Sermon Tone Analysis
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*How Can I Profit From My Pain?*
James 1:2-8
Richard E. Powell
November 23, 2008
Fort Caroline Baptist Church,
Jacksonville, FL
Years ago I read the story of a woman and her parakeet named “Chippie.”
According to a newspaper article, the woman was cleaning Chippie’s cage with the hose of her canister vacuum cleaner.
She was in a hurry, so she decided to leave Chippie in the cage while she vacuumed out the bottom with the open end of the hose.
While she was cleaning the cage the phone rang.
She turned and reached out to answer the phone when she suddenly heard the horrific sound of Chippie being sucked up into the vacuum cleaner.
Horrified at what she had done she dropped the phone, turned off the vacuum, and opened it up.
Thankfully she found Chippie alive but stunned.
Chippie was a sight to behold.
He was covered from beak to claw with dirt, dust, and debris.
His frantic owner wanted to clean him up as quickly as possible so she scooped him up and took him to the bathroom where she plunged him under a running faucet.
Now Chippie was clean but he was shivering.
His owner picked up the blow dryer, turned it on and held poor Chippie under the blast of hot air until he was dry.
The newspaper reporter asked this final question of the woman, “How’s Chippie doing now?”
The woman said, “Well Chippie doesn't sing much anymore.
He just sort of sits and stares.”
Have you ever had a day like that?
Has life ever left you feeling sucked in, washed up, and blown over?
If we are honest, most of us would say, “I can relate to poor Chippie.”
Life has a way of trying you and testing you.
We are minding our own business when suddenly we are sucked into painful circumstances that try our faith and patience.
It may be that your marriage that started out as the ideal has turned into an ordeal.
It may be that you get a visit from your doctor who tells you that you have cancer.
It may be that you get laid off from your job.
It may be that your former friends are mistreating you.
Whatever the circumstances, they try our faith and patience.
We are not sure how to handle them and how to square our theology of a loving God with our painful trials.
You ask yourself, “What good could possible come out of this?”
It may comfort you to know that you are not the first to feel this way or to ask this question.
The apostle James wrote a letter to Christians in his day in part because he wanted to help them profit from their pain.
His letter is preserved in the Bible.
Open your Bible to James 1:2-8.
Today you will see that you can joyfully profit from your pain when you remember God’s purpose of developing your spiritual maturity.
(READ PASSAGE)
It sounds like James is mocking us with his instruction to “count it all joy” when we fall into various trials.
Unless you are a masochist, you do not enjoy painful experiences.
I know they say in the body-building world, “No pain; no gain.”
But my philosophy is, “No pain.
What’s wrong with that?”
I don’t like pain or problems.
What does James mean when he says I am to count it all joy?
Read the verses carefully and you will see that he is saying you can joyfully face your problems because you know something.
The joy is not in the problem you face, it is in the knowledge you possess.
As a Christian you know that God can make all things work together for your good (Romans 8:28).
God does not cause all the painful trials that test us, but He does allow them and He can bring something good out of them.
The good he seeks for you is that you would become a stronger believer, spiritually mature, and living by faith.
Let’s walk through these verses again and see what James wants us to know and how he answers the question, “How can I profit from my pain?”
/First, James says if you want to profit from your pain you must…// /
*I.
Realize The Purpose Behind The Pain (James 1:2-3).**
*
/ Before James tells us the purpose behind the pain, he reveals that…/
*/ A.
We Are All The People of Pain (James 1:2)./*
James is writing to the “brethren,” to God’s family.
By calling them his brothers, he identified with them.
He says, “I am one of you.
We are in this together.”
James wants these believers to know that they are not alone in their suffering.
It is still true today.
You are not alone.
Look around this room and you will see that each of us are either in a problem now, coming out of a problem, or are headed into one soon!
That is one of the reasons I come to church---misery loves company!
No, but it does comfort me to know that I am not alone.
In fact, our Lord and Savior stands with us as one of the people of pain.
He was a “man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3b).
And notice that James said, “when” you fall into various trials, not “if.”
It is not a matter of if; it is a matter of when! / /
/ We are all the people of pain, and…// /
*/ B.
There Are Many Producers of Pain (James 1:2)./*
James also mentions the producers of pain when he mentions the “various trials.”
The word “various” mean multi-faceted, variegated, and diverse.
There are more pain producing experiences in life than colors in a child’s kaleidoscope.
Perhaps the reason James did not try to list the producers of pain is because the list is innumerable.
And if he had tried he may have left your particular trial off the list and you would say, “See, no one knows what I am going through.
My trial is unique in all of human history!”
The word for “trials” is translated “temptations” in the King James Version.
But the Greek word literally means fiery tests or troubles of any kind.
Sometimes we mistakenly believe that all of our problems will disappear when we become Christians.
But that is not the case.
You will face financial trials, relational trials, physical trials, emotional trials, or spiritual trials.
/ After James identified the people and the producers of pain, he promised that…// /
*/ C.
God Has An Ultimate Purpose For Pain (James 1:3)./*
“The testing of your faith produces patience” (James 1:3).
Our Heavenly Father knows there are certain lessons of faith that we can only learn in the testing times of life.
God often has our attention more in testing times than in good times.
And He teaches us things about our relationship with Him that we would not learn otherwise.
Perhaps you have heard me quote that well-worn poem that says:
/ I walked a mile with pleasure,/
/ She chattered all the way,/
/ But I was none the wiser /
/ For all she had to say.// /
/ I walked a mile with sorrow,/
/ Not a word said she,/
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