From Trouble to Triumph, Part 3

James 1:5‑12

Let's open our Bibles to the first chapter of James as we look together to the Word of God in verses 2 through 12. While you're preparing for the study of God's Word together, let me just remind you that it is a common occurrence in life, certainly is in my life and I'm in little doubt that it is in your life as well as a Christian, to meet people who thought they were Christians. I think that's pretty routine. People who felt they were saved, believed they knew God. And then some severe difficulty came into their life, exposed the reality that they didn't know God at all when they proved to be unable to deal with that severe trial. Their faith was revealed. It was found to be dead faith, not living faith, non‑saving faith. They were unable to hold on to the resources provided in those who really believe in God and they forsook what appeared to be perhaps a genuine faith.

The kind of trials that come into life all the time are intended to do that to sort of prod people out of their security, to awaken them to the fact that they either do trust God or don't in the direst of human circumstances. Trials do serve a very helpful purpose in affirming to us, either legitimacy or the illegitimacy of our faith. And that is exactly what James has in his mind in this opening section of this wonderful epistle. He is concerned throughout the entire epistle with the matter of living faith. He is concerned with the subject and the issue of genuine salvation. And as we have noted, the whole epistle is a series of tests intended to reveal the legitimacy of someone's faith. The whole epistle is a series of tests for living faith. The first one is the test of severe trials. When trials come into our lives, they reveal that our faith is real or it is not. It holds or it does not. We hang on to God and count on His resources or we don't. And that is something we need to know. We need all of us to understand the strength or the genuineness of our own faith. We need not only to recognize it in our own lives but in the lives of other people as well.

Now to kind of bring this into an illustration biblically, let me ask you a couple of questions. How would you judge a person, the spiritual life of a person who...one, willingly heard the gospel, open ears, anxious, eagerness...secondly, received personally the Word without resistance...thirdly, responded with joy...and fourthly, believed? Someone who willingly heard the gospel, received personally the Word, responded with joy, and believed...now does that mark genuine salvation? Does that identify a true Christian? Is that the characteristic of genuine saving faith?

Well, let's find out by looking at a verse in Luke chapter 8. Luke chapter 8 verse 13, and here is one verse that explains a portion of the parable of the soils, it has to do with the shallow soil that has rock underneath it, the ground. And it says, "They on the rock are they who when they hear, willingly hear the gospel, receive the Word, received personally the Word concerning Christ, salvation, received it with joy and these have no root who for a while believe but in time of testing...what?...fall away."

Now you'll notice here that we have those that heard the gospel, received personally the Word, responded with joy and believed and fell away. So all of that, in and of itself, is something short of saving faith but may never have been manifested to be less than saving faith it hadn't been for trials, if it hadn't been for a time of testing, a time of testing. That little phrase "a time of testing" is a very interesting phrase. It is a crucial part of God's design for people so that the reality of their faith, what it really is, can be made manifest. The word "time" here is not chronos which means chronological time, like right now it's 6:35 or so, it's not chronological time in the sense of calendars and watches. It is kairos, that's a different word. That means a destined time, a time of opportunity, a circumstance, a particular season.

And so, what he's talking about here is not a time on the clock but a time in destiny, a time in one's life. There will come a time of testing. And in this case, there were those who fell away. It doesn't mean that they once belonged to God. The verb literally means, ephistemi, to stand apart from. In the time of testing, they stood apart from God. They never had belonged to Him and the testing manifested it. Again we go back to 1 John 2:19, "If they had been of us they would have remained with us, but they went out from us that it might be manifest they never were of us." These are people who in the time of testing stand alone, they stand apart from God. They do not really know God at all. Oh, like the seed in Luke 8, they find a little bit of top soil and it's just enough for the plant to stand up, but it never takes root.

So the idea here is not uprooting, that's not the idea. There never was a root. The plant just stood by itself in the dirt, as it were, and the union with the soil was only an apparent union, never a true relationship...never the kind of union that could root the plant deeply and cause it to grow and bear fruit. But the reality of that kind of inadequate kind of faith wasn't manifested until the testing. By the way, the term here in Luke 8:13 is the same term, peirasmos, the time of trial that James talks about.

Now let's go back to James and see how James teaches us on this same theme. Trials cannot destroy faith. I want you to know that, I want to keep emphasizing that. Trials do not destroy faith, they only put it to the test. And the faith that stands the test is proven to be genuine and the faith that fails the test is proven to be false. Trials cannot destroy faith, they can only test it.

Now last week I showed you that trials have many purposes. Do you remember what we said? God sends trials to humble us. He sends trials to wean us from the world. He sends trials to call us to concentrate on eternal things. He sends trials to reveal to us what we really love. He sends trials to teach us the value of God's favor and blessing. He sends trials to enable us to help others in their trials. He sends trials to develop in us greater strength for greater usefulness. And one I didn't mention, sometimes He sends trials to chasten us for our sin and push us toward perfection. But James is concerned with primarily one reason God sends trials and that is to test the genuineness of our faith. As I put it last week, to measure the strength of our faith.

Now we've been saying all along that in the midst of a trial, true faith will persevere. True faith will endure. True faith will hold on and move through. It will persevere to the end. It will endure any trial.

And the question that James really draws us to is how does it do that? How can true faith endure any trial? How can true faith suffer any loss and still hold to its faith in God? What gives the ability to persevere and not fall away?

Well, there are several ingredients and we've been looking at them. First of all, James says a joyous attitude. True faith possesses a joyous attitude in the midst of the severest trial. Verse 2, "My brethren, count it all joy...or total joy, or sheer joy, or unmixed joy, or pure joy...when you fall into various trials."

The first attitude that is characteristic of true faith is joy in the midst of trial. There's always a window somewhere in a trial for a true believer to find a source of joy. It may be that we know God is in control. And we do know that. It may be the hope of heaven as we saw with the father this morning who knew his daughters were in the presence of Christ. But for the true believer, there will be a joyous attitude and we need to cultivate that in our own spiritual life. Because of all that trials accomplish and because of all that trials cannot accomplish because they do draw us nearer to the Lord, they do strengthen us, they do make us more useful, all the positives, and because of the fact that they can never destroy true faith, they can never obviate the plan of God, they can never alter His eternal design, we can find joy in the midst of any trial. So, a joyous attitude.

Secondly, there is another ingredient that is germane to the ability to persevere, and we saw that last...well, two weeks ago, actually...and that is an understanding mind. Notice verse 3, "Knowing this, that the trial or testing of your faith produces endurance." Now you have to go into trials with knowledge. You need to know that trials produce endurance, that is staying power, persevering power. If you don't have any trials, you're not going to be strengthened to persevere. So, a joyous attitude and an understanding mind.

And thirdly we noted a submissive will. Verse 4 he says, in the imperative, "Let endurance have her perfect work that you may be perfect and entire, lacking nothing." In other words, let the trial come and let it bring the endurance. And let the endurance bring perfection. And we noted that perfection here means spiritual maturity...spiritual maturity. Let it do what God wants it to do. Let it humble you. Let it wean you from the world. Let it call you to eternal hope. Let it reveal what you really love. Let it teach you to value God's blessing. Let it enable you to help others. Let it develop strength in you so that you can be used for greater ways in the future. Let it chasten you, if that means your purification.

In other words, let it do what God wants it to do. Don't fight it. So the right attitude, then, in going into a trial, a joyous...joyous attitude. The right mind is a knowing mind that understands God's purpose. And a submissive will that eagerly and anxiously accepts it, knowing that through trials we come to be like Christ. That's the path to maturity.

Now following these first three, I want to share with you tonight two remaining attitudes that are necessary in the life of one who perseveres. Fourthly, a believing heart...a believing heart. And for this we look to verses 5 through 8, a believing heart. Now let me stop for just a moment before we look at the text and kind of set the scene, if I might.

Let's say you're going through a trial and you're really doing your best to keep a joyous attitude, an understanding mind and a submissive will, but you're having difficulty really grasping what's happening. You might be saying to yourself, "You know, I want to have a right attitude, I want to have a right understanding and I want to have a submissive will, but I lack, I lack the wisdom and the power to remain joyous and to endure and to mature through this. I am struggling to keep my heart fixed on the cause for joy. I'm struggling to understand this and I'm struggling to be permissive. I need some help. What do I do?"

Well, what you really need is one thing, you need wisdom. You need wisdom for a trial. You need to understand it. You need practical insight needed to face the issues of life. You'll not be able to maintain a joyous attitude and an understanding mind and a submissive will unless God gives you more than just your human faculties to work with. And so this is where you come to verse 5. "If any of you lack...what?...wisdom." If any of you lack wisdom. Wisdom is always at a premium, but especially when you're going through a trial, wanting to understand, wanting to know how to be joyous, wanting to be willing to endure the trial for the holy purposes of God demands wisdom. And you're not going to find in your human reasoning all the answers.

Wisdom to James and to any Jewish reader and any Jew of that time was the understanding needed to live life to the glory of God. Wisdom was functioning in obedience to the will and the Word of God. It began with fearing God and then moved to obeying God. And when we go through a test and we go through a trial, we need wisdom. Any believer's going to feel weak. He's going to feel the need for strength and resources. He's going to look for something to hold on to in the midst of the trial. And where does he go? He goes to God and He asks for wisdom. That's the promise. If any lack wisdom, let him...what?...let him ask of God. Let him ask of God. The search for wisdom is man's supreme search. For those of us who know and love the Lord, He provides that wisdom.

I think about Proverbs 3:5 to 7, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding." What a great statement. When you're going through a trial, when you're going through difficulty, don't lean on your own understanding, trust in the Lord with all your heart. "In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths, be not wise in your own eyes." Don't look to yourself for answers. Ask God for divine wisdom.

So we could say safely here that trials have a way of enhancing your prayer life, right? They drive you to your knees. They cause you to call on God for what you do not have and so desperately desperately desire.

So, when you go through the trials of life, whatever they might be, it is the intention of God that you recognize the bankruptcy of human reason and the answers that you might get from other people...and I think about Job who tried to get answers from everybody around him and everybody gave him the wrong answer. And the right answer is always available at the hand of God if we seek from Him to receive that.

Look with me for a moment