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James chapter 1, beginning in verse 1. James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. To the 12 tribes in the dispersion, greetings. Verse 2. 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, let it run its course, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith with no doubting. For one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord, for he is double-minded, unstable in all his ways." Heavenly Father, We just have to have your presence today. We need you. We need you. We have lying in our laps the sacred word of God, the living powerful. You have said it's alive. It's powerful. It's effective. It's true. It's complete. It's unchanging. It has the answers, all answers that we need to live our lives as your children. So help us as we study this Word today. That we would recognize that this is the Word of the living God to His living people. And that we would enter into the text and understand what is being communicated. And then through that miraculous work that only you can do through your Holy Spirit, that you would unction our heart, that you would enlighten our mind, that the truths would affect us. Lord, it's not enough this morning if we just hear some stuff. If we just get a bit more knowledge in our heads. That alone is not enough. Lord, we need knowledge, because without that, we're not even at the starting line of the Christian life. But Lord, in addition to knowledge, help us through your Spirit that we might have understanding. And when we understand Your Word, that You would bring us face to face with a crisis of our belief, that we would then be moved by Your Spirit to believe it, to accept that it's true. Then we can go from this place this week and live it. So give us knowledge, give us understanding, and give us hearts to accept and believe. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen. I want to speak to you this morning on the subject, what trials have to do with faith? What trials have to do with our faith? The book of James. teaches us how to live as a Christian. And that's the theme that I've chosen for this book. The book of James teaches us how to live as a Christian. Another title or another theme that others have suggested. Someone has suggested that the theme of this book could be faith works. A practical guide for the Christian life. And certainly this is true of the book of James. You may be here this morning asking in the deep recesses of your heart a question that I think that all of us who know Jesus have asked at one time or another. Why do we face trials? You may be asking yourself, if I'm saved, shouldn't my problems be over? And there is a popular theology that is especially espoused on religious television. These popular pop preachers, and they will tell you that you can live your best life now. Let me just tell you something, if you're living your best life now, you're on your way to hell. My best life is not being lived now. My best life is going to be lived for eternity when I see Jesus Christ face to face and I'm set free from this bondage that I have to this flesh that drags me back. Do you ever feel like that? You want to progress with God in your Christian walk and you take two steps forward and then you find yourself blowing it. Have you ever done that? Alright, maybe you don't, but I blow it. And then I'm like, why? You know, I felt like I was, you know, I really felt like the last week was going good. And then all of a sudden it seems like I go back a little bit. And I bet you, if you know Jesus, I bet you, if you look at your life, your life looks like this. I was talking to Joe the other night, and we were talking about the fact that sometimes when we get saved, we think that spiritual growth is gonna be like a rocket. You know, it's just, you get saved, and it just goes, whew, just like that, straight line. But that's not how the Christian life works. Because we're still battling that old nature, and we're still struggling with the results of our past that we're reaping fruit today in our present. And there's a lot of outside things that are going on. And so the walk with Christ, my walk with Christ looks something like this. Yes, it's a growth, but it goes like this, and then it dips down a little bit. grow a little bit more and it's down, and it goes like this. And yes, if you chart it over time, I'm definitely going that way. I'm growing in the Lord, but it's not a straight line. And this brings us really to one of the major themes in the book that we are gonna begin to study today. What is the purpose and why, as Christians, do we face trials? I mean, if I'm saved, shouldn't my problems be over the moment I got saved? I mean, sure, my sinful past decisions caused many problems, but now that I'm saved, shouldn't things be smooth sailing for me? C.H. Spurgeon in his devotional, Morning and Evening, writes this. Untested faith may be true faith, but it is sure to be small faith. It is likely to remain little as long as it is without trials. Faith never prospers so well as when all things are against her. Tempests or storms are her trainers, and bolts of lightning are her illuminators. When a calm rains on the sea, spread the sails all you want. The ship will not move from the harbor, for it is on a slumbering sea that the keel of the boat also sleeps. Let the winds, however, rush and and howl, and let the waters begin to lift themselves. Though the vessel may rock and her deck be washed with waves, and her mast creak under the pressure of the full and swelling sail, it is then that she makes headway toward her desired port." End of quote. And James, in the opening of this book, is going to show us in no uncertain terms that tested faith is strengthened growing faith. And ultimately, a faith that is tested is a mature faith. You see, testing in the life of the Christian is the pathway to spiritual maturity. You want to grow in Christ. You want to grow from one level of strength to another. As a Christian, there is no pathway to spiritual maturity other than through the storms, through trials. And that's the argument that James is going to lay out for us this morning. It's also interesting that we will see as we get into this study that James makes a case of the fact that if you are without testings and without trials in your life, you should be very concerned. I mean, if you can look at your life and say, you know what, for me, it's just pretty much smooth sailing. I do whatever I want and everything seems to be pretty much okay for me. You see, the tests are an indicator James is going to show us. It's an indicator that God is actually at work in our life, not that He's abandoned us. The person who never has a trial in their life, that simply means that God has abandoned them or they have abandoned God. And there's a serious question as to whether they're even saved. So what do our trials have to do with faith? Now I want us to go back and look at these four verses, beginning in verse number one. And so in this sermon, I want to lay us a foundation for what we're gonna look at. And yet I think you will see how it ties together with the theme of our study this morning. Notice verse number one, James, A servant, that word is doulos, literally it is translated a slave or a bond slave. James, a bond slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we find the writer of this little book is this gentleman by the name of James. Now, I hope you have your Bible, and I hope we'll begin to learn to use it a little bit. Hold your finger there, okay? Don't lose that text. And go back to the book of Matthew. Now, who is this guy? Because when you find out who this guy is, it really makes a difference, and you start understanding what he's telling us. Go back to Matthew chapter 13. Matthew chapter 13. Let's find out who this guy is, alright? Matthew chapter 13. Look at verse 55, 1355. Okay, so Jesus has begun His earthly ministry, and He comes back to the town or the village of Nazareth, and it says that He comes to His hometown in verse 54, and on the Sabbath, He taught in the synagogue. And it says in 5th verse 54, now this is the hometown where Jesus grew up, right? So it says, they were astonished. The people were astonished when Jesus showed back up in town as an adult, and he begins to teach in the synagogue, and they said, where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Now listen, look at verse 55. Is not this the carpenter's son? I mean, is not his mother called Mary? We know this kid. I mean, we've been living in this village our whole life and we watched this guy grow up. I mean, isn't this the son of the carpenter, Joseph? And isn't his mother, Mary, still live just up the street there? Notice what else he says. And are not his brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters still living in this town? Okay, you see the name that pops up there? So, by the way, there is a false teaching in certain religious circles that says that Mary was a perpetual virgin. It's a lie. Mary was a virgin when she conceived Jesus Christ of the Holy Spirit. And she brought forth, what did Luke say? Her firstborn son. And wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger. But Mary and Joseph had at least four other sons. And they also had some sisters, which remained nameless. So we know that there had to be at least two girls and four boys. I like that. I have seven kids. There was at least seven kids in this family. And Jesus was the firstborn. So Mary gives birth to Jesus, and it was a virgin birth. In fact, Luke says that she did not know Joseph. Joseph did not know her intimately, sexually, as husband and wife, until after she had brought forth her firstborn son, Jesus. But after that, They lived as husband and wife, and they had at least six other kids. Now listen, if there's a religion that will lie to you about that, it throws into question everything else they tell you about Jesus and salvation. Okay, you don't have to agree with me, but I'm just telling you. I mean, if they're gonna lie to you about, it's clear in the word of God, she did not remain a virgin. So James, we find out in Matthew chapter 13, the writer of this book is actually the half-brother of Jesus. Interesting, isn't it? All right. Now notice, okay, so you're in Matthew, now go again, go over to John, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. I want you to see something else about this guy. Look at John chapter 7. John chapter 7. It says, Verse two, the Jews feast of booths, this is the Passover, the feast of booths before Passover, was at hand. So his brothers said to him, so his four brothers come and say to Jesus, leave here and go to Judea so that your disciples also may see the works you're doing. For no one works in secret if he wants to be a famous person. If you do these things, show yourself to the world. Now look at verse five. For not even his brothers believed in him. So at this point in Jesus' ministry, James and Simon and Judas, these brothers of Jesus, they did not believe he was the Messiah. They did not believe he was the Savior of the world. They heard his message, they watched his life, but how would you like that? I mean, how would you look at your brother, right, and come to the conclusion that he's God in the flesh? I mean, they were just struggling with this. And at this point, in John chapter 7, in the ministry of Jesus, James, who's writing this book, was not a believer. He didn't accept. So they did not immediately believe it. By the way, have you ever heard of these writings called the Apocrypha? Have you heard of it? Some of you have heard of the Apocrypha. In some Bibles, there's a middle section called the Apocrypha. And these are intertestamental historical writings that some religious traditions say are part of Scripture. And they tell lots of stories. And some of the stories that the Apocrypha tells is that Jesus as a little boy worked miracles. But there's no biblical record that it ever happened. And indeed if it had happened, I mean imagine hanging out with your brother and your brother's like doing miracles. You'd be convinced, right? There's something different about this kid. Hey, do it again, make us, you know, build that fort again. I mean, you know, I mean, if you can really zap out some miracles as a kid, again, false teaching, you know, false understanding. Jesus, it said, did not begin to do miracles or teach and preach until he was 30 years old when he began officially his earthly ministry, which lasted just over three years. All right, so this brother of Jesus, half-brother of Jesus, by the name of James, was not a believer during the ministry of Christ. Now, go to the next book, go to the book of Acts. Acts chapter one, look at verse 13. Now, something happens. So, Jesus now has been crucified, and he has gone into the grave, and on the third day, he is risen again. And now, something happens. Acts chapter 1 verse 13 and verse 14. And when they had entered, so this is after Christ has ascended back into heaven, the disciples have gathered on the hillside. Jesus has commissioned them to go and preach the gospel. And while they were watching, he ascended bodily up into the clouds. The angels came and said, guys, go. He's coming, but you need to go and preach the gospel. So they entered into the upper room where they were staying. Notice, Peter and John, there he is again, and James. And Andrew and Philip and Thomas and Bartholomew dropped down to 14. And all these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer. Look, together with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus. Now here it is. And his brothers. So somewhere between the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus, His own brothers believed. They were convinced. What convinced them? The same thing that convinced them that He was in fact the Son of God, the Savior of the world, is the same evidence that we have through which we believe. And that is that He rose again from the dead. And they saw that He had risen from the dead, and it confirmed in their thinking that indeed He was who He claimed to be, and they trusted Him as their Messiah. They believed. Alright, one more. You know what? Go back to the book of James. I'll just give it to you, and if you're writing the text, you can write it down. James later becomes the lead pastor of the first church in Jerusalem. And you find that in Galatians chapter 2, verses 9 through 12, and again in Acts chapter 12. So he believes in Jesus after the resurrection, he's with the disciples, and then eventually, after the day of Pentecost, he eventually becomes the head or lead pastor amongst all of the disciples in this church at Jerusalem. The Jewish historian Josephus says that James was stoned to death for his faith, in the year AD 62. Now scripture doesn't itself doesn't give us the account of James's death, but the historian Josephus says that he was stoned for his faith. He was stoned to death. And so we find that the writer of this book, James chapter one, verse one, James, now let's read it again. Okay. Why am I making this point? Notice what James said. James, a servant, a bond slave of God, and a bond slave of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you see it? You see, the character of James, the one who is writing, notice how he introduces himself as he's beginning this letter to these Jews that have been dispersed across the known world because of persecution. He introduces himself as a bond slave. Now, he could have introduced himself and said, hi, this is James. You know me. I'm the brother of Jesus. He doesn't mention it, doesn't say a word. How does he introduce himself? He says, Hi, I'm James, a slave of Jesus Christ, a bond slave of Jesus Christ. You see, a slave or the doulos was someone who was the absolute property of the master or the slave owner. His complete existence as a bond slave was and his complete delight was to know what the master wanted done and do it. That's what a bond slave lived for. To understand what the will of the master was and to fulfill the will of the master. And so James identifies himself here as a slave of God and a slave of Jesus Christ. His identity. So when he's looking at others, he's saying, here's how I want you to view me. Don't view me as some important person related to some other important person. Don't relate to me. Don't look at me just because I'm the lead pastor of the church at Jerusalem, which had at least 5,000 people. He says, that's not how I want you to view me. Here's how I want you to, when you look at me, I want you to identify me in my actual role. I am a slave of Jesus Christ. That's his identity. Notice it's also his authority. Whatever this slave does while carrying out his duty to the master, he is under the authority of his master, and he carries the authority of his master. In other words, when he's sent to do a job, when he's sent to go and purchase something, when he's sent to sell some of the master's goods, he's not doing it in his own power or his own authority. He's coming in the name of his master. Do you know that's what we do when we pray? Do you know why we pray and we sign off our prayers in Jesus' name? Amen. Do you know why we do that? We do that on purpose. Why do we do that? Because the authority that we have in prayer is because of our relationship to Jesus Christ. Because I'm your bond slave and you're my master, I have the right to look to my master who is going to provide all of my needs. I have nothing of my own. I own nothing of my own. I have no power to do anything on my own. I'm a bond slave. I am the complete property of my master. Jesus Christ is my master. Therefore, I exist to serve Him. I exist to obey Him. And I can look to Him and say, You're the one that provides my needs. You're my master. I'm your slave. You're my master. Isn't this the whole teaching of the New Testament? He says, why do you worry? You know, why are you all worried about what you're going to wear and how you're going to get a salary and where you're going to live? Don't you understand your master knows you have need of all of these things? Don't worry about those things. You serve a loving master and he'll sort those things out because he's the master, you're the servant. And James comes right in at the beginning of this writing, and he says, I want to identify myself. And he doesn't say, you know, I'm Dr. So-and-so. I'm the pastor of the biggest church in the ancient world. He doesn't come in and say, hey, you know who I am? My brother is Jesus. He doesn't throw that kind of weight and that kind of identity around. He doesn't do that. He's not approaching it at a human level or a relational level. He's saying, my identity, the way you should view me, is I am a slave of Jesus Christ. That's his identity. Also carries with it a responsibility. A slave existed for one thing, and that was to obey his master. James is saying, I exist for one thing, and that is to obey and serve my master. It also speaks of a relationship. It is the master-servant relationship. And notice what he says, James, a bondservant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. So who is it that James serves? Who is his master? Listen, everybody here serves somebody. No, no, me, I'm free. No, you're not. No, you're not. There's nobody free. You either serve self and sin, Or you've been set free from sin and Satan's control so that you can become a slave to God. No man can serve two masters. For you will love the one and hate the other. You cannot serve God and, in this case, money, but God and anything else. And so notice who James says he serves. He serves God. Who is this God? The word that's used here speaks of the supreme creator of the universe. He's a servant of the one who spoke all of this into existence. I mean, if you're going to serve somebody, go for the best, right? Go for the person who's all powerful. The person who can speak it into existence. That's the person you want to serve. He says, I am a servant of God, the one supreme creator of all the universe. And I am a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. The word Lord is the one who exercises supernatural authority over mankind. The Lord. In other words, when James says, I'm a servant of the Lord, he's saying this Lord, Jesus Christ, he is my Lord, he is my master. Basically what James is saying is the Lord Jesus Christ has the right to tell me what to do. Do you know what? Jesus tells us what to do. He tells us what to do. He tells us how to live our life. He tells us the principles of the kingdom. And James is saying, he's my Lord. He's my master. He has the right to tell me what to do. He's also Jesus, which means Yahweh is salvation. The word Jesus means Savior. It's a title of divinity. Remember the angel when he came and announced to Joseph, he says, don't be afraid to take Mary, your wife. The thing that's conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. You will call his name Jesus. For He will save His people from their sins. He's the Savior. And then He says He's the Lord Jesus Christ. The word Christ is the word Deliverer or Messiah. And so we learn about the one who's writing to us in this book. James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. And notice who he's writing to. To the 12 tribes in the dispersion. So the 12 tribes. These are Israel. He's speaking to Jews. He's writing to Jews. who have been dispersed across the known world. They've been scattered. The dispersion means the scattering, and some of your translations actually say that, that are scattered abroad. So these people have been in Israel, and they have come into terrible time of tribulation and persecution, and they have fled to the various regions of the world, to various cities and towns across. They've been dispersed. They've been scattered because of persecution. And James is writing to them to encourage them. And then he says to them, greetings, which means to be glad or rejoice. So what does he now say to them? And that's what we're gonna look at for the next number of weeks. So what does this servant of God, James, say to these people who have had to flee persecution and rush away and be separated from their homeland and separated from their loved ones? What does he say to them? Look at verse two. Now I want you to see in verse 2, 3, and 4, and I'm just going to touch on them quickly, and then we will close. But I want you to see three things about trials. What do trials have to do with our faith? So here they are. Let me tell you what they are, then I'll go back and see it in the text, and we'll be done. Number one, Christians will face trials. That's verse 2. Number two, Trials serve God's purposes. That's verse three and four. And lastly, we will conclude with trials are a reason for joy. And that's the beginning of verse number two. So let's let's look at those things. Number one. Christians will face trials. C.H. Virgin again says this, no faith is so precious as that which lives and triumphs through adversity. Tested faith brings experience. You would have never believed your own weakness had you not needed to pass through trials. And you would have not known God's strength. had his strength not been needed to carry you through your trials, end of quote. Look at verse two. Christians will face trials. There's two things that James says to these Christians who are facing tribulation and persecution. Number one, he tells them that trials are certain to the 12 tribes in the dispersion, in the scattering. Count it all joy, brothers. What's the next word? When? He doesn't say count it all joy if you face trials. He says what? Count it all joy when you face trials. So trials in the life of a Christian are certainties. Trials will come. And they come to prove the quality of something. And this something James is talking about is to prove the quality of your faith. So these 12 tribes are Jewish Christians who have believed in Jesus after the resurrection, and they have been scattered far and wide by persecution. The Jews had first been dispersed by the nation of Assyria in 722 BC, and the southern kingdom in 586 BC. But when James is writing to these Jews, these were people who were alive at that time, who were, because of persecution, they had fled to other countries. Now, history tells us that when they got to these other cities and other countries, They looked up other Jews, thinking that they would be received and be helped. But you see, these Jews in these foreign cities had lived there since, some of them for 700 years, 500 years. That was their homeland. And now these persecuted Jews, these Christians, are fleeing and coming into these towns and cities, and they're being pursued by Rome. To associate with these Jews is to bring problems on yourself. And so they would get to these towns and cities thinking that other Jews would come to their assistance, but in fact they were rejected by the Jewish expatriate community in those nations. And then they were often exploited by the Gentile government. of the day. Sometimes, in fact often, these refugees, not only were they mistreated, but sometimes they were actually enslaved. There was no one to speak for them. And so they would arrive in these towns and cities, they would be taken advantage of, they would be persecuted, and then they would be taken as slaves. And so James is writing to them, saying to them, brothers, okay, so now imagine the suffering. They've left everything. They've lost their home. They've lost their farms. They've lost their vineyards. They've lost their houses. They fled for their life. They get somewhere. They find their brethren, and their brethren have nothing to do with them. And now they're oppressed by the governments of the dead. And James is going to write to encourage them. So here's what he says. Count it all joy, brothers. I mean, what kind of a sadist is this? What kind of a letter writes to those kind of people who are suffering that kind of persecution, going, hey guys, be happy. Count it all joy, brothers, when you encounter various trials. Say, whoa, there's gotta be something here. I mean, there's no way that you just feel happy when you're persecuted. There's no way you just feel happy when you total your car. There's no way that you just naturally feel happy when you lose your job. There's no way that you just feel happy when your kids go off the deep end and do stupid stuff, and you're wondering if they're ever gonna fix their life, right? I mean, these trials that come to us, and we're supposed to be joyful? So what does he say? Christians will face trial. Notice what he says. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness or endurance. So not only are trials certain, but notice that James then says that trials are varied. Notice what he says. He says, when you meet trials of various kinds, different kinds, it's not always the same trial, is it? These believers had to flee their homes. They left behind much of their belongings. They ran to a foreign land to start over. Listen, trials come to the life of a Christian and they're different. We don't all share the same trial, but we all face trials. For some of us, here this morning, our trials are economic trials. We look forward six months or three months or one month and we do not see how in the world we're going to make it. It's a trial. There are various trials, economic trials, personal disappointments. I mean, you've given yourself for something. You've worked so hard for something. And at the end of the day, it all goes flat. It doesn't work. You lose out. You're discouraged. Various trials. You know, criticism. You're criticized. Have you ever been criticized by people? Have you ever been talked about? It hurts, doesn't it? It hurts. You feel that critical, you hear those critical comments, you hear someone talk about that that was a stupid message you preached last week. Did you hear that Mr. So-and-so, they said that was the worst sermon they've ever heard. And all of a sudden, that criticism doesn't feel good. Now, no one of course here would ever say anything like that, but I'm just saying if they did, if they did. That's a trial. Illnesses from nowhere that there's an illness comes upon you. And six months ago, you not even thought about it. And suddenly someone that you care about so dearly is going through the dark valley of a serious health issue. And you're walking that path with them. Or maybe you're the one in that. And it's a serious trial. Sometimes we face trials because like these people, we're seeking just simply to mind our business and live according to the mandate of scripture and people in the world don't like it. So they don't give you the contract because you want to do it right. You want to just simply obey Jesus, and give a fair quotation, and give a fair work for a fair contract, and they twist you, and they whatever, and they want to go under the table, and finally they give the contract to somebody else. Those are trials. And he says, brothers, don't think it's strange when you encounter various trials. In fact, Count it joy when you face various trials. You see, trials for God's people is not something that is unique. All the way back to the beginning of the book of Genesis, there's a guy by the name of Joseph. He's one of the sons of Israel. And his brothers envy him, and they can't speak peacefully to him. And so they capture him, and they throw him into a pit, and then they sell him to Midianite slave traders. And they get 30 pieces of silver, and they take him down to Egypt as a slave. A guy by the name of Potiphar, who is a powerful general in Pharaoh's army, buys Joseph. And Joseph is faithfully serving as a slave in Potiphar's house. And Potiphar's wife casts her eye upon him and said, whoa, he's a hunk. And he begins to tell him every day when he comes to work, after the husband has gone off to the military barracks, she's going, hey baby, come lie with me. Come on. And he's trying to do his work, and he's refusing day after day after day after day, and one day he walks in, he goes, come on, come on, I want you. Grabs him by the coat to force him into her bed, and he sheds off the rope and runs out the door. And now she's ticked. So she keeps the coat. As soon as the husband comes back and says, you know what this guy did, this slave that you brought in? Look what he tried to do. He tried to come and rape me. Look at it. I got his jacket. When I yelled, he ran away and left his coat. What happens to Joseph? Now he's in prison. That's a trial. And by the way, the prison didn't just last like a week or two. He was in there for years. Years. I mean, The trials that God's people face are not unique. Paul, the writer of Philippians, where we were just studying, Paul himself speaks in 2 Corinthians 12, verse 7, of having a thorn in the flesh. Some kind of physical ailment that troubled him every single day of his life. And he begged God to remove it, to heal him. And you know what God finally said to Paul? Stop praying for healing. That's what he told him. I mean, you can read it. 2 Corinthians 12, verse 7. He says, no, I'm not going to heal you, Paul. My grace will be sufficient for you. Because my power is demonstrated best in your weakness. So in the midst of your ailment, whatever it was, As you just faithfully obey me and serve me in the midst of pain and physical suffering, I am glorified. So I am not going to take the sickness away. It is not God's will every time to heal everybody in this life. I know that's not popular theology. It's just biblical theology. It is not God's will to heal everybody of every sickness in this life. But if you're a child of God, there is coming a healing. When we see Jesus face to face, this old body of flesh that's discrepant and I get malaria and have aches and pains, all of that's going to be gone and I'm going to be given a perfect body. One that is perfect like Jesus. Paul faced this thorn in the flesh. Listen, trials for God's people are not unique. Alright, so first thing was, we as Christians face trials. Notice the second thing. Trials serve God's purpose. You see it in verse 3 and 4. Notice what he says. Two things. Testing produces endurance, and endurance produces maturity. Look at it. Verse 3. For you know. Here's how you can be joyful in trials. Because there's something you know. For you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance or steadfastness, verse 4, and allows steadfastness to have its full effect so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing, that you may be mature. in your faith, lacking nothing. So testing, number one, trials serve God's purpose. Testing produces endurance. Endurance is a product of patience. You see, when God brings test into the life of a Christian, it is something that is actively affecting our life. It produces something. Testing or to be tested. The word testing means to be tested as though in battle. It's to test something, to see if it's trustworthy, if it's genuine. And James is telling these people, your faith will be tested. And in the testing, you will learn steadfastness. You will learn to endure with your eyes upon God. Not only does your detesting produce steadfastness or endurance, but notice what he says in verse four, that then your endurance produces maturity. Let steadfastness have its full work so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing. We mature in our understanding of God and our understanding of His Word. The word perfect means to be fully developed. So a baby in the womb and it's just a little blob of cells, but quickly it begins to form. And when the baby is fully mature, when it's complete or fully developed, then the baby is born. That's the word perfect. So be steadfast, endure these trials that come with a confidence in God, because it is through this trial that you learn endurance. And as you learn endurance, you are being fully developed in your faith. The word complete means whole or entire. So endurance produces maturity in the life of a child of God. We mature in our understanding of God and His word. We mature in our character. Listen, trials test character. Trials test our character. Character is what you really are on the inside. And the apostle James is saying, or James is saying to these believers who are facing very difficult trials in their life, he's saying, rejoice because of what you know about these trials, that they are going to produce endurance and endurance is going to produce character. You will lack nothing of spiritual importance if you will allow God to work and build your life and strengthen you through various trials. And that brings us to the final thought in verse 2. This is why James can say, count it all joy, my brothers. You see, Christians will face trials. Trials serve God's purpose. And number three, trials are a reason for joy. Warren Wiersbe wrote of this text, he said this, our values determine our evaluations. If we value comfort more than character, then trials will upset us. If we value the material and physical more than the spiritual, we will not be able to count it all joy. If we only live for the present and forget the future, trials will make us bitter, not better." End of quote. Trials are reasons for joy when you understand the purpose behind them. James is encouraging these believers who are facing dark days and difficult trials, and he tells them you can have joy in your trial when you consider the eternal reality. The word count means to make a determination based upon the facts presented. In other words, you look at the facts, and you understand the facts, and then you make an application to the circumstance. And because you understand the reality of what God's doing through that trial, you can actually rejoice in it. When trials come, we can respond with joy because we understand what God is doing. He's not seeking to destroy us. He's not seeking to cause us unnecessary pain. Rather, He is developing our spiritual muscles. I have two children who swim on the swim team. And their coaches, these bad coaches, I mean, they actually delight in causing pain to my children. I mean, my poor child has been in the water for I don't know how long. The muscles are paining and they can hardly breathe. And those mean, mean coaches blow that whistle. Another lap. And I mean, I've even had kids crying. I can't go on, I can't do anymore, I can't do it. Go again! I mean, all of us as parents, we're like, yeah, why? Because they just shaved 23 seconds off their best time in the last gala, that's why. That's why. And you guys are all cheering, woo-hoo! Look at that! Hey, hey, Andre, look at that! One second off a record! Why is it that you cause pain to your kids and you actually pay people to make them pain? I mean, it's the truth. It's the truth. And they train and they train and they train and their muscles are sore and they're tired and they eat like a horse when they come home. I mean, I can hardly keep up with it. Carmen, she's only like that big and she, man, she comes home, she like eats three burgers. She's just like, And we all are happy about that. But then God comes and says, let's do some spiritual training. Because I'm going to get you in shape spiritually so that you can run a race that will glorify me. So that you can cross the finish line and I'm going to be there to hand you the reward and say, well done, you good and faithful servant. And then we start moaning and complaining. God's not fair. Why would God do this to me? If God loved me, why would He make me take another lap? God's just not a good God. I mean, do you get the point? This is why we can rejoice. This is why we can count all joy when we're in the pool and our muscles are burning. Because we know what it's about in the end. And we know that we're going to cross the finish line and we're going to be victorious. This is what it's about. And this is why we can be joyful. Trials are a reason for joy. We have joy in trials when we recognize that it is through the trials that the trials are the pathway to spiritual growth. In the test, our endurance has a chance to grow. And when it is grown, you will be mature and complete. Maturity speaks of quality. Completeness speaks of quantity. Your faith will be of quality and your faith will be of quantity. God desires both. A faith that is of quality and a faith that is growing. This is a God-centered faith. This is a genuine faith. This is a growing faith. Look, none of us like pain and suffering. We naturally want to avoid it. Often God lovingly puts us in hard situations so that we can experience His faithfulness and love. It's like being a weightlifter. Got another kid who likes weightlifting. The testing, the pushing of those weights, the testing produces spiritual strength. Do you know what our problem is? Our problem is not that we face tests. Our problem is that we're spiritually flabby. We're spiritually out of shape. And it is only through testing that our spiritual muscles will strengthen. I mean, we send our kids to school. I mean, what kid likes school? Maybe one or two, but not normal kids. Normal kids don't like school. How do you know? Because I was a normal kid and I didn't like school. But we send our kids to school. They take tests. They actually have to study and memorize stuff. In school, testing causes us to learn important truths and prepares us for the next challenge in life. Why would God do it any different? Don't you understand, brethren, you can rejoice because the testing of your faith produces endurance. Let God do his work so that you may be perfect and mature, lacking nothing. So if this is faith, do you have faith? Do you? Various trials prove that our faith is real. So yeah, yeah, I'm in some serious trials. And it's difficult and it feels painful. And I just keep looking to God, hoping he's gonna, he's just gonna have to fix it for me, because this is beyond me. Rejoice! Why can you rejoice? It means God's alive. It means God is in your life. He's there. He cares because He's brought trials to strengthen you. Various trials proved what is necessary for us to grow in faith. Rejoice. So are you facing a trial this morning, child of God? Is there something that you've been facing, something you've been going through and you've just felt the pain of it and you've felt the weight of it and you don't even know how tomorrow is going to flesh itself out? Is that where you are today? Are you a child of God? If you're a child of God, you can rejoice. When you understand that this is how God is actively and lovingly at work to mature you, to grow you, to strengthen you and make you more effective as a servant of Jesus. And that's where we started, isn't it? James, a bond slave of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you have faith in Jesus? Because you can't live the Christian life unless you're a Christian. And you're not a Christian unless you've put your trust in Christ alone for your salvation. That's where you are. I invite you right where you sit. Just bow your head and just invite Jesus Christ. Surrender to Him. Invite Him to be your Lord and Savior. And if you're a Christian here this morning and you say, look, I know Christ is my savior, but I'll tell you what, I have been facing some very, very difficult, painful, hard trials. Then I would say to you, get God's perspective in that trial and rejoice that he loves you enough to strengthen you in that way, that he loves you enough to be with you in that way. knowing that the trying of your faith produces patience or steadfastness. Allow endurance or steadfastness to have its full effect so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing. Father, we all, as your children, face trials. It really is the gift, it's the gift that you give us to strengthen us, to strengthen our spiritual understanding of you, our spiritual muscles to endure, our spiritual understanding to help others who are facing trials. Thank you for James. Thank you for his humility. We thank you for this letter that teaches us how a Christian is to live. I pray that you would strengthen us in our trial this week, that you'd give us hope in our trials this week, that you'd give us eyes of faith to see behind the veil, to see your purposes as James has explained them to us this week. Thank you for the gospel that sets us free from sin and gives us eternal life through Jesus. And thank you for the gospel that allows us to live victoriously in spite of the circumstances we face. In Jesus name, amen.
What Trials Have To Do With Our Faith
系列 James
讲道编号 | 25171233566 |
期间 | 56:52 |
日期 | |
类别 | 周日服务 |
圣经文本 | 者米士即牙可百之公書 1:1-4 |
语言 | 英语 |