Active Faith (Part Two): Tested and Tried

Transcript

JRNT 2
10/02/2022
Active Faith (Part Two): Tested and Tried
James 1:2-4
Jesse Randolph

Ok, I want to play a little game with you called, “Which of These Statements is Not Like the Other.”
God will dare to do the impossible in your life if you dare to step across the faith line. Dream big, talk big, and turn your faith loose! Unhappiness does not come from the way things are, but from the difference between how things are and the way we think they should be. If you want to change the direction of your life, change the direction of your lips. Everything will work out in the end. Everything happens for a reason. Don’t worry, be happy. And then this one, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” That last one stands out a bit, doesn’t it? And it stands out because, of course, its an excerpt from God’s holy and inerrant word, specifically James 1:2-4 which is our text for today.

Now, today’s text is a familiar one to many of you here this morning. You’ve heard it quoted. You’ve heard it thrown around. You’ve seen it on t-shirts and yard signs. You’ve seen it glazed onto coffee mugs and picture frames. You’ve seen it shared on Facebook feeds and Instagram feeds. But often, not all the time but often, its only the first few words of that passage that are quoted. You know, “Count it all joy.” I’m counting it all joy when I’m vacationing in the Bahamas with my family. I’m counting it all joy while I’m enjoying this ribeye on date night. I’m counting it all joy that I just got this promotion at work! I’m counting it all joy that I got into to the college I wanted to get into.

But what about in the other circumstances? What about in the dark days? When the pink slip comes? When the big client moves on? When you’re publicly ridiculed? When You’re privately rebuked? When the church splits? When the migraines won’t end? When the kidneys fail? When the heart is broken? When you’re on the verge of flatlining, emotionally and physically and spiritually? Do we count it all joy then? That’s what our text today is telling us to do. And it’s telling us to do so in no uncertain terms.

Now, the last time we were together in this Sunday morning context, as we kicked off this new series, “Active Faith,” we saw that the book of James, in its original form, was a letter that was written by James, the half-brother of Jesus. And the James we saw in verse 1 identifies himself as a “bond servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.” This is the same James we saw who first denied his brother. Who thought his brother was deranged. But who later embraced his brother. And in fact, became His slave.

Now, though this James, unlike James, the Son of Zebedee, wasn’t one of the original twelve, he was, in fact, an apostle. I want to clean that up. I said something different last Sunday. But I want to clarify something I said last Sunday. James, the brother of Jesus, was not one of the Twelve. But He was an apostle. There were more apostles than the Twelve in the earliest days of the church. Before the canon of scripture was closed, and God completed that form of supernatural revelation. That’s why we see in Ephesians 4:11, “He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists.” James would have been one of those early apostles. Not one of the initial Twelve, but an apostle. And, an important point, a point I’m going to emphasize at a later time, and in a different context, with a different passage, is that there are no longer apostles today. So, when somebody out there on the street introduces himself or herself to you as, “I’m Apostle So-and-So,” you do three things, ok? You shake their hand. You smile warmly. And then you run!

Getting back to James, though. The main thing we stressed last time, and we’re going to remind ourselves again of today, is that he was a “doulos,” a slave of the Lord Jesus Christ. Of God it says, and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We also noted last time a few things about his audience, the people he was writing to. In verse 1, it says he’s writing to “the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad.” Meaning, these are early Jewish converts. Those who would have considered Abraham to be their father. But who would yet acknowledge Jesus to be their Lord. They had been scattered, we saw last week, Acts 8:1 tells us, out of Jerusalem, after Stephen’s murder. And after Saul, later Paul’s persecution of them. And now we have James here, the chief leader of this church in Jerusalem, sending this letter to those who had been scattered. To those who had been dispersed it says, abroad.

Now, we have to remember that James was writing to early Jewish Christians, who are now outside of Jerusalem. They had once been in Jerusalem, but now they were in the surrounding environs. And as a result, these early Jewish believers would have been suffering much. And would have lost much. These dispersed ones would have been deprived of much, having been exiled from the only land they ever knew. They would have suffered the loss of their old order of life. That would have been compounded by the fact that they were facing all sorts of different trials and adversity. As happens when somebody is displaced from the only land they’ve ever know. Like moving from California to Nebraska. I’m kidding, we love it here. Think about these Jewish Christians in exile. They would have faced loneliness. They would have faced grief and suffering and hardship. They would have faced rejection and frustration and homesickness and social isolation. There may have been language barriers. Forms of bereavement and disappointment. They might have been disinherited by their family members as they moved on. There would have been poverty and sickness and just culture shock. And being in this new surrounding. So, James here, is writing to this dispersed and hurting and destitute community of believers. And what does he tell them? Well, he says to consider their trials joy. Not the easiest message to preach. And not the easiest community to preach that message to.

Now, last week, as we looked at verse 1, and I’ll direct your attention to verse 1 again. We saw that it ended with the word, “Greetings.” In most letters of the New Testament, its somewhere in the context of greeting his readers that the author will express his love and appreciation for them. Or offer his words of thanksgiving for them. Or offer a blessing to God for the abundant spiritual provisions that have been made to him through them. For instance, Paul, in Colossians 1:3-4 says, “We give thanks to God,” as he writes to that church, “the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints.” Jude does the same thing, the other half-brother of Jesus. In Jude 2 he says, “May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you.” So, the greeting is attached to some sort of blessing. Not James. James goes straight into exhortation. Remember, James’ main theme, as we’re building out here, is active faith. So, James, consistent with that theme, wastes no time in diving right into an otherwise-difficult subject to talk about. Namely, trials, and specifically, the active faith that Christians are to possess and live out in the midst of those trials which will inevitably come.

We’re going to be covering three verses today, James 1:2-4. And you’re going to hear me say there are three points or three headings for this message. And those headings will correspond to each of the three verses that we’ll be working through. So, our points are these. I’ll just lay them out before we get started. Point one will be “The Reckoning,” meaning the calculation that Christians must undergo when they encounter various trials. The second heading will be, “The Route [pronounced rowt],” or maybe you pronounce it “The Route [pronounced root],” meaning the path. The testing of our faith that the Lord allows Christians to go through in the midst of our trials. And then third will be, “The Result,” meaning a steadfast endurance. A steady resolve. A fullness of maturity, that faithfully walking through trials will produce in the life of a believer.

So, let’s read our text, and we’ll go through each of these. James 1:2-4, God’s word reads, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

Let’s start with our first major point, “The Reckoning.” Verse 1, “Consider,” it says, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials.” Now, this is a short verse. And as I alluded to earlier, it’s a well-known verse. In fact, it’s a life verse for many, which is great. Let’s break it down a bit though. Starting with the grammatical focus of this verse, which is the word, joy. Sadly, that word, joy, in our day is not very well defined. To the modern mind, the idea of joy naturally, and unfortunately, gets lumped together with the word, what? Happiness. But if joy and happiness are synonymous, if joy and happiness are the exact same thing, and perfectly overlap, meaning, if to be joyful means to be artificially giddy though you go through these up and down states, to follow this circumstantially-driven glee… Well, then joy actually makes no sense, in the sense that James is talking about here. Because how can a person “count it all joy”. . . be happy, be giddy, when their child falls off a swing and breaks their arm? How can a person be joyful in that sense, when a husband is diagnosed with leukemia? How can it be joyful when Hurricane Ian washes away all that you once knew about normal life? If joy means happiness, if they mean the exact same thing, if joy and happiness are synonymous? “Counting it all joy”, the way James’ is describing here, would actually be impossible. And this is the problem that people find themselves in, when they conflate these two terms. Because the conditions of real life, in a fallen world, in our sin-cursed bodies, on the sin-cursed planet, simply do not allow us to be constantly happy. Happiness is temporal. Happiness is circumstantial. Happiness is this earth-bound and ever-moving target. Joy, in contrast, is a theological concept. It’s not an emotional reaction. It’s not a state of being affective, it’s not an affective state. Rather, joy is rooted in who we are in Christ.

Joy is rooted in what Paul says in Romans 8:38-39, you know the verse, “For I am convinced” he says, “that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” That’s joy. That’s why the old Puritan Richard Sibbes could rightly say, that “joy is the habitation,” the dwelling place, “of the righteous.” Because we have Christ. Because we have been declared righteous by God, on account of the sacrifice of His Son. Because we have been shown mercy, we can have joy. On sunny days and on cloudy days. On Mondays and on Fridays. On birthdays and on burial days. Joy is within reach. Joy is possible. Joy, in James, is commanded.

Here are a couple of definitions of joy that I have found that I find to be helpful. One is joy is “settled contentment in every situation.” Another definition, joy is “an unnatural reaction of deep, steady, and unadulterated thankful trust in God.” See, joy is about resting and trusting in Christ. It’s about having final and hopeful confidence in Christ. It’s about singing, “it is well with my soul.” It’s about knowing that we can die. We can lose limbs. We can lose our liberty. We can lose loved ones. We can lose everything! But death has been defeated. Our sin debt has been paid. Our eternal hope has been secured. That’s the source of our joy.

Now, James doesn’t bring joy up in the abstract here in verse 2. Note what he does. He takes this word, joy, and he attaches it to an imperative. In other words, he, as he was moved by the Holy Spirit to do here, commands us to have joy. We are, it says, to “Consider it all joy.” Other translations render that, “Count it all joy.” However your translation reads, it’s not a suggestion. It’s an exhortation. It’s an imperative. It’s an order. To consider here, to count, or to use our heading, to reckon, refers to the importance that we accord something. The importance which we accord something. That’s what we see in Philippians 3, with Paul, in his epistle of joy. Philippians 3:7-8, Paul says this, note the words “count”, and how many times he uses it here. “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ.” Well, here, James uses the same word as Paul, when he says to consider it, count it, calculate it, reckon it. James is spurring us on, spurring believers on to this biblical form of counting, to “put 2 and 2 together,” spiritually speaking. To arrive at a settled conviction, specifically about trials.

James understands that, as Christians, we can easily develop this tendency to become defensive, passive, self-protective, or even defeated when things go against us. He recognizes that, as Christians, how we react to trials, is just as significant as the trials themselves. And far from being masochistic, he’s not commanding us to find pleasure in our pain. And far from buying into the “power of positive thinking”, James is instructing us here to view our trials in light of the bigger picture. To think of our trials in light of God’s larger purposes. To remember that through our trials, God is doing something not only to us, but for us, and in us, and through us. And to reflect not so much on how badly the trial hurts right now, but rather what the trial will produce later. We know it’s a foundational statement of Christian doctrine, that “the righteous shall live by” . . . what? “Faith,” Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, tracing back to Habakkuk 2:4. “The righteous shall live by faith.” Now, if we’re living by sight, of course our circumstances are going to overwhelm us, 100% of the time. If we’re only living in light of the thing that’s in front of us, the trial that’s in front of us, the affliction that’s in front of us, we’ll always lose sight of the bigger picture.

But if we’re living by faith, we’re naturally going to look beyond our present circumstances, as we strive to see those circumstances from God’s vantage point, from His viewpoint. Remembering, as we saw in the scripture reading this morning, from Romans 5, that “we exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance”, listen to these long-term effects, “and perseverance, proven character, and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

Not only though, are we to consider it or count it joy. As James says here in verse 2, he says we’re to consider it all joy. You catch that word? “All” joy. That word, “pasa,” in Greek, could mean entirely, exclusively. Consider it “entirely” as joy. That’s in contrast to the unstable, double-minded man that we’re going to get to in James 1:8 in a few weeks. No, we are to have a singular focus. A singular perspective. A singular outlook. And the outlook that we’re to have is one, the text tells us, of all joy. Pure joy. Full Joy. Complete joy. Total joy. Paul knew of this. Paul lived this out. He told the church at Corinth in 2 Corinthians 7:4, “I am overflowing with joy in all our affliction.” The early apostles knew of this joy, did they not? They lived it out. Do you remember that scene in Acts 5? Peter and some of the apostles there, after preaching at Pentecost are imprisoned. And they’re brought before this council of Pharisees, and they are told not to preach, they’re ordered not to preach. They refuse. They say the famous line, “We must obey God rather than men”, Acts 5:29. They are flogged, they’re ordered not to speak about Jesus, and then they’re released. And in Acts 5:41, what do we see? They go “on their way”, it says, “from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name.” That’s biblical joy! That is “counting it all joy.” That is “considering it all joy.”
So, the Christian, and note, we are talking about Christians here, that’s built into verse 2 here, when he says, “consider it all joy, my brethren.” The Christian is to “consider it all joy”, to “count it all joy,” in the midst of their trials.

But note, there’s this very important word injected in this clause, which is the word, “when.” An interesting thing about this language in verse 2 is its expectation of trials. This isn’t a warning about trials that may or may not arise. Rather, built into this language is the settled expectation that trials will come. It’s not “if” you meet various trials, its “when” you experience various trials. This is normative language. Meaning, this is the normative expectation for the follower of Christ, not that they will live a life without trials, but instead, that they will live a life with trials. No surprise here, I mean this is directly in line. This is not unique to James, this is not James’ unique theology. This lines up directly with the teachings of the rest of scripture. Remember, Jesus warned His followers, told His followers in John 16:33, in this world you will have trouble. Paul, likewise, told some of the earliest converts in Acts 14 [verse 22], that they would go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God. 1 Peter 4:12 says, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery” trials, or the fiery “ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you.” Job 5:7 makes the universal statement that “man is born for trouble, as sparks fly upward.” So it has always been for followers of Christ. We cannot avoid trials. But what we can do, is to make the decision to respond to those trials with confidence in God’s providence. And a determination to glorify God in the midst of the trials that will inevitably come.

No, sadly, and in light of a lot of bad teaching that’s been floating around for many decades now, there is this wrong, yet pervasive idea, that when you become a believer life gets easier. That’s why you have books on shelves, with titles like, “Every Day a Friday” or “Living Your Best Life Now.” To which I have to say (and this is not original to me, it’s been said many times before) if you’re living your best life now, you know what that means? You’re going to hell. Trials are not a matter of ‘if.’ Trials are a matter of ‘when.’ And when we face these trials we are to “count it,” James says, “all joy.”

Now again, we’ve got to go back to the context. Just to get this in full color. We can’t be forgetful of our setting here. We have to remember what verse 1 says, as it leads into this command in verse 2. James is writing to these early Jewish Christians in this dispersion, who had been torn away from the only family and only land they had ever known. That’s the context here. And to that group, James is now saying in verse 2, “consider it all joy… when you encounter various trials.”

I’ve skipped completely over this, the very definition of trials. What does James mean when he’s talking about trials? What is a trial? Well, the Greek word is “peirasmos.” And it can mean either an outward trial or a testing. Or it can actually mean that Greek term, a person’s inner enticement to sin, as in temptation or being tempted. So, we have to be clear which is the definition that’s being used here. That latter meaning, temptation, is used in places like Luke 22:40, when our Lord says, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” The former meaning about trials is found in places like 1 Peter 4:12. We already looked at it, but that says, “Do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing.”

In James 1:2, our passage, we’re dealing with the former meaning, a trial. Not temptation, but a trial. And one of the reasons we can know that for sure is the verb. Yu see it there in your text, “encounter” appears right before the words “various trials.” That word, “encounter,” in Greek (I love to say this word) is peripipto. And it literally means to fall into, to stumble into. As Christians, we can run the risk of falling into, stumbling into, various trials. The meaning of the term suggests an unwelcome and an unanticipated experience. If fact, Jesus uses this same term when He tells the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:30, where it says the men fell into the hands of the robbers. Same concept. The trials that James is anticipating here, in other words, are not brought on by oneself. In fact, they’re unexpected and at least initially, they are unwelcome. But they have a purpose, as we’ll see. Which is the testing of one’s faith as one grows in maturity in Christ’s likeness.

Note also that James, we’re still in verse 2, calls these trials “various trials.” Meaning, diversified, complex, intricate. Which means that James here is recognizing that there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all form of trial. There are small trials and there are larger trials. There are major trials and there are minor trials. Trials come in various shapes and sizes, they are of various magnitudes. They present various threat levels.

So, we are to “consider it all joy”, verse 2 says, “my brethren, when [we] encounter various trials.” And I just have to note, the world and people in the world cannot possibly obey this command. You know, if you aren’t a Christian here this morning, if you don’t have your hope in Christ, you have nothing. You have sinking sand is what you have. And what is going to happen, as it relates to trials, is you’re going to be on this perpetual hamster wheel trying to generate your own happiness until the very day that you take your last breath. Which never works! And your solution is not to seek to just be happy or joyful. Your solution is to trust in Jesus Christ for your salvation, in His finished work on the cross.

But if you are in Christ, this command, from verse 2, is most definitely within reach. And it most definitely has to be taken seriously. Consider these words from a theologian in his mid 70’s, he says: “I can say with complete truthfulness that everything I have learned in my seventy-five years in this world, everything that has truly enhanced and enlightened my existence, has been through affliction and not through happiness, whether pursued or attained.” That’s where I want to get. I hope that’s where you want to get. Because that’s where James is telling us to get. That’s where he’s directing our attention. Trials aren’t joyful in and of themselves, but they are joyful when we realize that they are under the authority of a sovereign God, who is accomplishing His purposes through those very trials.

And what is He accomplishing? The next two verse tell us, 3 and 4. We’ve seen “The Reckoning,” the “counting” in verse 2. Now, we’re going to see “The Recognition” in verse 3. Look at verse 3, it says: “knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.” “Knowing”, the word is “ginosko,” knowledge. What is James driving at here? How do we know that the testing of our faith produces endurance? Do we know this? Well, James says that we do. And scripture says that we do, so that’s good enough for me. We do! And how do we know this? Well, through the countless examples given us in scripture, of tested faith and the endurance it produced. Think of Job. Whis is one of the most tested human being we could ever imagine, right? He had everything. But then Job lost everything. He despised his very existence. His wife told him to curse God and die. But he didn’t. He persevered. He endured. And God vindicated him. Or think of Abraham, in the account of his near sacrifice of Isaac in Genesis 22. Think of those in the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11. Think of the apostles, who counted themselves, we saw in Acts 5, privileged to suffer for the name of Jesus Christ. Think of Stephen, the first Christian martyr in Acts 7. Think of the various subsequent martyrs in early church history, who paid the ultimate price for their allegiance to Jesus Christ. And of course, think of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Who set His face like flint to go to Jerusalem, to die the death that He had been sent to die, on behalf of sinners like you and me.

Tested faith is both demonstrated and mentioned throughout scripture. All this to say, and to support, what James is saying here in verse 3: we know, it says, “that the testing of your faith produces endurance.” We know this. But there are things we know that we don’t know like we ought to know. Which is why we’re in this book of James. And why we’re doing this study.

Now, even though we know what James 1:2 is compelling us to do, to “consider it all joy”, to “count it all joy.” Our natural human tendency is often quite a bit different, isn’t it? What do we tend to do? What do we want to do? Well, there are many different options on the spectrum of potential human reactions, when a trial comes. For some, their tendency will be to shrivel up in defeat, to be passive, to be self-pitying. For others, their tendency will be to clench their teeth and clench their fists and rely on their own strength to fight against the odds. But for James, either reaction would be desperately short-sighted. And either reaction would actually be out of step with what scripture teaches elsewhere. Because, as James tells us further here in verse 3: “the testing of your faith produces endurance.” That ought to be our perspective. That ought to be our aim and our ambition in the midst of trials. “Knowing that the testing of our faith produces endurance.”

Let’s look at the concept of our faith being tested first. The word there for “testing” in verse 3, means literally, to have tested and approved. Meaning, the purpose of our testing is not to find us lacking, but rather is to approve the genuineness of faith that’s already there. Remember, James here, is writing to Christians, to Jewish Christians. Which is why he calls them, and we would call them, “brethren.” And so, what he’s describing here, is not fake faith being exposed as such. But rather genuine faith that’s being tested as it’s put through the fire. What James has in mind, quite clearly, is a refiner’s fire. As it burns away the impurities of whatever metal or precious element he’s working with. In fact, whenever we see this word, its used often in reference to a refiner working with some form of precious metal, like silver or gold. Burning away the dross. Burning away the impurities, in order to create a more refined and perfected product. That’s what 1 Peter 1:6-7, a very comparable passage says: “In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Or consider Psalm 66:10 – “For you have tried us, O God; You have refined us as silver is refined.” Or Proverbs 27:21, “the crucible is for sliver and the furnace for gold, and each is tested by the praise accorded him.”

That word “tested” in Proverbs 27:21, when its brought over to the Septuagint, the Old Testament, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, is that same word that we see for “test” here in James. Then as that dross, those impurities, are burned away, what happens? A more pure metal, a more pure product, comes out on the other end. Which is better and more suitable for the purpose that its ultimately there for. So, it is with our faith. As our trials take us through the fire, as it were, it purifies our faith. It settles our faith. It strengthens our faith. It matures our faith. Faith which is sincerely held is proven to be authentic as it’s heated and tested, and purified, and refined in the crucible of suffering.

James next tells us that the testing of our faith, through the trials that the Lord allows us to go through, “produces,” verse 3 says, “endurance” or steadfastness. That word for “endurance,” “hupomene,” has at its root idea, the ability to remain under something that has weight. Something that otherwise could crush you, you’re able to bear up underneath and keep it from crushing you. The word occurs frequently in the New Testament, to indicate a quality that Christians are to have when they face adversity, temptation and persecution. Hupomene refers to a staying power, a constancy. Because of your ever-growing strength, you’re able to handle the strain and the weight of whatever’s on your shoulders. I’m not a weightlifter, but I’ve heard the phrase from weightlifters, on those Gold’s Gym t-shirts, “no pain, no gain.” Well, pain actually is gain in the Christian life. There is no other way to grow in spiritual strength but by the testing of your faith. Like a muscle that becomes stronger and stronger as it faces resistance, so Christians learn to remain faithful to God over the long haul only when they face those difficulties. Only when they are tested. Only when they are pressed. Only when they are refined.

A man named Walter Knight once wrote, in very poetic form, “Pressed out of measure and pressed to all length, pressed so intensely it seems beyond strength, pressed in the body and pressed in the soul, pressed in the mind till the dark surges roll, pressure by foes and pressure by friends, pressure on pressure till life nearly ends. Pressed into loving the staff and the rod; pressed into knowing no helper but God. Pressed into liberty where nothing clings, pressed into faith for impossible things. Pressed into living a life in the Lord, pressed into living a Christ-life outpoured.” Knight is not only poetic, but he’s right!

Now, note, this hupomene, this endurance, is not a meek, passive submission to our circumstances. There aren’t negative connotations with this term. It’s rather a positive term. It’s describing the person who remains upright and firm, under adverse conditions, without collapse and without cowardice. In other words, its not passive, its rather engaged. One commentator has called it militant patience. Another has called it “faith stretched out.” “The testing of your faith produces endurance.” Now, the word that James uses here for endurance, hupomene, we see all throughout scripture. I’m going to give you a couple of examples here.

One is Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:12, as he’s describing his own experience in performing various apostolic signs in those days. He says: “The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance”, hupomene “by signs and wonders and miracles.” Paul also used that word in his second letter to the Thessalonians in 2 Thessalonians 3:5, he says: “May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness”, hupomene “of Christ.” And then James, we’ll get here in many, many weeks, uses this same word to describe Job’s continuing faith in spite of his various trials and difficulties. James 5:11 says: “You have heard of the endurance”, hupomene “of Job.”

To endure, to borrow from Ephesians 6 [verse 13}, as it pictures the whole armor of God is to “stand.” And to stand even while others are falling. To endure is, to borrow from Ephesians 4:14, not to be tossed to and fro. To endure, to borrow from Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:58, is to remain “steadfast” and “immovable.” The way we get there, the way we get to this place of steadfastness, this place of immovability, this place of endurance, is through trials. Strength comes through adversity. Purity comes through refinement. Steadfastness comes through testing. Endurance comes through difficulty. And purified faith comes through, in the words of James, various trials. Romans 8:17-18 says, “if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” Or the words of Job, Job 23:10, “When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.”

As Christians then, we are called to respond to the trials that come into our life with joy. Because we know that those trials are not only God-appointed, but God-designed. To work in us a deeper and stronger and more pure and more certain faith. In the same way that the rains from a storm will cause a tree to become stronger, as its roots go deeper and deeper, so do trials in the life of the Christians strengthen our faith. The joy comes not from the pain but from its product. “The testing of your faith produces endurance.”

Well, we’ve looked at the reckoning in James 1:2: “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials.” And we’ve looked at the recognition in verse 3: “knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.” Last, as we’re going to turn to verse 4, we’ll see the result. That’s our third point for this morning, “The Result.”

Verse 4 reads: “And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” That’s interesting phrasing right at the front end of that verse, when it says, “let endurance.” That’s a present active imperative verb, which again means, it’s a command. “Let endurance have its perfect result.” Put another way, let God do His work through you. Endure the way God wants you to, as you submit to His will. Don’t fight the trial. Don’t argue about the trial. Don’t shake your fist at God as you go through the trial. Don’t grumble your way through the trial. Rather, submit to the Lord in the trial. Accept the trial.

And more specifically, accept that God is perfect. That His will is perfect. That His purposes are perfect. And acknowledge that He is shaping you and refining you and purifying you and perfecting you through the trial. In a way only He knows, for purposes that only He knows. And for the glory that is due only Him. That means, don’t try to jump out of the moving car of your trial. Don’t try to wake up from the bad dream of your trial. Rather, the command to the Christian, is to walk through that trial in faith. Trusting ultimately the one who has appointed you for that trial. And remembering what Paul says in 1Corinthians 10:13. Now, in that context, he is talking about temptation, but the concept holds. 1 Corinthians 10:13, “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow your to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.”

The only way out of a trial, and I’m borrowing this from John MacArthur, is through the trial. God provides the way of escape. And that way of escape is not by hitting the eject button. That way of escape is not by dropping through the escape hatch. Rather, it’s walking through the trial. Rejoicing in the trial, knowing that we know Christ. Knowing that as He’s working in us, and on us, and through us, He’s preparing us, ultimately for glory.

And also, note this, endurance which we see here in verses 3 and 4, or steadfastness, while it is important and while it is admirable and while it is a necessary Christian virtue, is not the ultimate aim or the end of the trials that the Lord allows us to go through. And the trials that we are to count as joy, note the text very plainly tells us that our endurance, our hupomene, is a means to an end. Look again at verse 4, “let endurance have its perfect result,” Or some translations say, “its full effect.” And what is the perfect result? Well, we see that in the last few words of verse 4: “so that”, that’s a hina clause, meaning here’s a major purpose statement. “So that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” The faith and the hope and the security that we have in Christ, which produces endurance and steadfastness (hupomene) in this life, will have its full effect in the end, allowing us to be three things, this text says, “perfect and complete and lacking in nothing.”

We need to work through each of those, starting with the word “perfect.” That word perfect, “teleios,” does not mean perfection in the sense that we might first think of it. It doesn’t mean like having a perfect free-throw percentage, or batting 1,000, or achieving true perfection in any sense of the term. It’s certainly not referring to the perfect glorified bodies we’ll have one day, we’re not going to over-realize our eschatology here. Rather, the word for perfect here, teleios, refers to maturity.

And how do we know that for sure? Well, consider what the rest of the book of James says about the many ways in which we are still imperfect. Right? We’re going to be studying this book, and we’re going to see various ways that we still are imperfect. And how we interact with our brothers and sisters in the Lord. And how we fail to tame our tongues. And the various heart-level attitudes that well up in our interactions. The book of James is full of exhortations to imperfect people like you and me, about the ways that we still must grow. And while it is true, of course, that Jesus in Matthew 5:48 in the Sermon on the Mount tells us to be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect, it’s also true, as 1 John 3:2 says, that it will not be until we’re with the Lord that we’ll truly be like Him. And of course, James 3:2, which we’ll see in a few weeks, will tell us, we still very much do stumble in various ways.

That word then, “perfect,” does not mean that there are no imperfections. We will not be flawless or sinlessly perfect in this life. We’re not preaching Wesleyan perfectionism from this pulpit. But we can, and we should strive, ever strive toward maturity. We can’t be perfect here, but we can certainly be full-grown. We can be mature. We can be upright. We can strive to walk as the Lord walked, 1 John 2:6. We can earnestly pray and strive to see Christ formed in us, Galatians 4:9. We can strive to see Christ fully formed in other believers, Colossians 1:28. The end result of our endurance though is that we’d be perfect, teleios, mature.

But then also, it says we’re to be “complete.” Our endurance ought to lead to being complete. You see, James here is building this picture of total fullness as he stacks word upon word here. And he gets now to this word “complete.” That word “complete” describes something that’s whole. Something that has all of its parts. Something that’s intact. Something that’s been finished out. Like a previously unfurnished house that now has tables and chairs and a bed set and nightstands and all the rest. Or like a previously unfinished basement that’s now all decked out and finished. It’s through our trials that the Lord finishes us. And grows us and makes us who He wants us to be, as He grows us into His image. You know, think of this word “complete” in the context of an assembly line as we’re proceeding to glory. Bolt on a little unemployment. Drill in a little divorce. Hammer in a heart attack. Factor in a fatal car accident. And boom, He’s matured us, He’s completed us. Voila, we’re the finished product on that last day. Complete Christians, mature Christians, are the end product of tests, trials.

But he says, we’re not only to be “perfect,” not only to be “complete,” but that we will be, if we endure, “lacking in nothing.” Now, that phrase “lacking in nothing” here, is not a promise of earthly prosperity. It’s not saying there won’t be seasons of Top Ramen [noodles], and hand-me-down clothes for your kids. Or a car that won’t start. Or rent payments that will be late. It’s not saying that. Rather, to lack in nothing means to be able to consistently showcase one’s mature and maturing character. And that maturity, in turn, is what’s going to drive the rest of the conduct that is called for in this book, the book of James.

It's that maturity, that perfection, that completion, that lacking in nothing, that will make us steady in the storm. So that we won’t be tossed to and fro by the wind, like James 1:6 warns us against. It will be because of that maturity that will prevent us from being double-minded, like the double-minded man, who’s warned against in James 1:8. It’s that maturity that will give us discernment to not be deceived, as James 1:16 says. It’s that maturity that will allow us to restrain our tongues, as James 3 compels. It’s that maturity that will help us to root out our sinful desires, as laid out in James 4. It’s that maturity that will allow us and equip us to be well-rounded, mature followers of Christ, if we’re able to keep that ultimate end in view.

So, with all that in view, the fact that our faith produces endurance, that endurance is to have its perfect result. So that we might be perfect and complete and lacking in nothing. I hope that helps us understand the command, back in verse 2, to “count it all joy.” So, don’t be reluctant when the trials come. Don’t fight against what the Lord is doing. Don’t resist. Don’t deny God the wonderful, perfecting work that He is doing in your life. Remember instead 1 Peter 5:10-11, which says,“After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you. To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

Now, when we come across a passage like this, I get it! The kind of passage we’re working through today we might initially find ourselves scratching our heads. And maybe even bristling a bit about what James is saying here. And how I’m explaining it to you this morning. Because admittedly the path that James is describing here, is both uphill and thorny. And the benefits that he promises the believer, undoubtedly are hard won. But we really shouldn’t be perplexed by what James is telling us here. Not only because what we have here is a command from God’s inerrant word. But because it really is consistent, as I hope we’ve seen, with what the rest of scripture testifies to. James says, we are to count it all joy when trials come. So, we should count it all joy when those trials come. No matter how hard, humanly speaking, it may be to do so. But do we? Are we willing to say, and not only to say, but to live out, hard truths like these?

Are we willing to pray prayers like this, “Lord, thank you for this cancer. I don’t know why you’ve appointed me for this, but I trust you, and I will rejoice in knowing that I know you, and that you know what is best.” Are we willing to be like the person who says, “God, I don’t understand why I’m feeling these feelings of despair and hopelessness that won’t go away. I wish they’d go away. But my ways are ultimately not Your ways. And my thoughts are not Your thoughts. And so I choose to remember that I am a Christian, and I have the hope of hopes, the eternal hope of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” Are we willing to say things like, “I don’t understand why my husband is losing his job. And how I’m supposed to still be joyful. But I understand that you are doing something through this in our lives. I understand that you are growing me and humbling me and maturing me in my dependence upon you. And I trust you and your perfect plans.”

Those might sound like far-fetched thoughts for someone who’s going through a serious trial. Or somebody who’s going through a deep valley. But thoughts like those, really should not be all that far-fetched. Because is that not what James is teaching us? Is that not our duty? Not to scratch our heads, and not to shake our fists? But rather to re-form our thinking in accordance with God’s word?

But on an even deeper level, isn’t that the very mindset of our Savior, on His path to the cross? The very source, the hope of our salvation? Hebrews 12:2 tells us, that we are to fix “our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith,” and then it goes on to say: “who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” If that’s the path our Master took, “enduring the cross,” “for the joy set before Him," surely His slaves can take a less bumpy road.

An old pastor [Lloyd Ogilvie], some years back went through a really awful year. His wife had undergone several major surgeries, she’d gone through radiation, through chemotherapy. Several of his staff members departed. Large problems loomed in the church. And he was experiencing real discouragement and despair. Later, and looking back on that year, he would write this, “The greatest discovery that I have made in the midst of all the difficulties is that I can have joy when I can’t feel like it – artesian joy. When I had every reason to feel beaten, I felt joy. In spite of everything, God gave me the conviction of being loved and the certainty that nothing could separate me from him. It was not happiness, gush, or jolliness but a constant flow of the Spirit through me. At no time did he give me the easy confidence that everything would work out as I wanted on my timetable, but that he was in charge and would give me and my family enough courage for each day: grace. Joy is always the result of that.” This pastor got it. You know, such joy might seem irrational to the world, but in Christ it is perfectly rational. If we take seriously, really seriously, James’ words here, we won’t leave this place unaffected by them. We’ll take God’s word for what it says and count it all joy when we fall into various trials.

Let’s pray. God, thank You for Your word. Thank You for its clarity, for its purity, for its efficiency, and for its power. God, I know that this is a tough topic. And I know that people in this body do experience real trials, significant trials. And that we have many in this body who are walking in the very manner that You have commanded us to here in James 1. I ask that those who are walking in that way would be encouraged in their faith, knowing that that endurance is producing that perfection, that completion. And that they are lacking in nothing. And ultimately it's preparing them for glory. And for those who aren’t walking in this way, may this be a day of being spurred on and exhorted. To look more with an eternal perspective at our trials. So that we can ultimately give You all the praise, honor and glory. It’s in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.