Joy even in Suffering (James 1:2-12)
Notes
Transcript
Announcements
Announcements
December 31st, starting at 8pm—if you’re looking for a family-friendly, non-alcoholic New Year’s celebration to go to, please feel free to join us here. It’s going to be a great time of fellowship with plenty of food to eat as we ring in the new year. Bring a friend, all are welcome.
January 3rd, 2021, right after the Sunday morning service, we’re going to have our quarterly business meeting. Everyone is welcome to attend, there’s no need to run off even if you aren’t a member. Essentially, what will occur is, we’re going to quickly go over this past quarter’s financial statement, compare the 2020 budget with the actual, and there’s one thing that we have to vote on concerning the budget for 2021—when we put together the budget, I completely forgot to add insurance into the budget, so I went a got a quote through Brotherhood Mutual, we just have to add that in.
Finally, as always, this is just a reminder to participate in worship through giving. Everything that you give goes to the growth of this church and the spread of the Gospel throughout Central Pennsylvania. Now, in case you’re wondering some immediate needs that your giving is going to includes (1) our hope of renting a bigger facility for Sunday mornings, which will help us as we grow concerning space issues, (2) we need to start incorporating musical worship into our Sunday morning services, in order to do that, we have to obtain a copyright license to use the music, and (3) we’d like to be able to send any young person wanting to go to summer camp to Camp Kanesatake. We’ve budgeted $1,500 this year for teens to go to camp and I personally think it would be phenomenal if we could send those teens to camp with no expense to their families. You think it might be too soon to talk about summer camp, but I’m fairly certain that registration is due in March or April so it is a need that we should think about sooner rather than later.
To help you worship through giving, we now have three ways for you to do so:
If you would like to give through cash or check, you can do so through the offering box in the kitchen. Checks should be written to Grace & Peace Bible Church and if you give cash and would like a giving receipt at the end of the year, be sure to mark the envelope with your first and last name. For those of you that are online and would like to send a check, you can write that to Grace & Peace Bible Church and send it to PO Box 187 in Philipsburg, PA 16866.
If you would prefer to use a debit or credit card or if you’d like to set up a ACH transfer, you can do that in two ways—you can text the number 84321 with your dollar amount and follow the text prompts or you can go to graceandpeacepa.com and select “Giving” in the menu. If you choose to give through text, please note that the first time you do it, it’ll require you to set up your account after which you’ll no longer have to enter that information, the system will save the information and you can continue to just enter your dollar amount each week.
Prayer of Repentance and Adoration
Call to Worship / Scripture Reading
Call to Worship / Scripture Reading
1 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 And all went to be registered, each to his own town. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. 6 And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. 17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
21 And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
Sermon
Sermon
Introduction
Introduction
This morning, we’re finishing up our series on Advent by looking at the final traditional theme for Advent, which is Joy. This is a theme that is frequently spoken of—we’re told that the joy of the Lord is our strength, we’re told that joy is a fruit of the Spirit, and there are several prayers throughout the Old and New Testaments concerning those being prayed for having joy. We’re told to rejoice in the Lord and to do as this morning’s passage states, to count it all joy. But just like many of the other themes that we’ve studied over the past three weeks, joy is often misunderstood. So, this morning, we’re going to take an in-depth look at what joy really is, but in doing so, we’ll also take an in-depth look at what is typically considered the antithesis or the opposite of joy, which is trial or suffering. Doing this will give us a more robust idea of what joy truly is and allow us to hopefully recognize that joy is possible even in the midst of our worst trial, which let’s be honest, for many people 2020 has been a year of trial and tribulation. Between the Coronavirus and for many people the loss of jobs and income, in addition to the normal trials of everyday life; we live in a moment of time that’s filled with difficulties and yet, we can still have joy.
This morning’s passage is from James 1:2-12 and as you turn there in your Bibles, let me give you a little bit of background information so that you know where James is coming from. James describes himself as “a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.” (James 1:1). More specifically, this is James, the son of Alphaeus the half-brother of Jesus Christ who was the chief among elders in Jerusalem, which you can read about in Acts 15 and 21. Essentially, this James was the senior or lead pastor of the church in Jerusalem and he writes this letter specifically “to the twelve tribes in the Dispersion,” which simply means that he’s writing to the Israelites who have been spread throughout the Roman empire and while the purpose for their dispersion isn’t exactly clear, the common consensus is that they were spread throughout the Roman Empire due to persecution. And this persecution would explain why James starts this letter with the very words that we’re going to study this morning.
Let’s read together, James 1:2-12
2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
9 Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, 10 and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. 11 For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.
12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.
As we study this passage, we’re going to take it into four parts: (1) Vs. 2-4, which focuses on what James calls the testing of your faith—we’ll take time to define what he means by the testing of your faith and what he is referring to when he speaks of trials of various kinds; (2) Vs. 5-8, focuses in on wisdom from God and I’m going to make the argument that this specific type of wisdom that James is telling your to ask God for concerns the testing of your faith; (3) Vs. 9-11, which will seem a bit out of place, but I’ll tie it into the rest of the passage, focuses on the simple fact that all humanity is equal in the sight of God; and (4) Vs. 12, which close us off by speaking of a blessing for the one who perseveres. All of which will culminate in a better understanding of true, biblical joy, why we should remain joyful even in suffering, and what that suffering will accomplish in us if we persevere.
Prayer of Illumination
The Testing of your Faith (2-4)
The Testing of your Faith (2-4)
2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
James makes the statement that we should “count it all joy, when [we] meet trials of various kinds.”
And we need to stop here, for two reasons (1) we need a working definition of the word joy and (2) we need to determine what James means by “trials of various kinds.”
Like I mentioned in the introduction, joy is a commonly misunderstood word (much like all of the themes that we’ve studied) and a huge reason for that is simply because our usage of the term has varied over the years or sometimes the definition of the word itself has changed over the years.
When we think of the term joy in our modern-day use of the word, we typically think of a form of happiness. In fact, this is such a prevalent concept for joy that Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines it as “the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires.” Another definition from Merriam-Webster is “a state of happiness or felicity.” Or as Oxford’s Dictionary states, “[joy is] a feeling of great pleasure and happiness.”
And I would actually argue that happiness or great pleasure or felicity are all an aspect of joy, but happiness, pleasure, or felicity does not encompass all of what the Bible means when it describes joy.
I know this, because if joy was merely happiness or felicity and if joy was merely an emotion evoked by well-being or good fortune, than we couldn’t “count it all joy, when [we] meet trials of various kinds.”
Or put differently, if joy was merely emotional, we couldn’t exhibit joy during the difficulties of life and yet, James teaches to be joyful even in trials and tribulations.
Which means that joy, at least Biblical joy, is more than just an emotional response to the situations of life. We can be joyful despite what is happening in our lives because we choose to be joyful.
When James 1:2 is taken in conjunction with other passages of Scripture—like Galatians 5:22, which speaks of joy being a fruit of the Spirit and the need for true believers to live in accordance to the fruit of the Spirit and the multiple prayers by Paul, the apostles and even Jesus for believers to be filled with joy—gives us an understanding of being joyful as a choice that is made by Christians that is rooted and grounded in their relationship with Jesus Christ.
I think Lexham Press sums up what Joy is aptly in their dictionary and theological wordbook on joy, that joy is “closely related to gladness and happiness, although joy is more a state of being than an emotion; a result of choice . . . joy is one of the fruits of the Spirit; it is expected of Christians because it is the natural result of having received salvation. The joy comes on account of what Christ has done, irrelevant of whatever other circumstances are happening in one’s life.”
Joy as a choice is possible even in the trials of life and James states to count those trials of various kinds as joy. What does James mean when he speaks of trials of various kinds?
And I’m only posing this question because for centuries, the common English translation of the Scriptures has translated this word into temptations. The KJV renders this passage as, “count it all joy when ye fall into diverse temptations.”
And let me be clear, that the Greek word termed there could legitimately be translated as temptation, but that isn’t what James means here and it’s caused confusion for many modern readers today. While it could be legitimately translated as temptation the connotation behind temptation is that we are struggling with the desire to sin and that isn’t what James is speaking about in James 1:2. And quite honestly, logically being joyful when we’re struggling with the desire to sin doesn’t make sense.
No, what James is pointing at are the difficulties in life. And this isn’t referring to our struggle against sin, but this is referring to everything in life that is hard, which might include the struggle against sin, but this also includes the daily struggle of life—the struggle to wake up every morning and go to work or school, relationship difficulties between friends, family, and spouses, even the difficulty of finding time to be alone with God with overwhelming responsibilities bearing down on you.
These are the trials that James is speaking of when he says “Count it all joy . . . when you meet trials of various kinds.”
Which, let’s be honest, is a little bit counter-cultural. We don’t naturally think that we should be joyful when life is difficult and yet, James makes it clear that when life is difficult we not only can have joy, we should have joy.
And let me clarify one issue before we continue in the passage. James isn’t telling us to be joyful for the trial itself and James isn’t telling us that we should paint on a face of joyfulness despite what we’re going through. In fact, Ecclesiastes 3 tells us that “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven” including “a time to weep . . . [and a] time to mourn.”
James isn’t teaching us to hide our emotions during difficult times and pretend like we’re ok in every situation.
What he is teaching, is for us to be joyful in what occurs because of our trials in life. Or put another way, it isn’t that we should be happy that we’re going through a difficult time in life and it isn’t that we’re supposed to fake happiness when we’re struggling, but rather, we are to find joy in what God does in us through those times of struggling. What does God do through us?
Vs. 3, “For [or because] you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
James is teaching that even during our darkest trials in life, we are to be joyful—not because of the trial itself, but because God is utilizing those trials and the testing of your faith to produce steadfastness.
Steadfastness isn’t typically a word that we utilize today, so let me help you to understand what exactly it is. Steadfastness, is very similar to endurance or the ability to stand firm despite the surrounding situations—a biblical example of steadfastness is actually found in the symbolism of a tree. Psalm 1:1-4 states, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.”
Steadfastness is seen in the resiliency of faith in a person who despite tremendous amounts of loss continues to believe. And James it teaching that it is through the trials and testing that we develop resolve in our faith.
Not only that, but as we allow that steadfastness to work within us and as we continue to persevere in our faith through these trials, our resolve in our faith, will continue in this process of making us “perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
Put another way, as we work through the difficulties of life and we remain faithful to God, God utilizes those trials and difficulties to produce endurance within us that matures us as believer.
And it is this spiritual maturity that makes us perfect and complete, lacking in nothing—not because we’re spiritually mature, but because of who our resolve in faith is built on.
As we continue to endure and we continue seeking Jesus, God utilizes our trials to mature us as believers—oftentimes, we have somewhat, heroes of the faith that we look towards as examples of true spirituality (and honestly, if we aren’t careful, we can idolize these men and women). What we need to remember is that the spiritually mature men and women that we consider heroes of our faith are only spiritually mature because through the difficulties of life they continued to persevere in their faith. They’re only mature in their faith because God matured them through their trials in life.
So, despite the counter-cultural nature of being joyful even in the midst of great difficulty, James is utterly clear that believers ought to have joy—not because of the trial itself, but because of how God will utilize that trial to mature the believer if the believer perseveres in the faith. The issue with this is that many times, when we’re struggling through great difficulties in life, our mindset is not to be joyful because we don’t see the end-result. As we struggle in great difficulty our tendency is to look at the temporal and our tendency is to throw ourselves a little pity party (I know, because I do this as well). James’ response to this is to seek wisdom.
Wisdom from God (5-8)
Wisdom from God (5-8)
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
Now, we can look at Vs. 5-8 and even 9-11 as standalone statements about wisdom and equality, but I’m arguing for them to be considered in light of trials, suffering, and perseverance because the context of the passage—starting in Vs. 2 is concerning the issue of trials in life. This issue of trials in life actually continues and James sort of bookends Vs. 5-11, with the concept of perseverance, suffering, trials and joy, which is evident with his return to trials in Vs. 12. So, we’ll work through these verses in separate sections, but remember that this is all connected with the issues of trials, suffering, endurance, and joy.
Vs. 5, starts with “if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach.” This one sentence teaches us two things in particular:
Wisdom is something we should seek—Wisdom is not something that will come naturally to us, we cannot just absorb wisdom passively, we have to look for wisdom.
But before we can look for wisdom, we need to know what wisdom is. Occasionally we mix up knowledge with wisdom, but we need to be aware that the Bible does differentiate between knowledge and wisdom.
Oxford Languages—Knowledge is “facts, information, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject.” In relation to the idea that James is portraying in James 1:2-12, knowledge is knowing the fact that life is filled with difficult situations.
Wisdom on the other hand, is “the ability to discern or judge what is true, right, or lasting.” In relation to the idea that James is portraying in James 1:2-12, wisdom is understanding how God is utilizing the difficult situations in life to perfect us or mature us.
Another example would be that knowledge is knowing how to use a gun; wisdom is knowing when to use it. Or we could say that knowledge is knowing what the Bible says, wisdom is knowing how to apply that knowledge.
We’ve all met people who have knowledge without wisdom and if we’re honest, we can all have more wisdom because true wisdom is something to be sought after.
Proverbs 2 and 4 both personify wisdom in such a way that it is someone for us to seek, which makes sense because in Proverbs 1, in which Solomon gives the purpose of the book, he specifically says that the reason he wrote the Proverbs, was “To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight” or put another way, he was hoping to pass on knowledge and wisdom to his son.
And because wisdom is something that can be passed on and sought after, it’s clear that it is not elusive and it can be obtained. We can gain wisdom and both Proverbs 1 and James 1 teaches us how to gain wisdom—Proverbs 1:7 states that “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
If you want to gain knowledge and wisdom, the first thing you have to do is fear God. And this is more than just being afraid of God, fear, when utilized in Scripture often involves what I would call a “worshipping submission.” You aren’t afraid of God, but you revere and honor him and you submit to him.
And it isn’t until your relationship with God reflects this fear, that you truly start to gain knowledge and wisdom.
Which means that true wisdom and true knowledge really come from God.
Thus, we should seek wisdom from God—which is James’ point in James 1:5, if you don’t have wisdom, then ask God for wisdom because true wisdom itself is given by God.
And God, who holds true wisdom will generously give that wisdom to all who ask without reproach, if the one who asks asks in faith, with no doubting.
In order to gain this wisdom from God, we’re told to simply ask for that wisdom, but we have to ask with faith that God will actually give us this wisdom.
Oftentimes, when we ask God to provide certain things through our prayer, we’re doubtful that God will provide those things. And a lot of this doubt is simply because we’ve all prayed for something that didn’t occur and I’m not talking about prayer for a nice car or praying for a new house.
I’m talking about legitimate prayer for legitimate things—we might pray for the health of individuals or we might pray for people to take seriously their relationship with Jesus Christ and when we don’t see the result of those prayers or maybe the result is different than we anticipate, we stop having faith that our prayers work. For instance, you may have prayed that someone in your family might come to know Jesus Christ and after many years of praying, they still have yet to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and because of this, you doubt prayer in general.
And then, when you pray for wisdom, you assume that it won’t actually occur because you haven’t seen your other prayers get answered and this is the situation that James is referring to.
First off, God hears all prayers—he is God and God is omniscient. He knows all of our thoughts and prayers, but he never promises to listen to or do all of our prayers. Some instances in which God won’t listen to our prayers include:
When we hold on to sin, rather than repent and change, God will not listen to our prayers. Proverbs 28:9 says, “If anyone turns a deaf ear to my instruction, even their prayers are detestable.” If we’re in unrepentant sin, we shouldn’t expect for God to answer our prayers.
When we ask according to our own selfish desires, God will not listen to our prayers. James 4:3 says, “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend it on your desires.” This would be the person who doesn’t like his car, so he prays for a Ferrari.
When we ask for something that isn’t in accordance to his will for us, God will not listen to our prayers. 1 John 5:14, says, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” Maybe we pray for a new job, a new opportunity, or maybe to move to a new town or city; but if God’s plan for us requires that we stay here, then our prayer for a new job, a new opportunity, or a new town will go unheard.
When we pray without faith that God will do what he says he will do, God will not listen to our prayers. James 1:6 is specifically teaching that God gives wisdom to all who ask in faith, but if we ask without faith and we ask with doubt, he will not give us the wisdom that only he can provide.
And then James expounds on why asking in doubt results in God not providing wisdom for a person, “for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”
Why exactly does someone who asks for wisdom with doubt not receive the wisdom that God has promised? Because he doesn’t actually believe that God will give him that wisdom
And because he is in unbelief concerning God supplying wisdom, he is unstable in all his ways.
And just as a side note, James isn’t so much saying that the doubt of wisdom being given to him is the problem, he’s stating that the doubt about wisdom reveals a deeper issue in that this person doubts that God will do what God says he will do.
It is this doubt in God’s words that causes someone to be like a wave of the sea. It is this doubt in God’s words that cause the man to be double-minded and unstable. Much like, when we doubt the words of God, we become like the wave of the sea that’s pushed back and forth by the wind and we become double-minded and unstable.
In context, this prayer for wisdom comes directly after this statement to “Count it all joy, when you meet trials of various kinds.”
So, while the concept of praying for wisdom in general is truth and is found elsewhere in the Bible, we have to consider what James is trying to tell us about wisdom in light of various trials. And in context, what this seem to be telling us is that our trials throughout life and the testing of our faith produces endurance and when endurance has its full effect on us, we’ll be made perfect and complete.
Where does the wisdom come into play?
Oftentimes, when we’re struggling in life we aren’t thinking about how God will utilize these difficulties to mature us as believers. Again, many times when we’re facing difficulties in life, we automatically throw ourselves a pity party and usually we sulk.
When we face difficulties in life, we need to pray for wisdom—not necessarily that we can get out of the difficulties of life, but wisdom to view the difficulties of life with an eternal perspective.
Or put differently, when we struggle through the difficulties of life, we need to pray that God gives us the ability to understand how these difficulties are maturing us as believers.
And when we start to view these difficulties in life through the lens of eternity and we recognize the maturing nature of the trials of life, we then can truly have joy because we recognize that despite the trials that we face, God has a plan for those trials.
Now as we continue in this passage, Vs. 9-11, seem like they’re completely out of place. As in, it seems as if James is making a completely different point, so I’m going to explain what he’s saying in these verses on their own, but in the application I’ll tie it to the rest of the passage so you’ll understand what his point is. Let’s read Vs. 9-11:
The Equality of Mankind (9-11)
The Equality of Mankind (9-11)
9 Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, 10 and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. 11 For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.
James lays out, what I might consider a spiritual exercise. He says that the lowly brother ought to boast in his exaltation and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. And in this spiritual exercise of sorts, James is essentially making both the lowly and the rich consider eternity.
When the lowly brother/believer like a flower of the grass passes away from this life, and because he is a believer, he is in eternity with God, his lowly position on earth provided for him a humbleness of spirit and a genuine faith. In other words, because of the trials on earth that he faced, he learned to be humble—as Paul states, to be content with what he had
And because of the trials on earth that he faced, he learned to have a genuineness of faith because of his perseverance.
Put another way, James tells them to essentially take pride in the future, because despite not having anything during this life, they will have everything in the next. And they can have hope of the future.
Now, for the rich, he states that the rich should boast in his humiliation. Which doesn’t make much sense to us, because we read humiliation and we think of a time of our life where we were utterly embarrassed, but the actual meaning of the verb, “to be humiliated” means to be humbled. So, James is saying that the rich should boast in the fact that they’re going to be humbled.
James is essentially making the statement that after this life, when all are facing judgment, it really doesn’t matter if you’re poor or rich during this life
If you’re poor, you’ve learned to be humble and to genuinely believe
If you’re rich, you should humble yourselves now.
Death comes to the poor and the rich
And James’ point is that the poor man has already developed his faith and humbleness due to the nature of what he doesn’t have—he is humble because he doesn’t have much and he has genuine faith because he has nothing to offer.
The rich when mentioned in Scripture typically have an attitude that they are great and amazing because they’re rich, but James is saying just like a flower of the grass he will pass away. For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.
Put differently, we all die and we have to come to terms with the fact that there is an eternal life. And regardless of if we’re rich or poor, we will all be placed on the same footing in terms of judgment
So, the poor should take pride in the fact that he has been humbled and he has genuine faith; and James says that the rich, need to be sure that they are also humbled and have genuine faith.
Kurt Richardson, “The overall context for this hard truth about the wealthy and their wealth is the instruction of the Christian community; the rich can be a coequal part of the community of believers. But let their holding and use of the wealth and position be carried under an umbrella of humility. The rich cannot boast in their wealth because confidence in wealth belongs to the enmity of the world system against God’s values. James offered a proper way of relating and worshiping among believers of different economic statuses through a kind of spiritual exercise. Drawing from Paul’s similar thought, let the rich brother exercise the “as if’s” of 1 Cor 7:29–31, “for this world in its present form is passing away.”
We have one more verse to look at before we get to application, we’ll take a look at it and I’ll move into some application to tie all of this together and close us off, Vs. 12
The Blessing of God to those who Persevere (12)
The Blessing of God to those who Persevere (12)
12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.
We’re back to this idea of trials and temptations again, and James says that the man who remains steadfast is blessed because he’ll receive the crown of life.
The idea is that after a lifetime of trials and temptations, if you persevere, you will receive this crown of life
We don’t know much about this crown, we know that there are actually five crowns mentioned in Scripture and this is just one of them:
The Imperishable crown (1 Cor 9:24-25)
The Crown of Rejoicing (1 Thess 2:19)
The Crown of Righteousness (2 Tim 4:8)
The Crown of Glory (1 Peter 5:4)
The Crown of Life (here and Revelation 2:10)
Revelation 2:8-11 says this about the crown of life, 8 “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life. 9 “‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 10 Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. 11 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.’”
This crown of life has to do with remaining faithful despite the trials and temptations that we face, and in the context of James and Revelation, it has to do with remaining faithful even in the face of persecution.
Put another way, the crown of life is given to those that are fully confident and fully on board with Jesus Christ, even in the face of opposition.
And we know that the Crown of Life is promised to those who love him.
And just as a side note, how do we know if we actually love God?--John 14:15, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” True love for Jesus always results in active obedience to him and his word.
Application
Application
Now, how does this all connect? We’ll take a moment to discuss this and then I’ll jump straight into application:
James starts this book talking about having joy during trials because it is through those trials that he makes us spiritually mature. He makes a pretty strong statement that the whole purpose of the testing of our faith is to be made spiritually mature and complete
And he never makes the statement that we won’t struggle with trials and temptations—in fact, it seems fairly clear from his writing that we ought to expect life to be difficult. However, despite the trials we ought to be joyous because of these trials and temptations; we ought to be thankful that we’re struggling because God is utilizing these trials and temptations to mature us as believers
And if we can’t understand that, we ought to pray for wisdom from God in order to understand this
We ought to pray for wisdom from God in order for us to understand that these trials will force us to remain steadfast; they will force us to grow in faith; and they will force us to be matured.
James then makes a statement about humanity all being on equal footing when it comes to judgment. And it might seem a little out of place, but James is making that statement to essentially say two things
For those with a little, don’t envy those with a lot because through the lack that you have, you’ve learned how to be humble and have faith in God
For those with a lot, don’t rely on your riches, because eventually, you’ll be stripped out of your riches and you’ll have to face the judgment seat of Christ without your riches, just like the poor man; but if you, as a rich person, don’t take the time to humble yourself and have faith in God, your position in front of the judge is quite different than the poor man’s.
In other words, the rich might not have the same struggle as the poor, but don’t be envious of that, because the rich person’s struggle is in humbleness and faith rather than material possessions.
Or in other words, we each have trials in our lives regardless of our social or economic status so don’t be envious of someone else’s life. Rather, look at your own life, look at your own trials and struggles and have joy because God is using those trials and struggles to make you mature.
And then James closes with Vs 12 as an encouragement for all—that if we remain steadfast through all of these trials, we will be rewarded by Jesus Christ.
So, what does this mean today?
First off, the idea that trials are being utilized to mature you is really only applicable to believers in Jesus Christ. So, let’s start with this one question, “Do you actually believe in Jesus Christ?”
If you don’t have faith in God, then your first step would be to turn to Jesus, repent of your sins and call on the name of the Lord—he will save you
And then you could have true joy because God has promised those who turn to him salvation and in that salvation, despite the current trials and tribulations, you can have joy.
If you’re here this morning or watching on Facebook, let me encourage you to consider your heart—and if you don’t believe in Jesus Christ, take this Advent and Christmas season to consider Jesus Christ.
Secondly, for those that do believe—don’t look at your trials and difficulties in life as simply negative events happening to you.
Yes, trials complicate things—COVID-19 is a trial for most of us. Our daily lives can be difficult, but be aware that God is utilizing these difficulties in order to mature you as a believer in Jesus Christ.
Often times when we struggle with difficulties in life we act as if we think that God isn’t in control. Let me assure you that the Bible teaches that God is sovereign over all things and while he isn’t the one causing the difficulties in your life, he does use those difficulties for your spiritual growth.
Do you actually believe that God is in control? And if you do, through the difficulties of your life, find assurance that God knows what he’s doing and that if you remain steadfast and if you endure, you will receive the crown of life.
And because God is in control and because he is utilizing these trials to mature you and to perfect you; you as a believer can truly have joy despite the difficulties in your life.
This Advent and Christmas season, be joyful despite great difficulties in life because God is in complete control of all things even when life seems out of control.
Have joy in the one who uses all things for your benefit and maturity as a believer.
Pastoral Prayer