Tenacious in Trials - James 1:2-12 My wife follows the blog of a little girl named Ella born with a condition called Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia (CDH). In short, when Ella was forming in the womb, her diaphragm failed to close properly which allowed her abdominal organs to enter into her chest cavity. The condition is often fatal to the baby because their lungs are not able to develop fully causing life-threatening respiratory compromise at birth. God be praised Ella will turn two on July 24. But the last two years have been a trial for her parents that few of us could ever imagine. I think I have it hard with sleepless nights lately with my 3 month old, at least my sleepless nights are not pacing the halls of the NICU for the first year of my daughters life. I have been moved at times to tears as I also have read Ella’s story and prayed for her. But more than that, I stand in awe at the trust in God and faith in Christ Ella’s parents have on display for all to see. Ella’s parents have good and bad days in dealing with the stresses and problems that continue to accompany Ella’s condition. But they are unwavering in their allegiance to God, and continue to trust in him through the brightest horizons and darkest shadows. And through it all they are journaling a powerful record of the ways in which God has used Ella’s trial to grow her parents as disciples of Jesus Christ. Trials in one’s life are a part of what it is to be human.If trials are going to come into our lives and challenge our faith, as people who desire to be faithful disciples of Jesus Christ how are we to respond when trials come into our lives? The first 12 verses of James are devoted to instructing followers of Jesus to know how to respond and this is the question that James will answer this morning. If you aren’t already there, please take your bible and turn with me to James 1:2, which can be found on page 1196 of the sanctuary bibles. How does a disciple of Jesus Christ respond to the trials that will come into their lives? In James 1:2 we find the first part of this answer, we need to adjust our perspective on trials. James says in verse 2, “Consider it pure joy my brothers whenever you face trials of many kinds”. When was the last time you thought of a trial or difficulty in your life as something to be joyful about? Foreclosure/ Job loss. Cancer. No one in their right mind would ever respond to some of the trials I just mentioned, or any number of other trials that could come into our lives with that kind of attitude. That attitude is stupid. What James is saying is that considering trials pure joy is to adjust our perspective on the trials in our lives to allow us to see them as opportunities for growth. James is not suggesting that Christians facing trials should have no response other than joy, as if we were commanded never to be saddened by difficulties. The point that James is trying to make about is that trials are an occasion for genuine rejoicing because God will use the trials in our lives to continue to mold and change us into the person he wants us to become. Adjusting our perspective about trials allows us to begin to understand that God uses our trials to make us stronger Christians. I am sure all of us have gone through trials in which we have learned something and are better for it. This is the attitude that James is saying we should face our trials with. With our attitudes and mind in the right space we are then ready to take the next step and endure the trial and allow perseverance to do its work. Look again at verse 2, “Consider it pure joy my brothers whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance”. Catch that, these are not just trials but an opportunity for disciples to test their faith. The idea of testing one’s faith in the Bible has a long history. Many of the biblical characters went through a test of their faith. The patriarch Abraham went through a test of his faith when God told he to take his only son Isaac and offer him as a sacrifice. Joseph went through a test of faith being sold into slavery, and then unjustly jailed. Perhaps the most famous test of faith in the Bible is that of Job, whose trials in life included the loss of his children, livelihood, and status in his community and among his friends. A test of faith is not intended to determine whether or not one has faith in God. On the contrary, a test of faith, as James teaches, is intended to purify faith that already exists. This process of purification James calls perseverance. Perseverance means to be steadfast in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success. In other words, to persevere is to remain faithful even when its hard to do so and you want to give up. Have you ever injured yourself to the point of needing physical therapy? A few years back I was playing paintball and I took a fall that injured my right arm at the shoulder. I went to the doctor and got the same lecture from him that I got from my wife, you’re not 18 any more, and took my script for physical therapy. I’d never been to PT before. When I went in the first time I got an ultrasonic message, which was really nice, and then they started working on my shoulder specifically, which was excruciating. I remember after a particularly painful session of rotating the arm, doing various low impact exercises, and complaining about the whole thing, the therapist finally looking at me and saying, do you want to get better? then it’s going to hurt, and it’s going to take time. Developing perseverance in trial is going to hurt, and it’s going to take time. But, as important as the development of perseverance is, perseverance itself is not the end goal. James reminds us in verse 4 that, “Perseverance must finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” What work is perseverance finishing? In short, perseverance is working in us godly character. For example, if you are walking through a trial and test of your faith in the midst of losing a job, or some other source of your livelihood, perseverance might work within you exposing an attitude of self-reliance, and drawing you more into a relationship of reliance and dependance upon God. James goes on to say that the godly character that perseverance is working within us, through the testing of our faith, will finish only when we are mature and complete. The word translated as mature does not quite capture the power that James is trying to convey. The word translated as mature here, is in many other places of the NT translated as perfect. For example, when Jesus says to his disciples, “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect”, the word translated perfect is the same word used here in James. Biblical perfection has less to do with doing things right and without mistake, and much more to do with the quality of the object, thing, or person that is being declared perfect. Why is this important? When a person is being matured, being perfected, to use the biblical word, they are being purified. All the impurities and imperfections are being expunged, removed from them, so that what is left is the very best, the perfect of what God desires to make within us. This is the work that perseverance must complete in the testing of your faith during trials. God will use the fire that you are going through to mature, to perfect and complete you. For example, you might struggle to let others help you, we typically call this pride. Be laid up for a few weeks because of a surgery. If you are willing to yield yourself to perseverance’s work in your life, you will find that your pride will be surfaced, and perfected - purified out of you. This is what the work of perseverance mature and completing the believer looks like. How does a disciple of Jesus Christ respond to the trials that will come into their lives? First, by adjusting our perspective. Second, we endure the trial and allow perseverance to do its work, building godly character in us. Now there is a third step, responding as a disciple of Jesus Christ to the trials that come into our lives means that we will pray with an undivided heart asking God for wisdom. Let’s look briefly at verses 5-8. “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double- minded man, unstable in all he does”. Three words need to be clearly defined in these verses in order to understand what James is teaching. In verse 5 we need to know clearly what wisdom means and what generously means, and in verse 6 we need to know what doubt means. Wisdom as James is using it is, the means by which the godly can both discern and carry out the will of God. In other words, wisdom, is being able to know what to do, and have the means to do it. Generosity is the second word that needs defining. God’s generosity as James is using it, is better understood as God’s own integrity. In other words, God gives out of himself the very gifts we as his followers need to please him. So we could rephrase verse 5 to say, “If any of you lacks wisdom, lacks the means by which to discern and carry out the will of God, that person should ask God for it, because God will give from himself the gifts the person asking for them needs to please God.” God giving to us without finding fault then means that when we ask for wisdom, God is not going to scold us for not already having wisdom, but instead will give to us out of the richness of his own character and integrity. Stay with me now. Taking these two words together now, Wisdom and Generosity, we learn this. As the believer in Jesus Christ is walking through a trial, their faith is being tested. When they are not sure what to do during the trial, not sure how to please God in the test of their faith, they are to ask God for wisdom, that is to ask God to give them the means of being able to discern and carry out what it is that will please God as they go through the trial. God, for his part, is not only willing but chomping at the bit to give us the gifts we need to please him, and the gifts he will give us flow from his own character and integrity. Now we need to look at the word doubt. James tells us that when we ask we must believe and not doubt. The way that doubt is being used in this sentence it has the meaning of disputing with one’s self - the doubt is internal to the person. In other words, doubt as James uses it here, is describing a person who is not inherently and consistently committed to following God. The dispute within one’s self is a dispute of allegiance. The image of the doubter being like a wave of the sea brings this out more clearly. Prey to the shifting winds of personal motive and desire, the doubting person wants wisdom from God one day and the wisdom of the world the next. So taking verses 5-8 together, James is teaching us that when a disciple faces a trial in their life, they should turn to God and ask God to give them the wisdom they need to discern and do what it is that will be pleasing to God. God will certainly give abundantly of himself to the person who is committed to him. As God is not divided in his own person or loyalties towards us, so he will not allow us to claim relationship with him, yet be divided in ourselves and loyalty to him. If we are dating God and dating the world, he demands that we make a choice. If we want to be with God, then we can expect all the benefits of being in relationship with him. If we want to be with the world, that is our choice. But a doubter, a double-minded man, a man of divided allegiances and loyalties will certainly not receive from God what he asks for because he does not know God to begin with. Verse 9-11 serve as an illustration of what James has been teaching in this part of his letter. I encourage you to read it and meditate on it yourself for the application it might have for you. How does a disciple of Jesus Christ respond to the trials that will come into their lives? First, we adjust our perspective. Second, we endure the trial and allow perseverance to do its work. Third, we praying with an undivided heart asking God for wisdom. And finally, James encourages disciples of Jesus Christ to remember God’s promises.. Look at verse 12, “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him”. The crown of life that James is envisioning disciples of Jesus Christ receiving is not a jewel encrusted crown or tiara that would sit upon the head of a king or queen. The crown he sees is the laurel leaf awarded to the athlete who has worked hard for the victory he has won. The victory of a trained and disciplined athlete in a race is a fitting image for the reward that God will bestow on those who remain faithful to him over the often long and difficult race of life. How does a disciple of Jesus Christ respond to the trials that will come into their lives? First, we adjust our perspective. Second, we endure the trial and allow perseverance to do its work. Third, we praying with an undivided heart asking God for wisdom. Finally, we remember God’s promises. Adjust, Endure, Pray, and Remember. Let’s pray.