“Living the Faith, Persevering through Trials”
(James 1-5)
Series: Living the Faith (James)
Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD
Henderson’s First Baptist Church, Henderson
• I invite you to take your Bibles and join me in the Book of James (page 812; YouVersion).
We are concluding our short series of messages in the Book of James this morning and I have to tell you I always find it a bit sad when we conclude a series. It’s like saying goodbye to an old friend.
My aim is to put these messages together in a book, a printable format as well as an electronic format and just have them put into a book to give away to anyone who wants one. A free book on these messages from James.
So this morning we are doing a review of the book by chapter, just bringing out the main point of each chapter. We’ll take about half the time doing that and then the balance of the time looking again at the matter of persevering through hardships and difficulties. With that particular theme in mind, the theme of perseverance, let invite you to look with me at the opening verses of chapter 1 and I’ll read verses 2 through 4.
• Please stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.
2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,
3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.
4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
• Pray.
Introduction:
James is one of the most practical books in the entire Bible. It is not so much a book on how to become a Christian, as it is a book on how to behave as a Christian. It is not so much about learning Christian principles as about living Christian principles. And that’s why we’ve entitled the series, “Living the Faith.” James challenges Christians to put their Christian faith to practice and live it out for the glory of God.
We noted that one of the more interesting characteristics of this letter is it’s containing over 50 imperatives, 50 uses of the imperative mood. The imperative, the mood of command, like “Do this,” or “See to that,” not suggestions, but commands. 50 imperatives in just 108 verses. Imperatives to challenge us to “Live the faith.”
So if we ask what does this look like, this “living the faith,” we can answer the question with five statements from these five chapters. So I want to review what we’ve learned this morning by providing these five statements—and for much of these statements, I am indebted to my good friend Danny Akin in his outline of James, though I have modified his statements to suit our study. First:
**When Christians Live the Faith…
I. We Persevere through Trials & Temptation (1)
This of course, the main teaching from chapter 1. I hope that when you go through trials and temptation that you will think of James chapter 1 and just turn to the Bible and read these verses. Now, we will return to those opening verses about persevering through hardships and difficulties a little later in the message. For now, let me remind you of how Christians are to persevere through temptation.
You may recall that the same word is used in chapter 1 that is sometimes translated “trial” and at other times “temptation.” And you’ll remember that we said that the word translated “trial” in the opening verses is the same word translated “temptation” in verse 13 and following. And we said the meaning is determined by the context, especially with regard to who is behind the action. God tests to bring about a good result; Satan tempts to bring about a bad result.
So you have in verses 13 through 18 the key to tackling temptation and we drew the application especially from verses 17 and 18, where we talked about the importance of delighting in God’s goodness and delighting in the Gospel.
A recurring theme in our studies has been the importance of not only saying no to sin and temptation, but also saying yes to godliness, “drinking from the right well,” as we reviewed last time. We must say no to temptation and stop “drinking in the cheap substitutes for God, the muddy water from a broken cistern,” and we must drink in the living water. And this we do by daily communing with God, praying, reading His Word, and “doing” the Word; as James stresses in the remaining verses of chapter 1, listening to godly Christian music, reading godly Christian writings, listening to Christian truth, being among Christians, gathering weekly and mid-weekly in worship, and so on.
When Christians live the faith…they persevere through trials and temptation. Second statement from the second chapter: when Christians live the faith:
II. We Practice the Truth (2)
In chapter 2, James addresses the sin of showing favoritism to those who enter our fellowship. We practice the truth by treating all folks equally who enter into this building and who enter into our lives. Every single human being is created in God’s image and therefore worthy of respect and kindness.
And to drive home the point of practicing the truth by showing kindness to others, James teaches in the remainder of chapter 2 that just our saying we have faith without works backing up our profession is to have a faith that does not save from hell, a dead faith. Faith without works is dead. We must not only know the truth, we must practice the truth.
So, when Christians live the faith, they persevere through trials and temptation (chapter 1), and they practice the truth (chapter 2). Thirdly, when Christians live the faith, they:
III. We have Power over our Tongue (3)
James Chapter 3 is about the tongue, about the need to control our tongue, to watch our words, to be careful and thoughtful in our speech. We talked about using our words wisely, speaking only in ways that build up and encouraging others to do the same, namely by not participating in gossip. And we talked about thinking before we speak, asking four questions before we open our mouths, asking is what I am about to say:
Is it True?
Is it Kind?
Is it Necessary?
Does it improve upon the silence?
When Christians live the faith, they persevere through trials and temptation (chapter 1), they practice the truth (chapter 2), they have power of their tongues (chapter 3), and then—when Christians live the faith, number four:
IV. We Pursue True Life (4)
Chapter 4 addresses the sin of worldliness. James teaches us that, “friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God (James 4:4).”
The cure for worldliness is found in our allegiance to the right person. James teaches in verses 7 and 8, “Submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”
When we fail to submit to God and draw near to God, we open ourselves up to the devil and his devices. By failing to draw near to God, we allow Satan to draw near to us and he holds before us all the temptations of the world and we become slowly enticed by ungodly distractions.
We become like the happy frog splashing in the pot of water, slowly being cooked without even realizing our certain doom. The cure for worldliness is to pursue true life in Christ and to quit being “double-minded,” trying to serve two masters.
And then most recently, from chapter 5 we learned that when Christians live the faith:
V. We Pray through Trouble (5)
A good church family is a praying church family. James says, “Pray for one another, that you may be healed.” And on a personal note let me just thank you for praying for me and praying for my family.
So many of you in recent days and weeks have prayed for me. Our deacon body gathered around me Tuesday evening and laid hands on me and prayed specifically for me and my family, praise God. I thank God for a praying church.
I truly hope that verse 16 in particular will remain fresh on our minds, verse 16 where James says, “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous person avails much.”
We cannot expect God to honor our prayers if we are not walking in righteousness. It is the effective prayer of a righteous person—a person of integrity, character, holiness—it is this kind of person whose prayers result in great power.
Never underestimate the power of prayer—and your need for holiness as the one who prays.
So the book in five chapters: When Christians live the faith, they persevere through trials and temptation (chapter 1), they practice the truth (chapter 2), they have power of their tongues (chapter 3), they pursue true life (chapter 4), and they pray through trouble (chapter 5).
Now, let’s revisit chapter 1 and talk again about verses 2 through 4 because I believe these three verses are so helpful to our daily lives. I hope you have memorized these verses and, if not, will set out to do so this week, James chapter 1, verses 2-4. Hear it again:
2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,
3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience (steadfastness; perseverance).
4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect (mature) and complete, lacking nothing.
These verses provide us with helpful reminders when facing trials and hardships. First, remember that:
Trials are Inevitable [1-2]
James says in verse 2, “Count it all joy”—not if, but—“when you fall into various trials.” When. Trials are inevitable.
And these are trials of all kinds, the word James uses in verse 2 is translated, “various.” Some of these trials are the result of simply living in a fallen world, a world of tragedies and hunger and famine and earthquakes and accidents.
Other trials come as trials more directly tied our sin. In other words we may bring a trial or hardship upon ourselves, for example by failing to “Draw near to God” or by our failing to “Resist the devil.”
In either case, the reason we can “count it all joy” when we fall into various trials is because of what God is doing in us through the trial. Trials are inevitable and:
Trials are Beneficial [3-4]
God is doing a work in us and through us that redounds to His glory and our good. Trials have to benefits:
They Strengthen Us (3)
and:
They Complete Us (4)
They strengthen the Christian and they complete the Christian.
James teaches that the reason Christians can “Count it all joy when they fall into various trials” is because, verses 3 and 4:
3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience (steadfastness; perseverance, or endurance; the ability to stand).
Know that when you undergo various trials—painful as they may be—you may regard these trials as an opportunity to grow in faith and become strong—trials are beneficial—they bring the benefit of strength and endurance and so, for this reason, we may have joy in the midst of our trials.
Remember that James is not saying that joy comes in the absence of trials. He does not say, “Count it all joy when you escape various trials,” but, “Count it all joy when you fall into various trails” because God is at work, strengthening you through the trial. Trials strengthen us and trials complete us, verse 4:
4 But let patience (or perseverance or endurance) have its perfect work, that you may be perfect (mature) and complete, lacking nothing.
“That you may be complete.” So apart from trials, we are incomplete. The testing of our faith, the strengthening of our faith, produces the ability to stand in the midst of great difficulties.
James teaches in verse 4 that when the strengthening of our endurance grows, we become more and more like Jesus Christ, complete, lacking nothing.
This is so critical to our understanding: God has a purpose for our trials. His goal is to complete us, to make us more like Jesus Christ.
Without trials how else would we really learn humility? Without going through hardships and difficulties, how would we ever really learn to show compassion, to have empathy, to be humble and truly wise? Without trials in your marriage, how would you ever learn true love?
Without going through trials—whether of our own making, trials that come through worldly compromise—or trials that are simply the result of living in a sin-cursed world, trials like sorrow, loss, or Cancer—by going through these trials, God builds in us Christian virtues of empathy, humility, faith, and trust, dependence, and countless other virtues all to His glory and to our good, all this to complete us, to make us more like Jesus Christ.
So no trial is wasted. No hardship is lost. God works in and through every single difficulty in our lives to make us more and more like Christ.
Hey Christian, what did you go through last week? Do you realize that God was working in and through that hardship to conform you to greater likeness to Christ? God knows what He is doing in your life. So
“Consider the fact that you are undergoing trials—painful as they may be—consider them an opportunity to grow in faith and become strong and, for that reason, you may have joy in the midst of your trials.”
Conclusion:
Listen to these lyrics from Christian artist Laura Story. This is the song, “Blessings.” These lyrics really bring out what James is talking about here because sometimes what we pray for God answers—but not always in the way we might think. Sometimes the blessings for which we ask come to us through hardships and difficulties. Listen to this:
We pray for blessings, we pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity… [But]
What if your blessings come through rain drops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise?
We pray for wisdom, Your voice to hear
We cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt your goodness, we doubt your love
As if every promise from Your word [were] not enough
And all the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we’d have faith to believe
…
When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know that pain reminds this heart…
This is not our home
It’s not our home
‘Cause what if your blessings come through rain drops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You’re near
What if my greatest disappointments or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
What if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are your mercies in disguise?
2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,
3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.
4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
Stand for prayer.
Dear God…we thank You for your word. We thank You that we can “Consider the fact that we are undergoing trials—painful as they may be—that we may consider trials and hardships as an opportunity to grow in our faith and to become strong, to become more like Jesus Christ.”
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