All right, here we are, James for Beginners: Practical Christianity.
This is lesson number two in the series. And the title of this lesson is, Beyond the Trouble.
Beyond the Trouble. We'll be covering James chapter 1, verses 2 to 12 in this particular lesson.
Let's do, just a little review, just a minute or so of review.
We said that the author of this epistle is James,
who was the earthly brother of Jesus.
He was not the apostle James. There's a passage in
First Corinthians 7 when he says, when Paul says, "Then He," meaning Jesus, "appeared to James, then
to all the apostles." So that James there, is this James here.
He was a leader in the church in Jerusalem.
We said last week that he was killed in Jerusalem, he was martyred in Jerusalem, by Jewish leaders there.
Also, that he was writing this letter to the Jewish
Christians who were living outside of Jerusalem, who were growing weak in their faith.
And we said that in his letter, he explains that Christianity is a way of life and
Christians have a particular way that they act and deal with life, that sets them apart
from other people. And the point that I was making last week is that
Christianity is not just rituals, and church-going, and candles, and statues, and all kinds of - it's not that.
It's not ritual.
There are some rituals in Christianity, but Christianity is a way of life. That's what Christianity is.
James has a very practical approach to how to live that life
and it applies even to us today. That's why we're doing it.
These people are not simply churchgoers.
They're people who react to things that happen to them in this life.
differently than unbelievers.
Unbelievers react to life in one way, believers act react to life in a different way.
He begins with how a Christian reacts to the trials of life. So that's where he starts.
His lesson, and when I say trials, trials include adversity, inconvenience, personal suffering,
injustice; and injustice doesn't have to be the military comes in, takes over your home, kicks you out,
not just that kind of injustice. Injustice -
you take your car to the garage to have a simple thing fixed and you get ripped off for $3,000.
You find out later that they just did something that they didn't do. That's injustice, when you're cheated.
All kinds of trials in life.
So let's read what he says about that chapter 1, verses 2 to 4, he says,
"Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,
knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And
let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete,
lacking in nothing."
So he starts by describing how a Christian should react to life's trials; and more importantly, why this reaction.
He says that they should see these trials as a cause for joy.
Non-Christians, non-believers, they have trials too, but their best reaction to trials can be,
perhaps, a sense of stoicism.
Sort of a quiet acceptance, can't do anything about it anyways, might as well just not get all excited.
Or a certain resignation or bravery. I know a lot of people who don't believe in God, don't believe in anything,
and all of a sudden they get cancer or something. They're very brave.
But one thing that I don't see that non-believers - I don't see this reaction in their repertoire of reactions to trials,
I don't see joy. That I don't see. I don't see joy, and yet, that's what he's saying here.
Christians, they ought to be joyful when there are trials.
Only Christians react in this way, and this is what makes them different.
Remember, we said, the point was Christianity is a lifestyle. Christians, they live differently than other people.
This is one of the ways that they live differently - they react with joy when facing trials.
So James provides them the reason for this very different response to trials.
Because, if you think about it,
that, kind of, doesn't make any sense. Something bad happens, you're going to be joyful?
So he says, basically,
when there are trials in a Christian's life, he knows that specific things are happening to him, not just the trials.
There's other stuff going on. There's the trial yeah, but there's this other stuff going on here at the same time.
James describes several in these opening verses. For example, in verse 3a he says,
a person's faith is being examined. This is what's going on at the spiritual level.
So there's a trial you're facing, that's fine,
but what's happening at the spiritual level? Well, James is saying, at the spiritual level, God is taking your life
and He's holding it up to the light,
so to speak, and He's examining your life.
God is involved in your life at that moment.
God doesn't normally send the trial,
but He does use trials in our lives as an opportunity to examine the quality of a person's faith.
How good is your faith? What kind of faith do you have?
Well, you find out what kind of faith you have when you go through trials.
And not only are you examining the type of faith that you have, even if you can think of that at that moment,
but God is also examining the faith that you have at that moment.
Faith, if you wish, is examined in three ways.
A little helpful thing here.
First of all, faith is examined through storms.
What are storms?
Well, problems of all kinds.
Your 15 year old daughter gets pregnant.
That's a storm, isn't it?
Your son crashes your new SUV.
That's a storm.
You get fired from your job. That's a storm. You get audited by the IRS.
That's a storm. Your business starts to, kind of, go under. That's a storm.
Your wife leaves you. That's a storm.
The storms of life. You go in for your flu shot. You come out
and he makes you take a blood test and you find out two days later that you have Leukemia.
That's a storm.
Our faith is also tested by fire.
Fire is temptation.
The temptation to, what? Well we can chew up the whole 35 minutes - come on!
Let's list them, all kinds of temptations.
Not just "moral things".
Being unfaithful to your spouse, those type of things.
But I mean, temptations to cheat, to puff yourself up, temptation to take advantage,
temptation to, kind of, think of yourself more than what you really are.
The temptation not to help when you can. Those are temptations. It's not always about stealing and violence.
The fire,
storms of temptation in life, and your your faith is also tested through the desert.
Loneliness.
People do very strange things,
desperate things, when they're lonely. It's not a sin to be lonely.
But people do terrible things, because of their loneliness at times.
They do things they would never even think of doing.
But they do it.
They do them when they're lonely or when God seems far away.
You go to church. You come to class. You do bible class. You come Sunday nights.
Bring food to the pantry. You do all the good things and
yet, it seems that God is so far away. He's not answering your prayers. It's like you feel dry, spiritually.
Christianity is like, man, am I - I'm just going through the motions. There's nothing to it.
I don't have any joy.
I'm not getting anything out of it.
All these things, times when our faith is examined.
So what does he say?
He says, when the trial is happening - something over here is happening -what's that thing happening? Well, your faith may be tested.
Then he says, the testing of faith through trials produces endurance.
And endurance is the ability to remain steady under pressure.
We can all remain steady when everything's going great. It's when you're under pressure, and you remain steady.
Remaining steady, what are some examples of remaining steady? Well, not quitting. That's remaining steady.
Quitting on whatever: the problem, the job, the relationship, not quitting on parenting.
Sure, all those of you who've raised children have been tempted to quit on parenting.
Not complaining, not losing faith, or hope.
Not losing love. Some people think that because they have trials in their lives, it gives them the
authority or gives them permission not to be loving.
I got troubles in my life, I don't have to be nice.
Not getting angry at the situation, at the person, at the trial, at God.
Have you never said to yourself, what are You doing? Or, would You just leave me alone?
This virtue here, of endurance, the thing about it is, it cannot be produced in any other way.
There's no other way to produce endurance.
Except going through the fire.
Going through the storm. There's no other way to do it. Going through the desert.
And then he says in verse 4,
spiritual endurance, the testing of faith through trials, produces endurance. And that endurance
ultimately creates the spiritual endurance. This stability.
Endurance leads to stability. Not losing it in the face of trials. That's the mark of the mature Christian.
It's what we look for in our elders, isn't it?
Because there's so much stuff going on in the church. At the same time
crisis in four different families' lives, plus financial issues, plus -
Anyways, all kinds of stuff happening all the time. If you've never been to an elders meeting,
you've never seen the agenda they have. I mean, it's crazy.
I remember Paul and Julia,
our son and daughter, our two oldest ones, talking about bearing, not to lose their bearing when they were in the military.
It was important to maintain your bearing, and Julia, I remember once
had earned a promotion, a merit promotion and she was very proud of that.
We were proud of her. And it just so happens that we were there,
near where she was at the time in training.
And they were allowing the parents to present the bars. What are the bars? You know, the stripes. Yeah, chevron.
That's it. They were permitting the parents to participate in the ceremony,
which is a great thing for our daughter, really proud of her in the Marines.
And I remember the day before,
when Julia was saying we could do this. And we needed to be, she said, now dad,
don't you be fooling around.
Don't you be trying to make me laugh.
Don't you be hugging me and calling me, sweetie pie, or just trying to -
I must maintain my bearing. Don't embarrass me.
Don't try to make me lose it. And I didn't. I didn't. I was the one that was looking at my daughter -
I lost my bearing, but it wasn't important. I guess I had a right to do it.
So anyways, James begins by saying that the Christian religion,
this way of life, this way of thinking,
considers trials a cause for joy. Not because we're nuts, not because we're masochists,
but because through these things, God matures and strengthens and perfects
each individual believer. And this maturing spiritual condition
produces peace and confidence and a true experience of joy in the inner man, in one's soul.
The end result of endurance is peace.
The end result of endurance is confidence.
It's the thing that says, I can do this.
I've been here before. I've been in this desert before.
I've undergone this fire before. I know what this is like. I can do this.
Now he continues, in verses 5 to 8, to say that God doesn't leave you alone in these trials.
He provides help.
So we read in Chapter 1 verses 5 and 6,
he says, "But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all generously
and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven
and tossed by the wind.
For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord,
being a double-minded man, unstable
in all of his way." So he continues to talk about trials.
But here he mentions the help that God provides Christians, so they can successfully face these trials.
God does not want us to fail.
And yet, so many of us think that God is out there just waiting for us to fail. He doesn't want us to fail.
You fathers and you mothers, do you want your children to fail? Of course not.
Why would our father in Heaven want us to fail?
We don't always find out the why of the suffering and the trials, but if we maintain faith,
we eventually come to know who is there with us and how He provides for us during these times.
So he says in verse 5a, he says, "But if any of you lacks wisdom."
Wisdom here, is in connection with the trial itself.
In other words, the ability of seeing the good and the truth within the situation that we are experiencing.
Not just the pain and the inconvenience.
Because many times when we face a trial, the only thing we see is the trial.
It hurts. It's costing me money. It's inconvenient.
I want it to stop. All of our energy is on this.
So James is saying, but God, if you allow Him to, will open your eyes to other things.
That wisdom other things connected to that, to that trial, that you may not have seen before.
For example, perhaps the trial is teaching your need for more dependence on God.
That's usually the lesson, when you've been, kind of, stripped down to almost nothing.
That's usually the lesson you've got to learn.
It's like God is saying, I'm going to show you how much you need me. I'm going to take that away,
that away. Oh you're confident in your strength. Are you?
Okay, well, I'm going to take that away. You got big money in the bank? Well, wait a minute,
let me deplete your account here.
Let me just bring you down, down, down, down, down, until you understand that you need me for everything.
Because you seem to be forgetting that you need me for everything.
Perhaps the trial is there to teach us the destructiveness of sin or
the quality of our friendships.
How many people have said, I didn't realize how many friends
I had until this happened; or I never realized that these people were not really my friends until this happened.
Of course, the brevity and the value of life.
You come close. Somebody just t-bones you in your car.
Wham, bang. Hits you and your car goes spinning and rolls and totally destroyed and you walk away
with maybe a broken wrist or just a minor injury.
And you look at the car and people say, I don't know how you survived that.
That makes you think, whoo,
life is precious.
And it doesn't have to be even something that dramatic. It could be coming through a surgery or whatever.
Whatever the insight, it requires wisdom from God to perceive the true nature of what is happening to us.
And God provides us with this wisdom to see these things. That's what he's explaining here.
And then in 5b he says,
"But he must ask in faith, without any doubting. For the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea,
driven and tossed by the wind."
Prayer is the next resource that God provides.
First resource when we're in trouble, what does He provide? Wisdom. Wisdom to understand more. What's going on?
What's the second resource? Prayer.
Prayer is the way that one actually gains wisdom and insight. You don't gain the -
How many times has it happened to you that in the middle of your prayer,
all of a sudden, the little light comes on about something,
that has nothing to do with what you're praying for.
Right?
God gives us insight while we pray. In the middle of our prayer sometimes.
Sometimes He gives us insight, and it's the thing that provokes us to prayer.
Like we can't oh, thank you so much. Oh, I've just seen this thing.
God has provided Christ as our mediator. So that we can come before God in prayer;
and the Holy Spirit as our intercessor, so that our prayers come before God in an acceptable manner,
Romans 8:26. Then in verses 6 to 8 he says,
"But he must ask in faith, without doubting. For the one who doubts," as I said,
"is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from
the Lord. Being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways." In these verses, James explains how we
should pray - without doubt.
Because trials and sufferings, what do they do? Well, they cause us to doubt.
Without doubt that God hears us and He's at work for us and without changing our minds.
Are you a believer or are you not?
Are you only a believer when things go well?
That's what he's saying here. Make up your mind. Are you with us? Are you not with us?
Are you in or are you out?
The sincere man of prayer says
and does things according to God's will. Some people pray by saying, God please help me,
but they think, in their hearts, that this is not really going to work
and doesn't follow up the prayer by doing what is right.
This isn't praying, this is gambling.
Some people they don't pray, they gamble. They gamble with God. Not a good thing.
Not a good thing.
This is the attitude that says, well, I might as well pray. Got nothing to lose. Can't hurt.
Wow, there's a giant of faith for you.
This is the guy I want with me in the boat that's sinking.
In difficult and unsure situations we often need to take a first step of faith, even when we don't know what the
second step is going to be.
Some people, they say they want the whole thing laid out in front of them by God,
before they actually take one step.
I want to see all the steps and I want to see the result God, and if you do that for me,
I will take the first step. That's not faith.
That's walking by sight.
Sometimes, really, the only thing you see is the first step. That's all. You don't see steps 2 to 10.
But God will reward you for taking step number 1. And many times the reward is seeing what step number 2 is.
That's how He operates.
And a Christian understands that.
So then he continues, James, getting back to our text here, verse 9 to 11,
he says, "But the brother of humble
circumstances is to glory in his high position; and the rich man is to glory in his humiliation,
because like flowering grass he will pass away.
For the sun rises with a scorching wind and withers the grass; and it's flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed;
so too the rich man, in the midst of his pursuits will fade away."
This here, you might think, you read that, you say, what does this have to do with everything that we're talking about?
Well, here James provides examples of the wisdom that God provides for the man or the woman of faith and prayer.
First of all, the wisdom concerning poverty, because lots of times the
trials that we suffer either bring us to poverty or are caused by poverty.
So he's giving us, James here, an example of wisdom that comes from poverty. He says,
recognizing one's true wealth in Christ is the wisdom that helps the one suffering in poverty have hope.
The people in Haiti, their normal life, we wouldn't want their normal life.
We wouldn't want their normal life.
Because their normal life is terrible.
Terrible. We know that. We have missionary there. We've talked about Haiti many times.
Poorest country in the western hemisphere.
We wouldn't want their normal life, but now, since the hurricane, oh my.
They have no sewage system.
So when the water comes rushing through, it takes all the trash, the garbage, the sewage and everything, and it
just goes through their houses and their fields. And nothing. They're living out in the open with little babies.
And yet, I've been there to preach.
I've been there to preach, the building's packed.
I've been there traveling from village to village to teach.
And I remember one time our jeep got stuck. We were in the mud.
I had to cross, like, a river, and it was
overflowing and there were people already stuck ahead of us out in the jungle.
And they said, don't try it. We've been here hours trying to get our car out. You won't. And the village we were
going to was on the other side.
And two or three days later, when I was doing a seminar just for
preachers in the in the main city, in Port-au-Prince, one of them
came from that village that we never got to and he said the people waited for four hours for
you people to show up.
Nobody had a cell phone.
You think anybody around here would wait four hours for the preacher to show up and do a lesson?
I don't think so.
Yet, they have a zeal for God. They have a zeal for God's word, that is refreshing and
humbling at the same time. Because they understand this wisdom concerning their poverty.
Yes, they say to me, we are poor, brother Mike.
But isn't it wonderful, brother Mike, that we're all going to the same place in a little while.
That's the wisdom that helps them bear under that poverty.
Then in here is the wisdom concerning riches.
Because riches also bring trials right? How many people have destroyed their life because they've got too much.
They're materialistic, they're focused on their things.
Very dangerous.
He says, recognizing our true position before God and our need for Christ is the wisdom that humbles the
wealthy man and prevents him from being blinded and hardened by his wealth.
He understands that he cannot depend on his wealth for salvation. That's the wisdom that He gives to
the wealthy man, in order to maintain his soul. Isn't it interesting, God's interested in maintaining salvation.
Maintaining the soul for the poor person, it's the hope of heaven, but you know what? For the rich person,
it's the hope of heaven, too.
For the poor person, don't let it discourage you from going to Heaven. And for the rich person,
don't let it get in your way of getting to heaven.
So the poor man sees how rich he is and the rich man, how poor he is.
Because God has given wisdom to both. This is what James is saying here.
Both poor and wealthy Christians need to pray with faith, in order to possess the wisdom to deal with their
particular life circumstances. Without this wisdom, the poor might become discouraged and quit,
and the rich might be blinded by wealth and lose their soul.
So he comes to the conclusion, verse 12,
"Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life
which the Lord has promised to those who love Him." So James
phrases the reward for enduring trials like a beatitude. Blessed is the man. Blessed is the poor in spirit.
Blessed are the pure of heart, they will see God. Well, it's almost like a beatitude here.
He says that those who persevere in trials will be blessed, will be happy for several reasons.
Number one, he will be approved.
This means, he will be found to be genuine.
God takes you, He examines you through trials, and then He tells you you're okay. You're good to go. Boom.
You're good to go.
The trials are used by God to separate the sheep from the goats. You know the great scene in
Matthew 25, the sheep on one side, the goats on the other. A lot of people think that's the way it's going to be. No.
The separation, brothers and sisters, is going on now.
Now is the separation.
Now is the time when He's separating. And how does He do it? Through these trials.
Persevering is like a fact check that verifies that one, indeed, is a true disciple. An approved and tested one.
Number two, those who persevere will be happy,
because happiness is born from the realization that as an improved or approved disciple, one can look forward
to the reward promised to all who are approved, the crown of life,
which is eternal life. If I'm approved, that means I'm okay. That means I'm going to get my reward.
That's a good feeling. I like that. That brings joy.
And then, happy also because endurance is a definite proof of our sincere love for Christ.
I love you, Lord, is easy to say. I love you, Lord. But when our actions say, I Love you, Lord,
that's when it counts.
That's when He's pleased.
So, blessed is the one who endures trials, because his endurance is a witness of his faith.
A witness of his love. A witness of his maturity in Christ.
Also, visible proof that there is a crown of eternal life waiting for him, waiting for her in Heaven.
Now, I want to make another little point here. We have five minutes. Let me just use that up for this.
I want to highlight the difference between happiness that's joy, and excitement,
which is stimulation.
Okay, difference between happiness, which is joy and excitement, which is stimulation.
Happiness is a much sought after state of being. And there's nothing wrong with searching for happiness.
But most people search for it in the wrong place and in the wrong manner. For example,
you cannot obtain happiness by acquiring.
It doesn't work. The math doesn't add up. It's the wrong equation. It's the wrong chemical compound.
It doesn't work. You cannot produce happiness through the act of acquiring things.
Acquiring power, acquiring fame, acquiring play, whatever you want to acquire,
you can't produce happiness that way.
Ask people who have acquired many things, and they will tell you that neither the acquiring
nor the possession of things
have brought them long-lasting happiness.
Because acquiring and possessing provides stimulation or excitement,
not happiness. That's why people confuse happiness with stimulation.
So, gaining, winning, buying, shopping,
these things provide excitement. That's not a sin, by the way.
What's the most dangerous thing in the world? One-click shopping on Amazon.
Right. How many have bought that $79 juicer at 3 in the morning?
They got your credit card information and everything. All you have to do is click and
instantly you get an email saying, yeah, it's on its way - sucker.
The point I'm making here, is that all of these things, they provide excitement. Which is a pleasant feeling.
That's true.
But the problem with it is that excitement demands repetition to maintain the stimulation.
You've got to keep repeating it over and over to
maintain the stimulation.
But we mustn't confuse this process, and the feelings that it generates, with happiness or joy.
It's not the same thing. The difference between excitement and happiness is that excitement, while stimulating,
does not last.
And it is not satisfying spiritually. Actually, too much excitement can make you ill.
Happiness, blessedness, joy, on the other hand, is a well-being within oneself that lasts and
lasts and lasts. And no one can take it away from you.
It produces - this kind of happiness I'm talking about - it produces peace of mind and satisfaction that is the
opposite of being obsessed.
Obsession is a mark of unhappiness by the way. People obsessed with something,
the obsession is not the problem. It's the unhappiness inside that is the problem.
Now the happiness and blessedness that the Bible speaks of, begins to take root when one becomes a
Christian, by confessing Christ, obviously, repenting of sin, being baptized in his name.
In Acts chapter 2:36 to 38, Paul talks about the - or Peter talks about that.
So this is where Peter is telling people what they must do. And he says to them,
"Brethren," he says, Peter said to them, "repent and let each of you be
baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift
of the Holy Spirit." So at this point in time, two things happen to contribute to happiness:
one, sins are forgiven,
"baptized for the forgiveness of your sins." Your sins are forgiven. What does that do? It eliminates guilt.
The burden of guilt and shame and fear and dread of punishment and condemnation - that is gone.
Why? Well, it just says right here, "your sins have been forgiven".
And number two, he says, the Holy Spirit is given. "And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."
That guarantees spiritual growth and guarantees resurrection. So where does joy or happiness start?
Well, it starts right there.
When sins are forgiven and the guarantee of Heaven enters into our soul.
But happiness continues to grow as our faith is tested throughout our Christians life.
Throughout our Christian lives.
This is what we've just read about in James. He explains how trials produce happiness in the Christian.
What is left unsaid is that we need to expect trials and be ready for them, because brothers and sisters they
always come. You may have hit a good patch that lasted two months, two years, twenty years,
I guarantee you the trial will come eventually.
This increasing happiness will be complete and permanent when Jesus comes to bring with Him,
to heaven, those who have been faithful
despite the trials.
So when we examine ourselves a good question to ask is, am I seeking happiness or excitement?
It's okay to seek excitement. It's part of life. Why do you think we go to a football games?
Excitement. Baseball games or sports? Or you know, what? Why do we do that?
Excitement, then, it has its place. It's okay, but if that's what you're doing in order to be happy,
Oh, no. Not going to work.
That's what the beer companies are trying to sell us, or the movie companies.
They're trying to sell us on, if you're excited with our stuff, you'll be happy. Wrong. Big lie. Big lie.
Another question to ask, am I seeing trials as inconveniences and asking God simply to set me free,
or am I seeing trials as something that God is using for His purpose and my ultimate good?
So like the song says, don't worry, be happy.
When the trials come, just be happy, knowing that your faith is being tested.
And an opportunity for growth that will eventually produce happiness is at hand.
Let that be the neutralizing factor that enables you to get through that trial.
Okay, so that's lesson 2 in James: Beyond the Trouble. Hopefully Beyond the Trouble there's happiness.