience, as well as from God’s Word, that the testing of [our] faith produces endurance.
1. We have learned that His promise is indeed true, for, after we have endured suffering, affliction, or testing, we have discovered that our trust in the Lord is not only intact but is all the stronger for the testing.
• David testified, “I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined to me and heard my cry. He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, and He set my feet upon the rock making my footsteps firm.” (Ps. 40:1-2)
• The Bible makes it clear that no person who comes to God in saving faith will ever be separated from the Savior.
1. First, we are secure because of the power of God.
a. Jesus himself said, “I give eternal life to them; and they shall never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.” (John 10:28; 6:39)
2. Second, we are secure because of the promise and prayers of Christ himself.
3. Third, we are secure because of the presence of the Holy Spirit within us.
• The whole trinity secures us, so that no one who believes in the Lord, will ever be lost.
c. A Submissive Will (v. 4)
• A third means to perseverance in trials is a submissive will.
• The only way out of a trial is going through it.
• The Lord promises no bypasses or short cuts, only that he will be there right beside us as we go through the trials.
• But God cannot do His perfect and complete work in and through us without our willing submissiveness.
• When we learn to rejoice in our trials and come to understand that our gracious heavenly Father uses them not to harm us but to strengthen and perfect us, we are motivated to embrace them as beneficial.
• David testified in prayer, “O Lord, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty; nor do I involve myself in great matters, or in things too difficult for me. Surely I have composed and quieted my soul; like a weaned child rests against his mother, my soul is life a weaned child within me.” (Ps. 131:1-2)
d. A Believing Heart (vv. 5-8)
• A fourth means to perseverance in trials is a believing heart.
1. The first requirement for such belief is godly understanding.
• When believers face times of testing – whether physical, emotional, moral, or spiritual – they have special need of God’s wisdom.
1. Solomon said in (Pro. 3:5-7), “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil.”
• It should go without saying that trials should enhance our prayer life, as we turn to the Lord for guidance, strength, patience, and wisdom.
• Although God has wisdom in abundance and is infinitely more willing to impart His wisdom than we are to ask for it.
1. God expects us to ask Him for it.
2. It is not something that the Lord will impress on an unwilling heart and mind.
• A problem is that some Christians simply doubt that God will give them what they need, and rationalize their doubt in countless ways.
1. They believe they are undeserving, which is true, but, as already pointed out, irrelevant.
2. Or they may thing their needs are not worthy of God’s attention, which also is true, but irrelevant, for God in His boundless grace and love, chooses to take great interest in things that, in the grand scheme of things, seem utterly insignificant.
• A request that does not take God at His word, that doubts either His ability or his trustworthiness, is presumptuous and worthless and is an affront.
1. The believer who doubts, however is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.
2. Such a person cannot expect that he will receive anything from the Lord.
e. A Humble Spirit (vv. 9-11)
• A fifth means to perseverance in trials is a humble spirit.
• James, first addressed the brother of humble circumstances, that is the saint who was economically poor and who represented most of the scattered and persecuted Jewish believers to who he wrote.
1. Such a believer was to glory in his high position.
2. He may be considered “the scum of the world, the dreg of all things, in the eyes of the world, but in God’s eyes he is exalted.
a. He may be hungry, but he has the bread of life.
b. He may be thirsty, but he has the water of life.
c. He may be poor, but he has eternal riches.
d. He may be cast aside by men, but he has been eternally received by God.
3. The believer who is deprived in this life can accept that temporary and insignificant deprivation because he has a future divine inheritance that is both eternal and secure.
• James then presents the other side of the principle,
1. Just as a materially poor believer should rejoice in his spiritual riches, the materially rich man [should] glory in his humiliation.
2. The idea is that a believer who is materially well-off, healthy, and otherwise physically blessed should rejoice when trails come, for they teach them the transitory nature of those material things and their inability to give inner and lasting satisfaction or help, especially spiritual help.
• The loss of material things is meant to drive the rich person to the Lord and to greater spiritual maturity, blessing, and satisfaction.
• Faith in Christ to supply his needs lifts the lowly believer beyond his trials to the great height of a position in the eternal kingdom of Christ, where, as God’s child, he is rich and may rejoice.
• Simply put, trials are a great equalizer, bringing all of God’s children to dependence on Him.
II. The Reward for Perseverance (v. 12)
• The man who perseveres under trial is the one who never relinquishes his confident trust in God.
1. They are true believers, who perseveres and becomes the person who has been approved.
2. The principle is simple, clear, and marvelously gracious: perseverance brings God’s approval, and His approval brings the crown of life.
• We are assured in (2 Tim. 4:8; Rev. 2:10) “in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”
Closing
A genuine Christian is not someone who at one point in time made a profession of faith in Christ, but one who demonstrates true faith by an ongoing love for God that cannot be damaged, much less destroyed, by the troubles and afflictions of this world, no matter how severe or long-lasting they may seem.
