When Troubles Come
Series: Real Faith (Book of James)
Brad Bailey – June 23, 2013
Intro
I've found in recent years...that the more iI get to hear someone's story...the more amazed I am about the challenges people have risen up through in their lives. Everyone has a story... a story that includes some hard aspects in life. I have no doubt many are facing troubles even now.
Today….going to hear some of God's insight for when trouble comes.
We are beginning a summer series through the Book of James.
James is one of the smaller "books" after the four Gospels...towards the end of the Bible.
James was a half brother of Jesus himself. He and other brothers did NOT initially accept Jesus to be the Messiah...and their savior....likely simply because, like most, he didn't arise as the warrior king that leading a rebellion against Rome. James was not one of his 12 disciples. There is no mention of him at the cross with their mother. But we are told that Jesus came to him after the resurrection. When he saw him raised from the dead...everything became clear. James became one of the leaders in the early church in Jerusalem. [1]
So he begins...
James 1:1 (NLT)
This letter is from James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am writing to the “twelve tribes”—Jewish believers scattered abroad. Greetings!
He now identifies as being a slave...or servant bound to God and to Jesus...who he now refers to as his Lord...and as the "Christ"....anointed one of God.
A public letter... to all those who were now scattered. In this letter he deals with the false ideas regarding what reflects real spiritual maturity...real faith. Real faith...that is the topic that runs throughh this book.
"Faith" is the very quality of life that Jesus smiled upon and God rewards. But what does a life of faith look like in real life? Is the favor of God reflected in those whose life is blessed with easier circumstances?....with wealth? Are those the signs of blessing and authority?
James speaks into the life of all communities about what REAL FAITH looks like.
Here we see the real faith that engages life's trials and temptations, social prejudice and pride, and the path to staying plugged into God.
James deals with faith in real life...and that is made clear in the first section….
James 1:2 (NLT)
"When troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy."
James doesn't take time trying to avoid the hard realities. He gets right to the hard and harsh reality that life has troubles. James does not say if troubles come, but when they do come. Expect them! Don't feel you have to live in despair....nor denial.
Those faithful to God are not exempt...they will experience the hard and even harsh realities of this world. The world lies in opposition to God.
James says we face troubles and trails of many kinds.
What kind of stuff was James talking about? He’s talking about all kinds of stuff. James uses a term that means “various” trials -- different kinds of trials, trials that come in all shapes and colors. The word he uses for trouble or trial (peirasmos) can refer to both external circumstances or internal temptations and struggles. In our experience the two can not be completely separated. When the circumstances that surround become difficult...it often causes struggles within us.
Your troubles might be financial. You lost your job and for some crazy reason you can’t find another.
Your troubles might be related to your health.
Your troubles might be relational... navigate some loneliness if not married... or some loneliness within your marriage.
- Some people’s hearts are broken by their children. Some children’s hearts are broken by their parents.
Some trials are the result of choosing to be faithful to God....some may be self-inflicted problems of our own choices....and some simply emerge from the condition of this world.
One of our best vacations was the Grand Canyon. The whole place was spectacular. But we were hoping to get a permit to camp at the bottom...so we could descend to the bottom...and we did. It took most of a day to reach the bottom. Made it down fine… but climbing out… 10 miles…was really a hard one. The last entire stretch is called “heartbreak ridge.” It's hard to keep your heart in it as the morning heat bears gets more intense and the steepness increases.
I thought of all the warnings they give.
Noting 5 million come to Grand Canyon each year
Only a few thousand choose to descend
• 400/yr rescued
o unprepared… water, proper clothing for temperature changes
o mostly lack of perspective… the descent makes it look so easy
> Thought how similar to following Christ in a life with God
o Many come to the edge just to ponder it
o Some choose to descend into that journey
o … and some find more than they expected
- Many see Christ… eternal life… freedom from sin… set off… only to end up sidelined when the path gets steep and the days get hot.
- What helps us become those who are sure to finish the journey is perspective for the tough parts? WHAT DO WE DO WHEN THE ROAD LOOKS STEEP?
James tells us that we should "consider" such trials.
Count or consider is an accounting term. It means to take stock of. Consider carefully. Investigate fully. Line up all the numbers them add them all up. Consider the facts about trials.
He says, "Consider it an opportunity for great joy."
That may sound a little simplistic.
You might think James had just attended a “positive thinking seminar” or just ordered Tony Robbins course on “Unlimited power.” Many may promote similar principles, but this wasn’t simply the power of a good principle or program… but of a personal demonstration sent by God.
What had changed James life...was experiencing the risen Jesus...the Christ.
God didn’t send a booklet… video series… but His SON
> James had seen God’s definitive power to redeem suffering.
He realized what Jesus meant when he had said that WE WILL HAVE TROUBLES IN THIS WORLD, but we can have peace because he has overcome the world. (John 16:33)
Someone might say, “Yea, that’s easy for you to say. You don’t have the troubles I have.”
- The people to whom James wrote his epistle were experiencing very real troubles and trials. James is writing primarily to Christian Jews in the first century. They were scattered from their homeland. In addition, when a Jew began to follow Christ in the first century, their families disowned them. They not only lost their inheritance but they were ostracized from family and friends. Most of them lost their good jobs and had to take the lowest paying jobs because they would not bow to the pagan gods of the Roman unions. These people James is talking to are experiencing horrific suffering because of their faith.
- James knew some things about trouble himself. In fact, a while after writing this book... in about 62 A.D. Annas, the high priest had him taken to a high place on the wing of the temple and demanded that he renounce Christ. Instead he proclaimed Jesus risen from the dead. When he did that they threw him down off the temple. When he hit the ground they stoned him and for good measure clubbed him to death.
James says there's an opportunity at hand. He goes on to explain further...
James 1:2-4 (NLT)
Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.
The first thing James tells us about when troubles comes, is to...
1. See the Potential to Grow (v. 2-4)
J.B. Phillips paraphrase translation captures this clearly...
When all kinds of trials and temptations crowd into your lives, don’t resent them as intruders, but welcome them as friends! Realize that they come to test your faith to produce in you the quality of endurance. But let the process go on until that endurance is fully developed, and you will find you have become a person of mature character, one of integrity with no weak spots. - James 1:2-4 (J.B. Phillips)
The joy is not in the trouble...the joy is in the growth that arises.
It's about seeing troubles as a means to maturity.
Faith is lifeline...and can grow through the troubles of life that test it.... build it.
It's the challenges of life that develop our inner character.
Faith is always tested –– to increase our faith! God tests to bring out our best, Satan tempts to bring out our worst!
I’m not saying that God plans all the bad things that happens to you. He doesn’t have to. We live in a broken world. What we know is simply that nothing comes into your life that God's fatherly heart and hand is not working with.
Every trouble that comes can work to deepen the good in us.
James describes our potential to grow strong… to acquire the strength of “endurance” (RSV- steadfastness, NIV- perseverance) This is not some kind of passive patience, but the kind of strength we see in champions [4] The word describes a depth of strength with a quiet hope.
It's a quality that comes from going through hard times.
If you were going to be placed in a battlefield...would you rather be with a new recruit full of zeal or a veteran of battle?
If you were facing a really hard situation in life...the person we would like alongside is someone who has been through hard times. Why? Because they have that "enduring" quality James speaks of.
Robert Browning Hamilton wrote...
"I walked a mile with Pleasure.
She chatted all the way.
She left me none the wiser,
For all she had to say.
I walked a mile with sorrow,
and never a word said she:
Bur, oh, the things I learned from her
When sorrow walked with me."
Similarly, C.S. Lewis said, "God whispers to us in our pleasure, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts to us in our pain. It is His megaphone to raise a deaf world".
Whatever hardships you’re facing right now are not good as an end in themselves, but they can be a part of providing a means to growing deeper.
We see this in nature:
Caterpillar… enfolded by a cocoon—force creates the color & structure of the wings. If the cacoon is openned before it's proper time... one will find that the wings are not strong enough to fly. In the same way, James says “don’t shorten or sabotage the development at hand”
In a similar way, GOD WILL ALLOW THE LOSS OF SECONDARY PLEASURES TO DEEPEN OUR AWARENESS OF PRIMARY PLEASURES
Every trouble that comes can work to deepen the good in us.
But how can we get such a perspective?
James 1:5-8 (NLT)
If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. 6 But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. 7 Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.
When the unexpected trials of life land on our doorstep, How are we to respond? How are to pray –– what should we ask God for? James gives the answer - Prayer for WISDOM.
2. Seek the Wisdom and Will of God's Perspective (vv. 5-8)
Wisdom is more than knowledge...it's insight...perspective.
Wisdom helps us see things from an elevated view.
Have you ever listened to a traffic report from a guy in a helicopter? Why is better qualified to help you than someone in the car ahead of you? The traffic reporter can see things you can’t. He is seeing the big picture, knows what is coming up around the bend......and he gives you accurate information because he see’s farther, clearer than you do in the middle of the traffic jam. He may tell you to take an alternate route. (Seems longer, out of your way, bumper road....but he’s trying to steer you clear of major problem that laying down the road.)
Wisdom allows you to trust God in the middle of life’s jams because you know He has a good handle on things.
The wisdom God offers is not the way out… but forward… and at this point we need to trust God.
If we want to know God’s guidance we’ve got to WANT God’s guidance.
Most translations say we should not "doubt"...but this is not referring to the natural struggles to understand.... but rather to actually WANT God's wisdom and ways. Here it is translated "waver"...we should not "waver." The Greek word (“dipsuchos”) literally means “the one with 2 minds or 2 souls within him.”
James points out that those who seek God’s wisdom must also be seeking His will...his ways.
If we say we want God's wisdom...but really are not settled on choosing his will....then that double-mindedness will make us like waves tossed about in the ocean. The image is not that of shoreline waves… but mid-sea waves… WIND TOSSED waves.The wave doesn’t get to decide where it will crash onto the shore, it is driven.
If we're honest, I think many of us can be double-minded man like an ocean wave driven by the tides and winds.
- If we will TRUST God…determine He knows what’s right… He will give us wisdom & insight to help guide us… assure us.
- Some may recall that the Apostle Paul was experiencing some type of “thorn in the flesh.” He asks the Lord to remove it three times…but accepts God’s response “My grace is sufficient for you.” He sought wisdom ...God's persepctive....and he submitted to His will.
This guiding wisdom that come when trust is captured in PROSE… CREED
A CREED FOR THOSE WHO HAVE SUFFERED
Prayer of an Unknown Confederate Soldier
I asked God for strength, that I might achieve.
I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey…
I asked for health, that I might do great things.
I was given infirmity, that I might do better things…
I asked for riches, that I might be happy.
I was given poverty, that I might be wise…
I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men.
I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God…
I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life.
I was given life, that I might enjoy all things…
I got nothing I asked for—but everything I had hoped for.
Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered.
I am, among men, most richly blessed!
These words reflect a life that has sought both the wisdom of God's perspective...and the will of God for their life.
It's not easy to let go of our drive for physical strength...and riches...and praise.
This world tries to find life in these things. We all want to feel stronger and bigger and more powerful. So James goes on....
James 1:9-11 (NLT)
Believers who are poor have something to boast about, for God has honored them. 10 And those who are rich should boast that God has humbled them. They will fade away like a little flower in the field. 11 The hot sun rises and the grass withers; the little flower droops and falls, and its beauty fades away. In the same way, the rich will fade away with all of their achievements.
James says,
3. Set Your Values Based On What Will Last (vv 9-11)
Often when we are facing loss...we want to grab all the more for what we feel we are losing. Often in hard times there is a great temptation to compare ourselves with those who appear to have it good.
James says in hard times you need to look even more deeply at what really matters...what really lasts.
It will all be lost.
What he refers to as "the hot sun" and other translations as the “scorching wind”... literally refers to a particular S.E. wind that would come straight off the deserts and burst onto Palestine like a blast of hot air when an oven door is opened.
o Able to shrivel all vegetation in just a few short hours.
o In the same way James says nothing will last as it is.
SO SIZE UP YOUR LIFE ACCORDING TO WHAT WILL LAST.
- If poor, take pride in the true riches that you have
- If rich, take pride that God has shown you that nothing you have or own can substitute for spiritual wealth.
This really takes us to the heart of what we value most. It beckons us to live for the things which matter the most.
If you value comfort more than character, then trials will upset us.
If we value the physical and the material more than the spiritual, we will not be able to count it all joy.
If we live for the present and not the future, then trials will make us bitter, not better.
Job...know to have lost his wealth and health and suffered so much....concluded saying
"When God has finished with me, I shall shine as gold." - Job 23:10
Job determined what his gold would be....and James says that when troubles come we will need to as well.
I heard of an old silversmith who was once asked, "How do you know when the impurities are burned away in the silver?" He said, "When I can see my reflection in the silver." When God can see His reflection in you then He knows that the impurities in your life have been burned away. That’s a test.
Finally, James encourages us...
James 1:12 (NLT)
God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.
These words give us the deepest call to...
4. Stay the Course (v. 12)
The person who presses on will be the happy person in the end. [5]
Swiss Alps—One of the mountains of the Alps that is popular with climbers has a rest house about halfway up. Now, for amateurs, it’s a good day’s climb from the base to the top. If they start out early in the morning, they get to the rest house about lunchtime. The owner of the house has noticed over the years that an interesting phenomenon happens on a regular basis. When the climbers get into the house, where they feel the warmth of the fire and smell the good food cooking, several will always give in to temptation. They’ll say to their companions, “You know, I think I’ll just wait here while you go on to the top. When you come back down, I’ll join you and we’ll go to the base together.”
A glaze of satisfaction comes over them as they sit by the fire or play the piano and sing mountain-climbing songs. Meanwhile, the rest of the group get on their gear and trek on to the top. For the next couple of hours, there’s a spirit of happiness around the fireside; they’re having a good time in the cozy little lodge. But by about 3:30, it starts to get quiet. They begin to take turns at the window, looking at the top of the mountain. They’re silent as they watch their friends reach the goal. The atmosphere in the house has changed from fun to funereal as they realize they settled for second best. The temporary comfort of the shelter caused them to lose sight of their purpose.
- Christ has come … he’s here even now to call us onward.
o He who endured the cross for the joy set before him.
o He who saw the presence of heaven… heard the applause of heaven.
CLOSING PRAYER & MINISTRY - for those facing troubles
Resources:
Richard Tow, David Wilson (James: An introduction and exposition of James I); Rick Warren
Notes:
1. Regarding James (drawn from Richard Tow) -
Regarding the original relationship between Jesus and his brothers, see Mark 6:3 and John 7:1-9...in which verse 5 states that had not believed in him. But we discover something very interesting 40 days later, after the ascension of Jesus. Acts 1 takes us to the upper room where the apostles were in prayer shortly before the day of Pentecost. The list of people in the upper room includes these four brothers. Acts 1:9 “These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.” In 1 Cor. 15:7 Paul tells us that after His resurrection Jesus appeared to James. That’s when James believed. James became the pastor of the church in Jerusalem. He became so devoted to Christ that he was known as James the Just. Some people said his knees were calloused like camel’s knees because he spent so much time praying. When we look at his leadership in Acts it is clear that he was the most respected leader of the whole church. In Gal. 2:9 when Paul references the pillars of the church, he lists James before Peter and John. Both Peter and Paul deferred to James.
History tells us that James was martyred at the time of the Passover in about 62 A.D. Annas, the high priest had him taken to a high place on the wing of the temple and demanded that he renounce Christ. Instead he proclaimed Jesus risen from the dead in heaven at the right hand of the Father. When he did that they threw him down off the temple. When he hit the ground they stoned him and for good measure clubbed him to death. This man, James, was one of the greatest heroes of the faith that ever lived.
In October of 2003, Andre Lemaire, a paleographer at the Sorbonne University in Paris, discovered an ossuary with the inscription “James son of Joseph, brother of Jesus” on it. An Ossuary is a small limestone box that was used in New Testament times to hold the bones of a dead person. After a person died, their body would be buried in a tomb, about a year later, the family would collect the skeleton, and put the bones in this small box. It is less than 2 feet long, just over a foot high, and less than a foot wide. The box had been in the private collection of a man in Jerusalem when someone recognized the importance of the inscription.
The inscription is in Aramaic, the language of the day in Israel, and it reads “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.” No one can be sure that this is the body of James the Just. The names Joseph, James, and Jesus were common names. But the probability of this exact combination is remote and the evidence is consistent with it being the James we’re talking about in the Bible.
Sometime before the Council in Jerusalem which was about 48 A.D. while James was pastor of the mother church there, this man wrote a letter. We have it in the New Testament as the Book of James. James’ brother Jude (who was also a brother of Jesus) wrote the Book of Jude. He was not as prominent as James.
2. Further introduction to James by David Wilson
James was written not to one particular congregation, but overall to congregations that were dispersed throughout the known world. Despite that, James scores a direct hit to a common problem in churches both then and now. There were those in the churches that James was writing to that considered themselves to be more spiritually mature than others. They asserted this so-called maturity and attempted to seek positions of authority, social prominence, and power within the church.
While there were those willing to submit to such assertions and view these assertions as true, others objected and battled in an effort to assert their own prominence within the church.
Into these sad circumstances, James writes his letter, establishing a measuring stick for true spiritual maturity. By the time the churches completed the reading of this letter, I can imagine there were some red faces in the local congregations. Some should have been embarrassed because they had accepted the assertions of superiority. Some should have been ashamed because they had made the assertions. Still others should have recognized areas of shortcomings.
3. Similarly, the Apostle Peter also says,
“Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through as if something strange were happening to you. Instead be very glad (rejoice) because these trials will make you partners with Christ in His suffering, and afterward you will have the wonderful joy of sharing his glory when it is displayed to all the world.” - 1 Peter 4:12-13 (NLT)
4. Regarding the quality referred to as "patience"...
When some translations speak of patience…we think of a patient person is someone who's not in a hurry. But the word actually means a lot more than that. As Richard Tow describes,
The Greek word hupomona that is translated patience in verse 3 is a difficult word to translate into English. It literally means a bearing up under. It’s a quality like fortitude with a component of hope—a settled confidence that is not ruffled by anything because it knows by experience God’s faithfulness. There is a big difference between a green recruit and battle-proven soldier. The recruit may have a lot of zeal but the seasoned soldier has something he doesn’t have. That seasoned soldier won’t be shaken when the shooting starts. I’ve never met anybody with much depth of character that hadn’t suffered something. It’s an almost undefinable quality that is easily discerned if you’ve been through some fire yourself—hupomona, a quality of character that is only produced through the fiery furnace of testing. James is saying, the trial is worth it because you get something in your character you would not have had otherwise.
Paul uses the same word in Romans 5:3.
“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope” (Rom 5:1-4). Notice how Paul uses the same pattern James does. Romans 5:3 “And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations” how? “knowing” knowing what? “that tribulation produces perseverance (hupomona).
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5. Similar thought in 1 Peter 5:10
1 Peter 5:10 (NIV)
And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.
