Sermon Tone Analysis

James 1:2-4

What Trials May Come

 

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.

And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”[1]

One truth is undeniable—trials come into each life.

When trials come into your life, for trials do come to each of us, how do you respond?

What is your first response when disappointment grips your soul and threatens happiness?

The letter James wrote is, if nothing else, practical.

The brother of our Lord speaks pointedly to fellow believers who share in the trials of this world.

Join me in exploring the teaching of the Word as we equip ourselves to respond to trials of various kinds.

*Trials are Inevitable* — James recognises that trials are inevitable.

In the Greek language, “trials” [*/peirasmós/*] may refer either to external adversities or to internal temptations that come into the life of an individual.

In *verses 13* and *14*, the word refers to temptations.

Here in our text, and for our contemplation this day, the word speaks of those external events that try us, exhausting us and even threatening physical life.

Christians to whom James was writing were under extreme pressure because of their faith that Jesus was the promised Messiah.

Among the trials we recognise were executions [*Acts **7:57**-60*], physical mistreatment and imprisonment [*Acts 8:1*; *22:4*], impoverishment and deprivation of the basic necessities for life [*James 2:2-6*; *5:1-4*], and sickness and attendant discouragement [*James **5:13**, 14*].

The author of the Letter to the Hebrew Christians also writes of their trials.

“Recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated.

For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one” [*Hebrews **10:32**-34*].

Other trials were less apparent as trials.

James speaks of the temptation to become casual about the Faith of Jesus the Lord.

He spoke of the temptation to be religious without being transformed—of going through the motions of worship without worshipping [*James **1:22**-25*].

He spoke of the temptation to show partiality toward fellow believers [*James 2:1-6*].

He also spoke of the temptation to selectively do what the Lord commands—to apply faith in a selective fashion [*James **2:14**-17*], to say what you are really thinking without thought of the consequences of your speech [*James 3:1-12*], and to exercise worldly wisdom without recognising heavenly wisdom [*James **3:13**-18*].

The ever present danger of becoming worldly in one’s thinking and in one’s actions [*James 4:1-12*], and boasting in our own strength [*James **4:13**-17*], are temptations that James recognises as dangerous for those who would honour the Lord Jesus.

He also warns against depending upon what one has, instead of depending upon the Master [*James 5:1-6*].

What should be evident as we review this letter is that the Christians to whom James wrote were tested and tempted by essentially the same things that test and try us.

Certainly, trials and hurt come to all of us, and temptations abound for each Christian.

James is not merely telling that this will happen, but he equips us to grow through trials.

I am not suggesting that Christians in Canada are imprisoned because of their Faith.

Certainly, they are not being murdered because they are Christians at the present time, nor are they debarred from work because they believe in the Lord Jesus.

However, such things have happened in the recent past, and the threat is always there.

Baptists were imprisoned in Quebec during the 50s and 60s for the high crime of preaching the message of life in Jesus the Lord.

I have personally known people blackballed by their union because they would not deny their Faith.

The current political climate, with the multiplication of “hate laws,” certainly threatens those who wish to speak of biblical morality.

Indeed, people have been haled before “human rights tribunals in several provinces.

Even a Roman Catholic Bishop has been threatened both by a provincial human rights tribunal and threatened through condemnation by parliamentarians and federal politicians.

Physical and fiscal opposition is a very real possibility for the conscientious Christian in modern Canada.

If Christians in Malaysia, Indonesia, Iraq and Iran, India, Viet Nam and Mexico live under constant and intense threat of death and loss of property today, should we be surprised at the potential for such injury even in Canada?

However, it seems to me that the pressure to conform to this present, dying world is far greater than is the threat of physical opposition.

Paul urges Christians, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” *Romans 12:1, 2*].

It is compromise with the thinking of this world that threatens the life of the Faith in our nation.

I am always astonished when I witness Christians justifying lying because they “had to do it,” or showing favouritism toward wealth or social status within the churches of our Lord.

It has become commonplace for professing Christians to selectively apply the instruction of the Word, choosing what Word of the Saviour they will obey while ignoring other portions of the Word that they consider difficult.

Harsh vituperation that passes as “honest speech” is a disgrace among Christians, and the constant application of the “best thoughts” of this dying world dishonours the Lord whom we profess to follow.

In addition to these real and present dangers is the threat to the advance of the Faith because we trust in what we have and depend upon our own strength instead of relying upon the Spirit whom God has given.

I often tell new believers to avoid at all costs those self-confident charlatans that insist that a Christian should never experience difficulty.

The Word is replete with warnings to anticipate trials.

Peter wrote, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.

But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.

If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler.

Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name” [*1 Peter **4:12**-16*].

In words that echo the struggles of Job [*Job **23:10*], the considerations of the Psalmists [*Psalm 66:10*], the wisdom of Solomon [*Proverbs 17:3*], and Isaiah [*Isaiah 48:10*], Peter writes to encourage believers who are “grieved by various trials” [*1 Peter 1:6, 7*].

Together with John, Peter faced the enraged Jewish Council, and when the two disciples left the chambers, they left “rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonour for the Name” [*Acts **5:41*].

I cannot read the words that the Apostle wrote when he reviewed his life before and after meeting Christ without being humbled.

“If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness, under the law blameless.

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death” [*Philippians 3:4-11*].

All this focus on suffering and on opposition is but an iteration of the teaching Jesus provided in His Sermon on the Mount.

Perhaps you will recall that He said, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” [*Matthew **5:11**, 12*].

Jesus did not say */if/* you are reviled and persecuted, rejoice; He commanded His followers to rejoice “*/when/* others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on [His] account.”

In other words, Jesus anticipates that those who follow Him will experience opposition and rejection.

His cautionary statement to the disciples was repeated and emphasised as He prepared for the Cross.

Jesus said, “You will be hated by all men for my Name’s sake” [*Luke **21:17*].

These specific words were a theme throughout the training of the Twelve.

Jesus repeatedly taught them, “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles.

When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour.

For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake.

But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.

It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master.

If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household” [*Matthew **10:16**-25*].

It is perhaps significant to contrast the message of the first missionaries with the message of many contemporary religious leaders.

The message to the early Christians was that “through many tribulations we must enter the Kingdom of God” [*Acts **14:22*].

What a message!

“Come join us!

You will suffer and people will hate you and reject you.

Your own family will perhaps refuse to accept you any longer.

This is the Faith.

Here is where you belong.”

If all you are looking for is a fire insurance policy, buy one.

However, if you will follow the Master, know that there is no room for cowards or those who seek an easy life in the Kingdom of God.

Today, we have created a wimpy, flaccid, effeminate religion that we too often sell to unsuspecting people as Christianity.

What we often peddle as the Faith is at best a pale reflection of reality.

The Christian Faith demands the best of those who will follow the Master.

The life to which Christ calls us does not exempt us from trials and temptations.

Rather, we can anticipate opposition, and the most disheartening opposition we will experience will be that from our own fellow Christians.

Nevertheless, because we serve the Risen Son of God, the Living King of Glory, we accept the call to be manly, to stand firm, to be stalwart as we resist the call to conformity.

*A Godly Response to Trials* — At issue is not the question of whether you will face trials of various kinds as a Christian.

What concerns us is that we */will/* face trials of various kinds as Christians.

Because this is true, we need to determine what the appropriate response is to be when we do face trials.

If we will honour Christ the Lord, we must prepare beforehand in order to react wisely and courageously.

I suppose that the most natural and most immediate response any of us have to any given trial is to question why it is happening.