July 24, 2022
Faith, Tested In Trial
James 1:1-12

SIDEBAR:

• Very popular verse. Used in a stand alone way most of the time.
  • Paragraph breaks influance this … ESV has a paragraph break at v. 5.
  • But while I always took it as more of a stand alone idea in the past, I realized my mistake this week as I was reading the Book of James: look at verses 12.
  • Now some English translation do not use paragraph breaks. But every English translation that uses paragraph breaks broke at v. 5 save one (e.g., Hart). I now disagree with breaking at v. 5.

• Title: Faith, Tested In Trial
• Pointing to the author of the Book of James is what some scholars call a difficult question. (Smith’s) But most in conservative circles hold to the author being James, the half-brother of our Lord Jesus and the brother of Jude. This is due in no small part as it being the opinion of many of the early church leaders and writers. (Constable)
• James must have been saved late in Jesus’ earthly ministry; this seems right from John 7:5 and other passages.
• James was the leader of the Jerusalem counsel; therefore, leader in the Church.
• He was martyred by King Herod Agrippa I. (Thayer)
• It’s DATE: Early book … perhaps A.D. 45-48.[5] (Constable)
• It’s central MESSAGES: There are very many imperatives (or commands) in the letter … “one of the characteristics of the Epistle is the straightforward, transparent way in which things are put.”[22] (Constable)

"… in his [Luther’s] preface to the New Testament of 1522 James was stigmatized as ‘an epistle of straw.’ [16] ¶ Luther’s problem was that he thought James was writing about becoming a Christian (justification). James was really writing to Christians about how to live the Christian life (sanctification). (Constable)

• Indeed, it is my view that, Christian holiness is the central theme of the book of James.
• Burdick wrote that, “The Epistle of James is without doubt the least theological of all NT books, with the exception of Philemon.”[23]
• James made no fewer than 18 references or allusions to Sermon on the Mount in his epistle. (Constable)
• OUTLINE:
  • Chapter 1—Our responses to life are holy when proven through testing trials.
  • Chapter 2—Our faith and character become holy when coupled with holy deeds.
  • Chapter 3—Our speech becomes holy when it is used to bless others.
  • Chapter 4—Our wills become holy as we repent of the world’s lies and line them up with the Lord’s.
  • Chapter 5—We become a holy church as we become a caring community.

[In contrast,] The world system says: Avoid trials (ch. 1). Give preference to those who can help you (ch. 2). Promote yourself by what you say (ch. 3). Demand your rights (ch. 4). Grab all the money you can (ch. 5). (Constable)

PASSAGE

1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings.

• James = Gk. for Jacob = supplanter or trickster
• James, a slave (δοῦλος) of God and of the Lord (Master) Jesus (Greek for Joshua = God Delivers) Christ (The Anointed).
• The letter is addressed “To the Twelve tribes in the Dispersion.”
  • Note: No “lost tribes” here.
  • This has caused some debate:
  • Certainly to Jewish Christians (some say exclusive to them; e.g., EBC)
  • in the Dispersion = in the Scattering

  • These Jews were very likely members of the Jerusalem church who had left Jerusalem shortly after Stephen’s martyrdom (cf. Acts 8:1, 4; 11:19-20). … However the location of the recipients does not significantly affect the interpretation of the epistle. (Constable)

  • Perhaps all Christians (i.e., spiritual Jews)
  • Limited audience? No
  • We see that movement today.
  • Point: there is no difference spiritually between a Jewish vs. Gentile Christian.
    • There is not two separate applicational theologies regarding the groups.

Testing of Your Faith

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.

• Jesus warned His disciples, “In the world you will have tribulation” (John 16:33). Paul told Christians that “through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). (Wiersbe)
• By now we are seeing deep pattern in the Scriptures and one that stands out is how to face trials and persecution with spiritual minds and hearts.
• So here again–in the third book of the Bible we are teaching through, we see the same theme: “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.”
  • Now Satan will use our trials for his lies and says: God [disapproves of you or even] “hates you, and your trials are an evidence of that…” (Constable)
  • Our flesh sometimes echos these messages and it often says: I should never suffer!
• James teaches: count it all joy
  • “Count” = an accounting term
  • all joy NOT some joy
  • "when you meet trials not “if” (Wiersbe)
  • when we “meet trials of various kinds” >> various kinds = lit. various colors (LSJ, et al.)
  • Sick kids, unexpected deaths, disobedient teenagers, disease, viruses, persecution, martyrdom.
  • Think of the color!
• Bible tells us why we count it all joy: Why?
  • v. 3, For we know …
  • tested faith produces steadfastness
    • steadfast = consistently Christian character despite the daily circumstances of life.
    • steadfastness adds value = refining idea.
    • testing = proving
    • God uses daily life as our “proving ground for the development of [valuable] Christian character.”[51] (Constable)
  • steadfastness–with full effect–produces perfection and completeness.

[In the Sermon Bible Commentary we read,] We can all attain to a certain amount of proficiency at most things we attempt; but there are few who have patience to go on to perfection. In the lives of almost every one there has been at some time an attempt at welldoing. It may have been as the morning cloud, and as the dew that goeth early away, but there was at least a desire to do right, and good resolutions were formed. What was wanted? Staying power. “The gift of continuance,” that is what so many of us want. (SBC)

The Greek word holokleros (“perfect”) refers to a person who fulfills the purpose for which God created him or her: “those who fully attain to their high calling.”[48] … James pointed out the value of trials in order to encourage his readers to adopt a positive attitude toward these experiences, to endure them, and to view them as God’s tools. (Constable)

• v. 4b, “lacking in nothing” (ESV, NASB, many others)
  • I thought, “lacking in nothing” = contentment
  • lacking = lit. leave (LSJ, et al.)
    • an understanding matched with attitude that you have left nothing behind is would seem.
    • ?left nothing undone?
    • ?left nothing better?
    • “wanting nothing” (KJV)
• Trails >> testing of faith >> count it all joy >> steadfastness >> perfect, complete >> lacking in nothing.
• Holy contentment = rest and peace of God in our lives.
• Paul reminded Timothy: contentment with food and clothing is great gain.

ILLUSTRATION

Francis of Assisi: I thank thee, O Lord, for all my pain, and I beseech thee, if thou think good, to add to it a hundred-fold more. … Luther: Smite, Lord, smite on, my sins are pardoned; all shall be for the best. … William Perkins: when he lay in his last and killing torment of the stone, hearing the bystanders pray for a mitigation of his pain, willed them not to pray for an ease of his complaint, but for an increase of his patience. (Dr Hall, Rein. of Profaneness.) (Trapp)

APPLICATION

• I agree with Walter Elliot, “Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another.”
• How we handle trials is the most mature evaluation we experience.
• Let us remember that we gain steadfastness in the presence of temptations and sorrows. We must prepare ourselves with the word and prayer, as our Master did in the garden … Since He did not go to His trial unprepared, it certainly is not wise for us to do so either. (Adapted from SBC; SBC cited E. J. Hardy, Faint yet Pursuing, p. 47.)
• Prepare for trials and be prepared for a joy count.
• We hear things like: “He’s such a strong Christian.” But this should only be said of those that are content in the fire and in the den.
• If we are content during trials we partake of the same character building as the people we look up to in the Bible.
• Holy contentment = food and clothing

TRANSITION
Again we see this author, as so many authors of the Bible as well, explain that the Church needs to see trials as a means of God’s work in our life. It will take godly wisdom to have joy however in great trial. Look at v. 5.

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.

• One of the spiritual deficiencies that trials often exposes is lack of wisdom.
• Therefore James instruct, if one don’t understand how we could have joy in trials …
  • he should ask God for wisdom.
  • God gives wisdom generously without reproach (or rebuke).
    • It is very spiritual to ask for this.
  • To God giving generously Trapp wrote, “Not scantily, sparingly, or with an ill will. He is no penny father (as they say), but rich in mercy to all that call upon him. … Our king gives like himself, and according to his state …”
  • To all, baby Christians, mature Christians, backsliden Christian, devout Christians–ALL
• But take note: in faith with with no doubting.
  • for = wave of the sea
    • driven and tossed by the wind
  • God will not grant our request for wisdom during trials not grounded in faith.
  • Instead God calls him, again v. 8, “he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”
• With no faith in wisdom, we can look just like the world with our responses to life’s trials.

ILLUSTRATION

• General Omar Bradley saw how the world dealt with trials and hardship.

Omar Bradley, one of the Generals in World War II went to World War I and he remembered it as a young man. He served in the army in the US, became a General. He actually led one of the largest armies in history during World War II. He spoke at an Armistice Day in Boston, Massachusetts in 1948. He said, “With the monstrous weapons man already has, humanity is in danger of being trapped in this world by its moral adolescents. Our knowledge of science has clearly outstripped our capacity to control it. We have many men of science; too few men of God. We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount. Man is stumbling blindly through a spiritual darkness while toying with the secrets of life and death. The world has achieved brilliance without wisdom, power without conscience. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living.

APPLICATION

• James is warning of a place like this.
• We see that we may be compared to waves tossed around by the world’s winds and end up thinking and responding just like the world to the smallest and largest trials alike.
• Let’s be honest, how well do we apply ourselves to wisdom when we are going through tough trials?
  Here are different sinarios when this happen:
  • # 1 never ask for wisdom at all in our trials. This is when thinking of our trials in the spiritual way Scripture demands even crosses our minds.
  • # 2 by doubting after we pray for wisdom.
  • # 3 by slipping back into a fleshly mindset.
• When we don’t understand our trials, we are instructed to pray for wisdom.
• There are billions of trials that we may face. God has the wisdom we need to net that calm mind and heart we so desire.

Now that we know that we are to pray for wisdom during trials–without doubting, let’s turn our attention to the way James encouraged the Church regarding our position in Christ.

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.

• We see here that the lowly Christian is contrasted with the rich.
• Firstly I would remind us that God flips the entire world on its head.
• The rich already stand in their humiliation already.
• Why is James so hard on the rich?
  • James 2:6b, Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court?
  • Generally (not always) the rich oppress the poor.
  • This is still the case today.
  • Reminder too what Jesus said, “Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 19:24)
  • It’s not impossible for the rich to be saved, but many are not.
  • The rich oppress often the lowly.
  • This is what the rich man has to look forward to–if I could paraphrase the teaching of the verse of James 1:11: For time and life march on wrinkling and aging the rich man; his handsome, youthful appearance perish as he chases the things and ideas he cherishes.

ILLUSTRATION

• Jeff Bazos
• Owns the largest house in Washington DC at 27,000 square feet.
• Flies in the fastest private jet ever built.
• Just received his half-billion dollar yacht.
• Recently flew to space on his Blue Origin rocket.
• For the trivial, he commissioned 42 million dollar giant clock inside of a mountain that is supposed to be very accurate and hold its time for 10,000 years. It will tick only at the turn of a year; it will move its century hand every 100 years, and send out a cuckoo once a millennia – just 10 times in its life. And it costs US$ 42 million.

APPLICATION

• Jesus doesn’t care that a man flew just above his footstool!
• The Ancient of Days does care about a ten day clock!
• The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry. (Psalm 34:15)
• This passage is a powerful reminder that refocuses the church’s attention on there potential position in Christ.

TRANSITION

Now that we see what the rich’s position is to an Almighty God, lets turn our attention to the state of the eternally happy people of God. Let’s incorporate verse 9 again for it’s context:

9 Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, [jump to 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.

• The lowly are already exalted (and they will see their full reward for this very soon indeed).
• From the context, the lowly are the ones going through trials—not the rich.
  • The rich buy their way out of problems and trouble.
• Blessed is the lowly brother who remains steadfast under trial.
  • Blessed = happy
  • Why? For when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life.
  • Deep happiness comes to the lowly Christian in heaven.
  • They receive the crown of life.
  • The crown some say is symbolic some say literal.
  • The reward should be thought about as described.

Constable outlined other crowns mentioned in the Bible as rewards.

(Constable)

To receive this crown of of life. we must remain steadfast in our trials.

• Steadfastness is showing love to God in trials
  • Ever been angry with God in trials?
  • That is not steadfastness.
  • Steadfastness has continued faith and hope.
• Is your mind angry on the here and now during your trials?
  • That is not steadfastness.
  • Steadfastness has continue love for others–even enemies during the here and now.
• Ever withheld love from a person during trials?
  • That is not steadfastness.
  • Remember sin, practically speaking, is withholding love from anyone at anytime for any reason.
• When we start responding with love, faith and hope in our trials we are promised the crown of life as our hope has its pay off.
  • God has promised many things to those who love him.
  • And remember Jesus said, if you love me obey my commandments.
  • Love is demonstrated through obedience.

APPLICATION

• So let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 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. (Hebrews 12:1-2) …

Bibliography and Works Cited

NOTE: Please see the following web-page for most of the works cited: https://insidecrosspoint.org/sermons/2022/july/bibliography.html. Most works cited on that web-page correspond to the verses they are are grouped or outlined with, or in the case of general references (e.g., author information, book background information, etc.), one would usually find citation material with the Bible books the citations are associated with.

Scripture quotations [unless otherwise noted] are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Other Works Cited

Hardy, Edward J. Faint Yet Pursuing. Second ed., T. Fisher Unwin, 1888.