The Joy of Struggle and Victory
Pastor Joe Fuiten, January 22, 2006
James 1
1:1 James, a servant
of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the
nations: Greetings. 2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials
of many kinds, 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. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask
God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to
him. 6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts
is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That man should not
think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man,
unstable in all he does. 9 The brother in humble circumstances ought to take
pride in his high position. 10 But the one who is rich should take pride in his
low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower. 11 For the sun
rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its
beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich man will fade away even while he
goes about his business. 12 Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial,
because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God
has promised to those who love him. 13 When tempted, no one should say,
"God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he
tempt anyone; 14 but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is
dragged away and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth
to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. 16 Don't be
deceived, my dear brothers. 17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming
down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting
shadows. 18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might
be a kind of firstfruits of all he created. 19 My dear brothers, take note of
this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become
angry, 20 for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God
desires. 21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so
prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. 22
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man
who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away
and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But the man who looks intently
into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not
forgetting what he has heard, but doing it-he will be blessed in what he does.
26 If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on
his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. 27 Religion
that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after
orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by
the world.
We have been praying for the anointing of the Holy Spirit upon our goals and tasks for the coming year. I believe something happens when we do that. However, it is also necessary to stir it up. Stir up the gift that is in you through the laying on of hands. Stir it up by prayer and Bible reading. Continue to lift up those goals and purposes and expect God’s anointing.
Last week we prayed for the businesses. I believe God will help those who help the Lord. There is a lot of work that needs to be done in this city and God has the resources to accomplish it. Psalm 50:9-12 has God saying: “I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it.”
In some ways, the message today could be seen as the sequel to those two Sundays. We march out to do the thing we feel God has anointed us to do and the first thing we encounter is some difficulty. What do we say? “Well, that didn’t work.”
James told
us what to do. He said, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever
you face trials of many kinds, 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”
What are these trials he is talking about? He is talking about persecution, poverty, or calamity of any kind. The come along to try the faith. They show what we are made of. Will we continue to have faith in God and believe him or will we fold and go back to depending upon ourselves.
James seems
to think this is normal and not something to be considered strange or
unusual. He calls it a test of
faith. When you study in college, from
time to time they test you to see what you have learned.
Testing produces good things. First is perseverance. You learn not to give up. If you are winning, you don’t want to give up. You want to rack up a bigger score. When you are losing, that is when you faith is being tested. When you keep showing up; when you keep on praying; and keep on walking, that is faith. Second is maturity or completeness. Keeping on when you are not winning is what produces maturity.
Paul said a very similar thing in Romans 5:3-5. He said good things happen when bad things happen. “Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”
James shifts gears into a couple of details. The first detail is the wisdom factor.
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. Wisdom comes from God. It comes when we ask him for it.
It reminds me of what God said to
It seems to matter that we ask. That makes me think it is not a one-time gift that last for the rest of your life. Probably in each bit of difficulty we face there is a need for wisdom. We need a fresh amount for each challenge.
The second detail is the faith factor. When we ask, there is something required of us. “6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.”
What do we believe? We believe God will work in this circumstance for our good. It doesn’t matter what the starting point, it matters what God will do. To make that point he compares the person who starts with next to nothing, the “humble circumstances,” with the person who starts with a lot, who is “rich”.
For the
person who has nothing, his trust is in God which gives him a high
position. He acts like he is in charge
of the world because he knows God. The
rich person acts like he has nothing to use to benefit himself with his
wealth. Since he is depending on God
anyway, the wealth is not material. 9 The brother in humble circumstances ought
to take pride in his high position. 10 But the one who is rich should take
pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower. 11 For
the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and
its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich man will fade away even
while he goes about his business.
Being rich or poor does not impact the trial of faith. The trial may be different but it is still a trial. “12 Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.”