Facing Troubles As God’s Child

Transcript

GRM 982
7/22/2007
Facing Troubles as God's Child
James 1:2-12
Gil Rugh


I want to direct your attention to some basic matters, and as a background come to John 14. You know our salvation in Jesus Christ, we but scratch the surface in the wonder of it, that God sent His Son to this earth so that He might suffer and die on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin, so that we by believing in Him might be given the gift of God's grace, which is eternal life. Forgiveness of sins. We are born again and thus we become the children of God. Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3, you must be born again. Your first birth, your physical birth, will not prepare you, not fit you for the Kingdom. But you must be born again. And when you are born again, born from above, born a second time through faith in Christ, you are born into God's family. You become God's child. God becomes your Father. I just want to draw your attention to several passages which Jesus shared with His disciples on this night that will climax with His betrayal in the Garden and crucifixion.

In John 14:1, do not let your heart be troubled, believe in God, believe also in Me. Then He reminds them, in My Father's house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come and receive you to Myself. Come down to verse 16, a verse we've looked at recently in our study of the Holy Spirit. I will ask the Father and He will give you another Helper, the Greek word paraclete, one who comes alongside of, one called alongside to give help, aid, whatever is necessary. That He may be with you forever, that is, the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it does not see Him or know Him. But you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. You see the distinction that Jesus makes between those who belong to Him and those who do not. Those who do not belong to Christ do not know of the ministry of the Holy Spirit and have not experienced the blessing of His ministry. And Jesus tells them as a result of My death on the cross and resurrection, that ministry of the Holy Spirit will become more intimate, for He will take up residence within your very life. And now God Himself will dwell in you.

Look down to verse 20, in that day you will know that I am in My Father, you in Me and I in you. Something remarkable here. The Holy Spirit is going to come and dwell in us. But in verse 18 Jesus said, I will come to you. And because I live, the end of verse 19, you will live also. You see we are to enter into life through faith in Christ, and as a result of His work on the cross. And in that day you will know that I am in My Father and you in Me, and I in you. There is a relationship that is established in those who believe in Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection as a payment for sin that is totally unique. The Holy Spirit of God comes and dwells in us. God the Son, Jesus Christ, comes to dwell in us. And God the Father comes to dwell in us. And a unique relationship established by the triune God now becomes a part of our lives as we are His children.
Look down in chapter 15. Note verse 16, you did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. You see what happens now. God who has come to dwell with us and in us, now we have the Father as our Father. And we can come and ask Him whatever we will, and He delights to give it to us. Down in chapter 16 verse 26, in that day you will ask in my name. Now note this, I do not say to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf. Jesus says you will ask the Father in My name, on the basis of the fact that I am your Savior. It won't be that I have to go ask My Father on your behalf, but the Father Himself loves you because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from Him. You know what? He is now my heavenly Father, I can come to Him and ask of Him, express to Him the desires of my heart. I belong to Him, He's my Father. He's not just the Father of Jesus Christ. And so if I ask Jesus to ask His Father, I may get what I ask. I can come directly to my Father. He's my Father. The Father loves me.

The Father Himself, verse 27, loves you. Why? We have to be careful here. Some people think that we are all God's children and He loves everyone. The Father Himself loves you because you have loved Me. You see it is our relationship with Jesus Christ that establishes a relationship with God the Father. And thus He becomes our Father. We believe that Jesus came from the Father to be the Savior.

And then down in chapter 17 verse 20. Jesus is praying here now. Following the close of this prayer He'll cross over to the Garden of Gethsemane and the events of the betrayal will take place. He's praying for those who have believed in Him. Down in verse 20, I do not ask on behalf of these alone, those that were present with Him, those who had believed in Him, His followers, His disciples. But I also ask for those who believe in Me through their word. You'll note that includes you and me. Through the Word that we have from His followers, those original disciples, apostles. We have, too, believed in Jesus Christ. And Paul told the Philippian jailer as it was sung in the song, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. We, too, have heard those words and believed in Jesus Christ and been saved.

And what is His prayer? That they may all be one, even as you, Father, in Me and I in you. Now note this, that they may be in us, so that the world may believe you sent Me. You see what remarkable change took place? This prayer has been fulfilled as a result of the death and resurrection of Christ. Ephesians 2 says that Christ has broken down the middle wall of partition and made both Jew and Gentile one, one body.

Verse 21, that they may all be one, even as you, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they may be in Us. You see the intimacy of relationship that is established? I am in God and God is in me. Now I haven't become God, but I have entered into a unique, personal, intimate relationship with the living God that can never change. And He is My Father. The promise of Christ, I will never leave you or forsake you parallels the promise that the Holy Spirit will be with me forever. I am never alone, I am never on my own. In the most remote place, without another human being anywhere near, I am not alone, because He is with me. He will never leave me. I can ask Him whatever I want and He is glad to graciously give me the desires of my heart. That's the God that we have, this is the relationship that we have. It's not just that I've been cleansed from my sins and I am no longer on my way to hell. I have become God's child, I live with Him, He lives in me, I walk with Him moment by moment, day by day, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Anytime, anyplace I can talk with Him, I can ask Him, I can have His strength, His enablement, His power. What a blessing, what a privilege, what great grace has brought us so great a salvation.

Now with that as a background, come over to James 1. I want to talk with you about problems, trials, difficulties. You cannot go through life without trouble. Jesus told His disciples in the section just before what we read, in the world you have tribulation. Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. Because we become the followers of Christ does not mean that now we are privileged to live lives that don't have problems. But now the problems and trials and difficulties we have to face are put in a totally different context. James in James 1 writes about troubles and problems. James is concerned that his readers understand that the faith that they have placed in Jesus Christ is a living faith. It's a saving faith that transforms life in every way and now we live differently than we lived before. It's a letter filled with commands. As we have it, there are 108 verses in the book of James, and in those 108 verses there are 54 commands given. That's an average of every other verse. God through His servant, James, tells us what we must do, how we must live. What a gracious God we have. He's my Father, but He hasn't abandoned me, He's not left me on my own. And here is unfolding, here is what you must do, because He is molding and shaping me. He wants to bring the fullness of His joy into my life, He wants to prepare me to enter in to all that He has prepared for those that love Him.

He's going to talk about pressures, trials, problems in verses 2-12, where we are going to be focusing our attention. And he'll talk about God's intention in the troubles and trials and how we are to face them, and what the purpose of them is. I am God's child. When things come into your child's life that bring pain, make his life difficult, cause him to cry, you don't do that because you delight to see him in trouble. If that ever becomes necessary, you do it because it's for his good. You don't take your child to have surgery just so the doctor will have someone to practice on. No parent would do that. But you would take your child for surgery, even thought it will be painful, even though he may not understand why it is necessary, but you know it's necessary to preserve his life. So our Father will bring trials into our lives, but never without purpose, and only because they are necessary for us to be brought to the maturity that prepares us for life as His children.

James is writing to the 12 tribes of Israel who have been scattered. We have the word dispersion, and that's where we get the word from in verse 1. To the 12 tribes of the dispersion, the diaspora, the seed that has been sown. And it's a term that refers to the Jews who are scattered from Jerusalem to other places in the world as a result of persecution and so on. And he wants to tell them as believers in Jesus Christ how they are to live under trials.

He writes to them as brethren in verse 2. Consider it all joy my brethren. And this is a letter that has some hard things to say, and yet he loves them. So 15 times in this relatively short letter he calls them my brethren. Brethren, I am writing to you as part of your family with a love for you.

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials. We mentioned the number of commands given in James, and here we have the first one. Consider it all joy. That's a command, something God expects of us as His children, members of His family, those who call Him Father. You must consider it all joy. And that word to consider is a conclusion that you come to as a result of careful consideration or deliberation. This is not just a momentary thing where I pump myself up, put a smile on my face, grin and bear it, so to speak. But he wants us, after careful consideration, to count it full joy, all joy when we fall into various trials. The word trials can refer to trials that come from the outside, any kind of pressure, difficulty that comes to our life. It's also a word that can be used of temptation and trials in regard to sin. And he'll use it that way beginning in verse 13. But he's talking here just about the trials that come to us in life. It could be persecution for our faith in Christ, our testimony for Him. But think about it. Here are Jews who have become believers in Christ, they have been scattered away from Jerusalem, they had to leave their homes, their families, their jobs. Well that's a product of trial, but you know what that brings. What about your kids? What about your family? What about your elderly parents who have become believers who don't travel so well? What do you do now to provide for your family since you've been driven away from your livelihood?

So you see, one trial leads to another, so he talks about various trials. That word various, a word that means multi-faceted, multi-colored, trials of all kinds. He's not talking about necessarily the number of them, various trials, whatever the number, but whatever the kind. Everything is included here. I mean, I lose my job, that would be included, that's a various trial. I get a disease, I'm diagnosed with cancer. That would be a trial. One of my children is found to have a serious health problem. That's a great trial. And what you just multiply out. James says it doesn't matter what the trial is, what kind of trial it is. You count it all joy, full joy, complete joy when you fall into various trials. And that word to encounter, it means to fall into something, to be surrounded by it, to be encompassed with it. In other words, here I am, and you know how these kinds of trials do. There are certain kinds of trials that you are not expecting. I use family because those are the kind that we readily identify with the pain of it. Something happens to our children or grandchildren, that brings a unique kind of pain and suffering as a trial. And you know it seems that no matter what you do, you are not prepared for it. It just happened. Yesterday everything was fine and today I got a report and my world is shattered, I'm crushed. That's what he's talking about, whatever kind of trial it is. When you find yourself in that trial, count it all joy, a full joy. Because you like to suffer? Because you like pain? Because you like it when things don't go well? Because you like it when those you love are going through difficulty or trial because you're glad when a loved one is suddenly removed? No.

You consider it all joy, verse 3, knowing, knowing. So here we're acting on the knowledge we have. That's why we consider carefully the trial we're going through, enduring, in light of what we know to be true. Knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. So now I can reckon it because I have knowledge that I'm drawing from, and I know what is going on, no matter what the trial. Well I don't see any good in this trial, I can't see any good that can come out of this, I'll never be able to serve the Lord now that this has happened. No matter what you say, nothing good can come out of something like this. Wait a minute. Consider it carefully, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. That word testing, that word that we often refer to, where you put something to the test to prove it, to reveal it. It's like gold that would be refined through fire so that the dross, the impurities are burned off.

When I worked at the steel mill, part of my job was to watch the temperatures. They brought the steel ingots in, then they put them in the furnaces and heated them up until it was glowing and burned off the impurities in the metal to prepare it, then, for being rolled and ready to be used for whatever. That's the picture here of the testing of your faith, the putting of your faith to the refining fire, if you will, produces endurance. Endurance, that ability to stand, to stay with it, to endure under pressure. Our faith purified by trials, produces a staying power, a durability that enables us to live under pressure. You'll note the purpose of a trial is not so that we just deal with it and get on with our lives because we have a “right” to live a good life, we have a “right” to live a life without problems. I mean I'm doing my best to serve the Lord, I mean I expect He's going to keep my life relatively trouble free. Don't you? What's the first thing that comes to our minds when trial, difficulty comes? What's wrong? Lord, why would this happen to me? I've tried to be faithful. Lord, why would this come into my life? Now I know why. The testing of my faith is producing endurance. God intends me to learn maturity, endurance. That comes with maturity, right? Why do you have your children at that young age learn to do certain things they don't want to do, that they may find unpleasant? Sometimes you tell them, you have to learn that in life you have to do some things you don't want to do, some things that are hard to do. Sometimes you have to go through situations that are unpleasant. Sometimes it is hard for us because we like to shield our children, and we don't want them to have to go through any hardships that we might have gone through. We don't want them to have to suffer. But you know we have to realize, I can't shelter them perfectly, and it's not good if I do. We don't expect a 3-year-old to have the endurance of a 10-year-old. We expect a 20-year-old to have a lot more endurance than a 10-year-old. But how is that developed? Through life, right? And problems, and difficulties and unpleasant situations they learn to handle, and our desire is that they will become mature adults, ready to deal with the problems of life. And they'll get married and have children, and what? Life always won't be easy, and they won't always be running every time there is a problem, bailing out every time there is a difficulty. Why? They will have learned endurance. What is God doing with us? It's a child training process, it's a development process, and there is no other way to do it but with problems, difficulties, trials.

We're not done. It's not just a goal that I would have endurance, that I would be tough, that I would be able to stand. But I am to let endurance have its perfect work, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. The end of verse 3 says, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. It works endurance, that's what it accomplishes. That's an intensified form of the word work. That is working it out in my life. And I am to let endurance have its perfect result. That's another command. The first command we had here was verse 2, consider it all joy, evaluate and reckon it to be so. This is a cause for full joy, even this trial. Not because I like to suffer, but it's giving me an opportunity to grow and mature. ________________ is don't bail out early, don't try to short circuit God's plan. Let endurance have its maturing result. It is that maturing that is what is being accomplished. And as I learn to endure, I grow and mature.

So let endurance have its perfect result. Literally, it's perfect work, it's a work of maturing. That word perfect means to mature. Going through the trial and developing endurance is producing in me maturity. God's intention is so that you may be perfect, mature and complete. That word complete means having all the parts. Be everything that God intends me to be. Another way of saying, this is lacking nothing. Isn't that what we want to do as we raise our children? We say I want them to be a well-rounded person. Doesn't mean they will excel in everything. But also realize that there is more than one thing to life. So I want them to develop as a person, as a human being. I just can't do this because that's not the way life is. Life is not just one thing. So I'm to be lacking in nothing. God is developing me as a well-rounded child of His, if you will. Mature, one who has durability, stick-to-itiveness. You know we raise an immature generation, all focused about itself. Shouldn't have to do anything they don't like, and everything ought to be all about them. Then they get into marriage and they're ready to bail out. Why? Because it's not all fun, I don't enjoy it all, and I shouldn't have to do anything I don't enjoy, I shouldn't have to do anything I don't want to do, I shouldn't have to put up with anything that's not just the way I want it. Sounds like we're back to two years old, doesn't it? What happened? Immaturity, never developed maturity. Sometimes well-meaning parents, characteristic of sin, I want it to be focused on me and all I need is a few people that will join with me in that. You say you can't do that. What is God doing? Don't short-circuit the process.

So let endurance have its maturing work so that you will be everything God wants you to be as a mature child. That means you won't lack anything God wants you to have. It's important to see here. This trial is not viewed as short term or the trials that come. One trial may be short term, the next trial might come right on its heels. I say, oh no, I don't know if I can take this any longer. Don't try to short circuit the process. Well I don't know what to do.

Next verse. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God. Now what is he talking about here with wisdom? Is this just a new section? No, because we get down to verse 12 he'll summarize it by saying, blessed is the one who perseveres under trial. This is all about enduring problems and difficulty. I don't know what to do. You know as I look back over my life I can look at periods of time and I though I developed maturity, I developed the ability to stand firm, be faithful, trust the Lord. And you know something comes to my life I never expected, it's just like somebody punched you in the stomach and all the wind's gone out. You don't have any strength. You just feel like you're so weak you're just going to fall over. I just never expected this, it just came out of the blue. I know some of you have been there because there have been a number of you over the years who have shared that with me. Many times parents come to my office or call and say, I don't know what to do, I don't know what to do. And it's like there is something here. What's happening? But you do learn, many of you have walked with the Lord many years. Every new trial is an opportunity to grow in a way you didn't grow before, right? God's intention that we be lacking in nothing, that we be complete, mature and have all the parts, everything we should be. I realize, I've never had to deal with anything quite like this. I don't know if I can do this. What do I do?

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God. That's a starting point. You know my first thing under that kind of pressure as most of ours is, I have to find something. My first reaction needs to be, my Father is right here with me. You know, you have one of your children who is 4, 5, 6 years old to go to a young age and a problem comes to their life and they feel like their little life is, and you're there with them. Wouldn't it be just great—Dad, what should I do? We have our heavenly Father here. And when it says He dwells in us and we dwell in Him we can ask of Him whatever we want. Here, if you lack wisdom, you don't know what to do....... I have a lot of knowledge, but Lord, I don't know what to do in this situation. Ask the Lord. Where do I go to first? I look back over my life at different times and there is a point where I've closed myself in my study or my room, nobody else there. What can I say? Lord, I don't know what to do, I'm stuck. Lord, I'm overwhelmed, I just don't know what to do. Part of me wants to run, part of me wants to quit, part of me............ Lord, I'm a basket case. You know it's good for me to know the Lord is not a basket case. That 5-year-old that thinks his life has unraveled and you can never put it together, and you as the father sit there, it's no big problem. It's a big problem for him, but if you want to help him deal with that problem, so when he's 10 he will have learned through these kinds of situations, and he won't still be dealing with things like a 5-year-old. And that's the process, so when he's 20 and 25 he'll be dealing with it differently than a 10-year-old. And on it goes.

So I have my Father here with me, and my world has come apart, and I'm shattered, and I don't know what to do. Simple. Ask your Father. You don't know what to do? Let him ask God, He gives to all generously and without reproach. It will be given him. He's my Father, He loves me. I mean you don't want to help your child grow through this? You reproach him and rebuke him that he would even ask for you to give him wisdom? Now he may want you just to bail him out and you say, no, but I'll help you know what you should do. Why? Because you want him to grow through this, right? Sometimes I go to the Lord when I have a trial and say, Lord, you have to get me out of this; Lord, you have to ............ Wait a minute, wait a minute. A 5-year-old can't tell you, the father, what has to be done. He doesn't really know. I don't go and tell my Father what He has to do next. But there is nothing wrong with telling Him, Lord, I don't know; Lord, I know so much of your Word. But in this situation, Lord, I don't know what to do. I need your wisdom.

Often after that, then, what's my second step? I turn to the Word. I don't know where to start. Depends. Sometimes I've gone to the book of Proverbs, and I just start reading and I read through the book of Proverbs, and I make notes of particular verses that seem to apply. Sometimes you read the Psalms and mark out what seems to be pertinent. Lord, I'm asking that you give me the wisdom from your Word. You need to show me what I should do. Lord, I need your strength. I mean sometimes there is nothing I can do. And if they've diagnosed me with a certain cancer, what am I to do? Lord, I'm enclosed with you in this room and you can touch my body and heal me now. And He could, and He might. But He might not, because His intention may be for me to learn to endure, to develop maturity. I don't know. That doesn't mean then I don't sometimes talk to a godly friend, because sometimes the Lord will use them to encourage and give me wisdom. I believe in the multitude of counselors there is wisdom. Sometimes I'll read a book that someone has written, a godly person, who shares how God led them through a trial and a problem, how God enabled them, and the lessons He taught them as they suffered through the loss of a loved one. All of this becomes part of what God can use. But my resource and my first action and reaction must be, I go to my Father.

Let him ask of God who give to all generously. I mean, you have a 5-year-old here and he needs a nickel. And the world is over because he can't buy what he needs because he's a nickel short. I don't know what I'll do. Ask your father, he probably has a nickel. You may not give him the nickel because you want him to learn, he shouldn't have wasted the nickels he had to this point. But you can help him learn what he should do to deal with his problems, trite as that is. But think about it. My Father is the sovereign Lord of all, He created everything. Hear what He says in the Old Testament through the prophet. He said, if I had a need I wouldn't ask you, I created everything. It's all mine. He's my Father. Is there anything too hard for God? And He'll give to me generously the wisdom I need, without reproach it will be given him.

Now there is a condition here, you say, I knew there was a catch. The catch is verse 6, he must ask in faith without any doubting. For the one who doubts is like a surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. I can't come to God and have Plan B in my pocket, I can't come to God, and I'm not sure He can do it or will do it, but I'm going to give Him first chance. But if He doesn't, well you know, I'm working on Plan B. I can't come doubting, not sure. You know I must love the Lord God with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my mind. And I come first to Him because Lord, you are everything to me. You are all I have ultimately. And only you can give me the wisdom I need. Now in your sovereign grace you may use another of your servants to help me through this. But, Lord, I recognize the wisdom for dealing this ultimately will come from you. And you promised me you will give it to me, and you will give it generously. He hasn't promised He'll take the trial away, He hasn't promised a cure, He hasn't promised a correction. He has promised the wisdom to endure so that you can count it full joy, all joy. And what is happening? I am developing a stability because I am learning. You know the song, learning to trust Him, learning to trust. That's what we're doing. But I can't come _______ Your child comes to you and asks you for help with a difficult situation, but you already know they have another plan. And so they're just giving you first choice, first chance to help them. You say, no, because you keep those other doors open because you really don't trust. God doesn't bring His blessing on those who won't trust Him. It's just like I've placed all of my eggs in one basket, all of my hope for eternity is in one place. It's in my faith in Jesus Christ. What are you going to do if it turns out that Jesus Christ isn't truly the Savior? There is no Plan B. That's it. He's my only hope, He's all my hope, He is everything. There is no Plan B for me. And that is the way I live my life now, right? It's a life of faith. That's James' point—you're saved by faith and now we live out that faith. So now I come to God in the midst of pressure and trial and pain and heartbreak. I say, God, give me the wisdom to do what you would have done here.

If you doubt you are like a wave of the sea. You all see the picture of the surf, it goes here, it goes there, driven and tossed. For that man ought not to think that he will receive anything from the Lord, a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. That's a two-souled person—I'm going to trust God, I'm not going to trust God. You don't get anything from the Lord. That person goes away and says, I tried it, it didn't work. I asked the Lord and He didn't............ Well, I must come in faith, I am one who has put all my hope for eternity in Him, my hope for heaven over hell in Him. And now I can't trust Him with this? Do I really trust Him at all? James is concerned for His readers. Trust Him completely.

But what if it doesn't work out? You mean, what if God fails? Can God fail? Well, no, but I don't know what will happen here. You don't need to, do you? I mean when you come to God for wisdom that doesn't mean He will show you the outcome. He does show you the outcome of all the trials and difficulties that come into your life. We got that in verses 3-4. It's maturing. But why did I have to have this? Why did this have to come into my life? Why did my child.......... ? Why did my spouse ...........? Why did I ............? I don't know in the details of that. All I know is God will give me the wisdom to go through it. Couldn't it have happened another way? I don't know any of that. Just like your 5-year-old can't understand and you take him to the hospital for his surgery. They don't understand why they have to go to the hospital and why you have to leave him and why they have to do all these unpleasant or painful things. And there is no real way to explain all that, because they can't grasp it at this point. All they can do is what? Trust you. That's the way God is. He doesn't explain everything to me, and I wouldn't grasp it if He did. But He's explained enough so I know, here's what I have to do. I have to trust Him, I have to go to Him and get the wisdom to know how to apply His truth in this situation so that I will have the stability not to be blown off course by this trial, and then blown over here by this trial.

Many of you have been believers for some time and you've experienced that. You have a new believer and all of a sudden one day they call you on the phone or they come knocking on your door. An overwhelming disaster has come into their life, their life is upside down, they don't know what to do. I mean, maybe God doesn't love me, maybe I'm not saved, maybe I don't belong to Him because I don't think this would have happened. And you almost smile in your mind, not because you are glad for that, but you know what it's like. And you know where you are as a more mature believer, and you can be used of the Lord to sit down and show them from the Word and explain to them what is happening. And this is an opportunity for them to .......... Why? Because you're more mature, you've learned the stability. You're not driven by that wind and this wind. We ought to expect that stability from mature believers, right? That's one thing, they are not driven here and there. Same analogy Paul used with false doctrine in Ephesians 4. So here with our faith, it is stable.

Isn't it a blessing to have walked with the Lord for some time and to have learned something of the maturity and stability that comes from a walk with the Lord? But I'm not done. You know what? About the time I think I've arrived at a pretty good plane, there is something that comes into my life and I am rattled. And I realize I need the Lord every moment of every day. And it's another opportunity. Lord, how exciting it is, what a joy it is to have another opportunity to grow. I don't know why specifically this, but I know why in your overall plan for me. You're maturing me.

You know what? Trials are indiscriminate. The poor and the rich suffer. The poor have trials, the rich have trials; the poor get cancer, the rich get cancer; the poor has a spouse die, the rich has a spouse die; the poor have children that go through turmoil, the rich have the same. Believers who are poor suffer for their faith, believers who are rich suffer. I mean, we're reminded. And that's what the next three verses are. The brother of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position, the rich man is to glory in his humiliation. And he elaborates on the rich, because there is a greater danger with our prosperity. We develop a certain partial confidence, even as believers, in our prosperity. But there is a warning to both. If trials come into your life and you are in poverty, you are poor. That's the point, the brother of humble circumstances, lowly circumstances, it's a contrast with the rich. What do you do? You glory in your high position. I'm a child of the king. The living God is my heavenly Father, I can come and ask from Him and receive from Him the desires of my heart. He will never leave me nor forsake me, He cares for me. I'm rich, I have everything I need, all the resources necessary. That's where the focus of the rich is—I've been exalted in Christ.

But the rich man is warned, he ought to think in humiliation, of his humility. You know I am nothing, my riches are nothing, I am but another human being, lost and bound for hell but for the grace of God. The rich man is to glory in his humiliation because like the flowering grass he will pass away. You'll note, it doesn't say his riches will pass away. He will pass away. For the sun rises with a scorching wind and withers the grass, its flower falls off, the beauty of its appearance is destroyed. So, too, the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away. Think humbly. Doesn't matter how much you have. You could be dead tomorrow, what will your riches be then? I don't think, pressures and trials don't impact me like the poor because I have resources. That's meaningless. What matters is, are you prepared for eternity? You could be gone tomorrow, then you will just be a body in the grave like the poorest man who ever died. So there is to be a balance.

And you'll note, both for the poor and the rich, where is their focus? On their God, and their relationship to their God. And for the most poverty stricken, they are reminded of the riches they have in Christ, and the glory that is theirs as one who belongs to Him. And for the most wealthy man, he thinks of his humiliation, but for the grace of God I am nothing. Jeremiah the prophet in Jeremiah 9 says, let not the rich man boast of his riches, or the wise man boast of his wisdom. But let him who boasts boast of this, that he knows Me, the living God. That's what we're talking about. If you don't have God as your Father, Jesus Christ is not your Savior, what do you have? We have billionaires around, not as rare as it used to be. What do they have apart from the living God? You know they die like mortal men die. I shared with you, I believe it was J. Paul Getty, he said in the closing period of his life in that massive mansion that he had I believe in England. I saw it for sale in one of those magazines you read at the newsstand while your wife is doing the grocery shopping. And I forget, $16 million, $25 million, something like that, a ridiculous price. It said he spent the closing period of his life sitting in a little chair in the corner of that room, calling around the world offering half his fortune if somebody could extend his life. He had nothing, he's gone. They dig up his grave, worm-eaten bones. The glory has passed away. Believer, we are a wealthy society. The danger is we begin to trust our riches.

Paul wrote to Timothy and said, you counsel the rich not to trust in the uncertainty of riches. Oh yeah, but you don't know, I have my investments secure, I have, I have. You have everything in Christ and outside of Him nothing is nothing. So let both of us focus on the Lord, who He is and what we have in Him. The poor, they glory that is theirs in Christ; the rich, that I am nothing but for the grace of God and it humbles me to think of that.

So he concludes, blessed is the man who perseveres under trial. For once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. Blessed. Remember we started out, count it all joy. Now the fullness of that joy, that happiness, that work of God that only God can accomplish in a heart and mind, our blessing. Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial. That's the same word translated endurance back in verses 3-4. That person develops that maturity, he stays with it. The trial may not go away, but one may go away and another one comes. That's all right. You know we have a tendency to think we deserve the good life, and we want to plan our lives for our retirement because that's when we relax. That's a lie of the devil that many of us have bought into. We deserve the good life, we deserve ease, we deserve comfort. I've worked for it, I can't take it, it's too hard. You know this isn't life for us in the full sense.

Note, blessed is the man who perseveres under trial. Once he has been approved, he has passed the test. It's related to the word testing back in verse 3, knowing that the testing of your faith, our faith is being put to the test and now he's been approved, he's passed the test. He will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. We're going to life. Unbelievers have to go for all the gusto now, this is it. Jesus said to them, eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow you die. And apart from Him you have nothing, nothing. So you better get it all now. How sad we as believers try to pattern our life after this. I have to get all the good things I can now, all that I can now. And we think, it's too bad, their health broke down, they didn't get to enjoy this. Oh it's too bad they had to die at an early age, they don't see their grandchildren. Oh it's too bad ............ And they sound like the unbeliever, as though this is life. I want you to know I'm going to life. I have life, but I'm going to enter into life as God has prepared it for me. I'm going to receive a stephanos of life, that crown which is life. Now you go through the furnace, now you go through the trials, but how long? You'll know when they're over, you'll open your eyes in glory. Forget this idea that I'm to pattern my life like the unbeliever, and live like the unbeliever and then I get to enjoy life. Because isn't that why we work, so we can enjoy it? That's enjoyment? Nothing wrong with relaxing, nothing wrong with getting away, nothing wrong with breaks. Not saying that we can't enjoy live, but don't lose perspective. We are servants of the living God, we are children of God being prepared for the stephanos of life, the life which He has prepared for all who love Him.

That puts trials in a different perspective. Why are we going through these difficulties? Why are we going through these trials? Because we're strangers and pilgrims here. This world is not our home, we're just passing through. Our real treasure, life in all its fullness is laid up for us somewhere beyond the blue, as the song says, in the presence of Him. He'll give us that. Don't stop before the race is over, don't quit before you're done, to my last breath. I don't deserve the good life, the easy life. And do we want that? I want everything God intends for me. Do I hope I get to suffer? No, but I trust if God brings suffering into my life I will learn to count it all joy. The goal of my life will not be comfort and peace and ease, the goal of my life will be to be mature and lacking in nothing. And I will count the trials of life to be a blessing in that context because the stephanos of life is yet before me. Do you have that? Do you know Jesus Christ? The living God is your Father. Do you know He walks with you day by day? He never leaves you, He is there in the middle of the night when you wake up, He is there in the most lonely spot on earth, He is there when no one else is. He is my Father, He provides for me, He cares for me. And if I need wisdom to know how to function, He'll give it generously because He is molding and shaping me, maturing me for the glory of life in His presence.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for who you are. Lord, much of this truth goes beyond these small, finite, limited minds to consider that we dwell in you and you dwell in us, that you, the living God, has brought us, through your Son, Jesus Christ, into a relationship of intimacy, a personal relationship, a relationship that cannot and will not ever end, that we can walk with you and enjoy your presence moment by moment and day by day. We call upon you. Lord, at times we seem overwhelmed, at times the trials and the pressures and the difficulties seem more than we can bear. But you are our heavenly Father, you will not allow us to be tested above what we are able. We can turn to you for wisdom, not so we can escape the trial, but so we can learn to endure the trial and thus be mature and be everything you intend us to be as you prepare us for the glory of our presence. Lord, I pray for any who are here who do not know the Savior that you have provided, do not know the wonder of living in intimacy with you, the living God, through faith in our Son. May this be a day of salvation for them. We pray in Christ's name, amen.