Turning your Bibles to James chapter one, and we'll be looking at the first four verses. Things obviously have changed very quickly in the last week with this whole COVID-19 issue. Today, first Sunday, totally online. And as I mentioned last week, these things have a kind of a way of revealing our weaknesses and our dependence upon Christ. I don't think anyone alive today has experienced anything like this outside of perhaps the polio epidemic. I want all of you to know that we love you dearly and just pray that this would bring us closer together as a church. And I'm grateful for the technology that God has given us to be able to connect in these ways. We're taking a slight detour away from our study in Genesis, obviously. And the reason that I chose James chapter one is because I asked myself, where would a pastor go to find wisdom for shepherding the church when everyone is away from each other. And this is exactly the position that James found himself in. If you recall from a few years ago when we did our study through the book of James, James is the pastor at the Jerusalem church. The church body is dispersed. James, he writes to his dispersed church members. He doesn't have access to live streaming or texting, so he writes them the book of James, and he exhorts them to Christ-like, godly living. Trials have a way of really revealing who we are inside and of course you know the illustration of the teabag. When the teabag is put in hot water you find out what's inside the teabag and it's not that the hot water created the tea but it just pulled out what was already in there. Things that people don't do during times of peace now seem reasonable in times of distress. And I want to remind us that God's rules don't change when we're in trouble. Sin is still sin, no matter the circumstances. And I pray that we'd all embrace the truth of 1 Peter. chapter 1 in verses 6 through 7 which says this, in this you rejoice though now for a little while if necessary you have been grieved by various trials so that the tested genuineness of your faith more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. We don't know how long this thing will last, but I encourage you to seek the Lord while he may be found. Repent, trust, believe, seek Christ. Let's go ahead and begin in a word of prayer. Thank you, Lord, for your grace to us and for your mercy even in these times. We pray that you'd help us to trust you. and to find you sufficient, we pray in Christ's name. Amen. James chapter 1, we'll turn there and we'll be looking at verses 1 through 4, which says this, James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes in the dispersion, greetings. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds. For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. James is writing to the twelve tribes in the dispersion. It's probably just a phrase, though it has kind of a Jewish connotation to it, probably is a phrase that came to refer to all believers in general, Jewish and Gentile believers, and they were dispersed likely because of the stoning of Stephen. In Acts 7, you recall, Stephen preaches the gospel to a Jewish audience. He's murdered by stoning. And in Acts 11, verse 19, we read after this stoning had taken place, it says, now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. Many commentators believe that the dispersion that James is referencing is the same one here in Acts chapter 11. He has a scattered church and he writes a pastoral letter to them in order to continue to shepherd them. And while our situation is completely different, We do find a similarity here in that we find ourselves apart from one another for a season, and thus James' counsel, I think, is relevant to our present situation. So what is that counsel? What does James tell his church members? He simply tells them this, rejoice in your trials. We read in verses two through four, count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness and let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. Back in January of 2016, I preached on these three verses. It was about four years ago. And while some of us were going through trials at that time, not all of us were. And now more of us are facing the uncertainty of our jobs, our means of providing income for our homes. And I know I've communicated with some of you this week, I know teachers, uh... have have lost uh... many of them have lost their jobs uh... and some of you are concerned that you might lose your job as well uh... sometimes a verse like this doesn't impact us like it should during times of peace uh... but during times of panic and uncertainty god makes his word sweeter to us right there's a real dissonance we feel when trying to dissect this passage you know we're actually supposed to be joyful right now Yes, we are. We're not supposed to be happy that people are dying. We're not supposed to be happy that people are suffering. But when we look at our own hearts, we're supposed to be happy that God is refining us. I want to read a story to you. It's a story from back on October 14th, 1987. 18-month-old Jessica McClure fell into a well in her aunt's backyard. And I just want to read to you one pastor who tells this story. He says this. With the rest of the nation, I listened for the reports of the rescuers' progress as they fought rock, equipment failure, and time to rescue 18-month-old Jessica McClure from a well shaft in Midland, Texas. Left alone for a few minutes in her aunt's backyard on a bright October day, the little girl had playfully dangled her feet over an innocent-appearing eight-inch opening in the ground. When she tried to stand up, she fell into the darkness, with one leg up and the other down, Jessica was wedged in the narrow shaft above the water, but 22 feet below the ground. Rescuers drilled a 29-foot vertical shaft parallel to the well and then bored a 5-foot long horizontal tunnel through solid rock to reach her. It took far more time than anyone had anticipated, 58 hours. Medical personnel grew increasingly alarmed and warned that dehydration and shock were becoming greater dangers than the entrapment itself. Finally, rescuers reached Jessica, but they could not pull her out. The way her body was wedged in the shaft foiled their efforts. The health technicians conferred, checked the little girl's vital signs one more time, and then gave these awful orders. Pull hard. She does not have more time. You may have to break her to save her. Jessica was rescued. and is alive today, and it is likely that God is going to use the situation that we face to break some of us because we need to be broken. There may be businesses and churches that will not make it out of this mess. Some businesses were struggling to survive as it is, and now the fact that they have to shut down is going to be even more devastating. Some of you may be working a different job two weeks from now. I don't know. It's all unpredictable. But one thing is for certain, and that is God is in control of all of it. Not one thing has escaped God's notice. God has not failed to act. He is working even now. I'm going to read to you an interesting text from Leviticus. When God is talking about His laws dealing with leprosy, He says this in Leviticus 14 in verse 34. He says, when you come into the land of Canaan, which I give you for a possession, and I put a case of leprous disease in a house in the land of your possession, Now, whether this is done directly or indirectly, God claims, at least here in Leviticus, to cause the disease of leprosy. And whether you want to say that God is causing COVID-19 or that he's simply allowing COVID-19, I think we all agree that God could stop this at a moment's notice. God could stop all of the closure of businesses at a moment's notice. but he has not done so. And that means that he intends to bring good out of it. This is why we must rejoice. And for our Genesis study, you know that we've been focusing on Genesis chapter 50 and verse 20, where God reminds, through Joseph, reminds his brothers that God is bringing good out of it. What they meant for evil, God meant for good. And of course, this is why we must rejoice. I have not heard anything from the name it and claim it crowd. They have been silent as far as I know. Why can't we just follow their advice and say coronavirus is not real, coronavirus is not real? I mean, you need a theology that is relevant in all situations and the name it and claim it theology, the prosperity gospel, it all falls short. It cannot deal with trials in a meaningful way. And not all people rejoice in trials. I want to give to you one of the bad ways to respond to trials. Remember, James is saying here to have joy in our trials. The Greek philosophers had many different responses to trials, but one school of thought among the Stoics was that they said trials reveal your strengths. And so basically it was like this, you know, look how tough I am because I'm handling all of this difficulty. And unfortunately, this response to trials has found its way into the church today. I want to give to you a really bad quote. that is going around today that sounds more like this kind of Greek stoic philosophy than it does the Bible. And the quote is this, if God puts a Goliath in front of you, he must believe there's a David inside of you. This theory of trials teaches us that God gives us trials to reveal our strengths. I mean, there must be a David inside of you. You must have this inner strength if you have a trial in your life. So that we're supposed to go through this trial and say to ourselves, you know, oh boy, oh boy, I never realized how tough I was and how sufficient I was. You know, thank you God for teaching me how strong I am. This is absolutely unbiblical because we have the opposite purpose. for trials revealed in scripture. The Bible doesn't tell us that trials are given to reveal our strengths. The Bible tells us that trials are given to reveal our weaknesses. Just a couple of texts on this, 2 Corinthians 1, verses 8-10. For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experience in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to what? That was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril and He will deliver us. On Him we have set our hope that He will deliver us again. Or take, for instance, chapter 12 of the same book, verses 9 through 10. Of course, you know this is Paul's thorn in the flesh. Notice that there's nothing in here about this thorn in the flesh revealing Paul's strength. There's no discussion of Paul saying, well, there must be a David inside of me because of this trial. We read this, he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you. for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities, for when I am weak, then I am strong." Modern Christians want to boast in their inner David, but Paul boasts in his weaknesses. God uses trials not to expose our strength, but to expose our weakness. And what does that do? It increases our dependency upon Christ. This is why we're supposed to be joyful, because we look to Christ and we find him sufficient, not ourselves. We have to look outside of ourselves for sufficiency. And not only this, But in James chapter 1 he gives to us this progression that demonstrates that trials really do have a good effect. Look at verses 2 through 4. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds. Why? for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. And so the progression here is that trials produce steadfastness, and steadfastness produces what? Mature Christians, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. Jesus prizes your spiritual maturity more than he prizes your prosperous ease. And we often panic in trials because we do just the opposite. We prize our prosperous ease more than we prize our spiritual maturity. But in James chapter one, he's telling us you need to prize your spiritual maturity more than you prize your prosperous ease. And so trials now, instead of an occasion for despair, they become an occasion of rejoicing because I know God is working in me to make me more like Christ. There's a quote that's attributed to Spurgeon, and I've not heard for sure that he said it. I haven't been able to find the actual source of it, but it's a pretty widely known quote that says, I have learned to kiss the wave. that throws me against the rock of ages. The idea that whatever trial just hits me and pushes me closer to Christ, I rejoice in that difficulty. I rejoice in that trial because now I am closer to Christ. Psalm 119 in verse 71. says, it is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes. It is good for me. I mean, the entire Christian life, the entire testimony of scripture is telling us the absolute opposite about trials than what our intuitions are telling us. The Bible tells us the opposite of what our culture is telling us. And I think oftentimes God uses this. And I would encourage you As you continue to find rest in Christ, look for opportunities with others who are just totally besides themselves right now, don't know what the job is going to be like, don't know whether they're going to be laid off right now, don't know what's going to happen. We can have encouragement in Christ, knowing that He has bigger plans and purposes than simply a job for tomorrow. He has our spiritual maturity in mind. Suffering and trials are a benefit to the Christian, even if they are unpleasant. Rejoice in the trials that God has given to you, and don't miss out on what Christ is doing in you. Let me just give to you a few practical thoughts, and then close with a quote by Thomas Brooks. First of all, as I mentioned at the beginning here, if you have any needs that we can help you with, please let us serve you, and please don't be proud. Let us be an encouragement to you. This is a time of need. Some of us are doing fine and some of us are not doing fine. Can we pick up groceries, household supplies? Can we do something that's a blessing to you? Especially those of you who are perhaps more susceptible to this. outbreak, consider staying home and letting us help drive something to you, pick up prescriptions or something of that nature. And if you do have your needs met, let me encourage you to help others during this time. And we're talking physically as well as spiritually. Perhaps God will use this to open up hearts to the gospel. Check on your neighbors and try to be a blessing to them. Many of you are asking me, what can I do? What can I do? How can I help? And honestly, I don't have a lot of practical things right now because A lot of you are saying, we're fine. So I know that a lot of you are looking for ways to serve. And I would just encourage you probably the biggest thing right now is just make sure that your neighbors, family, friends are taken care of. Point them to Christ and to the gospel. Let me encourage you along another line as well here. If you are tempted to think that everything is a government conspiracy, please don't get totally caught up in that thing. I understand and I admit that I myself find it hard to trust the government. And believe me, I'm thinking through those scenarios, too, and finding myself asking the question, OK, how much can the experts be trusted? How much of this is real? How much of this is not real? All of those things. But at the end of the day, I just want to say this. It doesn't matter who's against us. It doesn't matter if it's the government that's against us, or if it's the virus that's against us, or if it's the quarantine that's against us, or if it's the closed grocery store that's against us, or if it's a lost job that's against us. Christ is king in all of it. I mean, whatever is going on in all of this uncertainty, Christ is Lord. And I guarantee you that the church in its history has faced far worse things than what we're going through right now. Thomas Brooks says this, he says, Oh, sirs, this is a real and rare truth, but seldom thought on. Namely, that God will sometimes more carry on the growth of grace by an affliction than by an ordinance. Afflictions ripen the saints' graces. By afflictions, God many times revives, quickens, and recovers the decayed graces of his people. By afflictions, God many times inflames that love which is cold, and he strengthens that faith that is failing, and he puts life into those hopes that are languishing, and new spirits into those joys, and comforts those that are withering and dying. Look to Christ. He's sufficient. Don't parade your strengths. Let Christ expose your weaknesses and let Christ expose your need to Him and let your love increase and let your grace flourish in your life. Be patient with others and think of their needs and not just yours. Trust in Christ for salvation. Let this be an opportunity for repentance. perhaps if you don't know Christ. And if you do know Christ, continue to repent and ask God to search your heart and know you and try your thoughts. Christ is enough. Let's pray. Thank you, God, for your mercy to us and your kindness. We thank you so much for the church, and we thank you for the opportunity that we have to minister to one another. Provide those open doors, we ask. I pray that those in our church that perhaps may be distressed right now, you would bring them comfort and encouragement. I pray for those who are fearful that perhaps they could lose their job come Monday morning, that you would encourage them, knowing that it is part of your plan and that you will provide for them. I pray that if this trial does anything, it causes us to stop trusting ourselves so much and causes us to trust you all the more. We pray that you'd help us to look to Christ and to point others to Christ and to find Him satisfying in all things. We ask this in Christ's name. Amen.