“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. A question people around the world are asking right at this moment. 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 you 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, not 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. But you and I are the ones who must decide how we will allow it to affect us.
So to 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 an explanation of how to be saved
James is a letter written to believers, who already knew the basics of the Christian faith and His intention is to drive home the importance of living out the truth. This book was written to us to help us mature in the faith. 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 pastored the church in Jerusalem. And he was known for his profound prayer life. In fact his nickname was “old camel knees” because of callouses on his knees from praying.
James is writing to a group of Jewish believers who were 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 many preach that the Christian life will always keep you healthy--- you will be wealthy --- and life will always be good. You will always be healthy, wealthy and wise. James would have laughed at those sermons – that kind of preaching would be a foreign concept to James. James never taught 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 most of us don’t want a Father in heaven – we want a grandfather in heaven. You know grandparents are the ones who make everything alright. “We can spoil the kids and then send them home to their parents.
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.” If you are following along in your Bible, 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 in the Greek. It means varied. It is the word for our English term, polka dot. It is not the 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.
Like …..
• Loss of a job
• broken relationships
• illness that lingers
• a wayward child
• depression that lingers
• Even a pandemic
And whatever those trials might be they can be overwhelming. James says, basically if you are a believer, people will know it based on how you respond to trials. If your faith is only good when things are good, then you don’t need it. If your faith is only good when you’re doing well, then you don’t need it. True faith sustains us when everything goes wrong.
Difficulties will come into everyone’s life.
Next, It is your attitude that determines the 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 know I have the question too many times. 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. It is our attitude. James is saying if we are going to benefit from our trials---not 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. Evaluate them. 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 tended 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.
Two years ago I recently read Philip Yancey’s book, “Where is God when it hurts?” He 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 focuses 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.
Next. 3. We can be absolutely certain God has a purpose in our trials. Vs. 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 nor 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 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 just suggesting that we count trials as joyful; he is commanding 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 following. 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. You can learn to count your trials as joy.
God has a purpose in our good times as well as our bad times.
4. We were not intended to go through these bad times alone. Vs. 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. Blessed means 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 you 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.
So keep your focus where it belongs---on Jesus—because this trial you are going through can actually become a place of grace.
During WW2 Anne Frank received a diary for her 13th birthday. Just one month later she was forced into hiding with her family and basically spent the next he lived in a small house, spent most days in an attic not being able go outside; literally in fear of her life. She kept a diary; it’s published now. She journaled her thoughts. She lived in a secret attic apartment for two years …. Over 700 days. On days that the enemy came into her small house she said this … “Whenever someone comes in from outside, with the wind in their clothes and the cold on their cheeks, I feel like burying my head under the blankets to keep from thinking, "When will we be allowed to breathe fresh air again?"… I long to ride a bike, to dance, to whistle, to look at the world, feel young and know that I’m free, and yet I can’t let it show.”
Her position in life was far worse than what we face it yet she persevered. She chose life each day over worry.
She chose to look to the future rather than to dwell on the moment. Other words think as Jesus would think.
This is not time To shrink back in fear. It is the time to rise up and make a Difference. People are watching to
see what the church will do. This is our time … our time to show the world just how real Jesus is.
