Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

[Video - More Than Enough for Tomorrow - https://www.ignitermedia.com/products/77494-more-than-enough-for-tomorrow

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In continuing our study on the Holy Spirit, we are continuing to study the Fruit of the Spirit, those characteristics of Christ that are granted to us when we take him as our savior.

We have previously looked at love, joy, and peace.

This morning we will be looking at patience.

I am reminded of many, many Christians who have gone through various trials and troublesome situations in life.

I can think of an cousin of mine who lost a young adult daughter to heart attack, leaving three young children without their mother.

This happened three months after my cousin’s husband was lost to a rare and fast moving form cancer and soon afterward, her mother was left a widow as her father succumbed to a long bout with a slow-moving and painful form of cancer.

I watched that family stagger with blow after blow to their loved ones.

But this was also a family that was wholeheartedly dedicated to the Lord and accomplishing his work.

It was a beautiful thing to observe their steadfast faith in Father God during a time that others might have taken up cursing God for their lot in life.

I observed a quiet strength and forbearance in that family that I admired.

I remembered that strength when my own father faced his mortal end.

We’ll be studying in James 1 this morning.

This is a message that I have preached many times before as it is one that has sustained me as I have gone through my own trials in life.

I know I have preached it here before, but my hope is that, even if you have heard it before, it might speak to you in a new way and encourage you at this point in your life.’

[pray]

We all experience trouble in life.

This is what it means to live in a fallen world.

How many of have been through a trial in life?

How many of you are in the middle of a trial right now?

If you haven’t just come out of a trial or you’re not in the middle of a trial, watch out… because you’ve got one coming your way!

We all go through trials.

It’s how we respond to them that is telling.

God never promised that life would be easy.

In fact Jesus promised the exact opposite on several occasions.

We all have home relationships: spouses, children, parents, extended family, in-laws.

There are times that these relationships give us cause to worry.

Relationships are rough because when they bring trouble, they consume all our energy and thought life.

We all have work relationships: jobs or employees.

We have jobs come and go… at times we struggle financially.

There are times when we must go out and find new work and those times are stressful.

When life gives you lemons, what do you make? [Lemonade!]

I. Trials Bring Spiritual Growth

The first thing to remember is that the trial is not always something devastating.

And there are some positive benefits to the trial, when we are willing to embrace them and learn from the experience.

When we encounter trouble in this life, we have a choice as to how we will respond.

How do you respond to trouble?

Do you deal with your trouble loudly (wail and moan-post on Facebook)?

Or do you deal with your trouble quietly (brood in silence-worry and anxiety)?

There is another alternative found in our text for today.

A. Find Joy in the Trial

Trials should be considered something that is joyful rather than dreadful.

This verse used to really confuse me, because this is not what the world teaches at all.

This is a hard truth and it is a hard lesson… in fact it is extremely difficult.

When we are tested in life, we can be anything but joyful.

We are not patient and we turn into whining and petulant children.

We just want the tough times to end.

A. Joy - this is more than just a little bit of happiness.

The text says “all joy,” or “complete rejoicing.”

B. Trials - we sometimes translate this as trouble.

Occasionally we might see it translated as temptations, but that’s not a good translation.

The truest sense of the word in the Greek is trial, or exam, or testing.

We’ll explore that further in verse 3.

Principle: When your patience is tested, find joy instead of grumbling.

We can have courage in the face of trials in our lives!

Why?

Because we KNOW that Jesus has overcome the world!

We have HOPE and we have PEACE!

Jesus told us...

Our response to the trial is telling about our level of dependence upon God.

I have struggled with this in my own life.

When trouble has come, I have complained bitterly to God and begged for Him to take it away.

I get that God can take our complaints.

He’s a big God.

However, there are times that the trial is God’s design to prepare us for the task that is coming.

What if God just did as I asked and took away the trouble as soon as I got a little bit uncomfortable?

[I would never grow spiritually.]

B. Find Endurance in your Faith

Additionally trials and testing help us to increase our faith stamina by building endurance within.

“the testing of your faith”

A. Testing - this phrase is like testing to see if your faith is genuine or false.

This is like that marker they use at the cash register on your $20 bills.

That marker is a test to see if that bill is genuine or false.

The test is the marker for our faith to see if our faith in God is strong enough to produce endurance.

The test is the cocoon for the butterfly.

It must struggle its way out of the cocoon so that its wings are strong enough to sustain flight.

The test is boot camp for the new soldier.

Boot camp must be difficult if it is to produce a soldier worthy of withstanding the rigors of war.

The test is suffering the petty lies and misunderstanding that you will endure in a ministry setting.

Do you think Jesus didn’t suffer the same or much worse?

B. Faith - the word for faith here indicates a strong confidence or a strong reliance upon something or someone.

In this case that reliance is upon God, who is the sustainer of our faith.

When we go through trials and we choose to respond to the situation with faith in God, this builds up our endurance and stamina.

“produces endurance”

C. Endurance -Some translations render this word as patience.

Even though patience is our word for the day, I think the better translation here is endurance.

The word endurance is indicative of the internal fortitude necessary to withstand great hardship or stress.

Patience on the other hand is the result of endurance.

I often explain that faith is like a muscle.

If you exercise your faith muscle and use it regularly it will remain healthy and strong.

But if you ignore it and immobilize it, it will atrophy and become weak, you won’t be able to use it to lift anything.

The exercise of faith produces endurance.

Having endurance means that you will have the strength necessary to stay the course throughout a time of trial.

James, in another letter, wrote in Hebrews 12...

That “cloud of witnesses” refers to all of the faithful saints that we read about in Hebrews 11: Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab… All of those great and faithful lovers of God.

The author tells us how to achieve that level of faith...

Set aside every encumbrance (that which slows us in our race) - the sin, the doubt, the double-mindedness

Run with endurance

Fix our eyes on Jesus