06.14.2009 James 1 - Consider it pure joy...

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Tony Marette H2OSU update: Whassup?! I want to first thank you for my financial status for my internship this summer. The program is 8 weeks long – at the OSU campus. LT – Leadership training – Character growth, Leadership, truth of the Gospel.
H2O staff member – worship leader – planning programs and events to the campus and community. Thanks again – if you are interested in donating – thanks – and Go Bucks!

Welcome this morning. We are finishing and bringing to close - Never Waste a Good Crisis – Bringing to a close and starting a series on the Book of James. James really dovetails in with what we have gone through. We have looked at people in the Bible who have gone through many crises. CRISES – the plural of Crisis - It just doesn’t preach as well as CRISISES – but the correct English is Crises.

James talks about going through trials (which is the plural of trial) – (I’ll stop now) –
James it the brother of Jesus (not the apostle James). James is one of the most practical books in the Bible – 107 verses and 51 specific, direct commands on how to live our lives. Almost half the verses are commands. 36 quotes/paraphrases of the words of Jesus – The book of James has been called the Proverbs of the New Testament.
James is a guys’ guy – just give me the facts – tell me what to do!

Lord, thank You for this opportunity to be with You and worship You. Help us to sing Your praises. We are encouraged by praising You. Thank You for those who share their gifts that we might love and adore You more. We have hearts of appreciation – open to listen to what You have to say. Give Your grace – Act on our behalf – teach us. For the needs we face – we lay our lives before You – You are worthy. May Your Holy Spirit address, comfort, encourage, motivate, and command us today that we might follow You more completely.

James 1:1 James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad, greetings.
You can see off the bat – it is not like Paul – OK, Hi, NOW, let’s get down to it:
2 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,

He hits it with us right off the bat. You have probably heard messages and songs and books about this verse. For me, this is one of those verses we love to hate. Depending on your state of mind, this verse can be really encouraging or make you feel really lousy.

Sometimes we misunderstand this verse – I’d like to open it up and give us an understanding – what is James really saying here – so this isn’t one way or the other – the bipolar verse of the Bible. It is really those first 4 words – consider it all joy.
The folks he is writing to are going through difficult circumstances. This could sound like – OK, just cheer up, everyone! That doesn’t always work.

CONSIDER. What does that mean – He is speaking about – thinking. This is first about our thinking – not about our feeling. When we think of JOY – we think of FEELING. But this is talking about THINKING. This is an act of the mind, not an act of the emotion. This has nothing to do with emotion. This should be a relief. In some circumstances, it is impossible to feel happy in some circumstances (unless you are psychotic or evil!) – there are some circumstances you can’t feel happy about.

Sometimes we misunderstand the word ALL. We go to Thessalonians – In EVERYTHING give thanks… All is referring to the type of joy you are to have. The new translations say – consider it PURE (complete) JOY. There are some things in life that are bad. There are some things that are horrible. We should think of those things as bad, horrible; it is okay to have a righteous anger over the circumstances that come into life sometimes. It is okay to feel deep sorrow in certain circumstances. It is okay to hate evil.

It boils down to the word JOY – our tendency is to see this as happiness. We think of joy. JOY - A state of being rather than an emotion – joy proves quite different from happiness – it does not support the idear that a Christian must smile all the time. Joy can be defined as a settled contentment in every situation. An unnatural reaction of deep steady, unadulterated TRUST in God.

This is different from our typical thinking. It is to trust that God is good when things are difficult – very, very simple.

Various TRIALS – Maintain a trust in God when all these trials come into your life. We all go through difficulties – Yours will not be mine! Our tendency is to think we have it the worst – or we look at someone else and say, Boy, I could never go through that! They are specific for you – God knows and allows things into your life – because He understands and knows you.

I think of three things regarding VARIOUS trials – The difficulties that come in:
1) The suffering because of following Christ. At times, we will go through difficulties because of our faith.
2) The trials that come from living in a fallen world. This is a natural part of life. We live around wicked people; we ourselves are wicked; Our bodies are falling apart.
3) The difficulties we face because of mistakes we have made and sins we have committed. When we realize and recognize it – we can trust that He is good.

This is my own contemporary paraphrase:
Maintain a state of trust in God when things go wrong. Calm down – focus on God and believe that He loves you.
I can work toward that.
In Verse 1 he gives us the what – Consider it all joy - Here is the WHY in verse 3.
When difficulties come in…
3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have [its] perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

There is something you must understand – this is not a blind hope. There is something you can know – He is not trying to ruin or destroy us by our circumstances – TESTING = PROVE. God tests you because He knows you can pass the test! We tend to think – He wants to show me how terrible I am or what a failure I am. NO! It is because He believes in you!

Tony goes to THE Ohio State University – Great for ministry – Great for football – not so great for professors! You have some wonderful professors – but not at OSU. It makes parents furious – and they make phone calls and say, I am paying you so much money…
I hate to embarrass him – but I will. The professor said – I don’t know why they have me teaching this class – I don’t like teaching. Tony: I got a 74% in math! But – the class average was 53%. When the teacher teaches and half the kids fail, where is the problem?! It is with the teacher – he is not instructing in a way students can understand. I think sometimes that is our view of God. But God is PROVING to us that we have what it takes. When you go through a difficult circumstance – You have what it takes.

ENDURANCE! Steadfastness – patience – tenacity. That is a good way of looking at it. Trials produce a faith that is tenacious – that goes after it and continues on. You can’t have a faith like that without difficulties. It is no different than getting strong (I am not an example!) – It breaks the muscles down – so that it can get stronger. Add some steroids and you have great muscles! Endurance is faith on steroids! It is not passive, but engaged waiting! We think of waiting as a boring thing. Endurance is ‘Faith Stretched Out.’
The reality is life is a series of difficulties.
Jesus said life would have many difficulties. (By many trials and tribulations you will enter the kingdom of God.)
We are to steadily move forward – not be life on a rollercoaster.

4 And let endurance have [its] perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Testing – Endurance – stretched faith. Let it have its effect. We say – Enough! – then we look for improper way out of the trial. LET IT HAVE ITS EFFECT! Allow it to work inside of you. Go deep inside and let it work in your life rather than looking for a way out. For some it is alcohol or escaping into TV. If we are setting our minds on the shelf, we are not allowing God’s work to have its effect in our life.

Henri Nouwen – Talks a lot about the personal inner life. We need to allow God – you need time of quiet in life – where you can allow God to work in your heart – where you let God in and let Him point out what is going on inside of you. We are so action/DO/ oriented in our lives. We see prayer as speaking to God, but how much time do we spend in quiet listening for God? Jesus went to a mountain to pray – whenever there was something significant – Jesus went to be with God. We skip the letting God work in us.

When we are going through difficulties, God is trying to complete us. COMPLETE – PERFECT – MATURE – God is maturing us. What we see in this passage – God’s ultimate goal is our perfection – that won’t take place here, but in heaven. Life is this series of difficulties and trials – and eventually we will be complete in heaven. For those who James was writing to – had more of an impact than it probably would us. Their difficulties were such that they just wanted to go and be with Christ. Think of the spirituals written by the slaves – they really spoke of heaven. Our lives, for the most part, aren’t that terrible – but our goal is heaven and we need to train ourselves to think about being with God. This may be the day we go to be with Him – that is the ultimate goal – the end of the journey.
James gives us a pattern
1) Tests will come – not if but when – specific and personal to you. God has your trial and test.
2) We are to maintain trust
3) Understand that He believe we can pass the test
4) As we keep going, we become stronger
5) There will be another test after this one!

James 1:5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
Wisdom – to the Jews, it meant “Skills for living” – how to live to be pleasing to God. We think about intelligence. Our tendency – when we are in the midst of a trial – is to ask WHY am I going through this?! But the right response is – I am going through this – What now?! In light of my circumstances, how should I live? When we face difficulties, God can be trusted to give us an understanding how to live in the face of our current circumstances.
James 1: 6 But let him ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, 8 [being] a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

Our success of failure is determined by our faith, confidence, trust that God is good and loves us. In every situation we face, God is good and loves us and has our best. When you are going through it – it is hard to believe it.

James 1: 9 But let the brother of humble circumstances glory in his high position; 10 and [let] the rich man [glory] in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away. 11 For the sun rises with a scorching wind, and withers the grass; and its flower falls off, and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away.

Now he throws that in there and we think – where does that come in? For those James is writing to – the primary trial is POVERTY. They are living in destitution – because of their faith, in many instances. We will look at the concept of the rich and the poor in a few weeks. Closing this section – v 12
12 Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial;
This is a beatitude – He got this from his brother –
12 Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which [the Lord] has promised to those who love Him.

For once he has been approved – do you see that? You will get an A!
He points to this concept of life – he is trying to change their perspective – the goal is after this world – what we are living for. Yes, there will be growth and maturity here – but in the end, the true reward comes after this life and that is the reward we should live for and grow toward.