HOW TO WITHSTAND TRIALS Part 1
Matt 5:48 James 1:2-12
Pastor Jeff Seaman
Introduction A pastor once asked his congregation, “Does anyone here Know any perfect people?” A short man stood up and shouted, “Yes, my wife’s first husband” This man had learned from experience how hard it is to measure up to a perfect standard.
When God measure us against His standard of perfection, our imperfections are glaring and yet God does not reduce His standard or lower His expectations.
Jesus made this quite clear when He said, “You are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” Matt 5:48
Clearly, God’s holiness is nonnegotiable. He calls us to live up to His standard; He never lowers Himself to ours.
This is a far cry from the spirit of the present age. You and I are witnessing firsthand the “dumbing down” of righteousness. Not only has the secular society lost its moral compass due to erosion of any sense of absolute truth, but we Christians are rapidly descending the ladder of holiness rather than ascending the mountain of godliness to be near to and be like our perfect God.
Day in and day out we are bombarded by the standards of this ungodly age, which is dupe us into thinking that being a tad better than the world somehow makes us acceptable to God.
The reality, however, is that God in His absolute holiness is our standard, not the world in its fallenness. Yet we, along with our mates, children, relatives, friends, and other fellow Christians, are falling prey to this softer, easier, and reduced definition of perfection.
James makes God’s goal plain: “That you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (1:4). James wants us to grow up, to become mature, to be sanctified, to be become more like Jesus.
It is My goal as we go though the book of James you will be ready to do whatever it takes to become a perfect Christian and, in the process, discover a new level of spiritual life, power, and victory.
Although the pursuit of perfection won’t produces absolute perfection in your life, you will grow tremendously in your faith when you make perfection your goal.
THE PERFECT CHRISTIAN
HOW TO WITHSTAND TRIALS Part1
James 1:2
I remember as a boy listening to the radio. From time to time the normal programming would be interrupted by the announcement that the station was going to test the emergence broadcasting system. Then I would hear a load, annoying noise for thirty or sixty seconds.
I used to hate those test because they always seem to come at the worst time, just when you didn’t want the programming to be interrupted. And since there was never any warning that the test was coming, there wasn’t any way you could avoid it. The station just break in and did it test.
The troubles of life are like that. They often come with no warning—just the announcement, “this is a test”. There’s nothing to warn you that the doctor is going to come back a bad report or that it’s layoff time. Life’s test just show up at the most inopportune times.
Today I want us to see why God puts trials in the paths of His children. The first thing we need to recognize is the reality of trials.
We see throughout Scripture that trials are a reality in life, and we read Scriptures like “Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials”. (James 1:2)
1. THE REALITY OF TRIALS
Notice the Bible does not say if you encounter trials; it talks instead about when they come
Trials are inescapable.
Job said, “Man is born for trouble, as sparks fly upward (Job 5:7) The only way exit trouble is to exit life. Jesus said, “In the world you have tribulation” (Jn.16:33)
So if you are going through a tough time right now, don’t be surprised. If you have just exited a trial, don’t be shocked when the next one arrives.
MULTICOLORED TRIALS
The Greek word used for trials here has to do with trouble, tribulation, and difficulties. It’s a fairly broad word that can be applied to any number of things. The word literally means “multicolored” –as in blue Monday or pink slip
Different colored trials
1. There is a trial that comes in the “color” called PHYSICAL.
2, There is a trial that come in the “color” called EMOTIONAL
3. There is a trial that come in the “color called FINANCIAL
This is hardly a catalog of every possible trial you and I can face, but you get the idea. Trials come in a multitude of colors, shapes, and sizes.
So since we can’t avoid them, what should we do with them.
2. THE REASON FOR TRIALS
God is very open about why He puts trials in the our path. In fact, He says you can know why He puts trials in your life.
Why is knowing something about the reason for our trials critical. Because if you are facing a trial and don’t know what’s going on—if you cannot connect your experience with biblical data—you will be discouraged and overwhelmed by your trial rather than “consider[ing] it all joy” (James 1:2 )
That joy comes when, in the midst of trials, you realize God is up to something with you! And that realization is the key to overcoming trials.
See the problem is not so much that we undergo trials. The problem is that we undergo trials and don’t know why.
The knowledge about the purpose that God has for us is crucial because what you know impacts how you feel. When you what God wants you to know, you can react differently from the way if you were totally in the dark.
THREE REASONS FOR YOUR TRIALS
1. To Test Your Testimony
The first thing God wants you to know is that He places trials in your path to test your faith. When you go through hard times, God is putting your faith on the witness stand.
Untested faith is no better then untested love. Anyone can say, “ I love you” on a moonlit night with soft music playing in a fine restaurant. But the test of the love come in the daylight when thing don’t look so rosy.
When God allows trials to reach us, He does so for a specific purpose. He want us to know by firsthand experience something he knows—that faith is strengthened by testing.
Trials are designed to call your faith to the witness stand to validate in experience what you declare that you believe. Trials bring you to the point where your faith stands the test, no matter how hot the fire.
Peter said “ On that day you will be glad, even if you have to go through many hard trials for a while. Your faith will be like gold that has been tested in a fire. And these trials will prove that your faith is worth much more than gold that can be destroyed. They will show that you will be given praise and honor and glory when Jesus Christ returns.( 1Peter1:6-7CEV)
A good teacher only tests student on information that has already been taught. A good teacher also wants the student to pass the test.
Want a good example of someone passing the test? In the midst of his painful mess, Job declared of God, “Though He slay me, I will hope in Him”” (13:15). Job’s faith was tested by severe fire, but he passed the test.
THE REASON FOR YOUR TRIALS
2. TO INCREASE YOUR ENDURANCE
A second reason for your trials is to increase our endurance
(James 1:3). “Because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.”
The word endurance here is made up of two Greek words that mean “to remain under” to stay put in a trial until its purpose has been accomplished.
We are to submit to God’s trails the way a patient submits to a surgeon. As you may know, facing surgery can be pretty scary. A nurse comes into your hospital room to prep you and to take your vital signs. Then the orderlies roll you into another bed to wheel you down to the operating room.
There you are, staring up at the lights, knowing you are about to be knocked out by an anesthetic. Next to you are all these instruments designed to cut you open. People are whispering around you.
Despite all of this, you don’t jump off the table and run from the operating room. Why ? because you know you must stay put through this trial if the desired result—your health –is to accomplished.
So the Bible says that we should not run from trials. Instead, we are to run in them to develop our endurance.
Illust. I remember a firsthand lesson in the importance of hanging in there during trials. I decided to start working out with one of my friends. So I began a weightlifting program that first day—curls, bench presses, the whole bit.
Twenty-four hours later, I was in a trial! I couldn’t walk. I was in so much pain I could not button my paints.
Now I can assure you, I wanted to run from that trial. I remember thinking I don’t have to go through all this pain and work. I need the extra hour of sleep anyway. I rejected the thought of going back to work out with my friend.
But through the encouragement of my friend, I went back and lifted more weights. I struggled as I felt the pain. But my friend reminded me, “keep lifting because, as you work your way through the pain, it will subside and you’ll start to develop your muscles. But if you quit now and then ever decide to start again, you’ll have to go the pain all over again.”
Weight training relies on resistance to help muscles grow. In the trials of life, God puts weight on you and says, “keep lifting. Don’t quit even though it will hurt for a while.” If you keep pumping the weight, pretty soon you’re going to see spiritual muscle appear where flab had been before.
THE REASON FOR YOUR TRIALS
3. TO ACHIEVE YOUR SPIRITUAL MATURITY
Why does God test our faith in order to increase our endurance? So that (1:4)“endurance [can] have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:4)
God’s goal for your trials is your growth into spiritual adulthood. That won’t happen without some pain, sweat, and effort. Imagine a young person announcing, “I want to be a physician, but I don’t want to spend all those years in medical school!”
You and I would chuckle at a comment like that. But we do something similar in the spiritual ream when all we can think of is getting out from under our trials as quickly as possible and avoiding future trials. God wants to mature us, not just make us comfortable.
When a butterfly is ready to leave the cocoon, it has to fight its way out. If you open the cocoon to help the butterfly get out, you have doomed that butterfly because it need the struggle to strengthen its wings so it can fly.
See, God is too kind and too wise to allow us to remain in spiritual immaturity, whining whenever things don’t go our way and demanding what we want and when we want it.
His goal is that we might “become conformed to the image of His Son” (Rom.8:29)
I’m told that when a goldsmith in biblical times tested and refined gold, he would keep purifying it until he could see his face in the gold. In the same way, God Almighty will test you until He see Jesus Christ in you when He looks at you.
When you look like Christ, God knows you have come through the fire.
The Bible says that we are to hang in there with God, whatever the trial
“until we all attain…to a mature man, toto the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13).
Jordan my oldest can’t wait till the day that he is taller then me. So he is always measuring himself to see how much he has grown. There will be a day that he will be taller than me, and I sure he will walk around saying “hey shorty”.
God says, “ I want to make you as tall as Christ, not as tall as your neighbor or your spouse.” So don’t go around measuring yourself against other people or putting your trials back- to- back against theirs, because other people are not you’re the measure. Jesus Christ is.
3. THE RESPONSE TO TRIALS
So God is testing our faith to build up our spiritual endurance in order that we might become mature in Christ. This means our spiritual resources __not our nature resources—take us through trials. Since that’s true, what should be our response? James has three “how to” tips for us.
THREE RESPONSE TIP FROM JAMES
1. Display Some Joy
How should we respond to trials? James first says, “With joy!” (1:2) When trials come, instead of getting mad, get glad because you know that God is up to something good in your life.
This command does not mean you have to hide or pretend the pain feels good. The Bible does not say we need to feel joyful during the trial, but to consider that trial all joy.
The Greek word for consider is an accounting term that means “to evaluate”. Accountants add up the numbers to make the balance sheet come out right. Well, sometimes our trials don’t add up from a human standpoint. They don’t seem to make sense; the balance sheet seems to be off.
God tells us to put away our human calculator and us His. He wants us to evaluate our trials from the standpoint of joy.
That means you say , God, I know You’re at work here. I don’t know all that you want to in this trial, but I know You allowed it for my good. So rather than complaining, I’m going to praise You in this situation for what You are going to accomplish in me.
Your attitude determines your actions.
When you are in the middle of a trial, you don’t want your emotions to dictate your actions, for the same reason a truck driver on the highway doesn’t want his cargo to dictate the ride. When that cargo starts shifting and sliding back and forth, the driver soon has a truck that is out of control, swerving back and forth.
A lot of us are like that truck in our Christian lives. Our feeling swing back and forth and taking us where they want to go, instead, of where we need to go. So even though you may not be particularly happy about the circumstance you’re in at thee moment, you can make a decision that you will be joyful because of what you know.
Why is it important to be joyful in trials? Because if you aren’t then a “root of bitterness” (Heb. 12:15) can spring up and spoil your walk with Christ
Think of a mother-to-be in labor. She is experiencing plenty of pain, but her is a joyful pain because she is anticipating a joyful result, the birth of child.
God is using our trials to bring about the joyful result of Christlike maturity, so we can be joyful in the meamtime.
THE RESPONSE TO TRIALS
2. ASK FOR WISDOM
How are we to overcome trials? The second thing God urges us to do in the face of trials is ask for His help
James (1:5) If any of you lack wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
What is the wisdom we need to ask God for? Wisdom to know how to handle the trials.
You pray “Lord make sense of this for me. Help me to see Your plan and Your hand in this trial. Show me how to respond to get the most out of what You want for me right now.
That asking God for wisdom.
So pray for God’s wisdom. But don’t pray halfheartedly, James says, (1:6-7)
“But let him ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”
Faith says… yes
Unbelief says….no
Doubt says…yes and no at the same time
Double-minded Christian want to do it there way, yet they still want God to do His way. They want some of God and some of themselves.
God has a strong word for people like that: Don’t expect anything from me.
Now you see way more of use aren’t getting more answers to our prayers.
3. GIVE GOD PRAISE
What else can we do to overcome trials? Third piece of sound “how-to” advice James has for us in our trials is to give God praise.
James 1:9-11 “But let the brother of humble circumstances glory in his high position; and let the rich man glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away. For the sun rises with a scorching wind, and withers the grass; and its flowers falls off, and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away.”
You are to give glory to God in the midst of your trial. Then the Bible names two very common kinds of trials.
1. The poor person who doesn’t have the money he needs to meet his trials:
2. And the rich person who runs into something that money can’t buy his way out.
Most of us fall into one of these two categories. If you’re in the first category, you can praise God because in Him, you have a resource far beyond what money can buy.
The poor person can still, say, “Lord, right now I’ve run out of money, but I want to thank you anyway. I thank You for my health. I thank You for the way you have always taken care of me. Thank you for the food on the table and the cloths on my back, and the roof over my head.
What about the rich person who has a health problem money can’t cure or a wayward child whom money can’t bring back home?
God says to this person, “Glory in your humility.”
In other words, the rich person can say, “Lord I praise You that this trial is teaching me I can’t just pull out my master card to fix everything. I praise You that You are teaching me to lean on Jesus alone.
THE REWARD OF TRIALS
Here’s the good part, the spiritual payoff for handling your trials the way God wants you to handle them.
When you hang in there and bear the trial, you get the reward. The Bible teaches, “
“Blesses is s man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. (James 1:12)
This is sweat . When the trial is finished and the lesson has been learned, then God’s approval comes.
In school, when you have finished all the classes and passed all the test, you get to wear
A special
THE PERFECT CHRISTIAN
HOW TO WITHSTAND TRIALS Part1
Matt. 5:48 James 1:2-12
James 1:2 “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,”.
1. THE REALITY OF TRIALS
Trials are ______________
Man is born for trouble, as sparks fly upward (Job 5:7)
Trials come in ___________________
2 THE REASON FOR TRIALS
1. To Test your _____________.
“On that day you will be glad, even if you have to go through many trials for a while.
Your faith will be like gold that has been tested in a fire. And these trials will prove that your faith is worth much more than gold that can be destroyed. They will show that you will be given praise and honor and glory when Jesus Christ returns.” ( I Peter 1:6-7 )
2. To _____________ Your Endurance
“Because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.” ( James 1:3)
3. To Achieve your _____________________.
“Endurance can have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:4 )
“ until we all attain…to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.” ( Eph. 4:13 )
3. THE RESPONSE TO TRIALS
THREE RESPONSE TO TRIALS FROM JAMES
1. Display some ________________
“Consider it pure joy, my brother whenever you face trials of many kinds.” (1:2)
2. Ask for ________________
“If any of you lack wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.” (1:5)
3. Give God ___________
“But let the brother of humble circumstances glory in his high position; and let the rich man glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away. For the sun rises with a scorching wind, and withers the grass; and its flowers falls off, and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away.” (James 1:9-11 )
4. THE REWARD OF TRIALS
“Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.” (James 1:12 )
