This morning we are going to launch a new series in the book of James, and the book of James going to meet us right where we are right now in the ups and downs of life.
I remember when my wife and I were taking our children through potty training, and that season of life kind of reminds me of this season of life.
If you don’t have children in Austin, TX this might not resonate, but when you potty training children you have days that are great. Everything goes where everything is supposed to go.
But then there are days where things don’t go where they are supposed to go, and life hits you with some surprises where you get pee and poop all over you, and that’s what life kind of feels like right now.
For the most part, life is great. People are great. Our circumstances are great, and then out of nowhere you get a little surprise, and it’s like getting a pile of pee and poop all over you.
Therefore, over the next couple of months we are going to walk through the book of James and we’re going to see God’s Word teaching us how to live out our faith practically, and this morning we are going to kick off with joy in the midst of trials so that we are going to focus on three sub-points; 1. Who Is James? 2. What Is Joy? 3. How Do We Persevere? Lets get into our first sub-point; 1. Who Is James?
- Who Is James?
James 1:1, “1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings.”
In verse 1 we see the author of James is James. You’re welcome. And James identifies himself as, “a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Now, I don’t know about you, but I don’t find that description very helpful. In fact, it sounds kind of generic until we press into God’s Word to find out that James wasn’t always a servant of God and our Lord Jesus.
In fact, when we read the book of Matthew and the book of John we find out that James was someone who was incredibly skeptical of “God and our Lord Jesus”, and it’s because James grew up with Jesus as Jesus’ younger brother. Dun-Dun-Dun!
Most of us don’t think of Jesus having a younger brother so let that sink in a bit. Technically James is Jesus’ half brother because Jesus’ mom was Mary, and Matthew and Luke tells us that Mary was a virgin when the Holy Spirit came upon her in a supernatural way and Mary conceived, and gives birth to Jesus. That’s Christmas! That’s the miracle of the Virgin Birth!
After Jesus is born, Joseph and Mary have other children, and James grows up with Jesus as his big brother, so let’s just take a minute to imagine what it must have been like for James to grow up in that family.
I have an older brother. His name is Franz. When I was little my older brother was a legend. First, his name is Franz! Second, this is what he looked like in the 1980’s when I was a little kid.
How do you not idolize that guy! I am sure we have all heard about sibling rivalry, but can you imagine what life must have been like for James to grow up with Jesus as a big brother?
You know Jesus never got in trouble. You know Jesus always did what his parents asked. You know Jesus got perfect grades. Ugh!
Then, imagine one day your family is sitting around the table eating dinner. Everyone is talking about their day, and then one of your older brother says, “Oh yeah, I got some news to share!”
I don’t know if I mentioned this, but I AM GOD IN THE FLESH! I am the one who has existed from eternity past to eternity future. I am the creator of all things. I am the visible of the invisible! That had to be crazy!
Well, as you can imagine James, like any normal sibling, was skeptical. Specifically, James didn’t believe in Jesus claim to be God until Jesus is put to death at the cross, and Jesus then resurrects from the dead and stands before James.
Because honestly, that’s what it would take for all of us to believe that our sibling was God in the flesh, and that’s exactly what’s happened in James’ life.
Almost immediately in the life of James we see James go from one of the most highly skeptical people in Jesus’ life to the leader of one of the most influential churches in the 1st Century and has 1,000’s of people coming to faith in Jesus life, death and resurrection.
You can read about this in Acts, because the book of Acts is what happens after Jesus’ resurrection, and specifically in Acts 8 we see follower of Jesus being persecuted.
That’s why James writes the phrase “the twelve tribes scattered” because James is writing to a people who have come to faith in Jesus. Living through persecution and James is writing to bring encouragement. Let’s look at our second sub-point; 2. What Is Joy?
- What Is Joy?
James 1:2, “2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds”
First, we need to clarify that a trial is any hardship that happens outwardly in our circumstances, or inwardly in our temptations. Write that in your devotional. A trial is any hardship that happens outwardly in our circumstances, or inwardly in our temptations.
Second, notice in verse 2 it says “whenever” we face trials. It isn’t “IF” we face trials, but “WHEN” we face trials. Did you know in most cultures people assume things will go wrong in life, and when they don’t go wrong, they are surprised. But, in our culture we assume good things should happen in life, and if good things don’t happen, we are surprised. This is a unique challenge for our culture.
We had someone visit our church in Austin, TX on a Sunday morning from Zimbabwe, and that week we had a firestorm of political activity in the news and I said, “Sorry about all the political chaos.” They said, “Have you ever been to Zimbabwe?”
In our community group in 2020 we got together to talk about all the chaos of the pandemic, riots, racism and then we turned to the person who just moved here from Venezuela, and we said, “So sorry this is happening in our country” and she said, “In Venezuela, this is nothing.”
It’s because in our culture we assume good things should happen, and surprised when they don’t, but I need you to see God’s Word teaches us in verse 2 “trials are going to happen.” It’s not “IF,” it’s “WHEN.”
I can’t stress the importance of this truth enough, because the majority of teaching in the local church today in Austin and around the world is that Jesus has come to help you avoid trials, but verse 2 makes it really clear, “No, trials are going to happen.”
This is true for the original audience in the first century. This is true for other parts of the world, and this is true for us in 2022. Trials are going to happen.
Therefore, the challenge in verse 2 is to “consider those trials pure joy” and I am guessing that sounds bonkers for many of us in the room, therefore, we need to be clear on this word “consider.”
The word “consider” means to reflect, contemplate, and to think carefully, therefore, verse 2 is calling us to think carefully about our trials. Do you see that? The “it” in verse 2 is the trial. We are to think carefully about our trials…because the Lord uses “trials” in our life to help us grow and mature in Him – this is why we “consider our trials pure joy.”
Think about it practically. If you want to run in a 5K you go and test yourself by running around the block to see how you are going to do in the 5K. If you are on a sports team, you go and play in a tournament to see how good your team performs. If you’re a musician, you put on a live performance to test yourself, so you know how much you need to practice.
In verse 2 we see the Lord is going to bring trials into our life, and God’s Word calls us to “consider them pure joy” because they are helping us grow and mature in Him.
In those moments of those trials are faith is refined. In the moment of those trials God’s Word lands on our heart differently. In the moment of those trials our prayers are more dependent, and those trials are helping us grow and mature in Christ! Consider it pure joy!
I was talking to someone in our church family in Austin a couple of months ago, and they said, “Pastor, I am concerned, I am not a joyful person.” I said, “Tell me about that.” They said, “I am not bubbly. I am not fully of energy. I am not a walking around smiling all the time.”
I said, “I am not sure joy is simply an outward expression.” When God’s Word calls us to “consider our trials pure joy” it doesn’t mean we should show up to funerals dancing and waving our arms. That would be weird.
A biblical understanding of joy is an attitude of trusting in the Lord inwardly because we are trusting that He is using these trials in our life to help us grow and mature in Him. Let’s look at our last sub-point; 3. How Do We Persevere?
- How Do We Persevere?
James 1:3-4, “3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
First, the word “perseverance” means to endure through trials. The word “perseverance” means to remain patient through trials.
Most of the time we want trials to go away, we want to avoid trials, so they never happen, but verse 3 teaches us our attitude toward trails isn’t to suck it up and white knuckle it through the trial, but God’s Word calls us to persevere. What does that look like? Let’s talk about it practically:
Imagine we are going through life as a church in Austin and everything is going great. The sun is out, there’s a song in the air, everything is great and then it happens. A trial enters our world.
Perhaps we have an argument with our spouse, maybe we miss an assignment at work, another variant shows up in the news, or maybe there is an inward temptation of lust, anger, or bitterness.
In that moment there is an exposure taking place that our hearts have been anchored to the things of this world that aren’t stable and secure. In that moment we are finding out that our strength and security isn’t that strong and secure, and that’s what makes trials terrifying.
In that moment we are seeing that our marriage isn’t as strong as we thought in Austin, our career isn’t as stable as we thought in Austin, our health care systems aren’t and secure as we thought, and this is why God’s Word teaches us to “consider out trials pure joy” because it is the trials of life that are teaching us to turn to Him and trust Him!
Therefore, we persevere with the Lord by turning to the Lord in prayer. My natural impulse in trials is to figure it out, work hard, stay later, but verses 3 and 4 are teaching us to turn to the in prayer!
In our prayers we tell the Lord whatever is on our hearts. We tell the Lord we are scared, we are weak, we are angry, we are frustrated, and we do that over and over and over and over.
We also preserve by turning to His Word when we find ourselves in those trials in Austin. My natural impulse is to neglect God’s Word. I feel so uncomfortable by the trial it’s like my whole world is derailed, and verses 3 and 4 say, “No, preserve by turning to His Word.”
It is in God’s Word we will find hope. It’s in God’s Word we will find strength, we will find perspective, so that we can filter our trials through His Word and rightly understand how to persevere through the trial.
Lastly, we preserver by turning to the body of Christ when we are in trials. My natural impulse is to isolate, hunker down, figure it out, but we need one another in our trials.
We need to send out texts to one another. We need to come forward in prayer. We need to meet together for meals. We persevere in our trials because our faith in Jesus is like a muscle. We strengthen our muscles by stretching our muscles, challenging our muscles, putting our muscles in places they’ve never been, and as a result they grow.
In a similar way, might we consider the trials of life pure joy, because they are helping us grow and mature in Jesus. In my life personally the Lord has carried me through many trials, but I will tell you this pandemic has been wearing on me. The ups and downs, starts and stops have been a lot. Sometimes I will joke with our elders, “I don’t think I got another variant in me.”
As we close, I am confident that not all of us have persevered through this pandemic with pure joy. Self-included. I am sure that all of us have checked out periodically, or resisted the Lord spiritually, and maybe even stored up bitterness and frustration.
You need to know the mercy of Christ is available to all people this morning. James’s story was a story of rejecting the trial, but Jesus’ mercy was available to James, and Jesus’ mercy is available to every one of us this morning. Therefore, no matter how we’ve responded to this pandemic, might we turn to Jesus this morning?
Jesus is the One who is God in the flesh, and Jesus is the One who has come to take the greatest trial of the cross upon Himself. Jesus didn’t die on the cross because of any trial that He created in life. His death at the cross was because of our sin, and Jesus took on death because of our sin, and Jesus conquered death in the resurrection, so that any trial we go through today is just a shadow.
But we have to turn to Jesus. We have to confess our need for Jesus. We have to give our lives to Him, and we need to do that today!
I will close with this; you know those painters who seem to throw paint on the canvas randomly as a part of their show? I don’t know what it’s called, but the painting of the art is kind of a show in and of itself. They throw paint all over the canvas, and as the viewer you are thinking, “What’s this guy doing?” This doesn’t make any sense.
Then, at the end, the artist turns the painting right side up, and you see this amazing picture of a man walking next to the lake with the moon setting in the background, and it’s amazing. Have you seen this?
You need to know, what we are walking in right now is kind of like that painting. In the midst of it we are thinking, “This doesn’t make any sense!” But you need to know when you are in Christ our Heavenly Father doesn’t waste any paint. Every drop has purpose. Every turn of events is useful. Turn to Jesus.
We will have some people at the front for prayer. Don’t stay in your seats and go through these trials alone. Reach out in prayer. Reach out as a step of faith. Reach out so as to physically say, “I am not going to quit. I am going to persevere. I am going to trust the Lord!”