INTRO.- Joy can mean many things to many people.
ILL.- A January 1994 Reuters News Service story on Manuel Oliveira's ice cream shop in Merida, Venezuela, reported on his 567 flavors: including onion, chili, beer, eggplant, smoked trout, spaghetti parmesan, chicken with rice, and spinach. He said some flavors fail; he once abandoned avocado ice cream, and tossed out 99 pounds of it, because it wasn't smooth enough.
Ugh! Can you imagine? In what do you find your joy in life? Ice cream? It could help but certainly not those kinds of ice cream. They sound awful. Chocolate Chip, Butter Pecan and a few others sound a lot better.
- "Food is an important part of a balanced diet."
- "Old people shouldn't eat health foods. They need all the preservatives they can get."
We DO enjoy our food in America! The word ENJOY is the right word. We don’t care if it’s healthy or not, as long as it tastes good, we enjoy it! We get JOY from it! Food is just one of our joys in life.
ILL.- I read Wendy Cunningham’s facebook postings and pure joy to her is loving her family: Her husband, Kevin and boys, Barrett and Easton.
She wrote: “You know that you are BLESSED when you hear, "Mom- I love you" over 20 times a day!” “My kids don't need a jungle jim - they have me, their mommy!” “Happy FATHER'S day Kevin Cunningham - a wonderful hubby and a great daddy, the boys and I love and appreciate all you do for us!!!”
Sounds pretty good, wouldn’t you say? There is some pure joy in that family. Amen.
ILL.- Someone wrote: Men have pursued joy in every avenue imaginable. Some have successfully found it while others have not. Perhaps it would be easier to describe where joy cannot be found:
Not in Unbelief -- Voltaire was an infidel of the most pronounced type. He wrote: "I wish I had never been born."
Not in Pleasure -- Lord Byron lived a life of pleasure if anyone did. He was known for his numerous love affairs. He wrote: "The worm, the canker, and grief are mine alone."
Not in Money -- Jay Gould, the American millionaire was worth around $72 million at his death. When dying, he said: "I suppose I am the most miserable man on earth."
Not in Position and Fame -- Lord Beaconsfield (Benjamin Disraeli) was a British Prime Minister, parliamentarian, Conservative statesman and literary figure. He wrote: "Youth is a mistake; manhood a struggle; old age a regret."
ILL.- C. S. Lewis wrote: “Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition, when infinite joy is offered to us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in the slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
Lewis is saying that we humans fool around with the things of this world, thinking they will bring joy into our lives, when in reality only that which is eternal can bring true joy into our lives. In our text, James gives us more insight into pure joy!
PROP.- What does this “pure joy” deal with?
1- It’s pure joy to experience trials
2- It’s pure joy to attain wisdom
3- It’s pure joy to be single-minded
I. IT’S PURE JOY TO EXPERIENCE TRIALS
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
Trials and trouble. Who wants them? Well, most of us don’t. Most of us don’t see anything good with trials, troubles and problems. But that’s because we can’t see beyond them. When we’re in the middle of them they are no fun.
ILL.- When my son Shane was 8 days old he had major abdominal surgery. I thought there was a very good chance that I would lose him in death and I didn’t face that prospect very well. I wept a lot while he was in surgery. I was finally able to pray, “Lord, thy will be done.” But it was tough.
Also, when a person’s health goes out of the window we often begin to lose our joy. This doesn’t always hold true, because look at how much joy quadraplegic Joni Eareckson seems to possess!
As a teenager, Joni loved life. She enjoyed riding horses, hiking, tennis, and loved to swim. But on a hot summer day in July 1967 (Sunday July 30) that all changed. While on a beach with some friends, Joni dove into Chesapeake Bay not knowing how shallow the water was. She broke her neck—a fracture between the fourth and fifth cervical levels—and became a quadriplegic, paralyzed from the shoulders down.
Joni can’t do half what most of us can do and yet, she seems to possess far greater joy than most of us. Why? Because she looks more at the Lord than she does at her trials!
She believes strongly in Paul’s words in II Cor. 12:9 when Paul asked God to take away his thorn in the flesh. And God said: MY GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR THEE, FOR MY STRENGTH IS MADE PERFECT IN WEAKNESS. When we’re weak we are strong in Him! His grace empowers us in spite of our trials!
ILL.- Some time back preacher Bob Stacy lost a very devout lady in his church. Her name was Shirley Richards. They found she had acute Leukemia and it took her life in only four or five weeks. And yet she prayed with her husband, “Thank You, Father, for this disease which has strengthened my faith." Pretty amazing, huh?
I Peter 1:6-7 “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”
Fortunately, our trials and troubles will not last forever! As we cling to the Lord, He will sees through all these difficulties. Always has and always will. And ultimately, He will be glorified.
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.
Why do we consider our trials as pure joy? Because we know they are not the end of life. As some have said, “It didn’t come to stay. IT CAME TO PASS.” And in passing by us they make us stronger. We must go down in order to go up. We must be broken down in order to built up!
I Peter 5:5-7 “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”
II. IT’S PURE JOY TO ATTAIN WISDOM
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.
If any of you lacks wisdom. Well, who doesn’t? We all lack wisdom at certain times in life or in dealing with certain matters.
ILL.- My older brother Larry has been in the grocery 54 years. He’s 70 years and has been manager most of that time. I worked in the grocery business for 9 years and then left for full-time ministry. Larry said I made the right choice rather than stay in the grocery business.
I know for sure that there is no way I could take over the management of his store. I don’t have what it takes. There are so many things involved in being a grocery store manager and especially, one that large. I just don’t have the wisdom to do it. But Larry might the say the same about him trying to do my job of ministry. He’d probably come nearer filling my shoes than I could his shoes, however.
Depending on what we’re talking about it, we all come up short in the wisdom department. I can’t do what many of you can do and many of you wouldn’t want my job either!
ILL.- My friend Truman Brady and I talk a lot about church ministry because he is new to the ministry and he’s run into some things that he’s not sure about what to do. Why does he ask me about things? 45 years of experience, that’s why. As much as I know about church work, ministry work, there is so very much I don’t know and I’m not afraid to ask my older brothers in ministry.
Heavenly wisdom. Don’t we all need it? I do and every day. If it’s heavenly, if it’s divine then it can only come from one place or source. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God. Some of God’s wisdom is given in His Word. In fact, much wisdom is in His Word.
But if it’s not covered it in the book then we must ask for His wisdom. Some times we run into decisions that must be made in life and we don’t know what to do. These times are when we must ask God for His wisdom and direction.
ILL.- At our house we have Suddenlink for our cable TV, internet and telephone. In one room we have a modem for the phone and internet. What’s a modem? It’s a device that modulates an analog carrier signal to encode digital information, and also demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information.
Does this make sense? Not to most of us. That’s why when it quit working part of the time, it was off and on, we had to call an expert. That expert modem man did some switching around and now everything seems to be working fine.
We also have an expert in heaven who knows all about everything and which way to go in life, what to do, etc. This is why we should keep in contact with Him every day. HE KNOWS THE WAY. It is pure joy to know that we have the Lord to call on at any time or place.
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.
God gives generously without finding fault. Isn’t it nice to know that God doesn’t hold back when it comes to giving us His wisdom? He could say, “What! You coming to me again! I’ve given you enough wisdom for today so stop asking me for more.” But no, God doesn’t do that to us. He is a great giver!
ILL.- Baptist preacher John R. Rice wrote: My six daughters sometimes gather around me, telling me how they need shoes, money for music lessons and for many other things. Sometimes I have been compelled to say, “Go easy! I am not made out of money. We will just have to get what we can afford and go without the rest.”
But I never read in God’s Word where He ever told anybody, “Go easy! I don’t have very much. I have already strained Myself giving to others. I cannot give as much as you ask.”
God has plenty of wisdom to give us and He’ll keep on giving as long as we keep on asking! How wonderful! How joyous!
III. IT’S PURE JOY TO BE SINGLE-MINDED
8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do. The Lord is saying that we must not be double-minded in life. WE MUST BE SINGLE-MINDED.
ILL.- "When I was a boy, my father, a baker, introduced me to the wonders of song," tenor Luciano Pavarotti relates. "He urged me to work very hard to develop my voice. Arrigo Pola, a professional tenor in my hometown of Modena, Italy, took me as a pupil. I also enrolled in a teachers college. On graduating, I asked my father, 'Shall I be a teacher or a singer?' "'Luciano,' my father replied, 'if you try to sit on two chairs, you will fall between them. So in life, you must choose one chair.' "I chose one.
It took seven years of study and frustration before I made my first professional appearance. It took another seven yeras to reach the Metropolitan Opera. And now I think whether it's laying bricks, writing a book--whatever we choose--we should give ourselves to it. Commitment, that's the key. Choose one chair."
I’m not sure about choosing one chair in life, but we all must choose one way to go and the Lord is the only way to go in life! No matter what else we do, we must choose Him and His will!
Philippians 3:13-14 “Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
This one thing I do. Paul’s “one thing” was to follow the Lord, to seek His will and to do His will. And this is a must for us if ever want to find true joy in life. Being double-minded doesn’t double your joy, it waters it down!
ILL.- A lady once asked preacher John Wesley that suppose he were to know that he would die at 12:00 midnight tomorrow, how would he spend the intervening time. His reply: “Why madam, just as I intend to spend it now. I would preach this evening at Gloucester, and again at five tomorrow morning; after that I would ride to Tewkesbury, preach in the afternoon, and meet the societies in the evening. I would then go to Rev. Martin’s house, who expects to entertain me, talk and pray with the family as usual, retire to my room at 10 o’clock, comment myself to my heavenly Father, lie down to rest, and wake up in Glory.”
This is what being devoted solely to the Lord will do for a person. It will give them assurance of eternal life! DO YOU HAVE IT? Are you sure that when you die you’ll be with the Lord? If not, then you need to make up your mind to become solely or wholly devoted to Him!
CONCLUSION------------------------
Pure joy. Have you found it yet? In a nutshell here is where it’s found.
Matthew 6:33 “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness....”
When we seek first the Lord in life we will endure life’s trials better than others. We will make better decisions because of God’s wisdom that resides in us. And we will live a faithful and committed life.
Steve Shepherd, Jonesboro Christian Church, AR
jonesborochristianchurch@suddenlink.net
