Connect the Dots
?James 1:1-18
??Persevering Through Trials
Faith may not deliver you from suffering, but faith will get you through suffering; not just surviving it, but thriving in spite of it.
“The just shall live by faith.”
Genesis 15:6, Habakkuk 2:4, Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38
Three Keys to Enduring Faith:
1. Get the right perspective 1:2-8
Decide to embrace the pain. vv.2-4??
If we gripe and complain in our suffering, it doesn’t make it better, it makes it worse.?
Decipher the plan of God vv. 5-8?
This suffering you’re going through is a test to prepare you for success, not failure.
2. Embrace the hope. 1:9-12
3. Deploy your faith. 1:13-18
Today we begin a summer series out of the book of James. James was written by the half-brother of Jesus. By that I mean, they both had Mary as their mom, but obviously the Spirit of God was the paternal procreator for Jesus and Joseph was that for James and the other brothers. He didn’t believe his half-brother was the Messiah until after the resurrection, but then when he did come to believe it, he was all in and became the leader of the church in Jerusalem until his martyrdom in about 65 A.D.? In verse 1, we find that he addresses the letter to the 12 tribes of Israel dispersed abroad. This would be called the diaspora. It originally applied to those Jews who lived outside of Israel. James coops the term and applies it to all Christ-followers, the true Israel, where ever they are.
James is probably THE most practical book in the New Testament. When you study it you see that James is a straight-forward, no-nonsense, in your face kind of guy. You ever know someone like that? No him-hawing around—they spoke the unvarnished truth? That’s James. James probably the 1st of the letters or epistles in our N.T., written about 45 A.D. The theme of the book, is ‘Genuine faith produces a genuine life.’ Already in the early church, there were counterfeit gospels, false teachings, and dangerous understandings about how the Christ-life was to be lived out. Many would confess their faith in Jesus, only to live in a way that showed little or no impact of the true, transformative Gospel. His contention was that a life truly impacted by God’s glorious grace WILL be a life that reflects that reality in every way, whether rich or poor, safe or persecuted. ? And the first issue he takes on in his letter is suffering. Even a quick glance at the headlines speaks to the untold suffering in our world. Syrian president Assad has murdered 100s of 1000s of his own people (pic). Over 100,000 Sudanese are starving to death (pic). During Hurricane Harvey, (pic) dumped 20 trillion gallons of water on the Texas gulf coast, costing over $125 Billion dollars of damage and 10s of 1000s either have no home to move in or are not in their home yet almost a year later.? But we don’t have to look around the world to see and experience suffering-- there is unspeakable suffering in our own lives. (read 5-10 prayer requests from previous weeks) When suffering enters our lives, either invited by our own poor choices, or uninvited by the poor choices of others, how do we deal with it?
Let me cut to the chase: there is only one response to suffering that can recue us in the midst of suffering—and that is faith. Now I know you’re wanting a more satisfying answer. You want me to give you a magic formula to drink that will take away your suffering. You want me to give you the right things to say and the right things to pray and the right verses to quote and claim so that your suffering or the suffering of your loved one will end. But there is no magic formula, there are no right words, right prayers, or right verses. The only way to be rescued in the midst of suffering is by faith. The greater the trial, the greater the adversity, the deeper the pain…the more critical your faith is. Faith may not deliver you from suffering, but faith will get you through suffering; not just surviving it, but thriving in spite of it.
As James writes this letter, Christ-followers are being hunted down, tortured and imprisoned and even martyred by Jewish authorities in Israel, and by the Roman government throughout the Empire. They lived in an evil and broken world then just like we do today. So this is no pie in the sky, out of touch with reality prescription. This is the message of God to His people throughout the Bible: “The just shall live by faith.” Genesis 15:6, Habakkuk 2:4, Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38
Do you have the faith to endure whatever this broken world throws at you?
James gives us Three Keys to Enduring Faith:
1. Get the right perspective 1:2-8
Decide to embrace the pain. vv.2-4 (on screen)? Consider it all joy. Count it all joy. You kidding me? It’s human nature to resist pain, to fight pain. But have you ever noticed that when you fight inevitable pain it only makes it worse? When you get a shot on the buttocks, if you tense up, it hurts more and is a whole lot more sore. Listen, If we gripe and complain in our suffering, it doesn’t make it better, it makes it worse.? James doesn’t say be joyous FOR the pain and trials. He says we should be joyous in the midst of the trials and pain. We are to embrace trials and testings with joy. How in the world could we possibly do such a thing? The only way is if we see that there is going to be a reward on the other side for it. When a woman goes thru childbirth, there is pain mixed with joy, right? The joy of the reward on the other side: a squirming blob of protoplasm that you love so much you would do anything including die for.? What’s the reward for us in our trials and suffering? What does the text say? “Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.”? What is the full effect? What is the end result that is supposed to compel us to meet the suffering with joy? Look at that phrase, ‘mature and complete, lacking in nothing.” We’re talking spiritual maturity. We’re talking becoming more like Jesus. We’re talking about something priceless being formed in us that cannot be formed any other way.? Story of diamonds…pressure and heat. And nothing is more valuable to God than a saint whose faith has endured whatever this broken world throws at him/her and through it all is able to say, “In life or death, good times or times of tragedy, I will shine for my Jesus, the One who “For the joy that lay before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2
If you want to become more than a conqueror in times of adversity, trial, and suffering, embrace the pain…and decipher the plan.
Decipher the plan of God vv. 5-8 (on screen)? Navy Seals (pic) are known for the ability to overcome any obstacle they face. How do they prepare for that? They go thru a training regimen that subjects them to being able to endure the trial and push through. When it gets tough, do you think they start complaining? “Hey cap—I’m getting uncomfortable—can you take it easy on me?” No! Those training conditions are in place to prepare them for victory in battle.? This suffering you’re going through is a test to prepare you for success, not failure. God is allowing this; He has purpose in this. Seek to know what that is. There is a general purpose always we can know: to strengthen our faith in God and become more like Jesus. There is always a specific purpose, but we don’t always know that. Could be your faith in suffering will be a testimony to draw unbelievers to faith; could be that your joy in suffering may encourage someone else in their suffering. ? How do you know His plan and purpose. The text says, “Ask God.” Pray. Get in His word. Study it. Memorize verses like James 1:2-4. EVERY believer should know these 3 verses by heart. Seek God’s wisdom…and believe and act on what He says. Otherwise, you’ll be like James says, someone who is unstable and stumbling around. Get the right perspective.
2. Embrace the hope. 1:9-12
Look at vv.9-11 (on screen) Let me just say that the things of this world will not get you through trials, testings, and suffering. You think your wealth and position will? The wealthy get cancer just like the poor. They’re marriages fall apart just like the poor. Their kids might actually be disadvantaged because their parents give them too much money. When you’re sitting in an Intensive Care Unit with your son who has been critically injured in a car accident, the square footage of your home, the speed of your boat, the cost of your car WILL NOT help you one bit. There’s no hope in those things. When you stand over the casket of a loved one tragically taken from you, the size of your retirement fund or savings account WILL NOT help you one bit. There’s no hope in those either.? What will give you hope? Look at v.12 “Blessed is the one who endures trials, because when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.” The first word is what? Blessed. It’s the idea of being happy and joyful because you have the favor of God. This goes back to vv.2-4. There is joy in knowing that God has a purpose in all of this and there is hope that when it’s all said and done we’ll be in the presence of the one who loves us and gave Himself for us.? Jesus Himself will give us the crown of life. Revelation 2:10 “Don’t be afraid of what you are about to suffer. Look, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison to test you, and you will experience affliction for ten days. Be faithful to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.” Well that might have been unsettling to the believers in the church of Smyrna. Jesus says, “You’re going to go through great affliction and persecution, even to the point of and including death. But if you stay faithful, I’ll give you a reward: the crown of life.” A crown was a sign of reward and a sign of status. Crown of Life is not eternal life; the crown of life is for those who persevere in faith through temptation, tribulation, persecution, and suffering and keep their eyes on the prize. ? This is not what we want to hear. We want the easy street here. We want the reward now. That’s why we don’t tithe and become sacrificially generous with God—we want the reward here. That’s why we don’t live differently but try to fit in with the crowd—we want the reward now. But God’s value system is upside down to ours. And those who realize that know that the rewards that God promises and has in store for us are not going to dry up—but last for eternity.? This crown of life doesn’t really start after death; that’s when we get the unmitigated and unreserved enjoyment of it, but we have that life now. And it is never so real as when you go through a time of suffering and you trust God to go through it with you. ? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in that ICU with the parent or standing with someone at the graveside and hear them say, “I don’t know how people who don’t know JESUS make it through something like this.” God’s promise of reward in the life to come, yes; but also His presence and power in this life is what gives us hope. Embrace it.
3. Deploy your faith. 1:13-18
Sometimes I’ll hear people in their despair ask, “Why would God do this?” James addresses that in vv.13-17 (on screen) We live in a broken world. That’s not God’s fault; not His causing. And this broken world inflicts pain on suffering on EVERYONE.? The difference maker is faith. We who are believers have inside information as to how to get through pain, suffering, and trials. Notice v.18 “By his own choice, he gave us birth by the word of truth so that we would be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” He chose to give us new birth, new life in Jesus. Some day all of creation will be redeemed, but we are the first of that harvest. By His grace He offered us this new birth and by our faith we secured it for ourselves.? And that’s where we began this morning: talking about faith. Faith that He has redeemed us from our own awful past; faith that will get us through our awful trials and suffering.
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