James 1. I'll read the chapter, then we're going to look at just the introduction and the first section. The believer's response to trials in verses 2-4. James 1, beginning in verse 1.

James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. To the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greetings. My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation, but the rich in his humiliation, because as a flower of the field he will pass away. For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass. Its flower falls and its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits.

Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God. For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.

Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin. and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.

So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath, for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore, lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted Word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the Word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror.

For he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. If anyone among you thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, This one's religion is useless. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

Amen. Well, let us pray. Our Father, we thank you for the written word and we pray again for the ministry of the Holy Spirit, that one who breathed through the human authors to pen the very word of God Most High. Give us ears to hear and hearts to receive, and especially in a topic like our response to trials.

May we heed this, brother. May we listen. May we understand. May we know the remedial ends in view, the trials and afflictions that we face in this world.

We thank You, our God, that You work all things for Your glory and for the good of those who love You and those who are the called according to Your purpose. Even trial and affliction and difficulty, these things are overruled by a great and glorious God who has purpose to conform us under the image of Your beloved Son. Give us grace, Lord, give us help now, and give us the power and presence of Your Spirit, and we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Well, as I said,

Introduction to James

our focus this evening will be on verses 2 to 4, but just by way of a general introduction, we won't look at everything involved in introducing a biblical book, but just some of the highlights concerning this epistle of James. First, in the first place, we identify the author, James 1.1.

Authorship of James

James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, he indicates, just by stating his name and showing us his relationship to the Father and to the Son, that he is pretty well known. He doesn't have to give us any further identifying marks. He doesn't have to describe at great length which James in the New Testament he is.

And that's one of the things that we ought to do, is consider how many Jameses there actually are in the New Testament. There are various contenders, various persons have thought that one of these particular Jameses was the author of James. In the first place, there's James the father of Judas, not Iscariot. He is mentioned in Luke 6.16, and again in Acts 1.13, but otherwise he is completely unknown.

Secondly, there is James the son of Alphaeus. I think Calvin took this particular James as the author. This James the son of Alphaeus is mentioned in Matthew and in Mark and in Luke when Jesus calls the apostles or calls the disciples. He's obscure and probably not the one who needs no identification.

Then there is James the son of Zebedee and the brother of John. Probably one of the Jameses we know even more popularly because he fares often in the gospel records. However, that particular James was martyred in A.D. 44, according to Acts 12, verse 2, so he is most likely not the author. And then there is James, the Lord's brother.

You can turn to Matthew 13, verse 55, just to sketch a little bit about what we know concerning the James, who authored the epistle of James. He was a brother of our Lord Jesus Christ. They, of course, had the same mother. The Lord Jesus Christ, however, was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 13, 55. Is this not the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary, and his brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas? And then again in Mark 6, 3, and then in Galatians chapter 1, 19, we learn that this James is the Lord's brother.

As well, John 7 indicates that during Jesus' earthly ministry, at least at some portion, this particular James was not a believer in Jesus Christ. John 7, verse 5, for even his brothers did not believe in him. Again, those of Mary's household. And then also we see in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 that at some point, most likely relative to the resurrection of our Lord, James had become a believer. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 7, Paul writes, after that he was seen by James, then by all the apostles.

Notice, Paul assumes that people know which James he's talking about. So, it's a well-known James in the early church. That's why in James 1.1, he doesn't have to give us any long description as to who he is. James was very well-known, and that's the point we look at now.

He was a leader in the church in Jerusalem. You can turn to Acts chapter 12. Acts chapter 12, specifically in verse 17. But motioning, this is the account where Peter escapes from prison, but motioning to them with his hand to keep silent, he declared to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison.

And he said, go tell these things to James and to the brethren. And he departed and went to another place. So James fares in this particular passage, indicating something of his leadership in the Jerusalem church. Acts chapter 15, James is the leader of that church that does preside over this Jerusalem council.

And so we see that this man clearly and early emerged as a leader. Galatians 2, you can turn there, specifically in verses 9 and 12. Galatians 2.9, And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that had been given to me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised. And then dropping down in verse 12, For before certain men came from James, most likely a reference to the church in Jerusalem.

Now this has been a very quick sketch. I just want to quote from one commentator. He says that James became a respected and beloved figure in the early church, especially among Jewish Christians. He was considered the first bishop of the Jerusalem church.

Now, bishop doesn't mean big hat. It simply means the overseer in the church in Jerusalem. of the church, and he was called the righteous or the just because of his faithfulness to the law and his devotion to prayer. Hegesippus claims that James was stoned to death by the scribes and Pharisees for refusing to renounce his commitment to Jesus. It's recorded for us in Eusebius, the history of the church.

And then the Jewish historian Josephus confirms the essentials of this story, and he also enables us to date the incident to A.D. 62. So James died in A.D. 62. So if you understand properly, you'll note that that makes James an earlier letter written in the New Testament. In fact, when we consider the date, we'll put it at around 46 to 49, and there are reasons for that.

But

Audience and Date

notice the audience to whom James writes, back in James 1.1, to the 12 tribes which are scattered abroad. This is most likely a reference to Jewish Christians living outside of Israel. It's called the dispersion. They were dispersed.

They went to places outlying the nation of Israel and they lived as foreigners, as sojourners. We see the Jewishness of the letter itself, again indicating it's a very early epistle in the New Testament. The word is synagogue is used, and interchangeably with church. As well, the reference or an absence of a reference to anything concerning Gentile Christians.

James presided over the Jerusalem Council. That probably occurred in the early... I'm sorry, that occurred in A.D. 49. So if he'd have written later, no doubt he would have written something concerning that particular situation, how Gentile Christians were relating to Jewish Christians. as well James' references to God in this particular epistle.

Allison says, the God of James is the God of Abraham, 2.21-23. He is the God of Rahab, 2.25. He is the God of the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord, 5.10. He is the God of Job, 5.11.

He is the God of Elijah, 5.17-18. In other words, he is the God of Israel. That makes sense, considering that James is writing to a primarily Jewish audience of believing Christians. So, the fact that James is written in this particular manner, in this particular style, and as well, I said, it's probably one of the earlier dates.

Now, I just want to share something very quickly, just to hopefully pique your curiosity, so that you'll read a book. The book is called Why Four Gospels, and it sets forth the dates of the Gospels and provides the rationale for the four Gospels that we presently have. It's a book written by a man named David Alan Black. And I just set this in context, or I set this for you, to show you something of the context of the early church.

Some have long believed there's a synoptic problem, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Those are the synoptic Gospels. They are very similar in nature to one another. Most scholars today believe that Mark wrote first, and one of the primary reasons they believe that is because Mark is the shortest or the briefest.

And then they suppose that Matthew and Luke used Mark, but they also used a document called Q in order to write their particular Gospel records. So they have long since held this particular position, and in many respects, it really doesn't help the believer, it doesn't help us to make heads or tails of some of the differences in the gospel narratives. David Alan Black proposes a much simpler solution, and he does so parallel to the growth of the church indicated in the Book of Acts. What was the first phase of the church?

It was in Jerusalem. He says that Matthew wrote first, and I've often believed that that was the case as well. This was a good confirmation, not, you know, a bully for me, what a great guy, but it just seems to me that Matthew is the priority. But Matthew wrote first for that Jewish phase of the church.

Matthew was published probably in A.D. 42, and it was highly circulated, and it satisfied and did all that it was supposed to do up until the point, not up until, but when Paul started going out to evangelize Gentiles. Remember the pattern of Acts. You shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and then to the uttermost parts of the earth. Well, when Paul the apostle to the Gentiles starts going out and ministering to the Gentiles, he sees a need for a gospel record that isn't so Jewish.

And so he commissions Luke to write Luke. And Paul then goes out, or rather he has Luke write this particular narrative. So Luke uses Matthew mostly, but then Luke does his own investigative research. This probably took place during Paul's imprisonment in Caesarea.

So Luke pens the Gospel of Luke, and then Paul, realizing that neither him or Luke are original in terms of the 12 apostles, What Paul does is he appeals to Peter, and he says, Peter, I want you to validate and verify that this gospel according to Luke is good, it is legit, it does jive with Matthew. So Peter preaches a series of lectures. He has Matthew on one scroll, and he has Luke on another scroll, and he preaches from that, and he gives his stamp of approval to Paul and to Luke for the gospel according to Luke. Now the person, or rather Mark, was a close companion of Luke.

Mark might have been the one rolling down the scrolls. Mark was certainly recording this particular data. And scholars have long known this, that Mark is dependent upon Peter the way that Luke is dependent upon Paul. And so Mark records these lectures.

And this makes sense, because in Mark there's no introduction and there's no conclusion. It's sermonic. There are details in it, most likely because what Peter preaches from Matthew and Luke are those things he was an eyewitness to. Have you ever read through Mark and seen certain things that make you stop and consider for a moment?

When Jesus goes to lie down in the boat, we learn in Mark that He does so on a cushion. It's my doctrine of naps, by the way. He lies on a cushion. When Jesus feeds the 5,000, Mark's gospel tells us they sat on the green grass.

These are details from an eyewitness. So, Peter preaches to authenticate and validate and affirm the gospel according to Luke. Mark records it, and the persons that Peter preached to say, we want a copy of this. So this supposition says that Mark was never really intending to write a gospel record.

But because Peter preaches, he writes this stuff down, this then becomes the gospel. And we see in the early church fathers, they always indicate Matthew, some indicate Matthew, Luke, Mark. But you can see the rationale for the list now. Matthew, Mark, Luke.

Mark is that sort of go-between, that transition between that gospel to the Jews and that gospel to the Gentiles. Again, they're all substantially the same. There's no doctrinal contradictions. There are no things that are out of sort or out of place or out of mind, but rather they are based on the specific context.

And so Black, and I think he's right, dates Matthew at A.D. 42. Luke is written in A.D. 58 to 60. It's published and sent out for circulation in A.D. 62, and then Mark comes to pass in about A.D. 68. Now, I tell you all that so that you'll understand.

I think that at times we have this idea that first-century Christians were just kind of doing this, and what are we supposed to do? The apostles were brilliant. Paul saw a need. I'm going to Gentile Christians.

Some of the stuff in Matthew they just don't crack with because they're not Jews. Luke, I want you to pen this gospel so I can take it into these Gentile areas. Peter, I want you to validate, authenticate, confirm, and affirm that this is indeed apostolic so that nobody questions the existence of Luke. The church was highly organized in the sense that they saw, they had, they received a body of divine revelation.

They took pen to paper, they wrote it down, and they started preaching and teaching and circulating these documents. Well, James, by virtue of his conversion, by virtue of his status in the church, James then writes this epistle that, again, is very early, it's to Jewish believers, it's very much oriented that particular way.

The Believer's Response to Trials

Now, let's look at verses 2 to 4. Note, the believer's response to trials. Four things we ought to consider. First, the identification of the trials in view.

Secondly, the expectation concerning trials. Thirdly, the disposition necessary during trials. And fourthly, the recognition of God's purpose in our trials.

Identification of the Trials

Note, the identification of the trials in view. Verse 2, my brethren, count it all joy. When? you fall into various trials. Notice verse 12, Blessed is the man who endures temptations.

Now those two words are the same. Context is necessary to help us make heads or tails out of what is in view here. Specifically in verse 12, we have those trials, or those tests, or those afflictions, or those difficulties, or those hardships that befall Christians. Later in James 2, he's going to appoint to the example of Abraham.

Remember how Genesis 22 verse 1 starts off. God calls Abraham in order to test him. We, the reader, have that information as we ascend Mount Moriah with Abraham and Isaac. Now, Abraham doesn't have that information, but that's what's going on.

The Lord God is testing him to validate, confirm, to testify concerning his faith in the living God. Verse 2 deals with those types of trials. The word is used similarly in 1 Thessalonians 2.4, and then as well in Hebrews 11.17. Again, a reference to Abraham and the test that befell him.

Now the temptation, or I'm sorry, it was verse 13, that no one is tempted, that's the solicitation to do evil. So that's not what James is talking about in verse 2. My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various solicitations to do evil. That would be most unlikely.

This solicitation to do evil occurs by the prodding of the devil. But as well, even without the devil, according to James 1, 14 and 15, we have enough remaining corruption in our own hearts to lead us away, to tempt us to sin. And so the verse 2 temptation or verse 2 trial that we see are those afflictions, those difficulties and hardships that we as God's people face as a regular course of life. James tells us when we fall into these particular things.

Now certainly we can be irresponsible, certainly we can be foolish, certainly we can be not so bright and bring these things on ourselves, and in that case the same counsel holds true, but James envisages a point where the believing Christian falls into a various trial, and his counsel proceeds on that way. Gil says concerning this distinction, not the temptations of Satan or temptations to sin, for these cannot be matter of joy but grief. These are fiery darts and give a great deal of uneasiness and trouble, but afflictions and persecutions for the sake of the gospel, which are so called here and elsewhere, because they are trials of the faith of God's people and of other graces of the Spirit of God. Is everybody on board?

That was a lengthier introduction than we normally make, but fall in with me now to verse 2. Count it all joy when you fall into various trials, hardships, difficulties, testings of your faith. The apostle, or James rather, wants us to understand how we are to bear up when we come to these hardships. We looked at this a bit last week and the week before in our studies in Hebrews 12.

Run with endurance the race that is set before you. Realize that within this Christian race there are hardships, there are afflictions, and there are trials.

Expectation Concerning Trials

Note, secondly, as we move forward, the expectation concerning trials. He doesn't say, my brethren, be absolutely shocked and perplexed when you fall into various trials. Sometimes that's how we respond. Something happens to us and we just can't believe it.

This is what happened to me? Are you kidding me? I'm me. Why would these things happen to me?

I understand it happened to others, but to me? James assumes the presence of trial. James acknowledges the fact that believers from time to time fall into various trials. There ought to be a certain settled expectation in your heart that trials are part and parcel of the Christian life.

I hope that doesn't take much convincing to you. Notice in John 15, our Lord's Upper Room Discourse. John 15, verse 18. If the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you.

If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.

If they kept my word, they will keep yours also. You see, Jesus alerts his disciples to this present reality, that there is going to be hardship, affliction, difficulty, testing in their Christian lives. John 16.33, how does the Lord end the upper room discourse? Before He transitions into the high priestly prayer, He ends on this note, Therefore, I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace.

In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. You will have tribulation. You see, brethren, James does not say, when you fall into various trials, panic, freak out, and lose it. Because why in the world would anything that bad ever happen to you?

No, there ought to be a certain expectation of the reality that there is difficulty in the Christian life. There is trial in the Christian life. The experience of the early disciples. I already read just a bit from Acts 12 to show you that James is most likely a leader of the church in Jerusalem at that time.

But what happens in Acts 12? Peter is in prison because he's a Christian. James, the son of Zebedee, loses his head because he's a Christian. Acts 14.22, Paul the Apostle tells the people, we must, through many tribulations, enter the kingdom of God.

The early church was not shocked. They were not freaked out. They were not absolutely caught unawares when difficulties had come. They saw the way the Master was treated.

They reckon that that's the case that's going to be for us, the servants, and it makes sense. When we live in a world under the curse of sin, and we live in a world where people are in opposition to the living and true God, certainly they're going to target God's people. I hope, brethren, you have some certain expectation that there are the possibility of trials in your life. If you've made it thus far with no significant trials, then praise God.

I'm not saying, you know, go out and court trials, try to jump into trials. He doesn't say, count it all joy when you jump into various trials. You've heard that account of the martyrs when somebody was burning in the fire and other martyrs came along and jumped in with them and said, we're with them. Now, that's certainly a noble thing to do by all means, but Jesus also said that you can flee from city to city when they come to persecute you in one.

Don't jump into trials, but don't think that there will never be trials. It's not always someone else's problem. Note the specific experience, still under the heading the expectation concerning trials.

The Experience of James's Audience

Note specifically the experience of James' audience. If you're not in James, go back. Verse 1-1, they are exiles. They are exiles.

That would mean something akin to you and I having to leave Chilliwack or Abbotsford or Langley or from whence we hail and having to go live somewhere else, being cast out or being dispersed from our homeland and having to go elsewhere. Exile is a trial. Exile is a hardship. Exile is a difficulty.

The several references to poverty in this book of James indicates that some in his audience were poor. Certainly, poverty can present its share of challenges, trials, afflictions, difficulties, and hardships. The people James wrote to suffered religious persecution. 2, 6, and 7. But you have dishonored the poor man.

Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts? Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called? And certainly, the people to whom James wrote suffered with remaining corruption. James 1, 14, and 15 have already indicated this.

So you see, there was no absence of suffering and trial and affliction and hardship and difficulty that had been experienced by these people. So Pastor James comes along with his my brethren in a very loving and a very gracious and in a very kind way, with a heart that is genuinely characterized as pastoral, and he provides to them a remedy so that while they face these particular things, They know how to bear up under it. They know how to deal with the difficulties associated with the Christian life. They don't rage against God.

They don't panic when they come into these situations. They don't just go off and, you know, live in a hut somewhere and hope that it all goes away. No, there's a particular strategy that Pastor James lays forth here for the people of God. And

Disposition Necessary During Trials

that brings us, thirdly, to the disposition necessary during trials.

Count It All Joy

Notice, verse 2, count it all joy. Now, why does James say this? Because it is absolutely counter to the way that we think. Isn't it?

When trials come, do you count it all joy? I mean, just think, experientially, in your own hearts, in your own lives, a bad thing has happened. Do you count it as all joy? Now, this isn't some sick grin.

You fall off a ladder and you break your spine, and you're happy and rejoice. That's not what's in view here. It's not that sort of thing that would be psychologically impossible and would be scripturally foolish. I suggest that James is telling us and preparing us for the eventuality of trials and what ought to dictate in terms of our understanding.

God has a purpose in it. God is doing something here. God is conforming me further unto the image of Christ. I may not be able to explain every jot and tittle, I may not be able to see every part and parcel of it, but I realize this, that there is a theological context for the suffering that I'm engaged in, and I'm going to count my joy in the reality that God the Lord is tending to my good.

God the Lord is looking after me, and He is going to watch over me. Count it all joy.

Joy Rooted in Eschatological Hope

Notice in Matthew 5, the last of the Beatitudes, Matthew 5, Jesus, the brother of James, says this, Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you, falsely, for my sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you." This is probably the same direction that James has in view. is not, again, laughing when calamity strikes, but rejoicing at the reality that there is an end in sight.

Rejoicing at the reality that there is a new heavens and a new earth. rejoicing in the reality that there is eschatological benefit for the people of God, that we can resign in the face of trials to not lose our joy, but to be firmly grounded in it because we know that God is working these things out for our good. It's that Romans 8, 28 emphasis. We know, Paul says, that God does cause all things to work for good. That's what James is doing.

That's what we ought to be doing. That's how we ought to be preparing. If we are in trials, we need James 1, 2-4. If we are not in trials, we need James 1, 2-4. we need to gird up our minds and our hearts so that we appreciate and appropriate the reality of this passage when we go into the midst of suffering.

Now, some of you will say, you know what, my life's pretty good, I don't really have many difficulties, and when it does come, I'm able to, you know, just kind of knuckle under and bear up. Well, that's not what James wants. That's not what James says. He says you are to count it all joy when you fall into various trials.

You're supposed to see the grander, greater purpose of God in the midst of this. And what's one of the first things that goes when trials come? We don't see God, we only see our suffering. We don't see God, we only see our affliction.

We don't see God, we only see our hardship. Now, maybe this isn't your experience, but at least it's been in mine, and in some of the people that I've spoken to over my years as a Christian, we forget God when we need to remember Him the most. Have you ever done that? You've encouraged a brother who's going through a particularly hard part in his life, and you bring Scripture to bear upon him, and he just, it's like, doesn't even hear it.

Why is that? I think sometimes persons, Christians, are, you know, we don't want to just throw Bible verses at them. Why not? That's what they need.

But it's like, at times, when we as believers go through these hardships, it's like giving, you know, broccoli to a dog. It just doesn't even, it doesn't even faze them. James says, count it all joy when you fall into various trials. The same teaching is in Romans 5.3 and 1 Peter 1, verses 6-9.

You see, the apostles in concert realize that the people of God face hard times. And the people of God need to be prepared in the church for those hard times, and the people of God need to keep in their minds and hearts these truths for those hard times. Calvin says he means in short that there is nothing in afflictions which ought to disturb our joy. Another commentator says, the imperative to rejoice in the midst of trials, which can be construed as consolation, is paradoxical.

For not only do people often view trials as punishments or calamity, but everyone avoids trials precisely because they bring misery, not joy. Right? Hey, you want some trial tomorrow morning? No thanks, I'll just take bacon and eggs.

I don't want trials. I don't want hardship. I don't want misery. We are not inclined that way.

But whether we want it or not, when it falls upon us, James' counsel, James' command, James' exhortation must be heard. My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials. That means step back, it means survey the situation, it means consider what God the Lord is doing, what lessons you are supposed to glean, how this will conform you more and more unto the image of Jesus Christ. You want excellent exposition in terms of practicality on this passage, no one beats Thomas Manton.

He will take you to the school of Christ and lead you by the hand in appropriating this passage for your good in the midst of trials. James calls for a counterintuitive or unnatural interpretation of events, which then becomes educational. We need to keep the proper perspective. David, the commentator, says this is not the detachment of the Greek philosopher.

My brethren, count it all joy. Joy in some schools of Greek philosophical thought was detachment, stoicism, being removed from a situation and therein having some sort of peace. He says it's not that, but the eschatological joy of those expecting the intervention of God at the end of the age. You see, some suggest that we as Christians have this pie-in-the-sky mentality, that we somehow stick our heads in the sand, we neglect the hardship and the pain and the suffering and the aching that goes on in this world, and we just look for that great cosmic event at the end of the age.

Hopefully we don't have our heads stuck in the sand, but we ought to be looking for that great cosmic event at the end of the age. We have the hope of heaven, brethren, and that ought to promote in us zeal in this world, steadfastness in this world, testimony in this world, and joy in the midst of struggle, trial, and difficulty. James says it must be done. Now

Recognition of God's Purpose

notice, fourthly and finally, the recognition of God's purpose in our trials. He says, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials. Then he highlights a particular virtue and then indicates its value. Notice verse 3, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.

The word can be and probably is better translated as endurance. It's the same word we met in Hebrews 12. We run with endurance the race that is set before us. Patience here suggests a passivity.

Endurance suggests a bravery. Endurance suggests a steadfastness. The word can also be interpreted or translated as perseverance. Knowing that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.

It's just like a person that wants to build muscle. What do they do when they go into the gym? They rip the muscle apart so that what happens is that growth takes place in its wake. It's just like taking a metal and throwing it into the refining furnace.

Why do you do that? So that the finished product is much better. We need to understand that God uses the trial in this particular fashion so that it will promote in us or produce in us endurance or perseverance. And note what James tells us in verse 3.

You need to know this. You need to understand this. You need to be equipped in this. You need to read your Bible.

You need to see how other saints have dealt. You need to understand the theology of suffering and trial, so that when it happens to you, you don't freak out. I mean, that is some people's response to trial and difficulty. They freak out.

They just lose it. They panic. They rage against God. They say proverbs, like in Ezekiel 18, it's because of our fathers that we reap all this sourness.

Because of our fathers all the... No, no, no, no. You need to think biblically, righteously, and properly concerning these things. Manton says ignorance is the cause of sorrow.

Ignorance. James says, knowing that these things transpire, Manton rightly affirms that ignorance is the cause of sorrow. Notice, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. Again, Manton, God's aim in your affliction is not destruction, but trial.

As gold is put into the furnace to be refined, not consumed, See, God has a purpose in this. It would be nice if God could give us an airline ticket and fly us to the shores of Hawaii and have us sit down and have us drink beverages so that we could learn how to endure. But that's not how it is. How do military personnel train for battle?

Do they go lay on the beach? Do they go swimming? Do they go play games? No.

They train for battle through military exercise. How are we conformed under the image of Him who learned obedience through suffering? We are conformed by learning obedience through suffering, more often than not. And James' exhortation and command to us is to count it all joy when we fall into various trials.

Again, not because our spines snap, but because our God is involved in our lives, He is sanctifying us, He is putting us through the fire, so that the finished product will be far more lovely than what He began with. And then

Endurance Leading to Maturity

note the value involved in verse 4, but let patience, or let endurance, or let perseverance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. The presence of this endurance ultimately leads to perfection. Virtue begets virtue is what the Apostle says. This is what Paul says in the various places in his epistles.

This is what Peter says in 2 Peter chapter 1. Virtue begets virtue. This endurance, this patience leads to perfection. Now the perfection here is not perfectionism.

You've heard of John Wesley. John Wesley taught a version of Christian perfection is up, meaning that a believer could be fully sanctified on this side of heaven. That is absolutely untrue, and that's not what James is suggesting. Notice, in James 1.12, blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love him.

James has an eschatological view in verse 12, so what he is suggesting in verse 4 is more likely something like completeness or maturity. The word is used for maturity or adulthood. in 1 Corinthians 14.20 and in Ephesians 4.13. How do we receive or how do we achieve adulthood in the Christian life? How do we mature?

Yes, read your Bible. Yes, pray. Yes, go to church. Yes, read the Confession of Faith.

Yes, read Burkha. There's an aspect of maturity involved in all that. But more often than not, we achieve maturity by going through the furnace of affliction. It's just the way it is.

It doesn't do us any good to say, well, I don't like that. Well, it doesn't matter what you like. If Christ learned obedience through suffering, then the sons who have been called by grace are going to likewise learn obedience in the same manner. This perfection in view could possibly be blamelessness or having integrity.

The marginal note for Genesis 6-9 where it describes Noah as being a perfect man. The margin reads that he was blameless or he had integrity. Deuteronomy 18, 13. They're commanded to be perfect.

Again, the idea is blameless. It's having integrity. So note James' procession here. Count it joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience, or endurance.

And that endurance will have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. The path to Christian maturity is through the veil of tears. And this is what our brother is telling us. Turn to Philippians 3, where you see Paul use this term in two separate ways, just so we don't come out Wesleyans.

I don't want that to happen to you. You know the best proof that Wesleyan perfectionism isn't correct? It's your life. and my life. Best proof right there.

Just go out and try to do something that's good. Just go try to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. It's probably not going to happen. So, John Wesley, at least in that doctrine, was wrong.

Notice in Philippians 3.12, Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected, but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. You see, Paul realizes he's not perfected. Paul realizes he's still in this life. Paul realizes he hasn't reached that eschatological prize.

But notice, he uses the same language to identify the fact that he's mature. Verse 15, Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind. And if anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. So back to James chapter 1.

What we are not told is that if we endure trial, we'll become Wesleyan perfectionists. If we endure trial, we will be without sin. That's not what's in view. When we, by God's grace, endure through these tests, that testing, or that endurance rather, yields the peaceable fruit of maturity.

It yields the peaceable fruit of completion. It yields the peaceable fruit of conformity unto Jesus.

Application and Conclusion

Well, in conclusion, in the first place, the believer's preparation for trials. Hopefully you listen to sermons like these. I think if Christians listen to sermons not like these, but on this passage, let's say, and they get this in them, it will be very helpful. It will be most helpful for you to understand something about the nature of trial, the nature of affliction, the nature of Christian hardship.

Manton said this, Christ's eye salve must clear your sight, or else you cannot make a right judgment. There is no proper and fit apprehension of things till you get within the veil and see by the light of the sanctuary lamp. A man that hath no other light but reason and nature cannot judge of those things. I love this.

This is an appeal to Samson. He says, God's riddles are only open to those that plow with God's heifer. And it is by God's spirit that we come to discern and esteem the things that are of God. So the means by which you prepare is to be in passages like these, to be in the Scriptures, so that you'll realize that there are trials coming to the believer, and there is a strategy presented to us in the Word of God on how we are to deal.

In the second place, the believer's disposition during trials. We are to count it all joy. That means we're not supposed to rage against God. We're not supposed to get angry with God.

We're not supposed to yell at God. We're not supposed to kick and scream like a child at Walmart who doesn't get a lollipop. Sometimes you are not given the lollipop, and the response is not to be, I hate you, and I can't stand you, and you never give me anything good. Have you ever been at Walmart and seen one of those spectacles and it takes every ounce of grace in you not to go assist that parent in subduing their little one and bringing them under the sweet submission of God's rod?

You see, sometimes believers act that way. I can't believe God is doing this in my life. I can't believe He's not giving me this in my life. I can't believe He's frustrating my pursuit for something good.

Why is it that the Lord is always against me? James says no to that. Count it all joy when you fall into various trials. Don't count God as your enemy when you fall into various trials.

Don't scream in His face. Don't raise your fist at Him. Don't imitate Israel in Ezekiel 18 and say, the way of Yahweh is not fair. Because if the way of Yahweh was fair, I'd have everything I wanted, but He only confounds me.

No, count it all joy when you fall into various trials. Secondly, James tells us not to freak out. Panic never helps trial. Maybe you've heard the story.

Growing up in Southern California, I heard it often because we'd go to the beach. and maybe it was just an urban legend that when lifeguards had to go out and save somebody, they'd give them a good whack and make them pass out so that they could then bring them back to shore. Well, what's the justification of the rationale? While the guy's flailing and flipping out in the water, the lifeguard can't get a good grip on him, and he certainly can't bring him back to the shore. So a nice pop in the face to put him out for a little while will help to bring him to the shore.

Now, again, whether that's true or not, I don't know. But it made for good fare when I was a youngster. You see, sometimes believers, that happens to us. Trials come and we freak out.

We may not rage at God, but we forget all our Bible and theology. We forget crucial texts like Psalm 46.10. We forget to be still and know that God is God. We forget to realize that our God is in the heavens.

He does whatever He pleases. That my God is o'er my troubles and my difficulties. God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform. So James tells us, count it all joy, not freak out, not panic, not lose it, but rather have that resolution, that steadiness, that calmness of heart.

As well, James highlights that we need to count it all joy when various trials come. Will you do this? Will I do this? I'm going to preach this.

Something's going to happen tomorrow. I'm going to whine and cry and moan and grumble and flail my arms and get all upset and panicky. We need to take this to heart. Again, listen to Manton.

A Christian is a bird that can sing in winter as well as in spring. He can live in the fire like Moses Bush, burn and not be consumed, nay, leap in the fire. You see, this is a rich storehouse, brethren. If you want the works of Manton, it's a big, big daddy set.

But I think they sell the exposition of James on its own. But it's rich. It's wonderful. As well, we must endure trials during, or must endure during the trial so that God's purpose is realized in our lives.

James assumes something. Count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience, or it produces endurance." What does James assume? That you're not going to freak out, you're not going to rage against God, but you're going to count it all joy. You see, there's an unspoken assumption by James.

You're going to do what he says, and then these things will be true. You're going to do what he says, and then endurance will lead into maturity. But if you lose it, and you get mad at God, and you flail about as a swimmer in the ocean, then you're not going to know endurance, you're not going to know maturity, you're not going to know that Christian completion, or that blamelessness, or that integrity, or that loyalty that seems to be James' emphasis throughout his epistle. Something like showing spiritual integrity is what James is all about as he writes this particular letter.

As well, we must consider the conduct of other saints who went through trials. This goes along with what we considered in Hebrews 12.1. Since we have so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and every sin that so easily entangles us, running with endurance the race that is set before us. Consider the lives of those brethren in Hebrews 11.

Consider the life of King David of Israel. I mean, I don't know about you, but Wednesday night was heartbreaking. I mean, David is ousted by his son. That's terrible.

David at a certain point, before the Bathsheba incident, is able to say, the Lord has delivered me out of all adversities. But even post-Bathsheba, post-Amnon, post-Tamar, post-Absalom, in 1 Kings 1, he's able to testify of the same thing. The Lord has delivered me from all adversity. Brethren, you and I need to listen to him.

We need to fill our hearts with the Psalms. We need to fill our hearts with the stories of men like Horatio Spafford, that man who wrote 580, that hymn we just sang concerning, My sin, O the bliss of this glorious thought. He lost his family at sea. And yet, nevertheless, he writes hymns of praise to the living and the true God.

I suspect that he understood James' admonition and he took it seriously. He counted it all joy when he fell in the various trials. And we must seek wisdom so that we can successfully navigate through the trials. And God willing, we'll focus on that next week when we come back to James.

We ought to consider, as we close, the Savior who endured trials. I hope it never rises up in our hearts or upon our lips to say, you know, why is it that God seems to always be picking on me? Why is it that there's all these hardships and all these difficulties that befall me? What about the Savior?

He learned obedience through suffering. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. We hid, as it were, our faces from Him. He came to His own.

His own received Him not. I mean, He was in exile in the land of Palestine, because no one wanted Him. They despised Him, they rejected Him, they forsook Him, they ultimately crucified Him. So brethren, before the servant starts to lament the treatment that they received, look at the Master and see what He withstood at the hands of godless men, in obedience to His Father, and with a firm and steady resignation, went all the way to the cross. who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is sat down at the right hand of God on high.

That's our hope. After this present world that is punctuated with trials, afflictions, and difficulties, we will sit at the right hand of God. Not because we've earned it, but because we are in union with the Savior. Well, let us pray.

Closing Prayer

Our Father in Heaven, we thank You so much for Your Word, and we pray that You'd help us to take these things to heart. It is so counter to the way that we oftentimes respond to trials. We do panic, and we do get upset, and we pray that You would help us to be calm, help us to be still, help us to know that You are God, and You are working out Your purpose in our lives. And may we indeed count it all joy.

May we be that bird who sings, not only in the spring, but in the winter as well. And may we give glory and praise and honor to you, and may we set forth a good testimony, a good witness to others who would see us in such a state. Go with us now and watch over us in this coming week and protect each and every one of your people here. And we pray these things through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Scripture References

• Genesis 6-9; 22:1
• Deuteronomy 18:13
• 1 Kings 1
• Psalm 46:10
• Ezekiel 18
• Matthew 5; 13:55
• Mark 6:3
• Luke 6:16
• John 7:5; 15:18; 16:33
• Acts 1:13; 12; 12:2; 12:17; 14:22; 15
• Romans 5:3; 8:28
• 1 Corinthians 14:20; 15:7
• Galatians 1:19; 2:9; 2:12
• Ephesians 4:13
• Philippians 3:12; 3:15
• 1 Thessalonians 2:4
• Hebrews 11:17; 12:1
• 1 Peter 1:6-9
• James 1:1; 1:2; 1:3; 1:12; 1:13; 1:14-15; 2; 2:6-7; 2:21-23; 2:25; 5:10; 5:11; 5:17-18