We’ve now reached the last in our series of ‘Messages of Encouragement’. And we’ve come to a very difficult piece of teaching!
‘James’ – whoever James may be – tells us TO CONSIDER IT PURE JOY WHENEVER WE FACE TRIALS OF MANY KINDS! Wow! That sounds crazy! How can we understand it?
The general rule to understanding anything is that you have to understand the context. To take a trivial example, if I say the word ‘band’, you don’t know if I’m talking about jazz or a stretchy thing to put round my packet of pasta shells. You need to know the context.
The same applies to understanding scripture. When I trained to become a minister, lecturers emphasized ‘context, context, context’. That’s right. We want to understand the context in order to understand what a passage of scripture means.
But it’s difficult to do for THIS passage. Bible scholars aren’t sure WHO wrote the letter of James – apart from the fact that it was someone called James, WHEN it was written, or really, WHY it was written!
There are two significant people called James in the New Testament. There’s Jesus’ disciple, James. He’s sometimes known as James the Great. And there’s Jesus’ brother, James. He’s sometimes known as James the Less. Although he was ‘James the Less’ he was still a very significant figure. He was in many ways the leader of the early church, and he was the first Bishop of Jerusalem.
Most Bible scholars DON’T think that James the Great, Jesus’ disciple, wrote the Letter of James. He was put to death by Herod very early in the life of the church so it’s unlikely that he wrote the letter.
Many Bible scholars think that it WAS James the Less, Jesus’ brother, who wrote the Letter of James. But they have hesitations. For one thing, the Letter of James is, according to Bible scholars, written in very good, almost classical, Greek. The Bible scholars don’t think that Jesus’ brother James would have such good Greek. That sounds a bit prejudiced, but maybe they’re right! Perhaps James was the author but someone else was involved in getting the letter into its final form.
Just as we’re not quite sure WHO wrote the letter, we also don’t know WHEN it was written. We believe that James the Less, Jesus’ brother, was martyred in around 62 A.D. So, if it was this James who wrote the letter, he must have written it before 62 A.D. But that still leaves a wide range of possible dates! And maybe James the Less didn’t write this letter anyway.
The point is, we’d like to know the context, but in reality, we know very little of the context. What we know of the context doesn't help us much as we try to understand James' meaning. How can it be pure joy to face trials of many kinds?
As I was preparing for this talk, I read part of a commentary on James by someone called Scot McKnight. McKnight wrote in his introduction:
“In teaching the letter of James, one should walk to the front of the room and write these words in big letters on a chalkboard:
‘Read James!’
Under that the person then needs to write:
‘First, read James in light of James!’”
I get McKnight’s point. We can waste time wondering what other people say about James. Let’s get on and read it!
Look at verses two and three again.
“Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance” [NASB].
What kind of trials do we suppose James is talking about? He definitely has in mind trials that come from being a Christian. The Letter of James has quite a bit to say about money so perhaps James is thinking about economic pressures. But he could mean any kind of trial.
Here in the UK a person might find that his old friends avoid him after he becomes a Christian. In many countries, people lose their jobs if they become Christians. In some countries a young person might be beaten by their dad if he discovers them reading the Bible. All of these are forms of persecution. But there are other kinds of trials. For the Israelites, passing through the wilderness on the way to the land of Canaan was a trial. Would God take care of them? It was a test of faith.
So, there are all sorts of trials. But trials that come about because you messed up don’t count. You shouldn’t take joy from the trial of being in the headmaster’s office after a fight in the school playground!
But HOW can trials be a source of joy? James STARTS his explanation in verse three. He tells the people he's writing to to consider the trials a source of joy KNOWING that the testing of our faith produces ENDURANCE.
This is the word the New American Standard Bible uses. The NIV translates it slightly differently. It has ‘the testing of your faith produces PERSEVERANCE.’ But I like the word ENDURANCE. You can PERSEVERE with your piano practice. But you ENDURE when things are distinctly painful. ENDURANCE also has the idea of the strength to keep going. Testing builds that strength.
I like running and I think running illustrates what James it talking about. A runner builds up endurance by running longer distances. I’ve come across many stories of people who initially couldn’t run very much. They started running, just short distances at first. Then they managed a 5k – five kilometres. Then they thought, why stop there? So they did a half marathon. Then they thought, why stop there? So they did a full marathon.
[Here’s an example. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2K1QvsaiWXI, 5:30 to 7:00]
What builds the strength to run a longer distance? You have to stress your body to make it stronger. You have to go out on long runs. It IS sometimes painful. You sometimes get injured. But it’s the training, the stressing of your body, which makes it stronger.
It’s very much the same in the Christian life. The tests, the trials, the stresses, build endurance.
God is an expert trainer and he knows that. So he puts us through testing, trying experiences to help us grow stronger. God doesn’t ask us if we want his training. When you decide to follow Jesus, you don’t get a contract.
Let me give a couple of personal examples of what I’m talking about. I became a Christian when I was about ten. When I was 13, I went to an all-boys school where I boarded. It was really hard to be a Christian there and there were times I felt like giving up. But there’s no question in my mind that the trials made my faith stronger. Being a Christian WAS difficult but it forced me to ask if Christianity was true. It forced me to work it out. When I did, I became convinced that the Christian faith had solid foundations. So my faith grew stronger.
Another example in our life is living in Azerbaijan. There were endless pressures. Local authorities tried to close down the school we were running. Officials demanded bribes. Money was tight. People we worked with left. We often felt totally out of our depth. But the tests and trials taught us to pray more. They taught us that we could rely on God. And our faith grew stronger.
So testing builds endurance. Endurance is a good thing but it’s a stepping-stone to something even more important. Look how James continues, in verse 4:
“And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
‘Perfect and complete, lacking in nothing’? That’s a huge aim, isn’t it? Surely, perfection is out of reach? But that’s God’s goal for us!
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus says, ‘Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.’
God’s goal is our perfection. He created us in his image – that means, perfect. His perfect image has been marred by sin. But God wants his image in us restored.
That should be our aim too. The trials and tests that come our way help us. They build our endurance and that in turn has a result: ‘that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.’
So, given what a great result these tests and trials have, let’s review our attitude towards them. We might struggle to have the joy James says we should have. But maybe we can move in that direction. We can get rid of the long faces, the scowl, the bad temper. We can say to ourselves, ‘Yes, it’s tough. But it will be worth it.’
James wrote, ‘Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter various trials.’ He didn’t say, ‘IF you encounter various trials.’ He said ‘WHEN.’ Trials WILL come.
Today’s talk concludes our series of ‘Great Messages of Encouragement’. What have we learned?
God promises to be with us. He will strengthen us as we wait on him. There’s a glory to come that far outweighs any present sufferings. We CAN resist Satan as he strides around like a roaring lion. And the trials and stresses we go through build our endurance and carry us towards God’s goal for us – that we may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
Scripture actually has a lot more encouragement to give! But I hope that over these six weeks we’ve been able to cover some of the most important points. I hope that the things we’ve been learning about will help us press on even when trials come. And I hope that perhaps, we may even manage a smile!
Talk given at Rosebery Park Baptist Church, Bournemouth, UK, 20th February 2022.
