Growing in Our Response to Trials

- I’m glad you’ve taken the time to be with us for the kick-off of our fall ministries…

- it’s always an exciting time as schools starts up again and we all have an opportunity to think about what the Lord might want to do in and through us this fall…

- I’m sure we’ll have a wide variety of men and women here from a spiritual perspective…some who would say that you have been a follower of Jesus Christ for many years – and others who would say you’re not yet sure if you’re ready to take that step and people everywhere in between…

- and part of the great news is that God will meet you wherever you are…and secondly, that God has no intention of leaving you there…

- so you could summarize our goal as trying to be a place when men and women can find and follow Jesus…

- we take that purpose in part from what Jesus said after his death, burial, and resurrection….

- we call this the great commission…Matthew 28:19–20 - Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

- that’s why our church’s mission statement is…The mission of Faith Church is glorify God by winning people to Jesus Christ and equipping them to be more faithful disciples.

- I realize if you’re new to church or studying the Bible – you might say, well, what does glorify mean?...

- it’s giving others the right opinion of God…focusing others’ attention on His character, His beauty, His power, His majesty…

- it’s what Jesus meant in the Sermon on the Mount when He said -- Matthew 5:16 - Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

- our hope and prayer is that as God is glorified by the way He enables us to live…others will want to come to know Him…that’s what Paul meant when He said we want to live…Ephesians 1:6 – to the praise of the glory of His grace.

- or the way Paul explained it to the Corinthians…2 Corinthians 5:20–21 - Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

- the good news is that God is still drawing men and women to Himself through living out and then proclaiming the gospel…

- we saw that just a few weeks ago at our church family night as a group of men and women gave their testimonies of how and when they came to Christ and then were baptized in obedience to their Savior as a public demonstration that what they are trusting for their salvation is the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ….

- a number of other folks who have already been baptized gave their testimonies and then that entire group was added to our church family in yet another fulfillment of Christ’s promise that He would build His church, and the gates of hell would not prevail against it…

- if you’ve not yet come to a place where you’ve made the decision to follow Christ…or you have questions about exactly what that means…we’re ready to talk to you in whatever setting you prefer because there really is nothing more important to be able to say than that you know that you know that you know that you are on your way to heaven…

- and if you wonder if that’s even possible – people who have been around here for any length of time probably know what verse from the Bible I’m going to mention next…

- 1 John 5:13 - These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

- so that’s the – “God will meet you wherever you are part”…

- and even though He’s holy…and in our sinfulness we fall far short of His righteous demands…

- He chooses us to meet us with mercy and grace, and forgiveness through the substitutionary death of His Son [that’s what Paul meant when he said that Christ became sin for us]…

- we come to Him, not with our own works to earn merit from Him, but with empty hands in repentance and faith asking for His forgiveness and mercy…

- but what happens after that?...what’s the second half of the “God will meet you wherever you are” statement?...but He has no intention of leaving you there...what does that mean?...

- God stands ready to help us grow…it’s why the last recorded words we have from the pen of the apostle Peter are…2 Peter 3:18 - but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen…that’s the – Matthew 28:20 - “teaching them to observe all that I commanded you;” part of the great commission…

- and this is why churches like us exist…Paul explained it like this…

- Ephesians 4:11–15 - And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ,

- I’ve had the privilege of serving here at Faith now for 32 years...and one of the great delights of my life has been to watch men and women come to Christ and then to begin or continue the process of growing…

- and every time that happens…God is glorified and people are helped…because there is great joy and blessedness that comes from changing into the image of God’s dear Son…

- that’s another way of summarizing our mission…Colossians 1:28–29 - We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.

- the beauty of this is – there is a place in this process for every person here…because until we are complete in Christ…there are always additional ways to grow…

- that’s why our theme this year has been Growing What God Has Given…

-we want to use Faith East (pic) and Faith West (pic) and the Hartford Hub (pic) and Bethany Farms (pic) and the NCC (pic) as platforms on which the gospel can be proclaimed and effective soul care can be provided for every follower of Christ……to the praise of the glory of His grace…

- now, this fall – we have another great helping of biblical trust to guide each one of us as we continue in this process – and it’s a verse by verse study of the book of James…page ____ of the back section of the Bible under the chair in front of you…

- we’re calling this series Growth Essentials…and I hope you’ll make a commitment to be with us as frequently as you can over the next 10 weeks as we work through this book together…

- I would also encourage you to read this book in one sitting at least once a week during the next 10 weeks…with the goal of both mastering it’s content and then also seeking, with the power and enablement of Christ, to finds as many ways as possible to practically apply what we’re studying…

- the good news is – this is one of the simplest books in the Bible to understand…there are a few interpretive challenges and we’ll work on them when they come up…but any person even if you are brand new to studying God’s Word can understand and benefit from James…

- now, we want to work on the first 12 verses of chapter 1 today…we’re talking about Growing in Our Response to Trials…

- and I realize you might say – that’s why I have trouble growing … it’s because of the trials in my life…

- I feel like I go 2 steps forward…and then bam, some problem crops up, and I go three steps back…

- let me impress especially the younger people who are here today by demonstrating my extensive and contemporary knowledge of video games to address that concern…

- does everyone know what that cutting edge video-game is?...that’s PacMan…let it never be said that your pastors are right on top of the hottest trends…

- and what is PacMan eating here…energy pills…

- what if energy pills were trials and trouble?...or put the other way – what if trials and troubles weren’t something that knocked you back three steps – what if there was a way to respond to them in a way that makes you stronger?...

- is that possible?...let’s see….

- read James 1:1-12

- so we’re talking this morning about Growing in our Response to Trials…and with the time we have remaining, let’s think about 3 resources available to help us handle trials well.

I. Endurance

- James says that the reason we can actually rejoice during a time of trials is because of the endurance they can produce in us if we handle them well…

- now, can we all be honest…that’s very counter-intuitive…

- none of us automatically rejoice when a trial comes our way…

- that may be one of the reasons we’re not growing at the rate God desires…

- so let’s work our way through this…we probably need to back up for a moment and ask…

A. Who is James?

- and if you are new to studying the Bible ,the answer to that question might surprise you…

1. One of Jesus’ “half-brothers”

- we say it that way because the OT predicted and the NT affirms that Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit through the virgin Mary…

- that’s a very important point theologically because if the sin nature is passed from generation through generation through the normal procreation process…

- and God wanted His Son to become a man yet without sin so he could eventually die in our place as His perfect, unblemished Lamb…there had to be an interruption in the normal process…

- but Scripture tells us that Mary and Joseph subsequently had other children…

- Mark 6:3 - “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?” And they took offense at Him.

- as if that’s not amazing enough…Scripture also tells us that James and his siblings…

2. Initially did not believe in Jesus.

- John 7:2–5 - Now the feast of the Jews, the Feast of Booths, was near. Therefore His brothers said to Him, “Leave here and go into Judea, so that Your disciples also may see Your works which You are doing. “For no one does anything in secret when he himself seeks to be known publicly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world.” For not even His brothers were believing in Him.

- in fact, Mark 3:21 reports that his siblings thought Jesus had taken leave of his senses…

- by the way, that completely debunks the idea we read in some apocryphal books outside our Bibles which claim Jesus did childhood miracles…John 2:11 says that the Jesus changing water into wine at the wedding in Cana was the beginning of his signs…

- but thankfully James did not remain in that unbelieving condition…

3. Made a decision to follow Christ after the resurrection

- Acts 1:13–14 - When they had entered the city, they went up to the upper room where they were staying; that is, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James. These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.

- so why did James believe?...perhaps because of what Paul tells us about the resurrected Christ…

- 1 Corinthians 15:7 - then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles;

- so what does this mean for us – this fall we plan to study a book written by the brother of Jesus who was a personal eye-witness of his resurrection…could you say that about any other author you read outside of the Bible?...

4. Brother of Jude

- the Judas mentioned in Mark 6:3 is the man we know as Jude, the writer of one of the other general epistles…

- Jude 1 - Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James…

5. Became the pastor of the church at Jerusalem and presided over the Jerusalem council in Acts 15.

- you may remember in the book of Acts when Peter was miraculously released from prison – he met with the disciples who were hiding and praying for his release…

- Acts 12:17 - But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had led him out of the prison. And he said, “Report these things to James and the brethren.” Then he left and went to another place.

- in other words, go tell the pastor…

- and that’s especially in focus by time we get to Acts 15…because by that point Peter has seen a heavenly vision that Gentiles were also to be grafted into the church that was initially Jewish…and Paul/Silas experienced the same thing on their first missionary journey…

- and that created quite a fuss – so in Acts 15 they had what amounted to a church business meeting…and Peter spoke…and Paul and Barnabus spoke…and then Pastor James summarized the position and made the recommendation that was then approved by the group…

- Acts 15:13 - After they had stopped speaking, James answered, saying, “Brethren, listen to me.

- this ought to give us great hope this morning if we’re really serious about this matter of growing and changing…because look how far this man came…

- from refusing to believe in his own brother to becoming the pastor of the church at Jerusalem…this man knows a lot about the process of change…

B. To whom and when was he writing?

- we see that in verse 1 as well…

- James 1:1 - James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad: Greetings.

- this is an important point – the early church was predominately Jewish…

- this is why we believe the book of James was written very early – around 44-48 AD, making it the first book of the NT to be written…

- because James doesn’t mention anything about Gentiles coming into the church yet, or the Jerusalem Council which took place in AD 49…

- and why were these people dispersed?...in part because of the almost immediate persecution of the church…

- what happened to one of the first deacons of the church…a man named Stephen…

- he was stoned by unbelieving Jews…that’s the end of Acts 7…

- and what do we read at the beginning of chapter 8?...

- Acts 8:1 - Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death. And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.

- so Jewish people who chose to believe in Christ were persecuted and dispersed…these are the kind of people James is writing to as he continues to help them grow in the midst of trials…

- another verse that explains that is Acts 11:19 - So then those who were scattered because of the persecution that occurred in connection with Stephen made their way to Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch…

C. What is his opening admonition?

- James doesn’t waste any time getting after it, does he?...

- James 1:2 - Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,

- encounter – peripipto – “falling into” (cf. the man who “fell among robbers” the Good Samaritan rescued in Luke 10)

- And James commands people like you and me to count it – or choose to consider it joyful when that happens…

- now, I just want to pause and say that none of us are saying that glibly…

- part of being in a church family, especially one this size, is that there are always brothers and sisters experiencing deep waters…

- We were talking to our daughter Karis last weekend and she was telling us about some of the challenges facing some of the young couples in their ABF…and some of those situations are heartbreaking…

- so if you were with us this summer for our series on bitterness, please take what is being said here along with what we studied about biblical lament and bitter tears…

- but even with that in mind – this is a command…from someone who had positioned himself according to verse 1 as a “bond-servant of Jesus Christ”…to rejoice where trials and testings come…why?...please follow the logic…

D. Because of what testing can produce

- James 1:3 - knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

- if you’re in the habit of writing in your Bible – you might want to circle the word “consider” in verse 2 and “knowing” in verse 3 and draw a line connecting the 2

- and the word for knowing here is Ginosko – carries the idea of full understanding of something that is beyond the merely factual and that often comes from personal experience (John MacArthur, Commentary on James, p. 25).

- the point is – you can’t genuinely rejoice during a time of trial unless you truly know that this kind of testing can develop something in your character that you value more than the pleasure that comes from not having the trial to begin with…

- James wants his readers to know that God stands ready to develop endurance in their hearts and lives…

- and friends – joyful endurance that flows out of a vibrant, passionate relationship with Christ is a delightful commodity…

- and we have so many examples of that around our church family…and I don’t say that simply to commend the people…but to praise the Savior that makes this kind of endurance possible…

- a couple of weeks ago I went to the front desk at the NCC to work out and I was greeted by the two volunteers who were serving that afternoon – the two Jeffs – Jeff Baker and Jeff Griggs…

- and here’s two men who are both dealing with terminal cancer…and yet Christ is giving the strength to joyfully and faithfully serve Him…

- that’s endurance…and that is one of the commodities God says every one of us can grow in and develop…

- and the question we have to face is – do we value it?...

- commentator Warren Wiersbe said – 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 live only for the present and forget the future, the trials will make us bitter not better (Warren Wiersbe, Bible Exposition Commentary, p. 2:338).

E. Because of where endurance can take you

- James 1:4 - And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

- there’s a kind of maturity that comes through joyfully facing trials that doesn’t come any other way…

- there’s a pretty obvious series of questions that comes flowing out of all of this, isn’t there?...

- friend, do you have some growing to do here?...

- what about the issue of rejoicing when you encounter various trials?...

- and if/when you struggle, is it possible that you value temporal comfort/pleasure more than the development of patient endurance…

[develop ways we can endure instead of easily quit…]…

- now, we might say things like, this is too hard, I can’t understand this, especially when the fire is raging…

- well, that takes us to our next resource, doesn’t it?...

II. Wisdom

A. Relationship to the book of Proverbs

- the book of James is often spoken of as being wisdom literature…

- it reads very similar to the book of Proverbs….

- and praise God that His Word is written this way…it reminds you of Psalm 19…

- Psalm 19:7 - The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.

- this book also has many…

B. Similarities to the Sermon on the Mount

James Sermon on the Mount

1. 1:2 5:10-12

2. 1:4 5:48

3. 1:5 7:7-12

4. 1:9 5:3

5. 1:12 7:14

6. 1:20 5:22

7. 1:22 7:21-27

8. 2:5 5:3

9. 2:13 5:7

10. 2:13 6:14-15

11. 2:14-16 7:21-23

12. 3:6 5:22

13. 3:10-12 7:15-20

14. 3:17-18 5:9

15. 4:4 6:24

16. 4:10 5:3-5

17. 4:11-12 7:1-5

18. 5:2-3 6:19-20

19. 5:10 5:12

20. 5:11 5:10

21. 5:12 5:33-37

- remember, this book would have been written long before the gospel of Matthew…although James may have heard various renditions of the Sermon on the Mount…

- but that matters because the Sermon on the Mount gives a series of tests of the way a genuine follow of Jesus Christ will live…

- that’s also true here…

- you can tell whether a person’s faith is genuine in part by how they respond to trials…

- and when we lack the wisdom we need in order to respond well…

C. A command to ask

- James 1:5 - But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God…

- friend, when is the last time you remember during a time of trial, pausing and asking God to give you the wisdom to handle the situation well?...

- and also this – which would you rather have…

- immediate relief from the trial – or the wisdom and endurance that comes from handling the trial well?...

- and how does God promise to treat us when we ask?...an eye roll and a shake of the head in disgust?...

D. A promise to give

- James 1:5 - But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

- there are a lot of wise men and women running around our church family…

- where did they get that wisdom?...from the God of heaven and earth…often during a time of trial…

- now, there’s…

E. A condition to meet

- which is what in the next verses?...

- consistently asking in faith…

- James 1:6 - But he must ask in faith without any doubting…

- [develop the importance of surrounding yourself with wise people this fall as a means to your growth, and providing the kind of support/friendship/accountability necessary to handle trials wisely and well]…

- so God offers His children endurance, and wisdom, and…

III. Reward

- verses 9-12 explain the temporary nature of so many of the things that cause us to lose our joy…

- we worry about things…or get mad about things…that are going to pass away with time…

A. The temporary nature of man’s pursuits

James 1:9–11 - 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 its 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 is why Jesus said… Matthew 6:19–20 - Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal;

- how many of our so-called trials really just involve something that is going to rust away anyway?...

- was that really worth being robbed of joy and endurance and wisdom?...

B. The eternal nature of God’s promises and rewards

James 1:12 - 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.

- in this case – James did not have to wait very long for this promise to be fulfilled…

- the Jewish historian Josephus tells us that James was martyred for his faith in AD 62…less than 20 years after these words were written…

- isn’t it wonderful that he didn’t face his brother – the promised Messiah…as a man who never believed, or never rejoiced, or never developed endurance and wisdom…

- [repeat v. 12]…