Count it all Joy
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Suffering. Hurt. Rejection. Surely God wouldn’t let righteous people go through hard times. God guarantees our lives on earth to be healthy, prosperous, and for us to have money. Honestly my friends, no way. This is such a lie that we can believe that can leave us doubting God’s goodness. It can lead into thinking that God is mad at me for something I did. It is a lie that God guarantees our lives on earth to be smooth sailing. God never promises us an easy life, but He does tell us that He will be with us always and that includes our trials. The Psalmist Asaph knew this.
23 Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
you hold my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will receive me to glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
That we would understand deeper what Asaph was inspired to write here. That God is leading me along with His right hand. Humbling to think about, how as a child we would need to be guided along. And to submit to and realize that we need God’s guiding hand now, our whole lives, into eternity. My flesh and heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Jesus reminded His disciples of the truth that He is always with them.
18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
In all that I have planned for you, I will be with you through all of it. Jesus left physically, but sent His Spirit.
God never promises us an easy life, but He does tell us that He will be with us always. Let that be a comfort to you in the midst of trials. That is a foundational truth as we seek to be joyful through trials. He is with us always.
Our God went though trials. In a few moments we will be partaking in communion, remembering our Lord’s death until He comes.
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
I was reminded about how Jesus went though far more suffering that we could ever imagine. I also remember how He deserved none of it.
Jesus is with us through trial, He went through trial Himself. And He considered it a joy to go the cross, didn’t think of the shame that He would endure, and is now seated in glory.
The foundational truths are that Jesus went though trials and is with us through trials. God never promises us a trial free life, but that He will be with us and grow us the whole way.
I am reminded of this truth that is displayed at the beginning of James.
When trials come there is an opportunity to have supernatural joy and to grow.
When trials come there is an opportunity to have supernatural joy and to grow.
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.
In every trial there is an opportunity to have supernatural joy and growth.
A trial can be emotional, relational, or physical. A lot of times we can try to run and protect ourselves from hurt, and I acknowledge we shouldn’t go out looking for a fight or a chance to be hurt. We do need to understand that when trials do come, because that is life in this fallen world, there is an opportunity to have supernatural joy and to grow.
As we go though this passage it answers some key questions for us.
Who is able to count it all joy?
Who is able to count it all joy?
Believers!! Each of us who has placed their faith in Christ. In James 1:2 it says count it all joy, or pure joy, my brothers. I am able to count it all joy with God’s help, you are able to, count trial as pure joy. Remember our foundational truths from Psalm 73, Hebrews 12 and Matthew 28 that our Jesus went through trials, He is with us through our trials. We have nothing to be afraid of. It is an joy to share in Christ’s sufferings.
13 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.
To know what Christ went through for us in His sufferings. We shouldn’t go through trials with an Eeyore attitude. Do you remember that donkey from Winnie the Pooh. Oh man, but it is so easy to get that way. So easy to let the lies creep in that no good can come from what is happening to me. With God’s help, we must go through trials with pure joy. What a challenge God’s Word always puts right in our face. To have joy, an inner peace not reliant on good circumstances. Joy, peace in knowing God’s got this. He has a plan to grow me towards Him, not throw me away from Him.
Believers are able to count it all joy. No other group of people.
In youth group we are studying the origins and beliefs of different religious systems and combating them with the truth of God’s Word and the gospel. This last week we looked at Jehovah's Witnesses. They would claim to be Christian. They have no hope.
We looked at 1 Peter 1:3 which reminds us of our living hope.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
Our hope is a tool we can use in witnessing. Apart from Christ there is no hope in trials, and while trials can draw the unsaved to Christ, in the life of a believer trials can grow us in ways we would otherwise never experience.
Who is able to count it all joy? Believers. Second question.
When should we count it all joy?
When should we count it all joy?
2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,
When we experience trials. Notice that emphasis. Trials are to be expected. If you are not going through a trial currently, they are sure to come. Don’t let that discourage you. Remember the foundational truths that Christ went through pain and heartbreak and rejection and He conquered and is with you now, and He will be with you when you are going through a trial.
2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,
Trials of various kinds. There are a few different ways trials are used in the Bible. Here, with the various kinds of trials it is talking I believe about a testing of integrity. External trials, when things happen to you. Difficult interactions with co workers at work, sickness, pain, the death of a friend or relative, the rejection of others, the list goes on. Some trials we see as huge, life changing, others are smaller.
Trials are to be expected, there are various types of trials. Bigger, smaller, emotional, spiritual, relational, physical, they will come. We must understand now that when trials come there is an opportunity to have supernatural joy and to grow.
Who is able to count it all joy? Believers. When are we to count it all joy? When we encounter trials. Trials that will come, no two trials being the same exact in nature, but all trials the same exact in purpose. And in knowing that there is a purpose behind trials, it helps us to have joy in the midst of them. They are not for nothing, they are meant to grow us.
Our 3rd question is.
For what purpose do we go through trials?
For what purpose do we go through trials?
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.
They are to grow us. They produce steadfastness, perseverance, endurance. Let trials mold and shape you in ways that easy living never could. When we are steadfast, when we continue on, we are joyful, in our relationship with God through the midst of the rough storms and waves in life, it builds us into perfect and complete believers. Perfect meaning mature in this passage. A full or complete work, maturity in the lives of believers, that is what trials bring to us.
I believe our first response in encountering a trial coming into our lives should be to surrender whatever the trial may be over to God and to ask honestly, “God, how do you want me to grow through this?” Now if only I can remember what God’s Word wants me to do in the moment. When I feel that pain, that grief, that rejection. Lord, help us in the moment to remember you have a purpose to grow us.
When trials come there is an opportunity to have supernatural joy and to grow.
When trials come, they will come.
There is an opportunity, every trial presents us a choice, “Am I going to allow God grow me through this? Or am I going to run to something or someone else?” A 21st century idol, anything we run to for comfort when we should run to God.
When trials come, there is an opportunity, to have supernatural joy. How? Remember your foundation in Christ. He went through the worst in His death so you could have life though faith in Him. Thought faith in Him we remember that He is now with us always.
We can also have supernatural joy through trials because we know there is a purpose for them. They are not all for naught, they are to grow us. To transform us into mature, full, complete Christians.
God will bring you though the trial. The trial may never go away in this life, remember the opportunity you have to display supernatural joy and to grow with God’s help. Choose to allow God to sustain you though any trial that may come.
24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
Whatever trial comes and beats against the walls of your life, in Christ we have a firm sure foundation.
This joy and growth is only possible because of the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross for our sins. And we will remember this as we partake in the Lords Supper together.
23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
Would you join me in giving thanks for the bread. Men if you would begin passing out the bread and I would invite everyone into a tie of reflection, just checking yourself before God. Making sure things are right between you and him. And between you and others.
24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
Lets thank God in prayer for the promises he has kept to us in sending us a savior. Men if you would begin passing out the cup.
25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Doxology