An Opportunity For Joy
Text: James 1:2-12
Introduction
1. Read James 1:2-12
2. Chippie the parakeet never saw it coming. One second he was peacefully perched in his cage. The next he was sucked in, washed up, and blown over.
The problems began when Chippie’s owner decided to clean Chippie’s cage with a vacuum cleaner. She removed the attachment from the end of the hose and stuck it in the cage. The phone rang, and she turned to pick it up. She’d barely said "hello" when "ssssopp!" Chippie got sucked in.
The bird owner gasped, put down the phone, turned off the vacuum, and opened the bag. There was Chippie -- still alive, but stunned.
Since the bird was covered with dust and soot, she grabbed him and raced to the bathroom, turned on the faucet, and held Chippie under the running water. Then, realizing that Chippie was soaked and shivering, she did what any compassionate bird owner would do . . . she reached for the hair dryer and blasted the pet with hot air.
Poor Chippie never knew what hit him.
A few days after the trauma, the reporter who’d initially written about the event contacted Chippie’s owner to see how the bird was recovering. "Well," she replied, "Chippie doesn’t sing much anymore -- he just sits and stares."
It’s hard not to see why. Sucked in, washed up, and blown over . . . That’s enough to steal the song from the stoutest heart.
Max Lucado, In the Eye of the Storm, Word Publishing, 1991, p. 11.
3. Have you ever felt like Chippie? Like you’ve been sucked in, washed up, and blown over?
4. The Good News is that you don’t have to be like Chippie. You can still have a song in your heart and a bounce in your step even in the midst of trials.
Transition: James tells us that...
I. God Can Cause Trials to Produce Joy (2-4)
A. Introduction to Epistle
1. The Epistle of James was written somewhere between 45 and 49 AD, which makes it one of the earliest NT documents.
2. It was written by James, the half-brother of Jesus.
3. It was written to Jewish Christians who had been fled the Holy Land on account of the persecution of the church
4. They understood what it meant to go through trials.
a. Driven from their homes
b. Jews didn’t like them because they were Christians
c. Gentiles didn’t like them because they were Jews
5. They knew what it meant to be Chippie!
B. Count It All Joy
1. James starts out by telling them the facts of life - "when ye fall into divers temptations."
a. The word "temptations" refers to some form of difficulty or pressure in our lives (sometimes from the world or Satan) (Life in the Spirit Study Bible, 1986).
b. It can mean temptation to sin, or it can mean difficult circumstances in our lives.
2. Notice what James says about these temptations.
a. When you fall - not if, but when. They will happen!
b. Divers - many. There is going to be a lot of them.
3. Now look at what James says to do with these difficult circumstances - "My brethren, count it all joy"
a. You want me to do what?
b. Illustration: I used to have a friend named Mark Tatton who used to say "Count it all joy, Bro!"
c. Am I supposed to be happy about it?
d. The point is not to pretend to be happy when we face pain, but to have a positive outlook because of what trials can produce in our lives. —Life Application Bible Notes
e. "let it be an opportunity for joy" (NLT).
4. James tells us to turn our hardships into times of learning. He says, "Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience."
a. Tough times can teach us perseverance. —Life Application Bible Notes
b. What James is saying is that "when the going gets tough, the tough get going."
c. He is saying that you will know from experience that God will take this difficulty and make you a better person.
d. Faith is like gold; it stands in the test of fire. True faith, like pure gold, endures, no matter how hot the fire.—Bible Knowledge Commentary
C. But Let Patience
1. Again James gives us another key; we have to "let patience have her perfect work."
a. Whether or not we benefit from our trials depends upon us.
b. We must let patience finish its work.
c. James cautions us to observe our attitudes more than our circumstances.
2. James says that if we do this we will be "perfect and entire, wanting nothing."
a. By "perfect" James means mature, perfect, fully developed; full grown, complete, whole.—Practical Word Studies in the New Testament
b. The word does not mean perfect in the sense of becoming a perfect person. The word means perfection of purpose.
c. It has to do with an end, an aim, a goal, a purpose.—Practical Word Studies in the New Testament
d. If we will let him God will take the trials in our lives and use them to bring us to the place where he wants us to be.
e. If we let him do this work we will lack nothing.
Transition: If we let him...
II. God Can Cause Trials to Produce Wisdom (5-8)
A. If Any of You
1. In verse 5 James says, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God..."
a. What wisdom is he referring to? The stock market? Relationships? General mechanics?
b. No, wisdom about trials!
c. God has given us his permission that if we do not understand what we are going through we can ask him about it and he’ll tell us.
2. James goes on to say that God "upbraideth not."
a. The word "upbraideth" basically means "without reproach."
b. In other words, God’s not going to get mad because you ask him what’s going on.
c. "If you need wisdom—if you want to know what God wants you to do—ask him, and he will gladly tell you. He will not resent your asking" (NLT).
3. Illustration: What loving father is going to get mad when his son asks him to explain something he doesn’t understand?
4. Notice what else James says at the end of this verse - "and it shall be given him."
a. To those who lack wisdom, this valuable resource is available for the asking.
b. Matt. 7:7 "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
B. But When He Asks
1. However, there is a stipulation on our asking: we have to believe.
2. We cannot doubt, waver, or be negative.
a. If we don’t believe that God is going to deliver, why bother to ask in the first place?
b. To "believe and not doubt" means not only believing in the existence of God, but also believing in his loving care.
c. It includes relying on God and expecting that he will hear and answer when we pray.
d. We must put away our critical attitude when we come to him. —Life Application Bible Notes
3. Look what James has to say about those who doubt.
a. He says they are like a wave of the sea. Completely lacking in stability, it is "blown and tossed by the wind." Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary (2 volumes), Pradis CD-ROM
b. He says that someone who doubts is "double minded" and "unstable."
Transition: Believe and you will receive!
III. God Can Cause Trials to Produce Blessing (9-12)
A. Let the Brother...Rejoice
1. When you think of things that produce trials in life what’s the first thing that comes to mind? MONEY!
a. Money problems cause more stress than just about anything.
b. It causes problems in marriages.
c. It causes problems in friendships. It has been said "Every time you lend money to a friend you damage his memory."
d. It causes problems in business relationships. When the Fellow says it’s not the money but the principle of the thing, it’s the money.
2. But James tells us "Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted."
a. A brother may be of low degree, but there is reason for joy. In God’s esteem he is exalted.
b. Through the grace of God he has been lifted out of the miry clay (Ps 40:2).
c. He has the promise that God will meet his needs.
d. He has the promise that his Father owns the cattle on a thousand hills.
e. He has the promise that God will never leave him or forsake him.
3. Now look at what James says about the rich man, "But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away."
a. When a rich man gets the flu he still has to go to bed like the poor man.
b. A rich man’s teenagers still drive him crazy just like the poor man.
c. When a rich man’s life is over he is still dead just like the poor man, and you can’t take it with you!
d. Illustration: Money will buy a bed but not sleep; books but not brains; food but not appetite; finery but not beauty; a house but not a home; medicine but not health; luxuries but not culture; amusements but not happiness; religion but not salvation; a passport to everywhere but heaven.
B. Blessed is the Man
1. However, regardless of whether we are rich or poor God promises to bless us if we perservere under trials.
2. Verse 12 says, "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him."
a. The crown of life is like the victory wreath given to winning athletes.
b. God’s crown of life is not glory and honor here on earth, but the reward of eternal life — living with God forever.
c. The way to be in God’s winners’ circle is by loving him and staying faithful even under pressure. —Life Application Bible Notes
3. 2 Tim. 2:11-12 This is a faithful saying: For if we died with Him, We shall also live with Him. 12 If we endure, We shall also reign with Him.
Conclusion
1. God can cause trials to bring joy.
2. God can cause trials to bring wisdom.
3. God can cause trials to bring blessing.
4. The next time you go through a trial you have one of two choices.
a. You can be a "Gloomy Gus" or a "Negative Nelly" and complain about it.
b. You can rejoice and say "Count it all joy!"
Proposition: God wants to take the trials in your life and through them produce in you fruit that will last.
