Truth About Trials, Part 1

Good morning, everybody. If you don't know me, my name is Matt Kitsos. I'm one of the pastors here at Redeemer. Jason has been leading us through a series Sunday mornings through the book of Acts, and we are going to take a pause on that today.

We're going to take a rest. We're going to go somewhere else. Oh, so sorry. I thought I heard a groan. We're going to go somewhere else. We're going to be in James 1 this morning. James 1.

We're going to be in James 1 because Redeemer's leaders, we've been thinking a lot about suffering lately, and that's because a lot of you have been thinking a lot about suffering lately because you're in the middle of suffering.

You're in the middle of trial and testing, and so I just thought it would be wise, it would be good this morning for us to take some time to think about suffering from a biblical perspective. Think about suffering the way God has spoken to us about suffering,

and hopefully that would bring some help to you in the midst of your suffering. So that's what we're going to try to do today. We're going to look at James 1, 1 through 18.

We're going to start looking today at James 1, 1 through 18, because I think I have another sermon series coming through this passage. But before we dive in, James 1, 1 through 18, I want to give you some important context.

First, verse 1 of James 1 tells us that this passage is part of a letter that's written by James, the half-brother of the Lord Jesus. He is writing to the 12 tribes in the dispersion.

The dispersion, or the Greek word diaspora, means scattered among the nations. And the 12 tribes is a way that God's people were often referred to in the Old Testament.

So when we stick the dispersion and the 12 tribes together, especially when we read the rest of the book of James, it's clear that James is writing to a group of Jewish Christians who live outside of Palestine.

They've been scattered among the nations. And it's likely that they've been forced out among the nations. And this has been a result of persecution.

What may be likely the persecution that we'll read about later in our study of the book of Acts. So James is writing to these Christians. They're in the midst of persecution, some pressure from without.

But they're also experiencing some turmoil from within, mostly through temptation. We'll read in the letter that they're being tempted to abandon their faith because of the persecution that they're experiencing.

They're also being tempted to begin to fight amongst themselves or to show prejudice toward one another. Furthermore, some of them have become ill.

So there's a lot going on. And so James writes them this letter to address all this going on. He's going to talk about trials of various kinds that they're facing.

That comes from verse 2. And this word trials in the New Testament, it can mean a couple things. It can be a way to talk about external sufferings, things that are coming at you from without, like persecution or sickness.

But it can also be used to refer to inner struggles, things like temptation, things that are coming from within you. By using various trials, James seems to have both of these things in mind.

James wants to help these Christians in the dispersion with whatever trials they are currently facing and with whatever trials may come their way in the future as they continue to be scattered about.

So trials and suffering, various trials, every suffering that you could imagine. But this isn't only practical to those Jewish Christians in the dispersion.

It's very practical to us today as well. New Testament scholar Douglas Moo notes that the Holy Spirit inspired these words to help us also as we face various trials today.

He writes, James deliberately casts his net widely, including the many kinds of sufferings that Christians undergo in this fallen world. Sickness, loneliness, bereavement, disappointment, etc.

As Christians today, we are in a type of spiritual dispersion. We are citizens of the heavenly kingdom. That's where we belong with God. That is our home, the new heavens and the new earth.

But we, like those Jewish Christians, are away from our home. We are pilgrims toiling in this sin-cursed world scattered among the nations. And as the people of God away from our heavenly home in this spiritual dispersion,

we will face trials of various kinds too, just like these Jewish Christians. And like I said, many of you here don't need me to remind you of this because you're thick in your own trial right now.

And maybe others of you know people that are in the midst of trials themselves. Furthermore, none of us knows what kind of trials we may face in the future.

So that's why I think it's really important for us to turn to this passage to see what James says about trial. Now, before we dive in, it's important to note that James doesn't tell us everything we may want to know about trials.

He largely avoids these big existential questions. Why do we experience trials? Why does God allow certain things to happen? Who is responsible for the trial that I'm facing?

Instead of these kind of big existential questions, James offers some very practical truths about experiencing trials. He offers some right perspectives on trials in hopes that we might endure these trials well,

remaining faithful to Christ along the way, who is able to sustain us in the midst of trials. And so that's what I want us to see today. Let's go ahead and dive in.

James 1, 1 through 18. I'm going to read the whole passage and then we'll pray. James 1, 1 through 18. James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes and the dispersion, greetings.

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds. For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach. And it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting.

For the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that's driven and tossed by the wind. For the person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord.

He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation and the rich in his humiliation. Because like a flower of the grass, he will pass away.

For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass. Its flower fails, its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.

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.

Let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God. For God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.

Then desire, when it is conceived, gives birth to sin. And sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.

Every good gift and perfect gift is from above. Coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

Of his own will, he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. Would you pray with me?

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the gospel of the Lord Jesus. We thank you that although we were separated from you, alienated from you because of our sin, you sent your son Jesus, that he willingly died in our place, taking our sins upon himself.

And that by faith, he's given us his righteousness and new life in allowing us to abide in him and be forever reconciled to you. So we thank you for that truth today, this morning.

God, I feel a weight talking about these delicate issues of suffering. I pray that it would be your words that are shared today, that are made plain to us, that you would shape all of our thoughts on trials of various kinds, and that you would help us to endure them well in a way that is faithful to Christ.

We pray that your spirit would be using my words and would be working in our hearts in this morning through your word. We pray these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.

All right, let's dive right in. Verse 2. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds. James begins this passage with a call to consider facing trials a joy.

All joy. Or pure joy, in fact. It's a command that we are given. Count it all joy. Now, on its own, this phrase can seem like a swift kick in the backside.

Are you in the midst of trial? Well, you better be happy about it. It can seem kind of harsh. Or it can seem like James is telling us that we should become these great actors.

Are you in the midst of trial? Well, cram that down deep inside and pretend that everything is fine. I mean, you have Jesus. You should always be happy and never be sad.

Well, I don't think that's what James is saying. To really get to the bottom of what he is saying, it's important for us to understand what James means by joy.

Scholars note that joy here does not refer to happiness. Rather, it's a settled contentment in Christ.

Or as one pastor put it, James has in mind here an unnatural reaction of deep, steady, unadulterated, thankful trust in God. James is not necessarily saying that we ought to be happy when we're in the midst of trial.

Though that wouldn't really be a bad thing. He's not really saying that we should pretend that a trial isn't a big deal or that it isn't really there.

That would be a bad thing. I mean, trials are, after all, trying. And it's okay to feel the weight of those trials. What James is saying is that in the face of trials, he wants us to be able to think deeply and Christianly about these trials.

And when we do that, we'll be better able to pursue a deep, steady, thankful trust in God that seems completely counterintuitive in light of the hardships that we're in.

So how can we consider trials like this? Well, in this passage, James passes along some truths about trials. And those are to help us toward that end.

These truths will help us see trials for what they are and see who we really are in Christ. So as a method, as we study this passage, I'll work through the passage.

I'll mine out these truths about trials. I'll share them with you. And then we'll think about how each of those truths can help us view trials with a thankful trust in Christ.

There are several truths in this passage, and I don't want to rush them. So I'm hoping to cover this passage in two or three sermons. And for our time remaining today, we'll only be able to cover the first, cover one of these truths about trials.

And it is this. Trials test our faith. And testing is an opportunity for refining. I had testing is an opportunity for refinement, and it felt weird.

Refining still feels weird, but I think it's true nonetheless. Test testing is an opportunity for refining. I think we see this truth in verses three and four.

For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

We're going to look at this truth in bits so we can see how it helps us consider our trials with the joy that James is talking about. So let's start with trials test our faith.

When you hear tests, you might think of like a pop quiz or a final exam. And if you're thinking about trials like a test, that could fill you with anything but joy.

It could fill you with anxiety or depression. And now thinking about your trials has become another trial in and of itself, and we don't want that.

So it's okay. There are no Scantron sheets involved with this test. James is actually alluding to a process that you would have experienced in shop class where there are no Scantron sheets.

At least I assume. I've never had shop class. Anyway, the testing that James has in mind is a refining process used with precious metals like gold or silver.

In this process, things get really hot, and that heat removes imperfections and improves the quality of precious metals. James is saying that like a refiner would use heat to refine metal, God can use trials to refine our faith.

And I want us to take a closer look at how this refining process plays out in our lives. But first, I want to emphasize something. You'll notice that through this sermon, I'll keep saying that God can use trials to do this or that.

I say this intentionally for two reasons. The first is that trials all by themselves don't really refine our faith. There are plenty of people who have experienced intense trials and yet have experienced no deeper faith in Christ.

The trials aren't effective in and of themselves. God has to take the trials that we face and rework them for our good, which is what God promises to do in Romans 8.28 for Christians.

He promises to work all things for the good of those called according to his purpose. Secondly, by saying God uses trials to do this or that, I'm saying it because I want to be clear that I'm not saying that the trial you are facing or have faced or will face,

will face rather, was sent to you by God. What I'm saying is that God can take those trials and use them for your good and his glory. In this sermon, I am not wading into questions like, does God bring trials?

Does he allow them? Does he intend that you would get sick or that an earthquake would happen or a mass shooting would happen? There are many mysterious elements concerning trials that humans like myself simply do not fully know and cannot fully explain.

God has given us information about trials on a need-to-know basis. And sometimes we can spend so much time digging into the ambiguities of Scripture that we dig past or disregard what's made plain.

From Scripture, it is plain that God is good. It is plain that trials occur because we live in a sin-cursed world. Trials are a product of the fall, not a part of God's good design for his creation.

It's also plain that God has the power to use all things, even the most terrible trials that we face, for our good. He has the power to work all things for our good.

Again, to quote Romans 8. And it is plain that at the return of Christ, God will forever banish sin and all its effects from this world, and God's people will live in a sinless, trial-less new heaven and new earth.

More narrowly in this passage, it is plain that God can use trials to refine our faith. Okay, there's a lot. So with that said, let's look at how God can use trials to refine our faith.

The first way God can use trials to refine our faith is to help us test the genuineness of our faith. And this genuineness of our faith is something I'm borrowing from 1 Peter.

God can help us assess, is our faith real? And then he can also kind of take away these kind of bad elements of our faith. Think of fool's gold.

It might look like gold, but if you put it in a crucible, that thing that gets really hot that melts metal down, if you put it in the crucible, it's exposed for a fake.

It doesn't become refined. The fire makes it clear that it's not really gold, or even metal at all for that matter. If it gets really hot, it just starts like popping, and it charged really bad.

I saw some guy on YouTube do it. The disguise, the fool's goldness, it burns away. It becomes clear that it really wasn't what we thought it was.

God can use trials to do this in our lives. God can use trials to remove impurities in our faith, remove impurities in our faith. This is true for people who have rejected God and put their faith in other things.

A trial can come along, and God can use it to show that the object of their faith only pretends to offer what only Christ can give. And these trials can expose false faith as hollow, as a fool's faith.

We see something like this happening in the story of John Newton's conversion. John Newton, he's the guy that wrote Amazing Grace. When he was a young man, he kind of lived a checkered life, and one day he's sailing on a voyage, and this terrible storm comes up.

While he's in the boat, Newton, many of you are probably familiar, Newton wakes up. His room's got kind of water coming in. It's kind of flooding a little bit.

The ship overall is taking on lots of water. Newton rushed to be with the crew to help save the ship, but the storm continues. It gets worsened.

Worsens, rather. One of his shipmates is washed overboard, Newton says, and he's sent down into the pump room where he's supposed to be in charge of these pumps trying to bail out all this crazy amount of water that's coming in into the room.

And while he's down there, with all this water pouring in and these pumps kind of working, he just feels this kind of overall sense of helplessness.

In this trial, it is very clear that the only thing Newton feels, the only thing that could save him is the mercy of God. He just saw how helpless he was.

He needed something bigger than him. And so Newton later on, he's moved from the pump room, he's moved up to the helm, and so he's steering the ship, and while he's steering the ship, the storm subsides, but while he's steering, he keeps thinking, he keeps thinking about this, his need for God's mercy.

And later he wrote that in those moments, he started to offer up even these half prayers to God, asking for mercy. Whatever Newton's faith was up to this point, he realized in this trial that it wouldn't do, because it was not dependent on the God

who was much more powerful than him. Now for Newton, the storm did pass, but God's mercy did not. Over time, Newton would put his faith in Christ, and he would go on, like I said, write that hymn, Amazing Grace.

Newton's realization of his need for that amazing grace, came about in the midst of trial. And looking back on that day, that terrible storm, that moment of trial, Newton, instead of thinking about it as this kind of trial, this terrible thing, he remembers it, he remembers it as a great day, a day to be remembered,

a day to rejoice over, a day that he says that he will never forget. And this continues to happen today. Trials come, and the genuineness of an unbeliever's faith is tested.

And what once seemed like a good thing to put your faith in, their job, their autonomy, their image, their peers, it's shown to be a fool's faith.

A trial threatens it or burns it away, and in that moment, God uses that trial to open the eyes of the blind. Because of the trial, they are more open to the sure object of faith, Jesus Christ.

And they believe in him, and cross over from eternal damnation to new everlasting life in Christ. And so for that person, that trial, even though it may still have been painful, becomes a moment of joy when their unnatural thankful trust in God began.

So for you, if you are a believer, this can just help you think about ways that you can pray for unbelievers, often if people know that you are a believer, they will come to you, even if they're not a Christian, and they will say, hey, I have this thing going on in my life, would you pray for me?

Now, you don't have to necessarily pray out loud that God would use their trial to make them believe in Jesus, but this is something that you can pray internally about, that God would work in the midst of trial to bring them to saving faith, because saving faith is what they ultimately need,

much more than whatever this trial would seem to be taking away. But even for Christians today, a testing of the genuineness of our faith can be helpful.

As Calvin wisely wrote, the human heart is an idol factory, and Satan continues to roar after believers, seeking to turn our faith away from Christ.

So maybe our faith, maybe our faith isn't a fool's gold faith. Maybe it's metal. It's still gold. It's metal. But maybe our faith is starting to corrode, to pick up dirt and grime.

God can use a trial and turn it into an opportunity for self-evaluation, repentance, for renewal and restoration. Or a trial could be a way that God keeps dirt and grime from developing on us.

God uses a trial to keep your faith pure so that it doesn't become weakened. A practical example of this happened in my own life. For the past two years, I've often, I've been open with many of you about this, I've struggled with feelings of anxiety and dread often.

And I will be so confident that sometimes that something bad is going to happen or I'll begin to think that I'm not really a Christian. I'll be so confident in these things.

Now, these feelings, this could be a brain issue or it could be seasonal affective disorder or it could be a spiritual attack. Either way, God has been faithful to use this trial in my life to show me that I've been picking up dirt and grime in the sense that I'm tempted

to evaluate my thoughts above God's word. To believe that what I'm thinking about the future or salvation instead of what God has said about these things is true.

And now, God has used my trial to show me those things. I can begin to submit that struggle to Him with His help. So that's just an example of the way that my faith in Christ still remains, but it is picking up these bits of grind, these imperfections.

And then God can use this trial in my life to perfect my faith. Now, is it that God sent this trial on me? I don't know. This is a mystery. And it's not a mystery that James wants to answer.

What he does want to answer is that God will be faithful to use that trial for our good. And maybe you, today, maybe you are in the midst of a trial.

Maybe this could be an opportunity for you to pray that God would use this trial for your good to refine your faith. Again, this is not necessarily to say that God brought this thing upon you, but it is a promise that God will use this thing for your good if you will ask Him.

So, God refines our faith by removing impurities through trial. But He also refines our faith by deepening the quality of our faith. Deepening the quality.

So, one was removing impurities, the other is kind of building up, deepening the quality. Just as gold that goes through a refiner's fire is more precious, more desirable than it was before, this deepening process can happen through trials.

And this idea, this deepening process, is what James seems to have most in mind when he's talking about testing in our passage. Remember, he's writing to Jewish Christians whose main trial was persecution.

And faced with persecutions, these Christians had to decide if they were worth enduring. And James' answer in this passage is an emphatic yes, and he gives a reason why.

Because enduring persecution, staying faithful to Christ in the midst of trial, will produce something far more valuable than what they may lose in persecution.

And that is steadfastness.

One scholar defines steadfastness as a steady clinging to the truth within any situation. The truth of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection is our only hope.

So, in the face of persecution, these persecutions can't take away what is most precious, and that is that truth and our faith in that truth.

In fact, the opposite will happen, God says, in persecution. Our faith will deepen.

These persecutions will allow us to hold more tightly onto Christ. Does that make sense? Hold more tightly. Steadfastness comes as a result of these persecutions.

But it's not just persecutions that are the only trials that God uses to produce steadfastness. Remember, James is talking about various kinds of trials.

So, here is a promise. Whatever trial we face, God is powerful enough and faithful enough and good enough to use them to help us cling to Christ more tightly.

With this in mind, we're able to count trials all joy because we are confident that God will take something difficult and painful, a product of sin's curse, and he will rework it for the greatest good, and that is greater faith in Christ.

We can consider trials with unnatural thankfulness and with deep faith because we're expecting a great reversal. Okay, a great reversal. Sorry, my handwriting got super tiny there.

We can be joyful because when we experience trials, we know that God will take what Satan meant for evil and turn it for good. There is a reversal.

God is undoing the curse of sin, the effects of sin. And so, this can lead to steadfastness and to joy because we know that this reversal, this micro reversal that God's working in our lives, is really a sign of the great reversal that is to come at the return of Christ.

Us experiencing a trial and then God producing steadfastness out of it is kind of like tasting the leftover cookie batter before the cookies are baked.

God is using trials to refine our faith and that is a little bit of heaven breaking into our world, a bit of home breaking into the dispersion.

It's a sign of what God will do at the return of Christ.

Alright, let's go back to our truth, our truth about trial. I'll just repeat it again to remind us where we are. Trials test our faith and testing is an opportunity for refining.

We see why trials are an opportunity for refining in verse 4. There it says, in order to grow in our ability to count trials joy, James says that we are to let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete

lacking in nothing.

I think there are several layers to this closing phrase. first, what James is doing is he's highlighting our need to respond to God's refining process.

There's this guy that I read, he helpfully talks about humans being both creatures and persons. Okay, I've talked about this before, but as creatures, we are completely dependent on God for everything we need because he created us.

We are his creatures. However, as persons, God has given us the ability and the responsibility to respond to him, to make decisions, to act.

And that is true as we read about this refining process. In this passage, God is the one who produces the steadfastness that we need in order to remain faithful to Christ in trial.

And we are dependent on God for that. However, we are also called to let steadfastness have its full effect. If we are to experience steadfastness, we must remain faithful to Christ in the midst of trials.

We must respond with faith during God's testing process. James will talk more about this in verses 5-8. But for now, it's enough to note that if we turn from faith in Christ during trial, we have no reason to hope for the steadfastness God desires to bring out of our suffering.

It's not merely enough to face trials. We must face trials with faith. But we'll talk more about that next time. Secondly, letting steadfastness have its full effect means that God wants to work other things in us as a result

of steadfastness. This phrase is the proverbial but wait, there's more. Jesus makes this really clear over in John 15. Jesus says, abide in me and I in you.

As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches.

Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit. As we cling to Christ, Christ will work good things in us. Paul blends Jesus' and James' teaching very well together over in Romans 5.

In Romans 5, Paul writes, but we rejoice in our sufferings knowing that suffering produces endurance or steadfastness and endurance produces character and character produces hope and hope does not put us to shame.

As we cling to Christ, we will grow in areas like Christian character, Christ likeness. Think of how God can turn trials into Christ likeness.

Consider a dark night of the soul like what I experienced. God can use this to bring steadfastness and he can use it to stir you to study scripture deeply, developing you into a worker who wants to rightly handle his word.

Or he can prepare you to give a reasonable account for the reason of your faith with greater gentleness and respect. Or think about a physical trial.

God could use that to humble you. To remind you of your mortality. To help you prioritize things in your life. To steward your body. Or the inner trial of temptation.

We will talk more about that later as well. Temptation can help you set up wise boundaries. Surrender your desires to God. These are all Christian character traits that God can bring about in the midst of your suffering to help you grow into Christ's likeness in trial.

death. And we know this process will be completed one day with that great trial of death that each one of us must face. Even in death God will be faithful to help us be steadfast for to be absent from the body is to be present from the Lord.

We will cling to him even more closely and God will help us to grow in Christian character in death for then we will finally be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing, glorified with Christ.

With all this in mind we can see why hope is a result of steadfastness that Paul talks about in Romans 5. For we know that a faith in Christ that is tested and endures, Peter says, will result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Again, this can help us to pray in the midst of trial that God will bring growth. Sometimes it can feel very kind of silly for us to say, oh, your takeaway is to pray.

But I think that's because we have a low view of prayer often. I do. And so when we pray for prayer, we will learn next time that God responds to prayer, that he wants to work through our prayers.

And so with these hopes in front of us, when we experience trial, we can pray deeply. We can pray for God to grow Christian character in us.

We can pray for God to

hope in him, unnaturally, even in spite of our suffering.

Lastly, in letting steadfastness have its full effect, we are recognizing that this is a refining process. It's just that it's a process. And processes often take time.

I think that's implied in the Romans 5 passage. Steadfastness to character, character to hope. One seems to build off of the other in this sort of process.

But I also think it's there in our passage. James says that testing produces steadfastness. It seems to be a process. So if you're in the midst of suffering and you don't feel super steadfast or complete and it's really difficult for you to count anything joy, let alone the struggle

that you're in, I want to encourage you to continue to hold on to Christ, even if it's just with the tip of your pinky finger. God will be faithful, he says, to deepen your faith, to strengthen your grip.

So continue to wait with faith until he does. We've just scratched the surface of this passage today. This is the first truth of many that James wants to teach us about trials.

But I hope today, even with this one, I hope you'll be encouraged to endure trial with faith in Christ while you trust God to work all things for your good.

Would you pray with me?

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the great mercy that we've just read about God. We thank you for your love for us, your desire to work all things for our good.

We acknowledge your power, we acknowledge your ability to work all things for our good. You are sovereign Lord of all things of all this universe, God.

You see all things and you use all things for the good of your people and for your glory. We pray that you continue to stretch us, deepen us as we think about suffering.

Help us to think about these ways in a way that we can be faithful to James' call to count all suffering, all trials, joy, pure joy, because of what you've done for us in Christ and who you've proved yourself to be in him.

We pray these things in the name of Jesus. Amen.