(I last gave this message at Community Alliance Church in Port Saint John Florida on July 30, 2017.)
In
athletic competition there is one thing all athletes need no matter what their
sport, football, basketball, baseball, water polo and so forth. They need
endurance, physical strength and stamina to compete successfully in competition.
In other words, they need to “be in shape”! Therefore most sports have a period
of preparation before competition begins. The Florida Marlins go to Spring
Training early in the year to prepare for their season. The Miami Dolphins have
their Training Camp each summer as they prepare for the start of the season in
the Fall.
May I
suggest to you that there is a parallel between the physical the spiritual
world. What is true in the physical world is also true in the spiritual world. We
need the power to endure and mature spiritually.
If I were
to ask you to list for me what is needed to build spiritual endurance and
maturity, you would probably put the following on the list: prayer, Bible
reading, Scripture memorization, the teaching and preaching of the Word, small
groups for fellowship and accountability, evangelism, outreach, mercy
ministries, and so forth. There is, however, an indispensable item that most of
us would leave off the list. James deals with it in the opening verses of his
letter.
James 1:1-8, 12 (NIV) ""James, a servant
of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve
tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings. Consider it pure joy,
my brothers whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the
testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that
you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks
wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault,
and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt,
because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea blown and tossed by the
wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he
is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does....Blessed is the man
who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive
the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him."
I suspect that some of you are
facing circumstances this morning that you would consider to be a trial. Something
you would not ordinarily choose to go through, but are facing none the less. The
good news, is that God has provided us with truth, here in James chapter one, that
will show us both the purpose of the trial, and how to respond to the trial, so
the trial can be used by God, for our good and His glory.
Note with me, first of all that trials
are God's means of spiritual conditioning. James says it is through trials that
we develop perseverance or endurance, steadfastness (NASB) or patience (NKJV). Trials
are God's means of conditioning us, getting us into spiritual shape; His means
of increasing our spiritual strength and stamina.
What is a trial? William Barclay says the word
translated “trial" is a “...trial or testing directed towards an end.” in
other words there is a purpose behind the trial. That is the meaning of the
word. For several years when I lived in Gainesville right outside my living room
window, each year Cardinals would build a nest and begin a family. When those
eggs hatched the baby birds begin to mature and grow feathers. They learned to
move and flap their wings not merely for exercise but in preparation for the
day when they would jump out of that nest and learn to fly rather than drop to
the ground below.
There are four things James tells
us about trials in this passage. First of all, there are various kinds of
trials, verse two. In other words trials come in many forms. Let me note at
least two broad categories of trials. First, there are trials that we suffer
because we are human and live in a fallen, sinful world. Trials like sickness, accidents, dangers and crime. The list is endless.
About two
weeks ago Bill Perry, a pastor friend of mine from Fort Lauderdale, was
involved in a serious auto accident while returning from two weeks of camp
where he was a speaker. His car hydroplaned on the highway and crashed into a
tree, totaling the car, breaking bones and severely injuring Bill's head. He
remained in a coma until he passed away last Sunday morning at seven in the
morning. Every day Christians suffer trials, to numerous itemize here this
morning. Many, simply because we live in an imperfect, fallen world.
Secondly,
there are trials we suffer because we are Christians - unpopularity, ridicule,
hostility, hatred, misunderstanding, and persecution. Today violence, even
death are the daily experience of Christians in various parts of the world. Jesus
said we should expect trials because we follow him. John 15: 20 “No servant is
greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.”
James
tells us four things about trials. There are various kinds of trials. Secondly,
trials test our faith verse three. A number of years ago there
was a major earthquake in Kobe Japan a city where I went to school while living
in Japan. The experts were surprised at the failure of buildings and roads that
had been designed to withstand earthquakes greater than 7.2 on the Richter
scale. I watched an interview of engineers on their way to Kobe to study what
had taken place. They said that you cannot test the structural integrity of a building
in a laboratory. You have to go to the sight of the earthquake and examine the
effect of the earthquake on the structures.
James
says that trials put our faith to the test. The word translated “test” is the
word “dokimon.” It is the same word used for coins made of a genuine precious
metal. For example “sterling silver” is a term we used for pure silver.
Peter
uses the same word in 1 Peter 1:6-7 “...now for a little while you may have
suffered grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith of
greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire - may BE PROVED
GENUINE and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is
revealed.” (emphasis mine)
So there
are many kinds of trials. Trials test our faith. Then as we said earlier there
is a purpose built into the trial. The trial is designed to produce something. Notice
thirdly, verse three, the testing produces endurance, or perseverance (NIV),
patience (NKJV) or steadfastness (RSV). The New English Bible translates it “breeds
fortitude.”
The word
does not speak of just passively accepting something. The word speaks of an
active enduring with a purpose. Someone has said, “Hupomone is the quality
which makes a man able, not simply to suffer things, but to vanquish them.” William
Barclay writes, “not simply the ability to bear things; it is the ability to
turn them into greatness.”
Pastor Warren
Weirsbe writes, “In the Bible patience [endurance] is not passive acceptance of
circumstances. It is a courageous perseverance in the face of suffering and
difficulty.” Friends, that is what our trials are intended to produce. That is
the silver lining, so to speak, in the cloud.
Pastor Greg
Hinnant, "The power to endure is strictly a matter of spiritual conditioning,
of what level of difficulties we become capable of handling. Every test we go
through successfully conditions, or prepares us to go through the next one. The
more we take, the more we can take. Every strain we accept and bear in full
submission to God enlarges us and creates within us the ability to bear even greater
adversities with equal ease. In this way our tests are constantly taking us
from one level of strength to a greater one.”
When we
face trails pressure is applied to our faith. If we respond the right way we develop
endurance, the power or ability to endure, the ability to persevere.
So first
of all, there are many kinds of trials, secondly trials test our faith, thirdly
the testing of our faith produces endurance.
Fourthly, endurance
leads to maturity, verse four. In other words, trials are not meant to take us
down a dead end road. Here is what lies at the end of the trial – maturity. The
endurance results in maturity. James describes it three ways. That you may one,
be mature or perfect (KJV), secondly, complete and thirdly not lacking
anything. Williams translates "mature" as “fully developed.”
I
remember years ago after a deep freeze hit north central Florida, the citrus
industry lost acres of fruit trees. After they cleared away the damaged trees, they
replanted the groves with row after row of new young orange and grapefruit
trees. They did not plant those new
trees so the countryside would be more attractive to the tourists. They planted
the trees with the intention of producing new citrus crops as the trees reached
maturity, as the trees became fully developed.
That is
what James is describing here. The endurance that comes through trials will produce
maturity and the fruit of maturity. Verses
three and four in the New Living Testament captures the imagery: "For when
you faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.
So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong
in character and ready for anything.”
Perhaps
you have heard or read of George Mueller, that great British man of God known
as a man of faith who founded an orphanage for hundreds of orphans while never
once asking for money from anyone. Instead he went to the Lord alone for his
needs. He writes, "The only way to learn strong faith is to endure great
trials. I have learned my faith by standing firm amid severe testing."
If you
are a Christian this morning and are undergoing a trial, know that God's
intention is to build His character into your life through the trial. Endurance
results in Godly character. Friends, the trial God allows to come into your
life is getting you ready for something. In Hebrews
5:8-9 it says of Jesus Christ "...he learned obedience from what he
suffered, and once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for
all who obey him.”
Pastor Rick
Warren, “Since God intends to make you like Jesus, he will take you through the
same experiences Jesus went through. That includes loneliness, temptation,
stress, criticism, rejection, and many other problems.” (Purpose Driven Life, p. 197) This morning, do you sense that God is
at work making you like Jesus?
Well, the
obvious question at this point is, How? How do we respond to trials so that God
can turn our trial into a blessing? We have come to the "how to” section
of the text. How we respond to trials will determine whether or not we receive
the blessing embedded in the trial. Notice secondly this morning, three ways to
respond to trials.
First of
all, we are to see the trials from God's perspective, verse two. James says "consider
it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds." Our
first response to those words might be, "Now wait a minute! That sounds
counter-intuitive! Rejoice in our trials?" But remember, we have just
noted three reasons trials are a blessing. They test our faith. The testing
produces endurance (perseverance) and the endurance leads to maturity. So,
James says, in light of God's purpose in your trials consider it joy! In other
words, rejoice that God is working in your life with a purpose in mind. You see,
trials are evidence that God is doing something in your life. So the response consistent with faith would
be, "consider it joy." In
other words, trials are an opportunity to live out the Gospel.
If you
are a Christian, Christ is living in you. Trials present, perhaps, the greatest
opportunity for you to yield more of your life to Christ.
Listen to
the Apostle Paul's testimony, 2 Corinthians 4:7-11, "But we have this
treasure [Christ] in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is
from God and not from us."
Now
listen to the trials that he experienced as he continues. Perhaps you will
identify with his circumstances. "We are hard pressed on every side, but
not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck
down but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so
that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive
are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be
revealed in our mortal body."
Is there clearer
testimony in Scripture that God uses trials to produce the life of His Son
Jesus Christ in our lives? James says
that is reason for joy. Would you agree?
Secondly,
seek the Lord in obedient faith. When we face a trial, we always come to a fork
in the road. Are we going to seek the Lord? Or in the
pressure, uncertainty, perhaps even pain and confusion of the circumstances, are
we going to wander from the Lord? That is always the temptation we face. At
this point, perhaps, we face the greatest challenge in our response to trials.
In his
second letter to the Corinthian church, Paul spoke of being tormented by a
thorn in his flesh, a "messenger of Satan," he called it, a
"thorn" that the Lord would not take away. Instead, this was the
message he received from the Lord, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my
power is made perfect in weakness." (2 Corinthians 12:9) Paul learned to
live in the grace and power of God in a trial that evidently never went away. That
friends, is the essence of the Gospel; the sufficiency of God's grace in the
midst of our trials.
Again
Pastor Rick Warren, “God uses problems to draw you closer to himself. Your most
profound and intimate experiences of worship will
likely be in your darkest days – when
your heart is broken, when you feel abandoned, when you're out of options, when
pain is great – and you turn to God alone." He continues, "It is
during suffering that we learn to pray our most authentic, heartfelt,
honest-to-God prayers. When we're in pain, we don't have the energy for
superficial prayers.”
That is
one of the reasons God allows trials in our lives. It's to push us to Him. It's
to push us into his arms. There is nothing wrong with turning to God because
you are desperate!
Joseph
was kidnapped by his brothers. They wanted to kill him. Can you imagine that?
His own brothers wanted to take his life? But they didn't, instead selling him
into slavery. Then as a slave he was unjustly accused of adultery, (Genesis 38:8,9)
and was put in prison. Put in prison because he did the right thing! He served
his prison master faithfully. If you read between the lines of his story in
Genesis chapters 39 and 40, there is no evidence, not even a hint of rebellion,
disobedience or hardness of heart toward the Lord during his trials that lasted
for years.
There is,
however, another way to respond to a trial in contrast to obedient faith. In
verses six through eight, James describes the man who lacks faith. According to
verse seven, he lacks faith because he is double-minded and unstable. A
double-minded person is one who compromises the will of God. A double-minded
person wants things His way. He'll settle for God's way – if it is convenient. That
is why he cannot believe God for anything. He is sitting on the fence – and he
knows it. He is not obeying the Lord – and he knows it. He is double-minded and
his faith is therefore compromised. He cannot trust God in that condition. So
James says he is unstable. He's blown and tossed like a wave at the mercy of
the wind. Might that describe your response this morning as you face your trial?
The third
response to a trial is to ask for wisdom, verses five and six. First we see the
trial from God's perspective and rejoice. Secondly, we seek the Lord in
obedient faith. The third response is very practical. We ask for wisdom.
When we
are in the midst of a trial we often need wisdom to make sense out of what we
are going through. We need wisdom to understand "What is going on here?” So
James says if anyone lacks wisdom, ask God who gives generously to all.
Pastor Warren
Wiersbe tells the story of his secretary. She was going through great trials. She
had a stroke. Her husband had gone blind. She had taken him to the hospital
where he was not expected to live. Pastor Wiersbe saw her in church and said he
was praying for her. He was startled by what she said next, "What are you
asking God to do?" she asked. “I'm asking God to help you and strengthen
you.” he replied. She then said, “I appreciate that, but pray about one more
thing. Pray that I'll have the wisdom not to waste all of this!” That is the
idea here. Wisdom to know what is going on, and wisdom to know how to respond.
Rick
Warren, "Problems force us to look to God and depend on him instead of
ourselves. You'll never know that God is all you need until God
is all you've got.” Now that is almost frightening, isn't it? You'll never know
God is all you need until you're at a place where God is all you have? Friends that
is where God want each of us to live. That is a good place to be. May I suggest
to you, if you are a believer, sooner or later God will bring you to that place
where you have no choice but to turn to Him.
The
Apostle Paul's testimony illustrates this truth. When you read through the
letters of the Apostle Paul it is hard to overlook his repeated reference to
suffering. Almost every page speaks of some kind of trial that he faced. Writing
the Corinthians he said, verse eight, "We do not want you to be
uninformed, brothers, about the hardship we suffered in the province of Asia.
We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired
even of life." (2 Corinthians
1:8-9) He "despaired even of life"! That's a picture of desperation, if
there ever was one. Perhaps you identify with his feelings. I have. He
continues, verse nine, "Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of
death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who
raises the dead.” Perhaps the greatest missionary and pastor of all time, acknowledged
the value of his suffering. It led him to rely totally on God!
And
sometimes we don't see the purpose right away. Back to Joseph. Years later
Joseph had an opportunity to reveal himself to his brothers. They were
dumbfounded. They were scared to death because of how they had treated him. And
now he stood before them as the second
most powerful man in Egypt. But listen to what Joseph said to them, Genesis
45:5, “But don't be upset, and don't
be angry with yourselves for selling me to this place. It was God who sent me
here ahead of you to preserve your lives.” God had given Joseph the wisdom to
recognize that all of the things we spoke of earlier, the kidnapping, murder
plot, slavery, the unjust accusation that sent him to prison had all been part
of God's plan to preserve his entire family years later, to preserve the nation
of Israel. Are you looking for the purpose of God in your trials? You might not
see it right away. Joseph waited many years for the answer.
David was
sent by his father to his brothers who were with the troops facing the Philistines.
The giant Goliath was daily intimidating the armies of Israel, taunting the
army and blaspheming God. Do you remember what David said when he asked
permission of King Saul to fight Goliath? “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the
lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”
(1 Samuel 17:37)
Do you
see what David is saying here? His argument was based on his victories over
previous trials. Had he not had the victory over the lesser enemies, the lion
and the bear, he might not have been prepared to face Goliath, the greater
enemy. The lesser trials of the past had prepared
him for the greater trial in the present. The trial you face today, could very
well be preparing you for an even great victory tomorrow!
There is
a promise for us in verse twelve. “Blessed is the man who perseveres under
trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the victor's crown,
the life God has promised to those who love him.” (James 1:12)
On December
1, 2008 I lost my job as the result of a major downsizing of the ministry where
I worked. That same month, I went to the dentist and was told I needed a crown
on tooth number eighteen. Then I was told I needed a root canal before they
could do the crown. I went to the optometrist for my annual vision test. He
sent me to an ophthalmologist who diagnosed early stage glaucoma in my right
eye. I had my annual physical that month. When my Doctor saw the PSA result, he
sent me to an urologist, and after a biopsy I was told on December 30 that I
had prostate cancer. Later I was told it was a high-risk prostate cancer. December
2008 was a month I will never forget. But I'm here to tell you that these
trials have pushed me to God in a way that nothing else would have. And I
rejoice in that.
A few
weeks after losing my job one of my colleagues in ministry sent me a devotional
written by Dr. A.B. Simpson, founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance
entitled "Days of Heaven on Earth.” Dr. Simpson writes,
“How did God
bring about the miracle of the Red Sea? By shutting His people in on every side
so that there was no way out but the divine way. The Egyptians were behind
them, the sea was in front of them, the mountains were on both sides of them.
There was no escape but from above. Someone has said that the devil can wall us
in, but he cannot roof us over. We can always get out at the top. Our
difficulties are but God's challenges, and many times He makes them so hard
that we must get above them or go under. In the Providence of God, such an hour
furnishes us with the highest possibilities for faith. We are pushed by the
very emergency into God's best. Beloved, this is God's hour. If you will rise
to meet it you will get such a hold upon Him that you will never be in extremities
again;
or if you
are, you will learn to call them not extremities, but opportunities. Like
Jacob, you will go forth from that night at Peniel, no longer Jacob, but
victorious Israel. Let us bring to Him our need and prove Him true.”
A few months
later, in sharing this with another pastor, I wrote: “I am learning to live out
this truth in these days of testing and challenges.”
I don't
know what trials you are facing this morning, if any. But if you are not
responding to the trial as James has instructed us, this morning you have an
opportunity to change course. If you are fighting with God over your trial, you
have an opportunity to yield to Him. If you have turned away from God, turned
your back on God in your trial, this morning you have an opportunity to return
to Him.
If you
not a believer, having never been born again, the first step in facing your
trial is to repent of you sin, by faith call out to God for forgiveness and
salvation and begin to walk with Him in your trial.
Corrie
Ten Boom was imprisoned in a Nazi death camp where her sister died. She wrote,
"If you look to the world you'll be distressed. If you look within, you'll
be depressed. But if you look at Christ, you'll be at rest."
Jesus'
invitation, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, And I will
give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and
humble in heart, and you will find rest for you souls. For my yoke is easy and
my burden is light." Matthew 10:28-30
(NIV)
