“Why do bad things Happen to Good People?”
James 1:1-12
The question we are tackling this morning is asked perhaps more than any other question about God. It has been referred to as The Achilles Heel of Christianity – the question that often keeps people from becoming believers in Christ. George Barna conducted a national survey in which he polled adults across America—he asked—if yo7u could ask God one question, what would it be? The top response was “why is there pain and suffering in the world …why do bad things happen to good people? C.S. Lewis in his book The Problem of Pain says the problem with pain is that pain requires attention. Pain insists on being attended to.
We ask these kinds of questions, bot for the purpose of some sort of intellectual debate---we ask questions like these because they affect all of us on a very personal level. These kinds of questions can either make us or break us… they can make us bitter or they can make us better. You make the decision.
So get an answer to this question we turn this morning to the Book of James. James is one of the most practical books in the NT. James is not
• A book of deep doctrine
• Not a defense of Christianity
• Not an explanation of how to be saved
James is a letter written to believers who we assume already knew the basics of the Christian faith and its intention is to drive home the importance of living out the truth. The main issue that prompted James to write is still a concern today--- if you say you believe then why do you live as though you don’t?
James begins by identifying himself simply as James, a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe this is James, the brother of Jesus. One of 4 sons born to Joseph and Mary. I grew up with 3 brothers and sister. If you have a large family, parents can often compare one child to another. Why can’t you be more like your brother/sister. So can you imagine growing up in a home where your brother was Jesus? How do you think it felt to literally have a perfect brother? James, why can’t you be more like Jesus??? Perhaps makes it easier to understand why James did not believe …. until after the resurrection. But not only did James then come to faith; he was also declared an apostle and the pastored the church in Jerusalem. And he was known for his profound prayer life.
So James is writing to a group of primarily Jewish believers who are undergoing severe hardship. They were hated—despised because they were Jews and they hated them as well. So James could pat them all on the back and comfort them but instead he challenges them. He says now put on your big boy pants --- because you’ve got to learn to trust God when things go bad. Grow up!
In many churches today the preaching is that the Christian life will always keep you healthy--- you will be wealthy --- and life will always be good. James would have laughed at those sermons – that kind of preaching would be a foreign concept to James. James would have laughed at the thought that becoming a believer would suddenly make all of your problems disappear and that you will live happily ever after. C.S. Lewis said that what everybody wants is ---we don’t want a Father in heaven – we want a grandfather in heaven. You know grandparents are the ones who make everything alright. “At the end of the day we can say that a good time was had by all.”
All of us face trials and while it is our tendency to ask how can I avoid these trials…. How can I make them go away? The real question should be how can I change the way I respond to hard times?
Well first of all it helps to realize that difficulties come into everyone’s life. V. 2 Consider it joy when you fall into trials. I want you to circle the word “when” in this verse. Highlight it. James is telling us that bad things are not optional --- they are inevitable. He does not say IF you encounter bad things; he says WHEN you encounter them. Interesting word James uses here. Poikilos. Means colored or varied. It is the word for our English term, polka dot. It is not ye idea that we are going to have many trials; it is the idea that we are going to have all kinds of them; varied kinds.
• Loss of a job
• broken relationship
• illness that lingers
• a wayward child
• depression that lingers
And whatever they might be they can be overwhelming. James says,basically if you are a believer, people will know it based on how you respond to those trials. If your faith is only good when you don’t need it, then you don’t need it. If your faith is only good when you’re doing well, then what good is it? Truth faith sustains us when everything goes wrong.
Difficulties come into everyone’s life.
2. It is attitude that determines outcome. V. 2 Most of us when we face some trial; some bad thing that is happening will ultimately ask, “why?’ Why am I going through this? What purpose could this possibly serve? I have. But let me ask you, have you ever really searched for the answer to that question? It’s easier to just throw up your arms in disgust, blame God and say I’m done! And the reason for that is our attitude.
• Angry
• Disgusted
• Bitter
• Frustrated
Look again at verse 2 and this time circle the word COUNT. Count it joy when you fall into trials. Count is an accounting term which means to evaluate or to “add up.” Listen. Right here James hits right at the heart of our problem----the heart of the human problem is the problem of the human heart. Our attitude. James is saying if we are going to benefit from our trials---just wade through them---but actually benefit from them then we must deal with our attitude. He is not saying that trials are a joy to go through; he is saying we should count them as joy. Evaluate them. Don’t be passive. Don’t ignore them. Don’t go into denial and act as though they never happened. Look clearly at them. Remember what CS Lewis said –pain requires our attention. Pain insists on being attended to. For many of us, some things keep happening over and over because we don’t pay any attention to them. We just wait on them to end. And that is the wrong approach.
Philip Yancey, in his book, “Where is God when it hurts?” puts it this way “rejoicing in suffering does not mean we should be happy about tragedy and pain when we really feel like crying or falling apart. The Bible focus is on the end-result; how God can use the suffering in our lives. But before He can use it He needs us to trust Him. Yancey then says that the process of giving him that commitment can be described as rejoicing.
Attitude determines outcome.
3. We can be absolutely certain God has a purpose in our trials. Vvs. 3-4. Knowing that trials have a purpose can make a big difference in how we face these bad times. No matter how you might feel, God has not abandoned you. He has not in the past not will He in the future.
1st Peter 1:6-9
According to James, enduring these bad things produces certain characteristics in those who are going through them. Like the saying/song, “what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.” 3 characteristics.
? We will become perfect. The word there is telios and means mature; fit for a purpose. It does not mean sinless.
? We will become complete. Whole. Fully developed.
? We will be lacking in nothing. God will provide everything we need to remain obedient during the bad times.
James isn’t suggesting that we count trials as joyful; he is charging us to do so---to allow this way of thinking to completely control our minds and our actions. It is a command that he gives us. But understand this. If I said, “raise your hand into the air” that is something you can actually do. You can will your hand to rise into the air. However if I said, “jump up and touch the moon,” well that is something that you cannot do. That is a command you are not capable of folliwng. THIS command is one that is possible. But here’s the catch. You have to be the one to do it. No one else can do it for you. You have to make a decision to do it.
God has a purpose in our bad times.
4. We were not intended to go through these bad times alone. Vvs. 5-8 Believers do not go through trials alone. We have wisdom at our disposal. V. 5. It’s not automatic. We must ask. We need insight on how to go through these bad things. Wisdom is applied knowledge; it is when we put
knowledge to use. We know what these verses say to do (2-4) but the question is how do we put them into practice? Do we stay where we are? Do we move? How should we respond? James says, simple, ask God and He will let you know what to do.
5. God intends for our trials to become blessings. (v. 12) Blessed. This is a beatitude. Like Matthew chapter 5. It means to be happy. To be satisfied. Joy is contentment even when trials come our way.
Too many times, we see people come to Christ; they are then baptized but before long, we don’t see them anymore. Trouble comes along and they are gone. I mean gone. And they may never come back. They shook their fist at God and that was it.
When they first manufactured golf balls, they made the covers smooth. Then they discovered that after a ball had been roughed up one could get more distance out of it. So they started manufacturing them with dimpled covers. So it is with life; it takes some rough spots to make us go the farthest.
"An invalid was told that she could never escape from his prison of pain and weakness. ’Oh, well,’ she replied, ’there is a lot of living to be found within your limitations if you don’t wear yourself out fighting them.
