JOY IN TRIALS
DR. JIM DIXON
JAMES 1:2-12
JULY 11, 1993
Like Jude, James was a half-brother of our Lord Jesus Christ, a son of Mary and Joseph. James did not believe in Jesus Christ prior to His crucifixion, but after the crucifixion, the Bible tells us, “Jesus Christ appeared to James, resurrected and alive, and James was converted.” He became an apostle of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the great head of the Jerusalem church. Ultimately James was martyred for Christ as he was, in 61 A.D., stoned to death by the scribes and the Pharisees.
We have in the Bible this book which bears his name and from this book two messages this morning. The first message concerns the subject of suffering. James tells us, “Count it all joy when you experience various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”
In World War II, the British armies evacuated at Dunkirk. They were defeated. They fled. In England it was the lowest ebb of the war and they seemed particularly vulnerable. Nazi forces were ready to receive the command to cross the English Channel and to attack England. It seemed to them that surely the English people would fall. They were a defeated people, or so it seemed. It was at that time that Winston Churchill rallied the British people. He called them to fight unto death. He said all he could offer them was blood, sweat, and tears. History records that the English people accepted that challenge and they fought to the death, and by the grace of God, they had the victory.
The Bible is clear that Jesus Christ challenges His people. He challenges His people in all generations, and He challenges us today. He would remind us that we are engaged in a battle. It is not a battle against flesh and blood, but against the principalities and the powers, the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenlies, the world rulers of this present darkness. It is a battle between light and darkness and good and evil. We live in a fallen world.
Jesus Christ promises us blood, sweat, and tears. If you take an honest look at the Bible, there is no doubt that Jesus Christ did not promise Christians a walk in the park. If you look clearly at the pages of scriptures, what you see there is that Jesus Christ told us that there would be danger. He said that His followers would be dragged before the courts of the nations of the world, that we would be hated for all nations for His name’s sake. He told His followers that they would experience hardship, suffering, certainly persecution and trials and ultimately death. And yet He promised them that it would not be in vain. He promised us that it would not be in vain, and He assures us that our destiny is heaven itself.
We are engaged in a battle. We are also engaged in a quest. It’s a quest for the establishment and growth of the kingdom of Jesus Christ and it’s a quest for the nature of Jesus Christ. How many of you really long to be perfect? How many of you really long to be complete in Jesus Christ?
You know, on January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after its launch and our nation was shocked—perhaps more shocked than it had ever been since the death of President Kennedy. For the first time in America’s history, the President of the United States postponed his State of the Union address. The President was Ronald Reagan. Right after the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger, Ronald Reagan made an announcement to the nation. He did not give his State of the Union address, but he made an announcement to the nation that the explosion of the Challenger space shuttle would be thoroughly investigated and after that investigation the space shuttle effort would continue and the exploration of space would continue.
The people of America generally agreed with President Reagan because, as Reagan said, humankind participates in a quest for knowledge and that quest involves pain. That quest involves setbacks. That quest involves suffering, but the quest must continue. What Jesus Christ reminds His people today is that we’re involved in a greater quest—a quest for knowledge, yes, but a far greater quest. We’re involved in a quest for the kingdom of God, the kingdom of Christ itself. We’re involved in a quest for the very character of Jesus Christ, a quest to be like Christ. In that quest there is pain. In that quest there is suffering. In that quest there is hardship. Some of that pain, some of that hardship comes to us simply because we live in a fallen world and pain seems random, but God would also remind us that some of that pain and some of that suffering comes simply because we are His people, and the darkness hates the light.
Now when you look at this little verse in James 1:2, James says, “Count it all joy when you experience trials.” He says we should count it all joy because those trials produce steadfastness in the life of the Christian and steadfastness produces perfection and completion that we might be equipped for every good work.
I tell you this. If you don’t long for perfection in Christ, if we don’t long for completion in Christ, then tests and trials will not make us strong. Tests and trials will not be cause for rejoicing. If we do not long for completion in Christ, tests and trials can just destroy us. The tragedies of life, the pain, the suffering… if we are not really engaged in this quest, if we do not recognize the battle in which we are involved, if we’re not really seeking Christlikeness, then those tests and trials that come our way can, instead of being molding events in our life, can be destructive events.
You know, violins, the most valuable ones, are not made from soft pine that has experienced nothing but gentle rain and soft breezes. The best violins are crafted from hard wood, hard wood that has experienced the cold and the storms of bitter winters because hard wood has character. Christ is looking for a people who have character. That is not possible unless we go through storms in life.
I think if God were to appear in this room right now and give every one of us a calendar and God were to say, “You go ahead and just chart your future,” you’d probably run that calendar out until you lived a hundred years at least. I mean every one of you. You would take that calendar, if God gave you the chance and said you could just write your future on earth, you would probably write in that you would live to one hundred and you wouldn’t put anything negative in there. I mean you would go day, week, month, and year and you would just fill it with blessing after blessing after blessing after blessing. But when you reached a hundred years of age, you wouldn’t be the person God wanted you to be. God knows that a certain amount of pain and suffering is necessary for growth.
I don’t claim to be able to explain why you go through all the suffering you do. some of you have gone through unbelievable tragedy. Some of you have experienced the death of people you most loved. Some of you are experiencing even now some really devastating diseases. Some of you have had incredible financial losses. I do not presume to be able to stand up here and explain that away. I don’t know why some of us have to suffer more than others of us, but I do know this. I know that in our life as Christians, knowing that we live in a fallen world, knowing that we’re engaged in a great struggle, a great battle, knowing that we are in a quest for the very character of Christ, knowing that one day we will see Christ, we should live life in this world with this confidence that Christ is able to take these events in our life and use them for good. The Bible promises that in the book of Romans, that Christ is able to take them and use them for good and He’s also able to take many of these events and use them to mold us and shape us into the people that He wants us to be.
You know how Michelangelo was able to take crude blocks of marble and, through the skilled use of his chisel, make them into works of art, majestic works of art. Christ is like that. He wants to make you into someone wonderful and you are not like a block of marble because you feel the pain of the chisel. But God wants you to understand the purpose behind the pain.
It was C.S. Lewis who said, “God whispers in our pleasures, God speaks in our conscious, and God shouts in our pain,” and I think it is true, so often, that God speaks most clearly—we hear Him best—in those times when we are in pain. We live in a world that’s trying to make everything a little more comfortable. I mean, isn’t it? We live in a world where technology and science industry are constantly seeking to make life a little more convenient and a little more comfortable. That is why we have air-conditioned cars. That’s why we have air-conditioned houses, and we have fast food restaurants. We have seedless grapes and now we have fuzz-less peaches. All of these things are meant to make life a little more convenient, meant to make life a little more comfortable. But it’s really not possible through science and technology to take the pain of life away, is it? It is not possible. Despite all of our incredible scientific advancements, we cannot take the pain away. Life in this fallen world has pain. It has trials. It has tests. It has suffering.
To the non-Christian, that suffering, that pain, must seem random and meaningless, and in their hearts there must be bitterness. But for us, as Christians, we know that this world that has fallen will one day be made right and we know that even now the pain is not meaningless, as we are engaged in a great struggle and a great quest and that God, by His Holy Spirit, has the power to use these things to make us more into the people He wants us to be. Life in this world is just a classroom. One day we graduate. Heaven is the real deal. We need to view life with this perspective. This world is not our home. We are just passing through.
Now, there is a second teaching from James this morning. The second teaching concerns the subject of wisdom. James says, “If anyone lacks wisdom, let them ask God, who gives to all generously and without reproaching.”
A few years ago at the University of Kentucky, a PhD student in the School of Philosophy flunked. He had gone through all of his philosophy classes. He had received A’s in every one of his academic subjects and yet they refused to give him a PhD at the University of Kentucky. They refused to give him a PhD because in his oral interview they found that he had developed no philosophy of his own. The University of Kentucky said that this student had incredible knowledge regarding all the great philosophers throughout history, but he had no philosophy of his own and the University of Kentucky said, “We’re not here to simply impart knowledge. We are here to help students in the School of Philosophy develop wisdom.” I think that is a very unusual stance for an academic institution.
Now of course, the word philosophy literally means “love of wisdom,” from “phileo,” which means “love,” and “Sophia,” which means “wisdom.” And it is true that in the ancient Greek world this word “sophia” oftentimes did refer to the theoretical, abstract systems of thought that men and women used to guide their lives. It is true that in the Greek world, the ancient Greek world, sometimes this word “sophia” referred to philosophy. Sometimes this word “sophia” referred to those systems of thought and values that guided people’s lives and actions.
Now biblically, the word “sophia” is almost never used this way. When James mentions this word “sophia” when he uses this word “wisdom,” he is not speaking of philosophy. God is not saying, “If any of you lack a philosophy of life, ask God.” That is not really what is being said here. The assumption is that he’s writing to Christians and most of them have philosophies of life rooted on Christ and the teachings of Christ. They seek the mind of Christ.
The word “sophia” in the Bible generally had a more practical meaning and application, and I want to examine two of those usages of “sophia” in the Bible this morning. First of all, the word “sophia” was oftentimes used in the sense of decision-making. It was used in the sense of making choices. When you come to the crossroads and you need to decide which way to go, you need to make a choice which direction to move in. That’s a type of wisdom, “sophia.”
You see, it was Yogi Berra, the renowned theologian who happened to play baseball, who once said to a graduating class of high school seniors, “When you come to the fork in the road, take it.” Now that’s not particularly helpful, but I think that the reality is we all do come to the fork in the road. Almost every day we come to some fork in the road, and some of those forks are major. We have decisions we need to make in life as Christians, choices we need to make. Sometimes the choices are kind of scary.
I think many of you have probably heard the little story. It’s kind of a stupid story, but I’m going to tell it anyway, about a guy that graduated from Notre Dame. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame. He had high expectations. He had a choice to make.
He’d been offered a job in Houston in the real estate business, and he had been offered a job in Boston in the banking business. He chose Houston and the real estate business. It was a bad choice because that was the time when the whole real estate industry in Houston went under. And so he found himself in great debt. But subsequently, he came into a little inheritance, so he had some money again. He had a choice to make. He could have invested in a relatively new computer company with the strange name of Apple, or he could have invested in the establishing of a new savings and loan. He chose the savings and loan. It was a bad choice because, like many savings and loan, the whole thing went under, and he found himself bankrupt again.
He was really feeling bad, and he just wanted to go home to Indiana. He decided to fly home to Indiana. He could buy a ticket on United Airline or Eastern Airline. He chose Eastern Airline, and of course that very night was the night Eastern Airline went bankrupt and his ticket was no good in the morning. So how did he get back to Indiana? Well, he got on a little plane. It was just a little single-engine prop job. He and the pilot were flying to Indiana in the midst of a horrible storm. Lightning hit the plane. The plane was going down. The pilot turned to him and said, “We’re going to have to bail. I’ve got two parachutes here. I have never used either one of them. You choose the one you want.” He chose the one on the right. It was a bad choice because he pulled the ripcord and the chute did not open. He’s just descending at top speed down to the face of the earth.
Like a good Catholic, in the moment of incredible peril, he shouted out “St. Francis save me!” At that very moment, this giant hand descended from heaven and just grabbed him, and he found himself suspended in space. Suddenly this voice from heaven said, “St. Francis Xavier or St. Francis of Assisi?” Now that is a dumb story, but it is true. It is true that sometimes the decisions we have to make in life are really important. When we make bad choices, we get into a whole lot of trouble.
You know, it is also true that up in the Rocky Mountains on the Continental Divide there are a few places where the rain falls and raindrops that are only a few inches apart go to different oceans. It is simply a fact. Raindrops that fall just a few inches apart high up in the Rocky Mountains near the Continental Divide… some of them go to the Atlantic Ocean and some to the Pacific. Just a few inches apart. Sometimes the choices we make are like that. The consequences incredible.
Certainly, that is true of Jesus Christ. Have every one of you in the sanctuary this morning decided what to do with the person of Jesus Christ and the claims of Christ? You have a choice to make. If you choose to embrace Christ as Lord and Savior, you have made a great choice. If you chose to reject Him or just to ignore Him, you’ve made a horrible decision. You see, heaven and hell wait in the balance. Choices are certainly critical but for those of us who have chosen Christ, even for those of us who are Christians, daily we find ourselves in situations where we need to make decisions. Some of those decisions are relatively unimportant but other decisions have great import. Some of those decisions involve spiritual matters as well. Certainly, God cares James in this little passage of scripture tells us how much God cares. God really wants to help you, God really wants to help me. In those moments when we need to make choices, we need to come to the Lord. We need to come and say, “Lord, I lack wisdom.” Do not just rely on your own common sense. Do not just rely on your own rational faculties but seek the mind of Jesus Christ. Do not ask Christ to just rubber stamp your decisions. Seek to make His decision and that is why we come to Christ in prayer. If anyone lacks wisdom, let them ask God.
Now this word “sophia” does not always refer to choices. It was used in another way. Sometimes the word “sophia” was used in the sense of insight and discernment. Decision making was one kind of wisdom, but another kind of wisdom related to insight and discernment. You understand the distinction. Sometimes we need insight into people. We need insight into situations. Discernment.
You can go to the grocery store, as I am sure many of you do, to the produce section, and maybe you want to pick up some grapes. Maybe you want to buy some nectarines or some peaches or just a watermelon. If you really want to get good fruit, sweet on the inside, it takes a little discernment, right? Some people are good at this. Some people are not so good. You can look at the outside and you can smell it. You can knock on it (unless it is a peach). You can kind of test it, but there is only so much you can do. It takes a little bit of discernment to know what is on the inside.
Now, in a way that is analogous to what James is speaking of here because the word “sophia” referred to that insight—not into fruit but into people and into circumstances.
Thomas Edison was one of the greatest inventors of all time. A little-known fact about him was that in 1880 he was a judge at the very first Miss USA Beauty Pageant. Now, since 1880 there have been many beauty pageants in the United States of America. To be a judge at a beauty pageant you do not need any wisdom at all. You don’t need any wisdom at all because you’re just looking at the outside. You see, God wants us to be able to look on the inside as He looks on the inside, and that takes wisdom.
Counselors need that kind of wisdom, to be able to look on the inside of people. Parents, moms and dads, need that kind of insight. I mean do not we need that to rear our children? To see what is on the inside? Judges in our judicial system certainly need that kind of wisdom to be able to see what’s on the inside. The truth is all of us need insight into people and into the situations in which we find ourselves.
Here is the great truth of God. When we lack that insight and it is really needed, we can come to God and Christ and say, “Lord, give us wisdom” and He cares. I must tell you this though. I think most of the time where we need that insight, where we need that wisdom, where we need that discernment is with regard to looking inside ourselves.
You know, in the Bible it says, “Search me, oh God. Know my heart. Try me. Know my thoughts. See if there be any wicked way in me. Cleanse me from every sin. Set me free.” I think where we often need wisdom in the sense of discernment and insight is with respect to ourselves. You know, it takes a certain humility to… I mean James tells us that when we come to the Lord asking for wisdom, we need to come in faith. We also need to come in humility. The Bible says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” That expression, “the fear of the Lord,” is the Hebraic expression that approximates “humility before God.” It is only when we come humble before the Lord that He is going to give us the wisdom that we need—understanding that our rational faculties aren’t good enough, understanding that our common sense isn’t good enough. We really need His mind.
You know, I will never forget… oh, it was probably about 15 years ago I was in a counseling appointment at Faith Presbyterian Church in Aurora when I worked over there. It was a young married couple. They got into a horrible fight right in my office with me sitting there. They were just shouting at each other at the top of their lungs. They were just shouting at each other. Pretty soon they were so enraged, they were swearing. They were using the “s” word and the “f” word, and it was just flowing down the hallway. I am sure people throughout the church building were thinking, “Boy, Jim’s really got a wild one going.”
I did not know what to say. The counseling appointment had kind of started out peaceful and then just they began to fight. They had kind of a conflict-habituated relationship where they were always fighting. Finally, I said to them, “You know, you might consider going to a counselor who specializes in marriage relationships and in conflict-habituated kinds of difficulties.” The wife looked at me, and in all sincerity, she said, “Well, we might be willing to do that, but if we’re going to go to such a counselor, that counselor better be Spirit-filled, because my husband and I are Spirit-filled.”
Now, you realize the tragedy of that situation. Here are two people, who because they had a particular gift of the Holy Spirit, thought of themselves as Spirit filled, not even realizing or contemplating the reality that the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. How we need humility for our marriages. We need wisdom, discernment, insight into ourselves if ever our marriages are going to be whole and healed. We need to come to the Lord in humility first of all saying, “Search me, try me, and help me see the truth concerning myself before I seek to see the truth concerning somebody else.”
So, we have this message from James, and I think, you know, it is true too that in the midst of tests and trial, because the comments on wisdom, follow the comments on suffering. I think it’s true that in the midst of tests and trial, so often that’s the time we need wisdom isn’t it? In the midst of tests and trials, we need wisdom for choices, and we need insight into what God is doing—maybe into what God is seeking to do in our own lives. We need to come to the Lord, and we need to ask.
So, we have these two teachings from James. Suffering builds Christlike character. “Count it all joy if you’re in the midst of trial.” If you lack wisdom, we have got a generous God who gives to all men without reproaching. Come to Him and ask for the wisdom needed. Let’s close with a word of prayer.