As a brief introduction to James, let me say, I think we've made Christian living entirely too complicated. We’ve placed religious rules, traditions, philosophical opinions, by-laws, church attendance, religious practices, and Robert Rules of Order as a potential gauge for measuring a person’s and/or our own spiritual growth. As well, we use our spiritual maturity to measure someone else’s growth. If they don’t do it like we do then they have not grown in Christ.
Accountability is no longer accountability for the sake of helping each other become more Christ-like. Accountability has now become a judging match between 2 people that eventually creates fights and quarrels (James 4:1). Let me caution you to be careful judging someone else’s development against yours for when you place your supposed maturity next to the holiness of God you will discover you still have a little more growing to do.In addition, we allow supernatural events to be our gauge for measuring our spiritual growth. The more of the "supernatural" (whatever that means to you) we experience the more we feel we have grown in Christ. So, being healed physically, financial prosperity, near death experiences, and so many others, we assume, are valid experiences and expressions to measure our spiritual growth. This letter teaches that Christian living is practical and doable. The measurement for spiritual maturity rest in practical Christian living day-by-day. James writes; “So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything (NLT)”.We’ve all asked this question (or ones similar); “Am I growing as a Christian?” But when you ask this question what type of answer are you expecting? Are you expecting a heavenly voice to trumpet down and say; “This is my son/daughter in whom I am well pleased?” Are you looking for others to validate your spiritual maturity with a word of congratulations? Are you living a false spiritual maturity that on the outside says “I have everything together” but on the end side you’re just as sinful as you can be?Whatever the case, I believe the only real measurement for spiritual development is in areas of daily living disciplines.
The letter of James shows us practical daily disciplines as a means to measure our spiritual development. I want to outline the book of James in question form to help each us look at our spiritual development in a different light.* How do you respond to the struggles of life? James 1:1-4* What is your process for making decisions? James 1:5-8* What is your financial goal in life, to be rich or honor God? James 1:9-12* Do you own up to your mistakes? James 1:13-16* How do you view God’s blessings? James 1:17* Are you a quick tempered person? James 1:18-20* Are you honest with yourself about your spiritual development? James 1:21-27* Do you show favoritism? James 2:1-17* Do you trust God at all cost with everything? James 2:18-26* Can you control your tongue (WOW, this will show who’s growing)? James 3:1-12* Are you a selfish person? James 3:13-18* Do you like to fight? James 4:1-10* Do you respect other people? James 4:11-12* Are you impatient? James 4:13-17* What’s your focus here on earth, temporal satisfaction or eternal security? James 5:1-11* Are you an indecisive person? James 5:12* How is your prayer life? James 5:13-20* Can you be trusted? James 5:16* Do you believe God to do what you’ve requested? James 5:17-18* Are you on speaking terms with God? James 5:19-20Will we ever reach spiritual maturity at it’s best? I don’t know but we can try our best.
James wastes no time getting to his imperatives: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds” (James 1:2). Has James lost his senses? He is writing to beat-up brothers and sisters and he says, “Consider it pure joy,” or as the NEB says, “count yourselves supremely happy.” How nice . . . a letter of encouragement from Pastor Whacko! “Don’t worry . . . be happy!” Then and now James’ command to “Consider it pure joy . . . whenever you face trials of many kinds” sounds irrational! Put this verse on a sign next to the expressway and it would appear to be the work of a crazed fanatic. Indeed, to any culture (including ours) determined to insulate itself from trials, even from discomforts, this sounds crazy. Tragically, it even seems irrational to many who identify with Christianity.
The first practical evidence of daily Christian living is our response to life’s tests. Let’s be honest, life has a way of pulling the worse out of us. Some people respond cussing, fighting, drinking, gambling, immorality, adultery, drugs, stop coming to church, stop praying, stop reading the Word of God, no fellowship with other believers, we go in our shells and dare someone to knock on door to get us out. Here’s what we need to understand about life:
- No one is exempt from trouble
- Life is filled with difficult days
- Life is filled with difficult people
- Life will inevitably put you in unpleasant situations
- Life has its disappointments
The point is this, it is a misconception to think that just because you’re a Christian that life will take it easy on you. Unfortunately, it doesn’t happen that way. Yet while we have to face trials, tests, temptations, and tribulations, you can control how you respond to the difficulties of life.
Listen to James’ instruction, again:
James 1:2-4 (NIV)
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.
James 1:2-4 (NRSV)
My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, [3] because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; [4] and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.
James 1:2-4 (Msg)
Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. [3] You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. [4] So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.
These verses teaches us three (3) practical principles regarding how to profit from trials:
I. Respond with JOY – v. 2
What does James’ command really mean? In answer, we must first understand what it does not mean. James is not ordering all-encompassing joyful emotion during severe trials; nor is he demanding that his readers must enjoy their trials, or that trials are joy. He knew, as did the writer of Hebrews, that “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful” (Hebrews 12:11).
James was not commanding that we exult upon hearing that our career position has been given to our secretary, or that the neighbor’s children have leukemia, or that one’s spouse is adulterous. Rather, James is commending the conscious embrace of a Christian understanding of life which brings joy into the trials that come because of our Christianity. James says, “Consider it pure joy,” which means to make a deliberate and careful decision to experience joy even in times of trouble. Is this possible? Yes. Paul told the Corinthian church, “in all our troubles my joy knows no bounds” (2 Cor. 7:4). Luke reports that the Sanhedrin “called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name” (Acts 5:40, 41). Later, Luke tells us, Paul and Silas, having been severely flogged and being in intense pain, were in prison, and “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them” (Acts 16:25). Their concert so pleased God that he brought down the house! This apostolic experience is still the experience of the church today.
Several years ago the Presbyterian pastor Lloyd John Ogilvie underwent the worst year of his life. His wife had undergone five major surgeries, plus radiation and chemotherapy, several of his staff members had departed, large problems loomed, and discouragement assaulted his feelings. But he wrote,
The greatest discovery that I have made in the midst of all the difficulties is that I can have joy when I can’t feel like it—artesian joy. When I had every reason to feel beaten, I felt joy. In spite of everything, [God] gave me the conviction of being loved and the certainty that nothing could separate me from him. It was not happiness, gush, or jolliness but a constant flow of the Spirit through me. At no time did he give me the easy confidence that everything would work out as I wanted it on my timetable, but that he was in charge and would give me and my family enough courage for each day: grace. Joy is always the result of that.6
James did not say, “Consider it pure joy if you face trials” but “whenever.” Such trials are a part of every believer’s life. We are to thoughtfully find joy in our own diaspora experiences — when we feel alienated, disenfranchised, unpopular, even when difficulty and tragedy come our way which have no apparent connection with our Christianity. Such joy may seem irrational, but in Christ it is perfectly rational.
II. Respond with ENDURANCE – v. 3-4a
The rationale for such joy comes from knowing that the various trials we face have spiritual value. James says there is a two-step process through which our trials elevate us.
The first step is to understand that “the testing of your faith develops perseverance” (James 1:3) Elaboration on what is meant by perseverance will unlock rich truth. J. H. Ropes renders this “staying power.”7 Martin Dibelius calls it “heroic endurance.”8 And the NEB translates this as “fortitude.” James is talking about toughness — “the testing of your faith produces toughness.”
Here is how this works: we develop toughness or fortitude by repeatedly being tested and prevailing. The more tests we pass, the tougher we become. As a boxer engages in bout after bout, he toughens and becomes wiser and stronger. After a time he develops such fortitude, perseverance and staying power that he can take on the best. There is no way a fighter, or any of us, can develop toughness without testing! The endurance and fortitude of the Apostle Paul or William Carey or Corrie ten Boom did not come overnight and did not come apart from trials. Paul, in Romans 5:3, confirms this truth: “but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance.”
Nature teaches us the same principle. Free a butterfly from its chrysalis, and thus from the struggle of liberating itself, and you destroy its life, for it will never develop the strength to soar as it should. When fortitude is lacking in one of God’s children, he has a time-tested remedy — “the testing of your faith.” With this in mind, James’ irrational call — “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds” — becomes brilliant.
III. Respond with the GOAL IN MIND – v. 4b
The rationale becomes even clearer when we observe the second step: perseverance produces maturity. “Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:4). Spiritual perseverance or toughness produces a dynamic maturity. “Mature” refers to a personality which has reached its full development. Regarding the corresponding synonym “complete,” Peter Davids explains: “Perfection is not just a maturing of character, but a rounding out as more and more ‘parts’ of the righteous character are added.”9Thus, maturity is a dynamic state in which a thousand parts of us are honed, shaped, tempered and brought together, making a dynamic wholeness.
It is commonly taught that trials bring maturity, but it is not so. Rather, fortitude and perseverance in times of testings produce maturity. In troubled times we must practice spiritual toughness. As we endure “trials of many kinds” — economic stress, disappointments, criticisms, domestic pressures, persecution for our faith, illnesses — the multiple facets of our being are touched with grace. Dick Seume wrote beautifully about this:
Life on earth would not be worth much if every source of irritation were removed. Yet most of us rebel against the things that irritate us, and count as heavy loss what ought to be rich gain. We are told that the oyster is wiser; that when an irritating object, like a bit of sand, gets under the “mantle” of his shell, he simply covers it with the most precious part of his being and makes of it a pearl. The irritation that it was causing is stopped by encrusting it with the pearly formation. A true pearl is therefore simply a victory over irritation. Every irritation that gets into our lives today is an opportunity for pearl culture. The more irritations the devil flings at us, the more pearls we may have. We need only to welcome them and cover them completely with love, that most precious part of us, and the irritation will be smothered out as the pearl comes into being. What a store of pearls we may have, if we will!10
The key to a graced life, pearl-tipped facets of personality, and thus full maturity is constancy, tenacity, perseverance. Spiritual toughness is the key to saintliness!
The idea that when we “get it all together” our trials will lessen is a falsehood. Paul told Timothy the truth: “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12). Life will always be full of testings for the true Christian. We must not imagine they will lessen with time — say, less trials at thirty-five than twenty-five, or at forty-five than thirty-five, or at fifty-five than forty-five, or at sixty-five than fifty-five, or at seventy-five than sixty-five. Trials are not a sign of God’s displeasure but are opportunities to persevere in the Lord.
James commands the irrational: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds.” Is this crazy talk — pious prattle? Not when we embrace the double rationale:
1) Testing brings spiritual toughness — “because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance” (James 1:3). When we, by God’s grace, tough it out, our entire person becomes pearly.
2) Toughness brings a dynamic maturity — “Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:4).
When God wants to drill a man
And thrill a man
And skill a man,
When God wants to mold a man
To play the noblest part;
When He yearns with all His heart
To create so great and bold a man
That all the world shall be amazed,
Watch His methods, watch His ways!
How He ruthlessly perfects
Whom He royally elects!
How He hammers him and hurts him,
And with mighty blows converts him
Into trial shapes of clay which
Only God understands;
While his tortured heart is crying
And he lifts beseeching hands!
How He bends but never breaks
When his good He undertakes;
How He uses whom He chooses
And with every purpose fuses him;
By every act induces him
To try His splendor out —
God knows what He’s about!11
Such logic makes the command rational and supremely sane: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds.” James calls for a decisive act — to consider our troubles opportunities for joy and endurance. May we in prayer so acknowledge today and in days to come!
Through It All
I've had many tears and sorrows,
I've had questions for tomorrow,
there's been times I didn't know right from wrong.
But in every situation,
God gave me blessed consulation,
that my trials come to only make me strong.
Through it all,
through it all,
I've learned to trust in Jesus,
I've learned to trust in God.
Through it all,
through it all,
I've learned to depend upon His Word.
I've been to lots of places,
I've seen a lot of faces,
there's been times I felt so all alone.
But in my lonely hours,
yes, those precious lonely hours,
Jesus lets me know that I was His own
I thank God for the mountains,
and I thank Him for the valleys,
I thank Him for the storms He brought me through.
For if I'd never had a problem,
I wouldn't know God could solve them,
I'd never know what faith in God could do.
CLINT!!!!! Preach boy
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