January 30, 2013 at 5:54 p.m.
time to grow up series on james chapter 1 part
Life's trials continue even after we accept Christ
The passage we are going to look at is James 1:1-4...
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings. Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
Servant of God
The book starts off by James introducing himself. He calls himself quite simply, "a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ." There is no mention that he is called a 'pillar of the church', neither is there mention that he is Jesus Christ's half brother. He quite humbly calls himself a servant of God and of Jesus. In a world that is full of elevated titles, I really like that fact that he gives himself a title that we should all consider a privilege, 'servant'.
Who is the book addressed to? "To the 12 tribes scattered among the nations." Whenever we read of the 12 tribes it usually refers to Jews. Keeping this in mind, as well as the number of times this book uses Jewish terminology, we realize James wrote primarily to the Jewish Christians of the early church.
The Jewish Christians of these times were living under tremendous persecution. During these times various factions hated Christians, seeking to put them in prison and send them to their death. In the book of Acts we read of the stoning of Stephen (Acts 7) and notice chapter 8 begins "...A great wave of persecution began that day, sweeping over the church in Jerusalem; and all the believers except the apostles were scattered through the regions of Judea and Samaria." (Acts 8:1b)
The persecution only worsened as time went on. Can you imagine fleeing your house, your neighbourhood, and your parish, to find refuge in a foreign region? Your family business, your career, everything that was familiar to you, would have to be left behind. Imagine the trauma resettling the family in a new region, getting the kids set in schools, and how careful you had to be as you made new friends. Many Jewish Christians had to flee or face death.
In James 1:2 the Word of God says something that seems to make no sense: "Consider it pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds." First, there is no ambiguity in James' statement: trials will come! Trials come in many varieties, combinations, and severities. The word "trials" may refer to hard economic times, difficult family issues, mourning, disappointments, personal struggles, societal or professional persecutions, emotional problems, or difficult situations that we face occasionally. If someone tells you that if you accept Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour your life will get easy.... it's a lie! If people tell you that because you have problems in your life, it is because you have sin in your heart, know that it is not necessarily true.
Many today with pure hearts find themselves in hard times just as the early church did in James' day. The reality is that trials will come.
Testing times
Next James tells us the reason why we experience trials: "because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance." We know this from looking at any Bible character or even at our own lives.
Perseverance means to go against the flow, to 'press-on' in difficult times. When we continue to trust God and do what's right in a situation, a work is going on in our hearts that will cause us to grow up, and be mature and complete and get to the point that we do not need anything to bring us real fulfilment; a close relationship with Jesus will be sufficient.
This is real maturity. Keep in mind that if you are not going through a trial, then perseverance is not at work. It is only at work when you have something to persevere against.
Some people worship God and even attend church because they think it's the answer to an easy life. They think that putting in their time will cause God to eradicate the problems in their lives. This is far from the truth, and it is a very immature way to live. We have all seen children perform in a store when they want something that their parents refuse. They scream and cause a commotion because they want to get their own way. Many Christians can do the same thing, revealing a similar lack of discipline and maturity to worship God even in hard times.
So, as Christians what should our response be in hard times? The Word of God says to have pure joy. Why? We should be joyous knowing that God is in control and He is at work in our lives. We have freedom from worry in Jesus!
So, James has schooled us in the three "R"s: the Reality... trials will come; the Reason... to make us mature in Christ; our Response... should be to consider it pure joy.
How will you look at the trials you experience from now on? If you want to grow up, remember that God is in control, even in the most difficult time of your life.
Graduate to the point in your Christian life where the following verses will describe your Christian life...
"Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:6,7).
Pastor Gary C. Simons serves as the Senior Pastor of Cornerstone Bible Fellowship, 82 Church Street, Hamilton, HM12, Bermuda.[[In-content Ad]]
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