“The Bright Side to Dark Times”
James 1:1-18
Introduction:
Having lost in a fire virtually everything they owned, the Spafford family made new plans, including a move from Chicago to France. Horatio Spafford planned the trip for his wife and four daughters to be as trouble-free as possible. To transport them from America to France, he booked passage on a huge ship, and made sure they had Christians with whom to fellowship in route. He planned to join them a few weeks later. In spite of much careful preparation, Mr. Spafford’s plans suddenly dissolved when the ship carrying his loved ones was rammed by another vessel and sank, carrying his four beloved daughters to the bottom.
Anyone who has ever had their plans disrupted by the hand of God can understand Spafford’s plight. The words to the great hymn, “It Is Well With My Soul" were penned by him as his ship passed over the watery grave of his four daughters!
“When peace like a river attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, “It is well, it is well with my soul.”
When trials come into our lives, times seem dark and bleak. It feels as though there is just a dark cloud hovering over our heads. What is God up to…? Is there anything bright about this whole dark subject?
Intro:
Who is James? Most likely the half-brother of Jesus, who became a believer after Jesus’ resurrection and became a prominent leader in the Jerusalem church (Acts 15).
When was the book written? Probably around 45-50 making it along with Galatians the NT’s earliest books.
Written to? The twelve tribes dispersed abroad. The church was predominantly Jewish in its earliest days. Jews who became Christians were not welcomed in Jewish culture. But the book was written for both Jews and Gentile believers of the early church. And they were facing many trials in their lives…
I. God is making us more like Jesus. (1:1-4)
A. Trials will come (v. 2b)
(KJV translates “trials” as “temptations.” This is a poor translation. Although they are the same Greek word, one carries the connotation of testing to prove the strength of one’s faith, the other means to entice to do evil. The meaning is determined by the context.)
Notice that there is no Scriptural premise for the notion that Christians won’t have trials in life.
Trials come in various sizes, colors, and shapes – Loss of a job, cancer, loss of property in a fire, flat tire on Mopac, poverty, failing health, etc.
B. Trials serve a Divine Purpose (vv. 3-4)
And to the one going through a difficult time, it often seems as though there really is no purpose to them. They are irritating inconveniences to our lives that interrupt us, rather than make us feel good.
God’s design for our lives isn’t necessarily to make us happy – but to make us holy.
Trials do have a purpose. That we may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. God is sculpting us to be conformed to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ.
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren. (Rom 8:28-29)
But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. (II Cor 3:18)
And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you. (I Pet. 5:10)
African proverb: “Smooth seas make for poor sailors.”
Illustration - Trial By Fire
A clay pot sitting in the sun will always be a clay pot. It has to go through the white heat of the furnace to become porcelain. - Mildred Witte Struven
F. B. Meyer explained it this way: “A bar of iron worth $2.50, when wrought into horseshoes is worth $5. If made into needles it is worth $175. If into penknife blades it is worth $1,625. If made into springs for watches it is worth $125,000. What a ‘trial by fire’ that bar must undergo to be worth this! But the more it is manipulated, and the more it is hammered and passed through the heat, beaten, pounded, and polished, the greater its value.”
Friends, are you wondering about the trials through which you are passing? With impatient heart are you saying, “How long, O Lord?” The heat of the flame and the blows of the hammer are necessary if you are to be more than an unpolished, rough bar of iron. God’s all-wise plan, though it calls for the fire, produces the valuable watch spring of maturity. God’s very best for your life has behind it God’s perfect timing.
Erwin Lutzer describes it as such: We are like ants on a Rembrandt painting… God sees the big picture!
C. Trials can be faced with Joy (v. 2a)
Our attitude should be Joy. Why?
· Because God is in Control – He is sovereign.
· Because God is shaping us to be more like Jesus.
· Because our experience may someday help somebody else in the future.
A.B. Simpson declared, “You will have no test of faith that will not fit you to be a blessing if you are obedient to the Lord. I never had a trial but when I got out of the deep river I found some poor pilgrim on the bank that I was able to help by that very experience.”
· Do you know that God is in control of your life?
· Do you know that God loves you and wants what is best for you?
· He has not forsaken you in the midst of your trial – He has sent the trial our way to prove our faith and to make us stronger and more like Jesus.
II. God offers Wisdom to strengthen our Faith (1:5-8)
A. We should ask God for Wisdom (v. 5a)
· How would you define “wisdom”?
Usually when we face difficult times, if we call out to God, it’s usually to ask Him to remove the trial. But God wants us to cry out to Him for wisdom to know how to learn and apply the lessons that His sovereign trials where meant to teach us.
B. God promises to grant us Wisdom (v. 5b)
Accrued wisdom helps our faith to be stronger the next time we face a trial. If we lack in wisdom, when hard times come again, it seems like they hit us blind sided and it’s like going back to square one again.
Promise: God promises to generously grant us the wisdom we need to learn from our trials. (That is why I like to be around older, godly men and women – they’ve been through the fire and felt the hammer. Usually they have a great deal of wisdom.)
This is not referring to worldly wisdom. This is heavenly wisdom – spiritual insights into the ways that God is shaping our lives to become more like the character of Christ.
Illustration: Think a moment about a water-saturated sponge. If we push down with our finger even slightly, water runs out onto the table. We immediately know what fills the interior pockets of the sponge. The same is true of ourselves. We can tell what fills us on the inside by what comes out under pressure.
C. God honors undivided faith (vv. 6-8)
Our faith in God’s provision should be steady, not wavering. We can’t pray to God with our fingers crossed!
Illustration: The Double-minded Mouse
This is like a field mouse in the middle of the road as you come upon it. He first starts toward the left, then right, then left, and finally stands still as the car passed over him.
· We must either believe that God is going to do something, or that He is not!
· Do not pray until you know that He will!
· Next time you are faced with a trial, rather than just asking God to remove it, ask Him for wisdom to know how to handle it and how to learn from it for the future.
III. God Reassures us of His Heavenly Promise (1:9-12)
A. A Paradox of Perspectives (vv. 9-10)
This is the paradox of God’s perspective on life. It is upside down from how we typically think. We look at the rich, self-centered, self-reliant people as having it made. They don’t have to ever wonder where the next paycheck is going to come from. They don’t have to fret over feeding their kids. They don’t have to worry about what to wear – they live in the lap of luxury.
B. A Switch of Fortunes (vv. 11-12)
But God promises that those who show no need for God in this life, He will show no need for them in the next. Their flower falls off and their beauty is destroyed.
But Christians who are suffering trials in this life, who have expressed their dependence on God need to not look at the beauty and lure of worldly riches that others have, but to the crown of life God promises to those who love Him.
In the end, their fates are switched and God proves that our trials were not in vain.
Notice that verse 9 says that the “brother” of humble circumstances has reason to glory in his high position. There is a world of difference between the trials that come to a believer and the trials that come to an unbeliever. To the Christian, trials are a refining fire, making our character more holy our faith stronger, looking to the hope of eternal life with God. To the unbeliever, trials don’t serve as any refining process with a hope for eternal life being confirmed.
IV. God Reminds Us that He is Good (1:13-18)
A recent survey of Discipleship Journal readers ranked areas of greatest spiritual challenge to them:
1. Materialism.
2. Pride.
3. Self-centeredness.
4. Laziness.
5. (Tie) Anger/Bitterness.
5. (Tie) Sexual lust.
7. Envy.
8. Gluttony.
9. Lying.
Survey respondents noted temptations were more potent when they had neglected their time with God (81 percent) and when they were physically tired (57 percent). Resisting temptation was accomplished by prayer (84 percent), avoiding compromising situations (76 percent), Bible study (66 percent), and being accountable to someone (52 percent).--Discipleship Journal, 11-12/1992
A. Trials vs. Temptations (v. 13)
When we face temptations in life, we often equate them to the trials that God sovereignly places in our lives, but in actuality they are different.
· A trial is a positive testing of the strength of our faith to make us more like Christ.
· But temptations are the evil enticements to sin and fall away from God. When temptations come – and they do – we often blame God for them.
B. The Poison of Temptation (vv. 14-15)
Temptation doesn’t come from God, but the trials He sends our way can often be misconstrued as such depending on how we respond to His testing.
Temptation festers within us when it is enticed by our sinful lusts. It’s end is death.
Romans 6:23 says “the wages of sin is death…” or this could be referring to the lifestyle of separation and pain that sin causes as in Psalm 32:
When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night Thy hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. (Ps 32:3-4)
If you have the urge or mind to do something that contradicts the Word of God, it is not God’s will. If you have the urge to do something that is against what God has revealed in His Word, we know that it is not from Him.
Examples: Lying, an affair, getting revenge, cheating on our taxes… the poison of temptation that we often drink by our own choice.
C. The Goodness of God (vv. 17-18)
1. His unchanging holiness (v. 17)
2. His loving call (v. 18)
As verse 16 says, “Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.” We can trust in the goodness of God. He will never try to entice you to do something that He declares to be sinful.
Misunderstandings regarding temptation:
· Temptation itself is sin.
· We “fall into” temptation, we usually walk right into it.
· God is disappointed and displeased when we are tempted.
· To be strongly tempted means we are as guilty as if we had actually committed sin.
· We overcome all temptation by separation from it
· When I am spiritually mature, I will no longer be harrassed by temptation.
When times are dark and we are facing trials and temptations, we are reminded that God is Good. He is holy. He is unchanging.
Though He allows us to be tempted, He is the giver of good things (v. 17), including the strength to endure temptations that come our way.
No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it.
Conclusion:
When times are dark through the difficulties of trials in our lives, remember that:
1. God is making us more like Jesus – He is building our character.
2. God offers Wisdom to strengthen our Faith – He is building our faith
3. God Reassures us of His Heavenly Promise – He is building our hope
4. God Reminds Us that He is Good – He is building our trust.
