Advancing Through Adversity
Advancing Through Adversity
James 1:2-4
If you knew that God had a purpose for your life and every thing that happened to you was a result of that purpose, how would you handle those things that you did not like
With that in mind you would know that every thing has a purpose and that adversity had a positive side
I hear you; you don’t know what I’m going through
If you desire God’s will to be accomplished in your life and you sincerely asked him too
What I mean is you said for real thy will be done not mine, God will go to great lengths to accomplish his will in your life
The positive side of adversity is rooted in two very strong beliefs
1) God has a plan for my life
2) God can turn my horrible situation into good
Romans 8 tells us that all things…
Much has been written about how to overcome the odds, recover from trouble, and get real answers to problems
The book of James is just such a book
If I were to give a subtitle to the Epistle of James, I would call it
"A Manual of Practical Christianity."
And isn't that our need?
We are always asking that things be made more practical.
There is a sense, in which the Epistle of James is a how-to book
Everybody is searching for some way to have it all
Everybody is offering us a way to have it all right now
That's an easy trap to fall into, isn't it?
That appeals, doesn't it?
I mean, isn't that what everybody who wants something from us is offering us everything?
And don't we want it all?
We are tempted to want it all, and to want it now.
He writes to the Jews the twelve tribes that were scattered abroad
One writer writes that in the history of the Jews one of the main characteristics is that of compulsory transplantings
James demands that we rethink the whole matter of having it all.
He suggests we are to be "perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."
But there is a strange twist for our jaded minds and our overindulged appetites.
James connects being perfect and complete with suffering.
How can that be? "Count it all joy," he says.
"Count it all joy when you meet with trials" and then he closes that admonition by saying,
"That you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."
So, what are the lessons here?
Welcome trials
You would be surprised to know that in the Greek text verse 2 reads a little differently
It actually reads all joy count it when you fall or experience a variety of trials
The word all means the totality of things
The Christian should not divide experiences into pleasant and unpleasant
So James says all things
All things what
All things should affect us someway
Nothing should pass by us and not make an impression upon us
The idea is that we should get Joy out of every experience
The picture is that of getting juice out of fruit
Regardless of the fruit we ought to get the juice out of it
We are to get joy and profit out of every experience in life
James does not say that the trial is Joy but the result is joy
Into our lives come temptation, affliction, and unwanted experience
And as we pass through adversity there is rarely joy but when the victory is won
Two Questions:
Why did this happen?
Who is responsible?
Subconsciously, consciously, verbally silent
Proper Attitude
In this verse James is talking about external pressures
The trial on the outside is the external pressure
But it is survived by an internal attitude (count it)
The greek word for count it has to do with the internal attitude of the heart and mind that causes the trials and circumstances of life to affect us adversely or beneficially
The word should literally be translated think forward
As you live in the in this midst of your present situation and circumstances
think forward…
My future dispels the gloom of the present
Its gloom now but glory tomorrow
The Benefits
There is a benefit of the trial
I know something
I know that the trying of my faith is producing something
Patience is the fruit of trials
Let it be fairly developed; let it produce its appropriate effects without being hindered.
Let it not be obstructed in its fair influence on the soul by murmurings,
complaining, or rebellion.
Patience under trials is fitted to produce important effects on the soul, and
we are not to hinder them in any manner by a perverse spirit, or by
opposition to the will of God.
Every one who is afflicted should desire that the fair effects of affliction
should be produced on his mind, or that there should be produced in his
soul precisely the results which his trials are adapted to accomplish.
Works out
Patience
To stand fast
To remain alive
To bear under –a terrific load
It is the picture of not trying to escape but of one standing firm
No matter how long it lasts…
Also the picture of waiting with expectancy
The perfect work of patience you can handle more
Mature / Grow up
Spiritual Adults
Complete / Lacking nothing